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.When it did, he said, "This is your last chance.Tell me now, or I'll kill you and look for someone else to question.You're not the only lout on the premises.""All right," said the slaver, "but please, you can't tell anyone who told you.They said we weren't to talk about their business.""I swear by the Binder and his Hand," Bareris said."Now who in the name of the Abyss are you talking about?" "Red Wizards."At last Bareris understood the watchman's reluctance to divulge the truth.Everyone with even a shred of prudence feared offending members of the scarlet orders."Tell me exactly what happened.""They—the mages and their servants—came in the middle of the night, just like you.They bought all the stock we had, just the way you figured.They told Chergoba that if we kept our mouths shut, they'd be back to buy more, but if we prattled about them, they'd know, and return to punish us.""What were the wizards' names?""They didn't say.""Where did they mean to take the slaves?""I don't know.""Why did they want them?""I don't know! They didn't say and we had better sense than to ask.We took their gold and thought ourselves lucky they paid the asking price.But if they'd offered only a pittance, or nothing at all, what could we have done about it?"Bareris stepped away from the watchman and tossed him another gold piece."I'll let myself out.Don't tell anyone I was here, or that you told me what you have, and you'll be all right." He started to slide his sword back into its worn leather scabbard then realized there was one more question he should ask."Towhich order did the wizards belong?""Necromancy, I think.They had black trim on their robes and jewelry in the shapes of skulls and things."Red Wizards of Necromancy! Bareris pondered the matter as he prowled onward through the dark, for Milil knew, he couldn't make any sense of it.It was the most ordinary thing in the world for wealthy folk to buy slaves, but why in the middle of the night? Why the secrecy?It suggested there was something illicit about the transaction or the purchasers' intent, but how could there be? By law, slaves were property, with no rights whatsoever.Even commoners could buy, sell, exploit, and abuse them however they chose, and Red Wizards were Thay's ruling elite, answerable to no one but their superiors.Bareris sighed.Maybe the watchman was right; maybe it was something ordinary folk were better off not understanding.After all, his objective hadn't changed.He simply wanted to find Tammith.Evidently hoping to avoid notice, the necromancers had marched her and the other slaves away under cover of darkness, but someone had seen where they went.A whore.A drunk.A beggar.A cutpurse.One of the night people who dwell in every city.Exhausted as he was, eyes burning, an acid taste searing his mouth, Bareris cringed at the prospect of commencing yet another search, this one through squalid stews and taverns, yet he could no more have slept than he could have sung Selune down from the sky.He arranged his features into a smile and headed for a painted, half-clad woman lounging in a doorway.The fighter was beaten but too stubborn to admit it, as he demonstrated by struggling back onto his feet.Calmevik grinned.If the smaller pugilist wanted more punishment, he was happy to oblige.He lowered his guard and stepped in, inviting his opponent to swing.Dazed, the other fighter responded with slow, clumsy haymakers, easily dodged.The spectators laughed when Calmevik ducked and twisted out of the way.It was amusing to make his adversary reel and stumble uselessly around, but Calmevik couldn't continue the game for long.The urge to beat and break the other man was too powerful.He froze him with a punch to the solar plexus, shifted in, and drove an elbow strike into his jaw.Bone crunched.Calmevik then hooked his opponent's leg with his own, grabbed'the back of his head, and smashed him face first to the plank floor where he lay inert, blood seeping out from around his head like the petals of a flower.The onlookers cheered.Calmevik laughed and raised his fists, acknowledging their acclaim, feeling strong, dauntless, invincible—Then he spotted the child, if that was the right word for it, peeking in the tavern doorway, one puffy, pasty hand pushing the bead curtain aside, the hood of its shabby cloak shadowing its features.The creature had the frame of a little girl and he was the biggest man in the tavern, indeed, one of the biggest in all Tyraturos, and he had no reason to believe the newcomer meant him any harm.Still, when it crooked its finger, his elation gave way to a pang of trepidation.Had he known what it would involve, he never would have taken the job, no matter how good the pay, but he hadn't, and now he was stuck taking orders from the ghastly representative his client had left behind.There was nothing to do but finish the chore, pocket the coin, and hope that in time he'd stop dreaming about the child's face.Striving to make sure no one could tell he was rattled, he made his excuses to his sycophants, pulled on his tunic, belted on his broadsword and dirks, and departed the tavern.Presumably because it was the way in which an adult and little girl might be expected to walk the benighted streets, the child intertwined its soft, clammy fingers with his.He had to fight to keep himself from wrenching his hand away."He's here," she said in a high, lisping voice.Calmevik wondered who "he" was and what he'd done to deserve the fate that was about to overtake him, but no one had volunteered the information, and he suspected he was safer not knowing."Just one man?""Yes.""I won't need help, then." Which meant he wouldn't have to share the gold."Are you sure? My master doesn't want any mistakes."She might be a horror loathsome enough to turn his bowels to water, but even so, professional pride demanded that he respond to her doubts with the hauteur they deserved."Of course I'm sure! Aren't I the deadliest assassin in the city?"She giggled [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]