Thieves World tw-1

by Robert Lynn Asprin

  'You'd better say. I had a twenty-grimale block in my bedroom safe. Yesterday it was stolen.'

  One-Thumb didn't move or change expression. 'That's an interesting coincidence.'

  She snorted. They sat without speaking while a pitcher of wine and four glasses were slipped through the curtain.

  'Of course I'm not accusing you of theft,' she said. 'But you can understand why I'm interested in the person you bought it from.'

  'In the first place, I didn't buy it. In the second, it didn't come from Sanctuary.'

  'I can't afford riddles, One-Thumb. Who was it?'

  'That has to remain secret. It involves a murder.'

  'You might be involved in another,' she said tightly.

  One-Thumb slowly reached down and brought out his dagger. The bodyguards tensed. He smiled, and pushed it across the table to Amoli. 'Go ahead, kill me. What happens to you will be rather worse than going without krrf.'

  'Oh -' She knocked the knife back to him. 'My temper is short nowadays. I'm sorry. But the krrf's not just for me; most of my women use it, and take part of their pay in it, which is why I like to buy in large amounts.' One-Thumb was pouring the wine; he nodded. 'Do you have any idea how much of my capital was tied up in that block?'

  He replaced the half-full glasses on the round serving tray and gave it a spin. 'Half?'

  'And half again of that. I will get it back, One-Thumb!' She selected a glass and drank.

  'I hope you do. But it can't be the same block.'

  'Let me judge that - have you had it for more than two days?'

  'No, but it must have left Ranke more than a week ago. It came on the Anenday caravan. Hidden inside a cheese.'

  'You can't know for sure that it was on the caravan all the time. It could have been waiting here until the caravan came.'

  'I can hear your logic straining, Amoli.'

  'But not without reason. How often have you seen a block as large as twenty grimales!'

  'Only this time,' he admitted.

  'And is a pressed design stamped all over it uniformly, an eagle within a circle?'

  'It is. But that only means a common supplier, his mark.'

  'Still, I think you owe me information.'

  One-Thumb sipped his wine. 'All right. I know I can trust the eunuch. What about the other?'

  'I had a vassal spell laid on him when I bought him. Besides ... show him your tongue, Gage.' The slave opened his mouth and showed pink scar tissue nested in bad teeth. 'He can neither speak nor write.'

  'We make an interesting table,' he said. 'Missing thumb, tongue, and tamale. What are you missing, Amoli?'

  'Heart. And a block of krrf.'

  'All right.' He drank off the rest of his small glass and refilled it. 'There is a man high in the court of Ranke, old and soon to die. His son, who would inherit his title, is slothful, incompetent, dishonest. The old man's counsellors would rather the daughter succeed; she is not only more able, but easier for them to control.'

  'I think I know the family you speak of,' Amoli said.

  'When I was in Ranke on other business, one of the counsellors got in touch with me, and commissioned me to dispose of this young pigeon, but to do it in Sanctuary. The twenty grimales was my pay, and also the goad, the bait. The boy is no addict, but he is greedy, and the price of krrf is three times higher in the court of Ranke than it is in the Maze. It was arranged for me to befriend him and, eventually, offer to be his wholesaler.

  'The counsellor procured the krrf from Caronne and sent word to me. I sent back a tempting offer to the boy. He contrived to make the journey to Sanctuary, supposedly to be introduced to the Emperor's brother. He'll miss the appointment.'

  'That's his blood on your sleeve?' the eunuch asked.

  'Nothing so direct; that was another matter. When he's supposed to be at the palace tomorrow, he'll be floating in the harbour, disguised as the shit of dogs.'

  'So you got the krrf and the boy's money as well,' Amoli said.

  'Half the money. He tried to croy me.' He refilled the woman's glass. 'But you see. There can be no connection.'

  'I believe there may be. Anenday was when mine disappeared.'

  'Did you keep it wrapped in a cheese?'

  She ignored that. 'Who delivered yours?'

  'Marype, the youngest son of my sorcerer Mizraith. He does all of my caravan deliveries.'

  The eunuch and Amoli exchanged glances. "That's it! It was from Marype I bought the block. Not two hours after the caravan came in.' Her face was growing red with fury.

  One-Thumb drummed his fingers on the table. 'I didn't yet mine till evening,' he admitted.

  'Sorcery?'

  'Or some more worldly form of trickery,' One-Thumb said slowly. 'Marype is studying his father's trade, but I don't think he's adept enough to transport material objects ... could your krrf have been an illusion?'

  'It was no illusion. I tried a pinch.'

  'Do you recall from what part of the block you took it?'

  'The bottom edge, near one corner.'

  'Well, we can settle one thing,' he said, standing. 'Let's check mine in that spot.'

  She bade the bodyguards stay, and followed One-Thumb. At the door to his office, while he was trying to make the key work, she took his arm and moved softly up against him. 'You never tarry at my place any more. Are you keeping your own woman, out at the estate? Did we do something -'

  'You can't have all my secrets, woman.' In fact, for more than a year he had not taken a woman normally, but needed the starch of rape. This was the only part of his evil life that shamed him, and certainly not because of the women he had hurt and twice killed. He dreaded weakness more than death, and wondered which part would fail him next.

  Amoli idly looked through the one-way mirror while One-Thumb attended to the strongbox. She turned when she heard him gasp.

  'Gods!' The leather wrapping lay limp and empty on the floor of the box.

  They both stared for a moment. 'Does Marype have his father's protection?' Amoli asked.

  One-Thumb shook his head. 'It was the father that did this.'

  Sorcerers are not omnipotent. They can be bargained with. They can even be killed, with stealth and surprise. And spells cannot normally be maintained without effort; a good sorcerer might hold six or a dozen at once. It was Mizraith's fame that he maintained past a hundred, although it was well known that he did this by casting secondary spells on lesser'sorcerers, tapping their power unbeknownst. Still, gathering all these strings and holding them, ' as well as the direct spells that protected his life and fortune, used most of his concentration, giving him a distracted air. The unwary might interpret this as senility - a half-century without sleep had left its mark - and might toy to take his purse or life, as their last act.

  But Mizraith was rarely seen on the streets, and certainly never near the noise and smell of the Maze. He normally kept to his opulent apartments in the easternmost part of town, flanked by the inns of Wideway, overlooking the sea.

  One-Thumb warned the pirate cook that he might have to take a double shift, and took a bottle of finest brandy to give to Mizraith, and a skin of the ordinary kind to keep up their courage as they went to face the man who guarded his life. The emptied skin joined the harbour's flotsam before they'd gone half of Wideway, and they continued in grim silence.

  Mizraith's eldest son let them in, not seeming surprised at their visit. 'The bodyguards stay here,' he said, and made a pass with one hand. 'You'll want to leave all your iron here, as well.'

  One-Thumb felt the dagger next to his ankle grow warm; he tossed it away and also dropped his rapier and the dagger sheathed to his forearm. There was a similar scattering of weapons from the other three. Amoli turned to the wall and reached inside her skirts, inside herself, to retrieve the ultimate birth control device, a sort of diaphragm with a spring-loaded razor attached (no one would have her without paying in some coin). The hardware glowed dull red briefly, then cooled.

  'Is Marype at
home?' One-Thumb asked.

  'He was, briefly,' the older brother said. 'You came to see Father, though.' He turned to lead them up a winding flight of stairs.

  Velvet and silk embroidered in arcane patterns. A golden samovar bubbling softly in the corner; flower-scented tea. A naked girl, barely ofchildbearing age, sitting cross-legged by the samovar, staring. A bodyguard much larger than the ones downstairs, but slightly transparent. In the middle of this sat Mizraith, on a pile of pillows, or maybe of gold, bright eyes in dark hollows, smiling open-mouthed at something unseeable.

  The brother left them there. Magician, guardian, and girl all ignored them. 'Mizraith?' One-Thumb said.

  The sorcerer slowly brought his eyes to bear on him and Amoli.

  'I've been waiting for you, Lastel, or what is your name in the Maze, One-Thumb ... I could grow that back for you, you know.'

  'I get along well enough -'

  'And you brought me presents! A bottle and a bauble - more my age than this sweetmeat.' He made a grotesque face at the naked girl and winked.

  'No, Mizraith, this woman and I, we both believe we've been wronged by you. Cheated and stolen from,' he said boldly, but his voice shook. 'The bottle is a gift.'

  The bodyguard moved towards them, its steps making no noise. 'Hold, spirit.' It stopped, glaring. 'Bring that bottle here.'

  As One-Thumb and Amoli walked towards Mizraith, a low table materialized in front of him, then three glasses. 'You may serve, Lastel.' Nothing had moved but his head.

  One-Thumb poured each glass full; one of them rose a handspan above the table and drained itself, then disappeared. 'Very good. Thank you. Cheated, now? My, oh my. Stolen? Hee. What could you have that I need?'

  'It's only we who need it, Mizraith, and I don't know why you would want to cheat us out of it - especially me. You can't have many commissions more lucrative than mine.'

  'You might be surprised, Lastel. You might be surprised. TeaY The girl decanted a cup of tea and brought it over, as if in a trance. Mizraith took it and the girl sat at his side, playing with her hair. 'Stolen, eh? What? You haven't told me. What?'

  'Krrf,' he said.

  Mizraith gestured negligently with his free hand and a small snowstorm of grey powder drifted to the rug, and disappeared.

  'No.' One-Thumb rubbed his eyes. When he looked at the pillows, they were pillows; when he looked away, they turned to blocks of gold. 'Not conjured krrf.' It had the same gross effect but no depth, no nuance.

  'Twenty grimales of black krrf from Caronne,' Amoli said.

  'Stolen from both of us,' One-Thumb said. 'It was sent to me by a man in Ranke, payment for services rendered. Your son Marype picked it up at the caravan depot, hidden inside a cheese. He extracted it somehow and sold it to this woman, Amoli -'

  'Amoli? You're the mistress of a ... of the Slippery Lily?'

  'No, the Lily Garden. The other place is in the Maze, a good place for pox and slatterns.'

  One-Thumb continued. 'After he sold it to her, it disappeared. He brought it to me last night. This evening, it disappeared from my own strongbox.'

  'Marype couldn't do that,' Mizraith said.

  The conjuring part, I know he couldn't - which is why I say that you must have been behind it. Why? A joke?'

  Mizraith sipped. 'Would you like tea?'

  'No. Why?'

  He handed the half-empty cup to the girl. 'More tea.' He watched her go to the samovar. 'I bought her for the walk. Isn't that fine? From behind, she could be a boy.'

  'Please, Mizraith. This is financial ruin for Amoli and a gross insult to me.'

  'A joke, eh? You think I make stupid jokes?'

  'I know that you do things for reasons I cannot comprehend,' he said tactfully. 'But this is serious -'

  'I know that!' He took the tea and fished a flower petal from it; rubbed it away. 'More serious than you think, if my son is involved. Did it all disappear? Is there any tiny bit of it left?'

  'The pinch you gave to my eunuch,' Amoli said. 'He may still have it.'

  'Fetch it,' Mizraith said. He stared slack-jawed into his tea for a minute. 'I didn't do it, Lastel. Some other did.'

  'With Marype's help.'

  'Perhaps unwilling. We shall see ... Marype is adept enough to have sensed the worth of the cheese, and I think he is worldly enough to recognize a block of rare krrf, and know where to sell it. By himself, he would not be able to charm it away.'

  'You fear he's betrayed you?'

  Mizraith caressed the girl's long hair. 'We have had some argument lately. About his progress... he thinks I am teaching him too slowly, withholding ... mysteries. The truth is, spells are complicated. Being able to generate one is not the same as being able to control it; that takes practice, and maturity. He sees what his brothers can do and is jealous, I think.'

  'You can't know his mind directly?'

  'No. That's a powerful spell against strangers, but the closer you are to a person, the harder it is. Against your own blood ... no. His mind is closed to me.'

  Amoli returned with the square of parchment. She held it out apologetically. 'He shared it with the other bodyguard and your son. Is this enough?' There was a dark patch in the centre of the square.

  He took it between thumb and forefinger and grimaced. 'Mark-mor!' The second most powerful magician in Sanctuary - an upstart not even a century old.

  'He's in league with your strongest competitor?' One-Thumb said.

  'In league or in thrall.' Mizraith stood up and crossed his arms. The bodyguard disappeared; the cushions became a stack of gold bricks. He mumbled some gibberish and opened his arms wide.

  Marype appeared in front of him. He was a handsome lad: flowing silver hair, striking features. He was also furious, naked, and rampant.

  'FatherI am busy' He made a flinging gesture and disappeared.

  Mizraith made the same gesture and the boy came back. 'We can do this all night. Or you can talk to me.'

  Noticeably less rampant. 'This is unforgiveable.' He raised his arm to make the pass again; then checked it as Mizraith did the same. 'Clothe me.' A brick disappeared, and Marype was wearing a tunic of woven gold.

  'Tell me you are not in the thrall of Markmor.'

  The boy's fists were clenched. 'I am not.'

  'Are you quite certain?'

  'We are friends, partners. He is teaching me things.'

  'You know I will teach you everything, eventually. But -'

  Marype made a pass and the stack of gold turned to a heap of stinking dung. 'Cheap,' Mizraith said, wrinkling his nose. He held his elbow a certain way and the gold came back. 'Don't you see he wants to take advantage of you?'

  'I can see that he wants access to you. He was quite open about that.'

  'Stefab,' Mizraith whispered. 'Nesteph.'

  'You need the help of my brothers?'

  The two older brothers appeared, flanking Mizraith. 'What I need is some sense out of you.' To the others: 'Stay him!'

  Heavy golden chains bound his wrists and ankles to sudden rings in the floor. He strained and one broke; a block of blue ice encased him. The ice began to melt.

  Mizraith turned to One-Thumb and Amoli. 'You weaken us with your presence.' A bar of gold floated over to the woman. 'That will compensate you. Lastel, you will have the krrf, once I take care of this. Be careful for the next few hours. Go.'

  As they backed out, other figures began to gather in the room. One-Thumb recognized the outline of Markmor flickering.

  In the foyer, Amoli handed the gold to her eunuch. 'Let's get back to the Maze,' she said. 'This place is dangerous.'

  One-Thumb sent the pirate cook home and spent the rest of the night in the familiar business of dispensing drink and krrf and haggling over rates of exchange. He took a judicious amount of krrf himself - the domestic kind - to keep alert. But nothing supernatural happened, and nothing more exciting than a routine eye-gouging over a dice dispute. He did have to step over a deceased ex patron when he went to lock up at dawn. A
t least he'd had the decency to die outside, so no report had to be made.

  One reason he liked to take the death-shift was the interesting ambience of Sanctuary in the early morning. The sunlight was hard, revealing rather than cleansing. Litter and excrement in the gutters. A few exhausted revellers, staggering in small groups or sitting half-awake, blade out, waiting for a bunk to clear at first bell. Dogs nosing the evening's remains. Decadent, stale, worn, mortal. He took dark pleasure in it. Double pleasure this morning, a slight krrf overdose singing death-song in his brain.

  He almost went east, to check on Mizraith. 'Be careful the next few hours' that must have meant his bond to Mizraith made him somehow vulnerable in the weird struggle with Markmor over Marype. But he had to go back to the estate and dispose of the bones in the dogs' troughs, and then be Lastel for a noon meeting.

  *

  There was one drab whore in the waiting-room of the Lily Garden, who gave him a thick smile and then recognized him and slumped back to doze. He went through the velvet curtain to where the eunuch sat with his back against the wall, glaive across his lap.

  He didn't stand. 'Any trouble, One-Thumb?'

  'No trouble. No krrf, either.' He heaved aside the bolt on the massive door to the tunnel. 'For all I know, it's still going on. If Mizraith had lost, I'd know by now, I think.'

  'Or if he'd won,' the eunuch said.

  'Possibly. I'll be in touch with your mistress if I have anything for her.' One Thumb lit the waiting lamp and swung the door closed behind him.

  Before he'd reached the bottom of the stairs, he knew something was wrong. Too much light. He turned the wick all the way down; the air was slightly glowing. At the foot of the stairs, he set down the lamp, drew his rapier, and waited.

  The glow coalesced into a fuzzy image of Mizraith. It whispered, 'You are finally in dark, Lastel. One-Thumb. Listen: I may die soon. Your charm, I've transferred to Stefab, and it holds. Pay him as you've paid me ...' He wavered, disappeared, came back. 'Your krrf is in this tunnel. It cost more than you can know.' Darkness again.

  One-Thumb waited a few minutes more in the darkness and silence (fifty steps from the light above) before re-lighting the lamp. The block of krrf was at his feet. He tucked it under his left arm and proceeded down the tunnel, rapier in hand. Not that steel would be much use against sorcery, if that was to be the end of this. But an empty hand was less.