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heard about the manifestation at the mageguild, and had been glad he had taken
Niko's advice and kept his girls inside. "Can I let them out, then?" he said
with a twinkling eye. "Now that you are here? Would the Lord Marshal and his
distinguished Stepsons care for some gentle companionship, this jolly eve?"
Tempus, flexing his open hand on which the clear serum glistened as it
thickened into scabby
skin, told him to keep his children locked up until dawn, and sent him away so
brusquely Janni eyed
Niko askance.
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Their commander sat with his back against the wall opposite the door through
which the tavern's owner had disappeared. "We were followed here. I'd like to
think you both realized it on your own."
The placement of their seats, backs generously offered to any who might enter,
spoke so clearly of their failure that neither said a word, only moved their
chairs to the single table's narrow sides.
When next the door swung open, One-Thumb, not their host, stood there, and
Tempus chuckled hoarsely in the hulking wrestler's face. "Only you, Lastel? I
own you had me worried."
"Where is she, Tempus? What have you done with her?" Lastel stomped forward,
put both ham-hands flat upon the table, his thick neck thrust forward, bulging
with veins.
"Are you tired of living, One-Thumb? Go back to your hidey-hole. Maybe she's
there, maybe not. If not& easy come, easy go."
Lasters face purpled; his words rode on a froth of spray so that Janni reached
for his dagger and
Niko had to kick him.
"Your sister's disappeared and you don't care
?"
"I let Cime snuggle up with you in your thieves' shanty. If I had 'cared,"
would I have done that?
And did
I care, I would have to say to you that you aspire beyond your station, with
her. Stick to whoremistresses and street urchins, in future. Or go talk to the
mageguild, or your gods if you have the ears of any. Perhaps you can reclaim
her for some well-bartered treachery or a block of
Caronne krrf. Meanwhile, you who are about to become 'No-Thumbs," mark these
two " He gestured to either side, to Niko and Janni. "They'll be around to see
you in the next few days, and I
caution you to treat them with the utmost deference. They can be very
temperamental. As for myself, I've had easier days, and so am willing to
estimate for you your chances of walking out of here with all appendages yet
attached and in working order, though your odds are lessening with every
breath I have to watch you take& " Tempus was rising as he spoke. Lastel gave
back, his flushed face paling visibly as Tempus proposed a new repository for
his prosthetic thumb, then retreated with surprising alacrity toward the
half-open door in which the tavern's owner now stood uncertainly, now
disappeared.
But Lastel was not fast enough; Tempus had him by the throat. Holding him off
the ground, he made One-Thumb mouth civil farewells to both the Stepsons
before he dropped him and let him dash away.
* * *
At sundown the next day (a perfectly natural sundown without a hint of wizard
weather about it), Niko's partner's long-delayed funeral was held before the
repiled stones of Vashanka's field altar, out behind the arena where once had
been a slaver's girl-run. A hawk heading home flew over, right to left, most
auspicious of bird omina, and when it had gone, the men swore, Abarsis' ghost
materialized to guide the fallen mercenary's spirit up to heaven. These two
favorable omens were attributed by most to the fact that Niko had sacrificed
the enchanted cuirass Aakelon had given him to the fire of his left-man's
bier.
Then Niko released Tempus from his vow of pairbond, demurring that Nikodemos
himself had never accepted, explaining that it was time for him to be a
left-side fighter, which, with Tempus, he could never be. And Janni stood
close by, looking uncomfortable and sheepish, not realizing that in this way
Tempus was freed from worrying that harm might come to Niko on account of
Tempus'
curse.
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Seeing Abarsis' shade, wizard-haired and wise, tawny skin quite translucent
yet upswept eyes the same, smiling out love upon the Stepsons and their
commander, Tempus almost wept. Instead he raised his hand in greeting, and the
elegant ghost blew him a kiss.
When the ceremony was done, he sent Niko and Janni into Sanctuary to make it
clear to
One-Thumb that the only way to protect his dual identity was to make himself
very helpful in the increasingly difficult task of keeping track of Mygdonia's
Nisibisi spies. As an immediate show of good faith, he was to begin helping
Niko and Janni infiltrate them.
When the last of the men had wandered off to game or drink or duty, he had
stayed at the shrine awhile, considering Vashanka and the god's habit of
leaving him to fight both their battles as best he could.
So it was that he heard a soft sound, half hiccough and half sniffle, from the
altar's far side, as the dusk cloaked him close.
When he went to see what it was, he saw Jihan, sitting slumped against a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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