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and humiliate her and bleed the acid from her veins, I could not. So I bound
her into a cocoon of quilts and stuffed a dirty stocking into her mouth. Then
I packed my gear in a back-carry bundle, doubled the rope around a bedpost,
and climbed out the window.
Soon as I was down Ucsi reeled in the rope and Ishri brought round three
mounts, the rest of our gear roped behind their saddles. "Your escort is sound
asleep and I do mean sound; you should hear the snoring." He grinned at me.
"Uyus in their beer."
We rode off at a smart trot, not hurrying, we didn't want any snoop still
about to get the idea we were running from anything. The wharves were a little
over a stad off. We rode through that cool quiet night, the split hooves loud
on the shells put down to lay the dust; I don't know what the others were
feeling, we never got to talk about it much, but I was scared and excited and&
You talked about that leap-into-the-dark feeling, you know what was in me.
Ucsi had bargained with the owner of a small coast-leaper that was leaving
with the tide for Atsila Vana. The wiry little Balayar took the mounts as
passage payment, quite aware who they belonged to; he got them on board with a
speed and efficiency that started Ishri giggling, though he contrived to keep
his amusement soundless. Less than an hour later we were on our way.
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I found out later that no one discovered the Teybibi until nearly noon when
someone came from the Asach to see what was holding things up. The escort was
still snoring; the Teybibi was stiff as a board and so furious it was a while
before she could talk, then a while when she only sputtered her rage. It was
the Rossam who saw that I was gone and slapped her into coherence. And it was
the Rossam who sent men galloping into Yezram to hunt for me. They found no
trace of the twins and me. Those who knew anything, knew better than to say
it; those who knew nothing voiced their ignorance with loud indignation. They
didn't work too hard at it, too much time had passed. Keesh raged at the
Teybibi and nearly had her strangled, but did not; he didn't quite dare take
on the name of kinslayer and the curse of kinblood. He sent her into the hills
to live alone in a tiny hut. His wives and daughters must have cried blessing
on me for that at least. He had the escort beaten and set to work as field
hands for his meanest krav-serf. He was going to cry feud with my father, but
let himself be talked into waiting and when he heard my father had named us
Exile and Extra, he was pacified enough to drop his war-talk. And next year he
got his bride from an older but poorer family. She was small and dainty and
clever enough to seem docile and rumor reached me that she led him a dance of
fools before she died in childbirth. A twisted smile. As for us, our plans
went awry faster than we'd imagined. The shipmaster made a good living out of
the Extras he enticed onto his ship; before the land dropped below the horizon
Ucsi, Ishri, and I were in a drugged sleep. Like with those Extras before us,
he got our gear, our severance purses, and he sold us to slavers in the
freeport at Atsila Vana. I woke in the hold of a slave ship bound for Oruda.
My brothers went somewhere else. I never saw them again. A sigh.
"Ah well, a quick and effective lesson in the way of the world. That was
twenty years ago, Skeen. As you see, I've come a long way from Boot and
Backland, long in every sense of the word.
A BRUSH WITH DEATH HERE, A BRUSH WITH DEATH THERE, IT S GOOD FOR YOUR
CIRCULATION.
They moved south along the Tail through brisk weather that drove the ship at
spanking speeds from port to port. The flying Min twice more brought back news
of ambushes; once they burned out the hopeful pirates, once the band was too
big and Maggi circled wide about them; it lost her some time, but she could
well afford the delay. She was delighted with the Min. So were her sailors and
the passengers whether deck or cabin. The Crew had part shares in her cargo
besides bits and pieces of their own; while they were more than competent
fighters, they saw no urgent need to prove their skills.
Chulji preened for the crew and showed off his forms with pride and delight.
He was very young after all. With thoughts about promoting an alliance between
him and Timka that would give the little Min a place to settle with a
reasonable degree of security (and take Timka off her hands), Skeen questioned
Chulji about his age and discovered he was not quite fifteen, probably about
half Timka's age. Nothing there. Timka was born older than that. Promises,
promises. Why don't you keep your mouth shut, old woman, you'll be gnawing on
your kneebones soon if you don't watch it.
The ports were all different and all much the same, raucous, smelly,
dangerous. Some were mostly Pallah, some mostly Balayar, some Chalarosh, some
Funor. Aggitj Extras in all of them and a scatter of Nagamar hiding out from
shaman curses and a lacing of Skirrik earning their jet. Even a few Skirrik
mining jet up in the mountains of the long curving peninsula that was the base
of the Tail.
Latun. Pallah-run. One hour after they went ashore, a Ravvayad triad struck. A
spear thrown low and hard. Pegwai's staff caught it and sent it at a wall
where it hit sideways and clattered to the ground. The Ravvayad melted into
the tangle of streets so fast that Chulji lost them almost immediately, though
he fluttered about for several minutes trying to catch sight of them again.
Two hawks larger than he came darting down from the low clouds and went after
him until they saw Timka in the street. They plunged at her, but Skeen darted
both as soon as they were in range and they crashed onto the cobblestones;
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with a hiss of rage, Timka snatched Skeen's bootknife, bent over them and with
a complicated twisting cut, dispatched them. She stood back with a look of
intense satisfaction as they melted into a son of speckled gray jelly and
oozed away into the cracks between the cobble. Skeen looked from the spear to
the smear on the pavement. "Shit."
Pegwai laughed. "Yes" he said. To Timka, he said, "Are they working together?"
"Yes. No. What do you expect me to say?" Timka looked at the knife, wiped it
on her skin and held it out to Skeen. "Once, it's coincidence. If it happens
again, you don't need me to tell you what that means."
Tevel. Chalarosh council, large Balayar minority. The Company remained on [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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