Robert Asprin – Thieves World 09 – Blood Ties

“No, that’s not what I want to do. You know a few things about this town.”

“Just a few,” Fulcris said, thinking that the man was not telling the truth but that he even lied well, in that same matter-of-fact way. “You leam things from people you pass on the road, and I listened, up in Aurvesh. This town’s had a real mess in the past year or so. Fire, flood, a war among witches trying to take over and the Stepsons-mercenaries under someone named Tempus who has sort of taken over ‘defense’ and peace-keeping; and all the while the town’s really been taken over by some odd invaders from oversea. The Empire’s not as strong as it was.”

“Ranke?”

“Right.”

“So I heard. Odd invaders?” Even “odd” sounded odd; this man’s short o was extremely short.

“Freaks, or half-humans, or something. Guess we’ll find out. Listen, you know

I’m not going to charge you to take care of your gear and horse for a few days.

But here’s a thought, unless you’re in a hurry. A man and a couple of women are riding into town later, and they’ve already asked my caravan master if he’d give them an escort. He asked me. Sure; that trio’s rich!” Fulcris flashed a smile and noticed that the other man only nodded. “Anyhow, if you care to rest here while I see to a few things I have to do, the five of us can ride in together.

You’ll be a lot less noticeable-people will take you for another from the caravan.”

“Fulcris, well met and I thank you. I can waste some time knocking the dust off and leaving the shield and big sword- here?”