X

Thieves World 01 – Thieves World by Asprin, Robert

‘The captain has a writing to decipher. Sensibly, he has brought it to us, who

can translate more foreign tongues than any similar firm! It is possible that it

may be in Yenized, with which you are familiar … though, alas, I am not.’

Jarveena barely suppressed a giggle. If the document were in any known script or

language, Melilot would certainly recognize it – whether or not he could furnish

a translation. That implied – hmm! A cipher! How interesting! How did an

officer of the guard come by a message in code he couldn’t read? She looked

expectant, though not eager, and with much reluctance Aye-Gophlan handed her

the scroll.

Without appearing to look up, she registered a tiny nod from Melilot. She was to

agree with him.

But –

What in the world? Only a tremendous self-control prevented her from letting

fall the document. Merely glancing at it made her dizzy, as though her eyes were

crossing against her will. For a second she had seemed to read it clearly, and a

heartbeat later …

She took a firm grip on herself. ‘I believe this to be Yenized, as you

suspected, sir,’ she declared.

‘Believe?’ Aye-Gophlan rasped. ‘But Melilot swore you could read it instantly!’

‘Modern Yenized I can, captain,’ Jarveena amplified. ‘I recognize this as a high

and courtly style, as difficult for a person like myself as Imperial Rankene

would be for a herdsman accustomed to sleeping with the swine.’ It was always

politic to imply one’s own inferiority when talking to someone like this.

‘Luckily, thanks to my master’s extensive library, I’ve gained a wider knowledge

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266

Categories: Asprin, Robert
curiosity: