Shadows of Sanctuary978-0441806010 Read Free Page A

you see,' Chan said. 'Translation. In our language, the word for outsider, for foreigner, also translates as "barbarian".' He smiled, his beautiful smile.
    Wess pulled her chair forward again. She reached for Chan's hand under the table. He squeezed her fingers gently.
    'I meant only to offer you a place to sit, where there is no other.'
    The stranger sheathed her dagger and stared down into Wess's eyes. Wess shivered slightly and imagined spending the night with Chan on one side, the stranger on the other.
    Or you could have the centre, if you liked, she thought, holding the gaze. The stranger laughed. Wess could not tell if the mocking tone were directed outward or inward.
    'Then I will sit here, as there is no other place.' She did so. 'My name is Lythande.'
    They introduced themselves, and offered her - Wess made herself think of Lythande as 'him' so she would not damage the disguise again - offered him wine.
    'I cannot accept your wine,' Lythande said. 'But to show I mean no offence, I will smoke with you.' He rolled shredded herbs in a dry leaf, lit the construction, inhaled from it, and held it out. 'Westerly, frejojan.'
    Out of politeness Wess tried it. By the time she stopped coughing her throat was sore, and the sweet scent made her feel lightheaded.
    'It takes practice,' Lythande said, smiling.
    Chan and Quartz did no better, but Aerie inhaled deeply, her eyes closed, then held her breath. Thereafter she and Lythande shared it while the others ordered more ale and another flask of wine.
    'Why did you ask me, of all this crowd, to sit here?' Lythande asked.
    'Because...' Wess paused to try to think of a way to make her intuition sound sensible. 'You look like someone who knows what's going on. You look like someone who might help us.'
    'If information is all you need, you can get it less expensively than by hiring a sorcerer.'
    'Are you a sorcerer?' Wess asked.
    Lythande looked at her with pity and contempt. 'You child! What do your people mean, sending innocents and children out of the north!' He touched the star on his forehead. 'What did you think this means?'
    'I'll have to guess, but I guess it means you are a mage.'
    'Excellent. A few years of lessons like that and you might survive, a while, in Sanctuary - in the Maze - in the Unicorn!'
    'We haven't got years,' Aerie whispered. 'We have, perhaps, overspent the time we do have.'
    Quartz put her arm around Aerie's shoulders, for comfort, and hugged her gently.
    'You interest me,' Lythande said. 'Tell me what information you seek. Perhaps I will know whether you can obtain it less expensively - not cheaply, but less expensively - from Jubal the Slavemonger, or from a seer -' At their expressions, he stopped.
    'Slavemonger!'
    'He collects information as well. You needn't worry that he'll abduct you from his sitting-room.'
    They all started speaking at once, then fell silent, realizing the futility.
    'Start at the beginning.'
    'We're looking for someone,' Wess said.
    'This is a poor place to search. No one will tell you anything about any patron of this establishment.'
    'But he's a friend.'
    'There's only your word for that.'
    'Satan wouldn't be here anyway,' Wess said. 'If he were free to come here he'd be free to go home. We'd have heard something of him, or he would have found us, or -'
    'You fear he was taken prisoner. Enslaved perhaps.'
    'He must have been. He was hunting, alone. He liked to do that, his people often do.'
    'We need solitude sometimes,' Aerie said.
    Wess nodded. 'We didn't worry about him till he didn't come home for Equinox. Then we searched. We found his camp, and a cold trail...'
    'We tried to hope for kidnapping,' Chan said. 'But there was no ransom demand. The trail was so old - they took him away.'
    'We followed, and we heard some rumours of him,' Aerie said. 'But the road branched, and we had to choose which way to go." She shrugged, but could not maintain the careless pose; she turned away in despair. 'I could find no trace...'
    Aerie,