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

slaughter. There would be slaughter, nothing could be more certain than that;

but for the moment, Samlor continued to wait. There were ten, perhaps twenty,

Beysib within the temple wall at the moment. Some of them were between Star and

the hidden door. That would not keep Samlor from striking if the need arose, but

there was at least a chance that some of those now milling in the room would

spread out if the ceremony began.

Star had gotten to her feet. She was pouting in the brief glimpse Samlor had of

her face as she turned. He could not imagine how anyone had taken Star for the

maid’s daughter. Even the set other lips was a mirror of Samlane’s.

The Beysib chattering ceased. Their feet brushed quickly to positions flanking

the temple opening. It was much as Samlor had hoped. Star stretched her hands

out, palms forward, towards the cove. The man in red was still with her, but the

woman had joined the others just outside the building. Star began chanting in a

bored voice. The syllables were not in any language with which Samlor was

familiar. From the regularity of the sounds, it was possible that they were from

no language at all, merely forming a pattern to concentrate nonverbal portions

of the brain.

Samlor tensed. He had already chosen the spot through which his dagger would

enter the kidneys of the man in red. Then, suddenly, Lord Tudhaliya’s troopers

swept into the gathering with cries of bloody triumph.

The security forces might have intended to take a few prisoners, but as Samlor

bolted from his hiding place, he saw a woman cut in half. The trooper who killed