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

how they all managed to fit inside. Certainly the place seemed abustle with

Beysib functionaries in laced breeks and loose doublets or the flared skirts and

high collars they all affected. It seemed to her that they even outnumbered the

silk-sashed Palace servants who went about their duties with such ostentatious

solemnity.

Gilla looked at her daughter, already aping Beysib fashion in a gown cut down

from an old petticoat of her lady’s whose borders glittered with threads of

gold. Whether this Beysib female was any help or no, certainly Gilla and Lalo

had done a good piece of work when they used his Palace connections to get Vanda

a position here. The Lady Kurrekai occupied a chamber on the second floor of the

Palace, close to the roomier apartments near the roof garden, which had been

taken over by the Beysa. If Gilla understood what Vanda had told her of Beysib

politics, Kurrekai was a cousin of Shupansea the Queen, not in direct line for

the lost Imperial throne, but royal enough to keep one of the sacred serpents

and to have been trained as a priestess.

Gilla shuddered, thinking of the beynit. Enas Yorl’s basilisks had been bad

enough, and now she must face this imported horror. / must love that man, she

thought glumly, or I would be running for home.

And then they were at the door, and the choice was gone. She smelled some kind

of incense, like bitter sandalwood.

‘Ah. the mother of my little friend. You are welcome …’ A voice rather deep

and slightly accented greeted them. The figure that rose as they entered was