Thieves World 3 – Shadows of Sanctuary by Asprin, Robert

had loaned him money when Gilla was sick after the birth of their second child.

He thought of turning back, but surely he could visit Farsi another time. He was

too busy now.

Plans for the new project were boiling in his brain. He had to come up with

something that could transcend the rest of Molin’s decor without trying to

compete with its vulgarity. Colours, details, the interplay of line and mass,

rippled before his mind’s eye like a painted veil between him and the sordid

streets of the town.

So much would depend on the models he chose for the figures in the design!

Sabellia and her nymphs must display a beauty that would uplift the imagination

even as it pleased the eye, an air at once both regal and innocent.

Lalo slipped on a fishhead. He flailed wildly for a moment, then regained his

balance and stood panting and blinking in the bright sun.

‘And where will I find such maidens in Sanctuary?’ he asked himself aloud.

‘Where mothers sell their daughters into whoredom as soon as their breasts begin

to show?’ Even the girls who retained some outward beauty were swiftly corrupted

within. In the past, he had found his models among the street singers and the

girls who eked out a weaver’s paltry daylight wages on their backs, at night. He

would have to look elsewhere now.

He sighed and turned his face to the sea. It was cooler here, and the changing

wind brought a fresh sea breeze to compete with the rotting fish odour of the

shore. The blue water sparkled like a virgin’s eye.

A woman with a child in her arms waved to him, and after a moment Lalo