pardon for all he might have done – once he had assured the royal youth that he
had never slain. (He had, since. It afforded him little enjoyment or pride.)
Hanse also came out of that painful adventure with a nice little fortune.
Unfortunately it was in two saddlebags currently reposing at the bottom of a
well. He hoped those saddlebags were of good leather.
Now he had broken in here twice. This time he had proven that he could enter
this apartment without help from inside or out. What then, when Kadakithis gave
thought to that?
Hanse had respect for the youthful Rankan’s mind. It even possessed a devious
quality. Hanse had seen and felt proof of that, when as Kadakithis’s unwilling
agent he had participated in the ruin of the two plotters. Bourne and Lirain.
Suppose, the frowning Hanse mused, that Kadakithis pondered and kept thinking.
There existed in Sanctuary one who could gain his chambers and thus his royal
and gubernatorial self, at will. At any time, and never mind guards and
sentries! Suppose that one chose to come again, as thief? – or was hired to do,
as assassin? Would such a possibility not tend to prey on Kadakithis’s good
mind? Might he not decide that he was less than wise to trust him called Shadow
spawn, a thief and ruthless besides? Might he not go even further in his
thinking, and decide – wisely, as he would see it – that all things considered,
Hanse was more dangerous than valuable?
In that case, the Prince-Governor might very well conclude, he and thus
Sanctuary and thus Ranke were better off without such worries, such a