he had no love for One-Thumb, neither had he any reason to wish him ill.
The big man hadn’t just lost a year of his life – he’d lost his fire – that core
of ferocity which had earned him the respect of the town’s underworld. Though
One-Thumb was unmarked physically, he was only the empty shell of his former
self. This town was no place for a man without the strength to back his bluster.
The end of One-Thumb’s story was in sight – and it wouldn’t be pleasant. Maybe
with a few revisions the story – if not the man – had a future.
Lost in his thoughts, Hakiem faded once more into the shadows of Sanctuary.
LOOKING FOR SATAN
by Vonda N. Mclntyre
The four travellers left the mountains at the end of the day, tired, cold, and
hungry, and they entered Sanctuary.
The inhabitants of the city observed them and laughed, but they laughed behind
their sleeves or after the small group passed. All its members walked armed. Yet
there was no belligerence in them. They looked around amazed, nudged each other,
and pointed at things, for all the world as if none had ever seen a city before.
As, indeed, they had not.
Unaware of the amusement of the townspeople, they passed through the marketplace
towards the city proper. The light was fading; The farmers culled their produce
and took down their awnings. Limp cabbage leaves and rotten fruit littered the
roughly cobbled street, and bits of unrecognizable stuff floated down the open
central sewer.
Beside Wess, Chan shifted his heavy pack.
‘Let’s stop and buy something to eat,’ he said, ‘before everybody goes home.’