Thieves World 01 – Thieves World by Asprin, Robert

inhibiting spells Lythande wove about her. She had not needed the potion,

however, to summon an attraction towards the handsome soldier nor to coax him to

his feet and then to her bed.

Zaibar protested that he was not himself and did not understand what was

happening to him. Myrtis did not trouble herself to argue with him. Lythande’s

potion was not one to rouse a wild, blind lust, but one which endowed a lifelong

affection in the drinker. The pure qualis played a part in weakening his

resistance. She held him behind the curtains of her bed until he had no doubt of

his love for her. Then she helped him dress again.

‘I’ll show you the secrets of the Aphrodisia House,’ she whispered in his ear.

‘I believe I have already found them.’

‘There are more.’

Myrtis took him by the hand, leading him to one of the drapery-covered walls.

She pushed aside the fabric; released a well-oiled catch; took a sconce from the

wall then led him into a dark, but airy, passage way.’

‘Walk carefully in my footsteps, Zaibar – I would not want to lose you to the

oubliettes. Perhaps you have wondered why the Street is outside the walls and

its buildings are so old and well-built? Perhaps you think Sanctuary’s founders

wished to keep us outside their fair city? What you do not know is that these

houses – especially the older ones like the Aphrodisia – are not really outside

the walls at all. My house is built of stone four feet thick. The shutters on

our windows are aged wood from the mountains. We have our own wells and

storerooms which can”supply us -and the city – for weeks, if necessary. Other