Thieves World 4 – Storm Season by Asprin, Robert

spoke offhandedly of adept’s refreshments and archmagical meditations, who

routinely transported his spirit into a mystical realm and was accustomed to

meeting another spirit there. He said at last:” I do not read it ill that your

friend waits there. Why is it bad, unless you make it so? Maat, if you have had

it, you will find again. With him, you are bound in spirit, not just in flesh.

He would be hurt to hurt you, and to see that you are afraid of what once you

loved. His spirit will depart your place of relaxation when we put it formally

to rest. Yet you must make a better peace with him, and surmount your fear. It

is well to have a friendly soul waiting at the gate when your time comes around.

Surely, you love him still?”

That broke the young Stepson, and Tempus left him curled upon his bed, so that

his sobs need not be silent, and he could heal upon his own.

Outside, leaning against the doorjamb, the planked door carefully closed, Tempus

put his fingers to the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes. He had surprised

himself, as well as the boy, offering Niko such far-reaching support. He was not

sure he dared to mean it, but he had said it. Niko’s team had functioned as the

Stepsons’ ad hoc liaisons, coordinating (but more usually arbitrating disputes

among) the mercenaries and the Hell-Hounds (the Rankan Imperial Elite Guards),

the Ilsig regular army and the militia Tempus was trying to covertly make out of

some carefully-chosen street urchins, slit purses, and sleeves-the real rulers

of this overblown slum and the only people who ever knew what was going on in