Thieves World 3 – Shadows of Sanctuary by Asprin, Robert

recognized Valira, come to the shore for an hour or two of sunshine with her

baby before it was time for her to ply her trade with the sailors there. She

lifted the child for him to see, and he noted with a pang that although her eyes

were painted, and glass beads glittered in her hennaed hair, her arms were still

childishly thin. He remembered when she had been one of his oldest daughter’s

playmates, and had often come to Lalo’s house for supper when there was no food

at her own.

He knew about the rape that had started Valira in this profession, the poverty

that kept her there, but her cheerful greeting made him uncomfortable. She had

not chosen her fate, but she could not escape it now. Her existence clouded the

bright future he had been envisioning.

Lalo waved briefly at Valira and then hurried on, at once relieved and ashamed

when she did not call out to him.

He continued along the Wideway, past the wharves where the foreign ships were

berthed, pulling at their moorings like a nobleman’s horses tethered outside a

peasant’s sty. Some of the merchants had spread out their wares on the docks,

and Lalo threaded his way among knots of people bickering over prices,

exchanging insults and news with equal good humour. A few City Guards lounged

against a piling, weariness and wariness mingling in their faces as they

surveyed the motley crowd. They were accompanied by one of the Prince’s Hell

Hounds, his expression differing from theirs only in that it became, if

possible, even more supercilious when he looked at his men.