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have to get out. The gem will transport me in an instant to my buyer.
"
He thought about it. "A magic stone, then. Hmmm . . . Maybe. But the risks are
still too great, and there is a lot of countermagic up there. Safer to go to
one of the southern kingdoms and score big and live a life of luxury if youre
that good, in any event.
'
"
"I'll think about your advice, she told him. "But in the meantime, Im a
stranger here in need of
"
'
equip-ment. Just in case I decide to try, anyway. Where would I get it?"
"The Guild Hall, of course, he replied. "Let me finish my meal, and then I'll
take you over there.
"
Its not far, and they should be open about now.
'
"
He ate with relish and insisted on paying the tab. Since she pretty well
guessed that any advice
and equipment from a Thieves' Guild would hardly be free, she did not object.
They walked out into the darkness. Quite a large number of people stood about,
but he took her away from the bustling bars and dives toward the small
warehouse district of the harbor. All the time he kept up a running commentary
on his philosophy of life, love, fun, and danger. When they turned another
cor-ner into a narrow alley between two large, two-story grain warehouses,
she began to grow a little nervous and suspicious. "I thought you said it
wasn't far.
"
"It's not," he replied, his voice coming from slightly to one side and behind
her. She cursed herself for letting him drop behind. "In fact, its the
warehouse at the end, just across the brightly
'
lit street up ahead.
You can see the two gargoyles on either side holding torches in their mouths."
She saw the building, but also noticed something else. That looks like
only a block or two
"
down from the inn on the same street!" She turned to face him and found
herself pinned to the wall with a short-sword at her throat. Sugrin Paibrush
was grinning in the darkness.
"
Right you are, my girl!" he agreed. But such is not for you. Cutpursing,
perhaps, decoying, .
"
perhaps a nice little bank-but not the castle, no, not that. If you'll just
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remove and toss me your purse, we can be done with this. I will have saved you
from a fate worse than death and, at the same time, reaped reward for my
goodness. Easy, now, though! I shouldn't like to have to slit such a pretty
throat!"
She sighed and inwardly cursed herself for being so sloppily trusting. She had
no doubt that this man was, in his own way, quite honorable. He would let her
go if he got the money, would kill her if she did not yield, and if he got the
money, would feel wonderful about doing such a good deed.
Her hands moved to unfasten the purse from her belt. Suddenly she
stepped to one side, battled down the sword on its flat, and spun the
highwayman half-way around. Quickly, in a blur, she took advantage of the
split second he was off balance, and using the wall as a brace, pushed off
into him, feet shooting out in midair and landing right in his
belly. He went down and the sword dropped free of his hand and clattered
harmlessly to the ground. Quickly she somersaulted over him, landing on her
feet, somehow drawing her deadly dagger at the same time, and was
kneeling down with it at his throat before he could recover.
Paibrush was stunned, not so much by the fight as by how easily the tables had
turned. No less stunned was Jill McCulloch, who hadnt remembered doing
any of it until shed completed the
'
'
maneuvers and still couldn't believe that she'd actually performed them.
Clearly this Yoni had an incredible instinct for self-preservation that fully
matched her skills and agility.
"And now, Sir Sugrin, we shall proceed with the theft," she announced
triumphantly, dagger still at his jugular. "Just rip your own purse loose and
toss it to your right, near your sword."
He smiled, seemed to shrug, and did as instructed.
"
I warn you that I toss this dagger as well as I wield it," she said, then
released him and in a flash dashed over to the sword and purse.
Paibrush rose unsteadily to his feet, his face still reflecting his
surprise and embarrassment.
"Hustled!" He swore to himself in disgust. Twenty-two years in the business
and I let myself get
"
hustled!"
She laughed. He still wasn't much of a threat, but he could be.
She felt his sword-a fine, well-balanced weapon that was surprisingly
light, almost as if made from aluminum yet with a blade as hard as
steel.
"And now, sir, if you will remove your jerkin and breeches," she ordered.
He looked shocked. "My what?"
"
Your clothes. Oh, you may keep the hat and boots -I shouldn't want you to
catch cold. The rest you will remove and toss to me-do it! Now! Or I shall
have no need of removing them!"
He removed the shirt easily, baring a hairy chest, but took some additional
prodding to take off his pants. As she'd guessed, underwear wasnt in style on
this world. She stood back and looked
'
at him as he stood embarrassed in his nakedness. "Cute," she decided.
"
B-but-look here! You can't leave me like this!" he protested. "What is the
point of this?
"
She laughed. "I want no one coming up in back of me when I carry out my
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errands this night, particu-larly no one who bears me a grudge. This will keep
you busy until you can discover a sheet or potato-sack. I'll leave the
clothes at the Guild Hall."
That plan seemed to upset him more than anything. "No! Please! Toss them in
the gutter, sink them in the harbor-but not at the Guild Hall! I couldnt
'
stand the humiliation," he pleaded.
She laughed again and started to back off with her booty. "Very well,
then-under the light on the street up there. Good luck and thank you, Sir
Sugrin, for all the help you have been this night to me."
He stood and watched her go, and as she made the street, gave a
little wave, and turned, dropping the clothes just across from the
intersection, some reflec-tions overcame his mortification. She really was
good, he thought. She really might make it .. .
In the meantime, he hoped no one stole his clothes before the early morning
hours, when the streets would be deserted enough for him to retrieve them.
3
The Thieves' Guild headquarters was pretty con-spicuous despite its lack of
signs. Paibrush had ex-plained its visibility as something tolerated by most
local authorities, since that way they knew who the thieves were, and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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