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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. Page 135 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html 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; Page 136 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html 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. 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