For another week he feared that he would encounter Tempus on the street or
someplace, but he did not. After that, amid rumours of some sort of insurrection
somewhere near, he began to fear that he would never see Tempus, and then of
course he did see him. Healed and scarless. Hanse went home and threw up.
He traded a few things for more strong drink, and he got drunk and stayed that
way for a while. He just didn’t feel like stealing, or facing Tempus, or
Kadakithis either. He did dream, of two gods and a girl of sixteen or so. Ils
and Shalpa and Mignureal. And quicklime.
THE RHINOCEROS AND THE UNICORN
by Diana L. Paxson
‘So why did you come back?’ Gilla’s shrill retort interrupted Lalo’s ‘attempts
to explain why he had not been home the night before. ‘Has every tavern in
Sanctuary shown you the door?’ She planted her fists on her spreading hips, the
meaty flesh on her upper arms quivering below the short sleeves of her shift,
and glared at him.
Lalo stepped backwards, caught his heel on the leg of his easel, and clattered
to the floor in a tangle of splintering wood and skinny limbs. The baby began to
cry. While Lalo gasped for breath, Gilla took a long stride to the cradle and
clutched the child to her breasts, patting him soothingly. Echoes of their older
children’s quarrels with their playmates drifted from the street below, mingling
with the clatter of a cart and the calls of vendors hawking their wares in the
Bazaar.
‘Now see what you’ve done!’ said Gilla when the baby had quieted. ‘Isn’t it
enough that you bring home no bread? If you can’t earn an honest living