Lamarchos Read Free Page A

carries.”
    She stopped him. “Don’t be silly, Miks. I wouldn’t harm my little one.” She yawned and moved toward the shower. “Madar, I’m tired. And filthy.”
    Smiling at the bemused expression on his face, she added quietly, “I know some things very well, Miks. I might not have your experience in the murky places of the universe, but wild things belong to me.” She yawned suddenly, startling herself. “I’ll explain, Miks, as soon as I wash this mud off.”
    Stavver shrugged. “It’s your baby.” He sat on the bed to wait for her.
    Aleytys stepped into the shower alcove and let the hard driven needle spray wash the caked mud off her body, washing her fatigue away with it. When she stepped out, Stavver held the batik for her while she wheeled around wrapping herself firmly in it. She pinned the brooch at her waist, driving the pin through the triple layer of cloth. Then she dropped onto the bed, patting the hard mattress beside her. “Come sit down, Miks. Tell me what’s bothering you.”
    â€œIs it so damn obvious then?” He collapsed beside her, leaning back against the wall, hands clasped behind his head.
    â€œTo me. You relax with me, Miks. You let your guard down.”
    He moved his shoulders restlessly. “I work alone, Leyta. I always work alone.”
    â€œYou don’t trust Maissa.”
    â€œShe comes through on contracts.”
    â€œThat’s not what I mean. You don’t trust her to manage this thing.”
    â€œI trust my own skills, Leyta. I know them.” He shrugged. “You compound trouble when you take a partner. And these.…” He jerked abruptly, impatiently, to his feet and began pacing back and forth across the narrow width of the cabin. “I know Maissa too well to depend on her. Her mind is good. But her obsessions ride her too hard. The whole business can fall apart in a minute if she blows. Then there’s Kale. He’s some kind of outcast on this world. What a recommendation! The whole thing’s a disaster already. I don’t think it’s going to work, Leyta. There’s too much about it I can’t control.” His long, thin hands closed into tight fists, then opened helplessly. “But we owe passage. We’ll have to make it work.”
    â€œMiks.” Her quiet voice pulled him around to face her. “Come sit down and relax. The Lakoe-heai are on our side. At least, they’re friendly.”
    He frowned at her. “What are you talking about?”
    â€œCome.” She waited until he slumped beside her. “Put your head on my lap and let me work the tension out of you.”
    Stavver sighed and stretched his long, thin body out along the mattress. “Magic fingers.”
    â€œMm. Come now, relax, best of all thieves.…” She smoothed her fingers gently over his forehead a while then slid her hands down and kneaded the tense, hard muscles in his neck and shoulders. He sighed, this time with deep pleasure, eyes closing, hands falling limp and relaxed.
    Aleytys chuckled, a warm, slow sound that slid like honey over his nerves. “Poor thief … let your planning go … don’t worry your head about Maissa. We’re all caught in the web of another’s weaving, we’re on this world to their purpose, puppets with strings in strange hands.… But that’s not so bad, that means they’ll help us, help things go smoothly.…”
    He opened his eyes, still calm under the soothing effect of her smoothing hands. “You’re talking riddles again, Lee.”
    â€œI mean the Lakoe-heai of this world have taken us into their own plotting, my love. We don’t have to give up what we came for, but they’ve got us marked for their own purposes, so relax.”
    â€œâ€˜Walk into my parlor’ said the spider to the fly—relax?”
    â€œSpeaking of spiders, I haven’t