kill the girl? Or even: Do you regret your oath and the secret you must bear to
the last day? Lythande chose to answer the last.
‘Regret? How can I regret? One day I shall fight against Chaos with all of my
order; even at the side of Rabben, if he lives un-murdered as long as that. And
that alone must justify my existence and my secret. But now I must leave
Sanctuary, and who knows when the chances of the world will bring me this way
again? Kiss me farewell, my sister.’
Myrtis stood on tiptoe. Her lips met the lips of the magician.
‘Until we meet again, Lythande. May She attend and guard you for ever. Farewell,
my beloved, my sister.’
Then the magician Lythande girded on her sword, and went silently and by unseen
ways out of the city of Sanctuary, just as the dawn was breaking. And on her
forehead the glow of the Blue Star was dimmed by the rising sun. Never once did
she look back.
THE MAKING OF THIEVES’ WORLD
by Robert Lynn Asprin
It was a dark and stormy night…
Actually, that Thursday night before Boskone ’78 was a very pleasant night. Lynn
Abbey, Gordy Dickson, and I were enjoying a quiet dinner in the Boston
Sheraton’s Mermaid Restaurant prior to the chaos which inevitably surrounds a
major science fiction convention.
As so often happens when several authors gather socially, the conversation
turned to the subject of writing in general and specifically to problems
encountered and pet peeves. Not to be outdone by my dinner companions, I voiced
one of my long-standing gripes: that whenever one set out to write heroic
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