Thieves World 5 – The Face of Chaos by Asprin, Robert

expected in several different ways.

‘I’ve seen the priest, Molin Torchholder, and he’s made a plan; a way to snare

the one he suspects. I thought he would have sent you a message by now,’

Cythen said quickly.

Myrtis shrugged, but without unclenching her fists. ‘Since Bekin there have been

other deaths: gruesome murders, many of them Beysib women. All the reliable

couriers have been kept busy. There isn’t time for the death of a Sanctuary

girl. Perhaps you can tell me who Molin Torchholder suspects of using beynit

venom when the Harka Bey denies all knowledge of it?’

‘He suspects a man, a Beysib man. He suspects that the death of my sister is not

so different from the Beysib deaths.’

‘Has he given you a name?’

‘Yes, Turghurt Burek.’

‘The son of the prime minister?’

‘Yes, but the Torch suspects him anyway. He comes here, doesn’t he?’

‘That man has spies everywhere!’ Myrtis grimaced as she relaxed and raised her

fist towards the smouldering hearth. Cythen heard a small click; then watched as

the flames leapt high and crimson. ‘Once primed, it must be shot,’ Myrtis

explained, while Cythen shuddered. ‘We called him Voyce here; and he was always

a gentleman – for all that he’s fish-folk. Bekin was special to him; such

childlike innocence is not at all common among their women. He grieved over her

death and hasn’t been back since she died.

‘But he was also the second person to suggest the Harka Bey to us.’ Myrtis

paused, and just when Cythen despaired of being believed at all, the starkly

beautiful woman continued: ‘I like him very much; he reminds me of a love I once