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The boy raised a hand and the black snaked his head around fast to bite it. Niko clouted the horse between the ears as the boy scrambled back out of range. 'Come on, come here. He won't try it again. Now, what's your master's message?'
Tamzen! Tamzen's gone out without her bodyguard, with -' The boy named six of the richest Sanctuary families' fast-living youngsters. 'They said they'd be right back, but they didn't come. It's her party she's missing. The master's beside himself. He said if you can't help him, he'll have to call the Hell Hounds - the palace guard, or go out to the Stepsons' barracks. But there's no time, no time!' the frail eunuch wailed.
'Calm down, pud. We'll find her. Tell her father to send word to Tempus anyway, it can't hurt to alert the authorities. And say exactly this: that I'll help if I can, but he knows I'm not empowered to do more than any citizen. Say it back, now.'
Once the eunuch had repeated the words and run off, Ja
'Seh!' The word meant offal in the Nisi tongue. 'We'll round her and her friends up in short order. They're just blowing off steam - it's the heat and school's end. Come on, let's start at Promise Park.'
When they got there, the moon showed round and preternatur-ally large above the palace and the wind had died. Thoughts of the witch he must meet still troubled Niko, and Ja
'We'll send word or stop by the Shambles drop; stop worrying.' But Ja
Tamzen, thirteen and beautiful, pure and full of fun, who loved him with all her heart and had made him promise to 'wait' for her: he'd had her, a thing he'd never meant to do, and had her with her father's knowledge, confronted by the concerned man one night when Niko, arm around the girl's waist, had walked her through the park. 'Is this how you repay a friend's kindness. Stealth?' the father'd asked. 'Better me than any of this trash, my friend. I'll do it right. She's ready, and it wouldn't be long, in any case,' he'd replied while the girl looked between the soldier, twelve years older, and her father, with uncomprehending eyes. He had to find her.
Ja
'I'm not your type, and as for women, I drink from no other man's tainted cup.' So Niko broached an uneasy subject: Ja
The silence come between them then gave Stealth his chance to find the girl's red time-shadow, a hot ghost-trail to follow south-west through the Maze...
As the moon climbed high its light shone brighter, giving Maze and then Shambles shape and teasing light; colour was almost present among the streets, so bright it shone, a reddish cast like blood upon its face, so that when common Sanctuary horrors lay revealed at intersections, they seemed worse even than they were. Ja
Once he thought they'd glimpsed a death squad, and urged Stealth to come alert, but the strange young fighter shook his head and hushed him, slouched loose upon his horse as if entranced, following some trail that neither Ja
When they crossed the Street of Shingles and headed into Shambles Cross, the pragmatic Ja
They spurred their horses and careened round corners, forgetful of their pose as independent reavers, for they'd heard Stepsons calling manoeuvre codes. So it was that they came sliding their horses down on haunches so hard sparks flew from iron-shod hooves, cutting off the retreat of three ru
Niko's horse, itself, took it in its mind to help, and charged past them, reins dragging, head held high, to back a fugitive against a mudbrick wall. ''Seh! Run, Vis!' they heard, and more in a tongue Ja
By then Niko had one by the collar and two quarrels shot by close to Ja