which you may need. – It’s no great thing I ask, simply a matter of spying out
where she is. Did I ask you to go against her yourself? No. A small favour, well
paid. And you’ve done favours like that before. Would you have that known – that
you’ve worked in high places? Your past patron wouldn’t appreciate that
publicity. He wouldn’t retaliate against me, no. But you – how long do you think
you’d live, thief, if your connections went public?’
Hanse had sucked in his breath. He forced a grin then, struck a lighter pose,
hand on hip. ‘So, well, paid in gold, you said?’
‘After.’
‘Now.’
‘Darous, give the man sufficient as earnest. And give him the amulet.’
Hanse turned from the wizard, whose voice had acquired a hissing quality: and
the hand – had vanished into one of those blinks of the eye that deceived the
mind and memory that anything had – a moment earlier – been there. Hanse took
the chain and put it over his head. The amulet itself hit his bare throat and it
was bitter and burning cold. The servant held out a purse. Hanse took that, felt
the weight in his hand, opened the neck of it and looked at the gold and silver
abundance inside. His heart beat wildly, while against his neck the metal failed
to be warmed as metal ought, stayed there like a lump of ice. It sent a vague
malaise through him, which changed character from moment to moment like -‘So
what am I supposed to do?’ he asked. ‘And where do I look?’
‘A house,’ a woman’s voice said to his right, and he looked, blinked, found only
the hooded form in the chair. ‘Seventh in the alley called Snake. On the right