Thieves World 4 – Storm Season by Asprin, Robert

Three half-decent knives, a mountain of bad steel and a demon grinding away in

the shed there. Maybe we would be better running. Sometimes I don’t think we’ll

ever leave Sanctuary again.”

“He’s mad, but no demon. And I think he’s getting close to the steel we need.

He’s as eager to have the steel as we are-it’s his life.”

The little man shook his head and eased Walegrin’s tunic over the sore. “I don’t

like magic,” he complained.

“He only added a little bit of Ilsig silver- hardly enough to make a difference.

We’ve got to expect a little magic. We found the mine with magic, didn’t we?

Balustrus isn’t a magician. He said he couldn’t put a spell on the metal like

the Wrigglies put on steel, so he thought he’d try to add something to the steel

that already had a spell on it.”

“Yeah-the Necklace of Harmony!”

“You went to the temple and looked at the statue of Ils. You yourself said there

was a silver necklace on the statue. You yourself said there wasn’t a rumor in

town to the effect that the necklace had been touched, much less stolen. It’s

not the Necklace of Harmony.”

Thrusher bit his lip and looked away in thought. It was just as well that he

didn’t look at his commander’s face. Walegrin had been present at the moment the

smith added the bits of silver to the molten metal. He could truthfully say he

didn’t believe the metal was the Necklace of Harmony, but after seeing the burst

of white-hot flame he knew it was no ordinary piece of jewelry.

The whine of Balustrus’ grinding wheel dominated the courtyard. The furnaces had