Thieves World 3 – Shadows of Sanctuary by Asprin, Robert

everyone to think his head had been turned by his new prosperity than for them

to guess the truth. The solution to his dilemma that had enabled him to complete

the job for Lord Molin had forever barred him from Society portraiture.

‘Heavenly things … ah, yes…’ Jordis’s eyes had moved to one of the nymphs

painted on the wall, whose limbs were supple and rounded, whose eyes shone with

youth and merriment. ‘If I could make a living gazing at such lovelies, I

suppose I’d refuse to paint old men too!’ He laughed suggestively. ‘Where do you

find them in this town, eh?’

Selling their bodies on the docks …or their souls in the Bazaar … slaving in

your kitchen or scrubbing your floors… thought Lalo bitterly. This was not the

first time this evening that he had been asked who his models were. The nymph at

whom Jordis was now leering so eagerly was a crippled beggar girl whom he had

probably passed in the street a dozen times. On another wall the whore Valira

proudly presented a sheaf of grain to the Goddess, while her child tumbled like

a cherub about her feet. And the Goddess they worshipped, who dominated all of

the facile splendour in this room, was his Gilla, the rhinoceros who had been

revealed as something greater than any unicorn.

You have hearts but you do not feel… Lalo’s eyes moved over the dazzle of

apparel and ornament in which Lord Molin’s guests had disguised themselves. You

have eyes, but you do not see. He murmured something about an artist’s

perspective.

‘If you want a room decorated, I’ll be happy to serve you, but I do not think