Thieves World 3 – Shadows of Sanctuary by Asprin, Robert

Governor who had begun his term here by announcing that there would be law and

order and safety for citizens and had hanged, among others, one Cudget

Swearoath, mentor (and father image?) to Hanse. The P-G did not like Tempus (and

father image?) to Hanse.

It was all Hanse need do. Just report what he had learned and now suspected.

Then it was up to Kadakithis. He had the power and the resources. The men and

the swords. The savankh.

Surely that was as far as Hanse’s responsibility extended, to Kadakithis and to

Tempus. If he had any responsibility to that krff-snorting bully.

And… suppose H.R.H. Kadakithis, P-G, did nothing? Or if his Hell Hounds, the

charming Razkuli and Zaibar, received their orders but only pretended to act?

Did not Rankans protect their own? Did not soldiers obey authority? Was there

not honour among those thieving over-Lords?

If not, then Hanse’s world would be a-teeter. Despite his pretences there had

to be trust and some sort of order, didn’t there, and trustworthiness?

Hanse frowned and looked about almost wildly. An animal in a cage it feared

but could not escape, yet also feared what lay beyond the bars. Even the spawn

of shadows did not want to live in a world that was askew and a teeter. If it

existed, if the world was truly a thing of Chance and Chaos, he preferred not

to know. Fighting it, he had learned to trust Tempus. He had been/orce(/to

trust Kadakithis, because he was down a well up at Eaglenest. Later,

disbelieving and resisting, he had learned that he could trust the Rankan.