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looped the arm over his shoulder, his other arm around Shadow's waist.
She was so much shorter than he that this position lifted her to her
toe-tips.
"Where're we going?" Shadow asked as they started down a street that
seemed to lurch under her feet.
"My place," Aubry shrugged. "I can't think of anywhere else. You can't
just stand around on Guild Row drunk. You'd just be begging for ah,
trouble."
"Like maybe a dagger between my shoulder blades?" Shadow guessed
with a laugh. "Keep your secrets, Aubry, I've got other sources."
"Hush," Aubry said nervously. He dragged Shadow into a grubby inn,
up a flight of creaking stairs, and into a small, untidy room. Shadow
plopped limply onto the narrow bed and looked around disdainfully.
"Fortune's tits, Aubry." She grimaced. "Is this the best you can do? The
damned Silver Dragon's only a Moon a day, and that was without
bargaining."
Aubry scowled.
"It may not have occurred to you, Shadow," he said crossly, "but not all
of us can strut into the market and come back with our sleeves dripping
Suns every day, or cadge free feasts at the castle. Some of us poor
beginners have to work to get by."
"Okay, okay." Shadow swung her legs over the edge of the bed, groaning
at the effort, and scrubbed the heel of her hand across her eyes to clear
them. She followed Aubry's glance to the signet on her finger.
"Mother Forest, is that what's eating at you?" she said at last. "You
think I've got something going at the castle, eh?"
Aubry said nothing, but he could not meet her eyes.
"I'll bet fifty Suns Ganrom started that rumor, too, didn't he?" Shadow
said triumphantly. "Well? Come on, I'll pay on the spot if I'm wrong."
Aubry's eyebrows raised.
"You know, I did hear it at the Guildhouse," he admitted. "But why "
"To get someone else to do his Fortune-cursed dirty work for him, that's
why," Shadow said, growling. "But here's the truth. Donya's an old friend
of mine, and until I came here I didn't know a damned thing about her
family. I've eaten their food and drank their wine, and damned near lifted
the tableware, but I haven't taken so much as a copper from them, nor
given them so much as a mouse's peep of information. Now you can tell
that to anyone you please, and I'll defend it knife to knife in traditional
style if you like."
Aubry was silent a long moment, looking into Shadow's eyes; then he
sighed.
"I believe you," he said. "I'm sorry. Shady."
"Mother Forest," Shadow said, rolling her eyes. "Can't you do better
than that?" She deliberately kicked off one boot, then the other.
"All right." Aubry laughed, moving to join Shadow on the bed. "I guess I
can, at that."
"& but not until you put out that damned pipe!"
"All right, I'm a fat merchant," Shadow said patiently, knotting the
pouch over her belt.
"Not very convincing." Aubry grinned.
Shadow shrugged and stuffed the pillow down the front of her tunic so
that it bulged ludicrously.
"Now what are you going to do?" she asked, looking away deliberately.
"Laugh myself silly," Aubry said, but he obediently reached toward the
pouch.
"Not that way, you cloud-headed twit," Shadow scolded. "You don't cut
the pouch, you cut the thongs."
"But then he'll notice the difference in weight," Aubry protested.
"No more than he'd notice you tugging at his pouch for half the day.
Now cut the thongs, and cut up, holding the bottom of the pouch, and
then it won't pull."
Aubry sighed and tried again. This time Shadow snatched the knife out
of his hand, glanced at it, and threw it on the floor.
"What did you pay for that sorry weed-cutter, half a copper?" she said
impatiently. "You might as well chew through the thong with your teeth
for all the edge that'll hold."
"It's the best I've got," Aubry protested.
"Then no wonder you can't bring home a decent day's take. Not that a
mark couldn't smell you coming a mile away." Shadow pulled the knife out
of her boot sheath and handed it to him. "Here, try that."
Several thongs later, Shadow pronounced Aubry "halfway fit, anyway,"
and reclaimed her knife, handing him a Sun.
"Now buy yourself a decent blade or two," she sniffed, "and take that
toad-stabber back and use it to peel skin off the real thief who sold it to
you. Or better yet, on your incompetent mentor. Cut the pouch, indeed!"
"Mentor?" Aubry inquired.
Shadow froze midway in the act of putting her knife back in its sheath.
"Didn't Ganrom assign you a mentor?" she asked. "Someone to train
you in the basics?" Aubry shook his head. Shadow groaned. "How'd you
learn anything?"
Aubry shrugged amiably.
"Trial and error." He grinned. "Luckily for me, not too much error, and
no trial yet."
Shadow swore explosively and finished sheathing the knife.
"You mean to tell me," she said slowly, "that that idiot Ganrom just [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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