to the street, but Loiosh and Rocza were keeping watch. As I passed through the gate, I caught the eye of the short guy who’d been there before. I thought about asking how his friend was, but there was no way to do so without making it seem like I was sneering, so I just kept walking.
“Boss?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you really do that? What you told the Demon?”
“Daymar says I can.”
“But can you?”
“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
“Boss—”
“Yeah, I think so. With enough help and enough gear.”
“And you think the Demon will keep to his deal?”
“What do you think?”
“What’s next?”
“A decent night’s sleep while I figure that out.”
“And a meal?”
“Yeah. Almost dying used to scare me; now it just makes me hungry. I wonder what that means.”
“It means we should find something to eat.”
“Yeah.”
I hadn’t left anything in the flophouse in South Adrilankha, so I took us back toward Little Deathgate where there was a good collection of inns, as well as plenty of street food. I like street food. On this occasion I got flatbread with lamb, onions, carrots, peppers, and whole garlic cloves, and I picked up a bottle of cheap wine to wash it down. I rented a room in an almost invisible hostelry off a street with no name. We went up to the room. None of us, I suppose, were as alert as we should have been, between having survived the attack and eating, but nothing happened. Sometimes you catch a break when you don’t deserve it.
I got undressed and lay down on top of the blanket with my cloak over me—not trusting the bed itself to be free of wildlife—and closed my eyes. And that’s when I started shaking and sweating. The attack had happened hours ago, and I’d gotten through the meeting with the Demon, and a walk through a scary part of town, and now it was hitting me? Now I couldn’t shut my eyes without feeling that Morganti blade, and seeing images of steel flashing toward me? That made no sense.
It took me a long time to fall asleep.
I woke up fully alert and a bit scared, my hand reaching for a weapon.
“It’s all right, Boss. Nothing going on.”
I nodded and got up, got clean, and got dressed.
Just across the street was a coffee vendor. I bought his cheapest mug and filled it, figuring it would keep me going until I found klava. Then it was a long walk, Loiosh and Rocza flying overhead, all the way back to Malak Circle, where there was a shop I’d patronized for years.
I stopped in the doorway of a leathergoods store across the street, and watched it. This was my old area, and this store was a place I had been known to patronize. In other words, this wasn’t safe at all. Loiosh didn’t say anything, but I could feel his nervousness, a reflection of my own. After ten minutes, I said, “Okay, I think we’re good.”
“Okay, Boss.”
I didn’t recognize the man behind the counter. “Who are you?” I said by way of introduction.
He was young and a Jhegaala and he didn’t know quite how to respond to an Easterner who carried a sword and wasn’t obsequious. While he was working it out, I snapped, “Well?”
“Nyier,” he said. “I’m helping out.”
“All right, Nyier. Then you can help me out.”
I spent a lot of money there, but I came away with two fighting knives, three more throwing knives, six shuriken, two more daggers, and four darts that would be useless if I couldn’t get what I needed to mix up a batch of nerve toxin. It wasn’t as much as I used to carry, but it was considerably more than I’d had on me for the last few years.
I left the place carefully and took myself all the way back to Little Deathgate and the inn I’d stayed at. It was still early, so I shouldn’t have to pay anything for the room.
It took three full hours to arrange my new toys in places where I could get at them easily but they wouldn’t clank as I walked. Apparently, that was a skill that required constant practice. Who knew?
When I was
“Boss?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you really do that? What you told the Demon?”
“Daymar says I can.”
“But can you?”
“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
“Boss—”
“Yeah, I think so. With enough help and enough gear.”
“And you think the Demon will keep to his deal?”
“What do you think?”
“What’s next?”
“A decent night’s sleep while I figure that out.”
“And a meal?”
“Yeah. Almost dying used to scare me; now it just makes me hungry. I wonder what that means.”
“It means we should find something to eat.”
“Yeah.”
I hadn’t left anything in the flophouse in South Adrilankha, so I took us back toward Little Deathgate where there was a good collection of inns, as well as plenty of street food. I like street food. On this occasion I got flatbread with lamb, onions, carrots, peppers, and whole garlic cloves, and I picked up a bottle of cheap wine to wash it down. I rented a room in an almost invisible hostelry off a street with no name. We went up to the room. None of us, I suppose, were as alert as we should have been, between having survived the attack and eating, but nothing happened. Sometimes you catch a break when you don’t deserve it.
I got undressed and lay down on top of the blanket with my cloak over me—not trusting the bed itself to be free of wildlife—and closed my eyes. And that’s when I started shaking and sweating. The attack had happened hours ago, and I’d gotten through the meeting with the Demon, and a walk through a scary part of town, and now it was hitting me? Now I couldn’t shut my eyes without feeling that Morganti blade, and seeing images of steel flashing toward me? That made no sense.
It took me a long time to fall asleep.
I woke up fully alert and a bit scared, my hand reaching for a weapon.
“It’s all right, Boss. Nothing going on.”
I nodded and got up, got clean, and got dressed.
Just across the street was a coffee vendor. I bought his cheapest mug and filled it, figuring it would keep me going until I found klava. Then it was a long walk, Loiosh and Rocza flying overhead, all the way back to Malak Circle, where there was a shop I’d patronized for years.
I stopped in the doorway of a leathergoods store across the street, and watched it. This was my old area, and this store was a place I had been known to patronize. In other words, this wasn’t safe at all. Loiosh didn’t say anything, but I could feel his nervousness, a reflection of my own. After ten minutes, I said, “Okay, I think we’re good.”
“Okay, Boss.”
I didn’t recognize the man behind the counter. “Who are you?” I said by way of introduction.
He was young and a Jhegaala and he didn’t know quite how to respond to an Easterner who carried a sword and wasn’t obsequious. While he was working it out, I snapped, “Well?”
“Nyier,” he said. “I’m helping out.”
“All right, Nyier. Then you can help me out.”
I spent a lot of money there, but I came away with two fighting knives, three more throwing knives, six shuriken, two more daggers, and four darts that would be useless if I couldn’t get what I needed to mix up a batch of nerve toxin. It wasn’t as much as I used to carry, but it was considerably more than I’d had on me for the last few years.
I left the place carefully and took myself all the way back to Little Deathgate and the inn I’d stayed at. It was still early, so I shouldn’t have to pay anything for the room.
It took three full hours to arrange my new toys in places where I could get at them easily but they wouldn’t clank as I walked. Apparently, that was a skill that required constant practice. Who knew?
When I was
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