Thieves World 01 – Thieves World by Asprin, Robert

It felt to Jarveena as though the gaze of those two dull red orbs could

penetrate her flesh as well as her clothing. She could say nothing, but had

nothing to say.

‘No,’ pronounced the wizard – for surely it must be none other. He let the

scroll drop on the table, and it formed itself into a tidy roll at once, while

he rose and approached her. A gesture, as though to sketch her outline in the

air, freed her from the lassitude that had hampered her limbs. But she had too

much sense to break and run.

Whither?

‘Do you know me?’

‘I…’ She licked dry lips. ‘I think you may be Enas Yorl.’

‘Fame at last,’ the wizard said wryly. ‘Do you know why you’re here?’

‘You … Well, I guess you set a trap for me. I don’t know why, unless it has to

do with that scroll.’

‘Hmm! A perceptive child!’ Had he possessed eyebrows, one might have imagined

the wizard raising them. And then at once: ‘Forgive me. I should not have said

“child”. You are old in the ways of the world, if not in years. But after the

first century, such patronizing remarks come easy to the tongue …’ He resumed

his chair, inviting Jarveena with a gesture to come closer. She was reluctant.

For when he rose to inspect her, he had been squat. Under the cloak he was

obviously thick-set, stocky, with a paunch. But by the time he regained his

seat, it was equally definite that he was thin, light-boned, and had one

shoulder higher than the other.

‘You have noticed,’ he said. His voice too had altered; it had been baritone,

while now it was at the most flattering a countertenor. ‘Victims of