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The Thief's Gamble

Page 44

by Juliet E. McKenna


  I knocked on the door and lifted the latch; my cheerful words of welcome died on my lips as I saw Halice in a chair with two short, blond men standing over her, arms raised.

  'And then I said, “Look, how much damage do you think I could do?”'

  Halice roared her familiar barking laugh as the fair-haired pair turned to see who had come in.

  'Livak!'

  Sorgrad and Sorgren hurried to embrace me but I took a step backwards, shaking, struggling with the fears that had come clamouring out of my memories. They halted, concerned.

  'Are you all right?' Sorgrad's familiar voice dispelled the horrid illusions and I was able to manage a more normal smile.

  'Sure, sorry, just caught a draught from Poldrion's cloak.'

  'Come and get warm.' Halice did not stand up and I saw a crutch resting against her chair. I could not see her leg under the blanket over her lap and wondered how it was healing. Well, she'd tell me how bad it was when she was good and ready but I could see she had put on weight through sitting about waiting for the damage to heal.

  I moved to the hearth and rubbed my hands over the glowing coals, breathing in the familiar scents of baking bread, meat spitted and roasting, home and safety.

  'So, where did you get to?' Sorgren poured me wine from a jug standing in the fender and I savoured the spicy warmth for a moment.

  'You know that one gamble, the one you always talk about when you're drunk, the one that's going to set you up for an honest life?' I grinned at them all.

  'You found it?' Halice's dark eyes reflected the firelight, amusement warring with hope on her weather-beaten face.

  'No.' I shook my head and reached inside my jerkin. 'I thought I had but it wasn't to be. Still, it paid quite well, for all that.'

  I dropped the washleather bag and it landed on the table with a thud that simply shouted out noble coin. Sorgren weighed it in one hand and a wondering look crossed his face.

  'How much is here?'

  'Enough to give us all a Solstice to remember! How about we hire a fast team and head for Col?' I drained my cup and reached for more wine. 'We could make the last of the Solstice.'

  'Sounds like a fair plan.' Sorgrad smiled at me, eyes bright. 'So, what exactly have you been up to? Halice said she'd had a message from some wizard, saying you were off working for the Archmage.'

  'It's a long story and I don't want to tell it now,' I said firmly. 'Maybe later, I don't know. It wasn't like some half-arsed ministrel's ballad, I'll tell you that much. It was bloody dangerous and I nearly didn't make it back.'

  'You did, though, and it looks to have paid well,' Sorgen said cheerfully, opening the bag and beginning to stack the white-gold coins into gleaming columns. He always likes to live in the present.

  'Coin's only worth anything if you're alive to spend it, 'Gren.' I shook my head at him. 'That's my share and a dead man's. His gamble only won him passage with Poldrion.'

  A tremor ran through me and I turned it into a theatrical shudder. 'I'll take an honest job before I work for the Archmage again!'

  Halice looked closely at me for a moment. She may look like the village idiot's older sister but she's no fool. 'Let's head for Col then, spend his gold and forget him,' she said cheerfully. 'The lads have got some interesting ideas for turning a few coins in Lescar.'

  'All right.' I turned the spit and fat crackled in the flames. 'Let's eat this piglet and make some plans. I'm in favour of something involving warm tap-rooms, a familiar set of bones in my hand and some well-controlled games of runes with stupid farmers. There's just one thing I want to make clear: whatever we do, it's to have nothing to do with wizards!'

  Table of Contents

  THE THIEF'S GAMBLE

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  MAPS

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  The Packhorse Tavern, on the Col Road

  The Chamber of Planir the Black in the Island City of Hadrumal, 12th of For-Autumn

  The Packhorse Tavern, on the Col Road South of Ambafost, Ensaimin, 13th of For-Autumn

  The Old Tun Tavern, the Hanchet Road East of Oakmont, 13th of For-Autumn

  CHAPTER TWO

  The Running Hound Inn Ambafost, 14th of For-Autumn

  CHAPTER THREE

  East of Drede on the Eyhorne Road, 15th of For-Autumn

  Hanchet Marketplace 15th of For-Autumn

  Travor's Pottery, the Drede Road, West of Eyhorne, 16th of For-Autumn

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The South Road, Dalasor 38th of For-Autumn.

  Friern Lodge, 40th of For-Autumn

  Inglis, 6th of Aft-Autumn

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Inglis, 10th of Aft-Autumn

  CHAPTER SIX

  Inglis, 11th of Aft-Autumn, Morning

  The Chamber of Planir the Black, Hadrumal, 11th of Aft-Autumn, Noon

  Inglis, 11th of Aft-Autumn, Evening

  The Licorne Inn, Inglis, 15th of Aft-Autumn

  The Gidesta Road out of Inglis, 15th of Aft-Autumn

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Gidesta, 19th of Aft-Autumn

  The Silverlane, Inglis, 19th of Aft-Autumn

  Azazir's Lake, 20th of Aft-Autumn

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Sholvin Cove, Gidesta 26th of Aft-Autumn

  The Guest-house at the Shrine of Ostrin, Bremilayne, 42nd of Aft-Autumn

  The Far Reaches of the Ocean, Latter Half of Aft-Autumn

  The Guest-house at the Shrine of Ostrin, Bremilayne, 1st of Far-Winter

  The Islands of the Elietimm, 1st of For-Winter

  CHAPTER NINE

  Islands of the Elietimm, 2nd of For-Winter

  The Guest-house at the Shrine of Ostrin Bremilayne, 2nd of For-Winter

  The Ice-man's Keep, Islands of the Elietimm, 3rd of For-Winter

  CHAPTER TEN

  The Ice-man's Keep, Islands of the Elietimm, 3rd of For-Winter

  Bremilayne Docks, 3rd of For-Winter

  The Ocean Approaches, Islands of the Elietimm, 3rd of For-Winter

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Shanklane Cottage, Middle Reckin, 40th of For-Winter

 

 

 


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