Thieves World 3 – Shadows of Sanctuary by Asprin, Robert

understand that you do portraits,’ he went on. ‘Are you free to take a

commission now? Here’s an earnest of your fee -‘ He reached into the folds of

his garment, laid a gold piece shining on the table, quickly hid his misshapen

fingers once more.

Lalo stared, reached out gingerly as if expecting the coin to vanish at his

touch. Fortified by the wine, he could admit to himself how very odd this

episode had been. But the gold was hard and cool and weighed heavily in his

palm. His fingers closed.

The stranger’s smile stiffened. He drew back suddenly, away from the light. ‘Now

I must go.’

‘But the commission!’ cried Lalo. ‘Who is it for, and when?’

‘The commission …’ the man seemed to be having trouble enunciating the words.

‘If you have the courage, come now… Do you think that you can find the house

of Enas Yorl?’

Lalo cringed from his snarl of laughter, but the sorcerer did not wait for him

to reply. He had cast his cloak around him and was lurching towards the door,

and this time the shape the cloak covered was hardly human at all.

Lalo the limner stood in Prytanis Street before the house of Enas Yorl,

shivering. With the setting of the sun, the wind off the desert had turned cold,

although there was still a greenish light in the western sky. Once he had spent

two months trying to capture on canvas the translucent quality of that glow.

The rooftops of the city made a deceptively elegant silhouette against the sky,

topped by the lacy scaffolding of the tower of the Temple of Savankala and

Sabellia nearby. Insulting to local prejudices though the new temple might