tenement owned by Furtwan the dealer in snails for dye – who lived way over on
the east side, hardly in tenement conditions. Instantly Hanse vanished into the
embrace of his true friend and home. The shadows.
Because he had kept his eyes slitted while he was in the light filtering down
from Straight Street, he was able to see. The darkness deepened with each of his
gliding westward steps.
He heard the odd tapping sound as he passed Wrong Way Park. What in all the – a
blind man? Hanse smiled – keeping his mouth closed against the possible flash of
teeth. This was a wonderful place for the blind! They could ‘see’ more in three
quarters of the Maze than anyone with working eyes. He eased along towards the
short streetlet called Tanner, hearing the noises from Sly’s Place. Then he
heard Athavul’s voice, out in the open.
‘Your pardon, dear lady, but if you don’t hand myself your necklace and your
wallet I’ll put this crossbow bolt through your left gourd.’
Hanse eased closer, getting himself nearer the triple ‘corner’ where Tanner sort
of intersected with Odd Birt’s Dodge and touched the north-south wriggle of the
Serpentine as well. Streets ; in the Maze, it has been said, had been laid out
by two love-struck snakes, both soaring on krrf. Hanse heard the reply of Ath’s
intended prey: ‘You don’t have a crossbow, slime lizard, but see what I have!’
The scream, in a voice barely recognizable as Athavul’s, raised the hairs on
the back of Hanse’s neck and sent a chill running all the way down his
coccyx. He considered freezing in place. He I considered the sensible course