Thieves World 01 – Thieves World by Asprin, Robert

inner thigh, probably the right. Maybe that’s part of the reason he walks the

way he does. Cat-supple and yet sort of stiff of leg all at ,once. A tumbler’s

gait – or a punk’s swagger. Don’t tell him I said!)

Anyhow, about the weapons and my first impression that he couldn’t be poor.

There’s a throwing knife in that leather and copper armlet, on his right upper

arm, and another in the long bracer of black leather on that same arm. Both are

short. The stickers I mean, not the bracers or the arms either.

All that armament would be enough to scare anybody on a dark night, or even a

moonbright one. Imagine being in the Maze or some place like that and out of the

shadows comes this young bravo, swaggering, wearing all that sharp metal! Right

at you out of the shadows that spawned him. Enough to chill even one of those

Hell Hounds. Even one ofyou-know-who’s boys in the blue hawk-masks might step

aside.

That was my impression. Shadowspawn. About as pleasant as gout or dropsy.

SHADOWSPAWN

by Andrew Offutt

His mop of hair was blacker than black and his eyes nearly so, under brows that

just missed meeting above a nose not quite falcate. His walk reminded some of

one of those red-and-black gamecocks brought over from Mrsevada. They called him

Shadow-spawn. No compliment was intended, and he objected until Cudget told him

it was good to have a nickname – although he wished his own weren’t Cudget

Swearoath. Besides, Shadowspawn had a romantic and rather sinister sound, and

that appealed to his ego, which was the largest thing about him. His height was