"Not quite a fool's endeavour." China smiled one of her brilliant smiles. "That would imply all of us to be fools. And I'm most certainly not one. Are we considering fully capable golems as replacements? That would take a great deal of magic, both to create and to maintain."

That was how they alighted on the idea of the Cleavers in the first place. Bliss's suggestion, initially, while China perfected the details. A large group of hundreds of people free of magic, incorruptible, strong, and fast. It worked; it gave them the edge they needed to win the war, and a solid Sanctuary force besides. Now that the solution had run its course, it was back to the drawing board, and back to the ideas China rejected for luxurious reasons like magic expense.

"We don't need them to think," said Erskine with a frown.

"You'd prefer them to trip over themselves in battle?"

"No. You know what I mean."

"Elder Ravel," China began, her tone of voice obediently not betraying that her use of the full title was done in full awareness of how much it would annoy the Dead Man, "if you want these potential replacements to be anywhere near the level the Cleavers were at, it would require a lot of magic, regardless of how you do it. The Cleavers don't operate on mere instinct. They're so lethal in their cooperation precisely because they think, and they think very quickly. If you're referring to free will - "

She stopped. Her mind shuddered, jerked. Tried to restart.

Skulduggery took the opportunity to speak up. "Solomon, how did you manage to convince her?"