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

but follow; whatever was going to happen was well upon them, now.

A dozen riders materialized out of the wasteland near the swamp and surrounded

the two Stepsons; none had faces; all had glowing pure-white eyes. They fought

as best they could with mortal weapons, but ropes of spitting power came round

them and blue sparks bit them and their flesh sizzled through their linen

chitons and, unhorsed, they were dragged along behind the riders until they no

longer knew where they were or what was happening to them or even felt the pain.

The last thing Niko remembered, before he awoke bound to a tree in some

featureless grove, was the wagon ahead stopping, and his horse, on its own

trying to win the day. The big black had climbed the mount of the rider who

dragged Niko on a tether, and he’d seen the valiant beast’s thick jowls pierced

through by arrows glowing blue with magic, seen his horse falter, jaws gaping,

then fall as he was dragged away.

Now he struggled, helpless in his bonds, trying to clear his vision and will his

pain away.

Before him he saw figures, a bonfire limning silhouettes. Among them, as

consciousness came full upon him and he began to wish he’d never waked, was

Tamzen, struggling in grisly embraces and wailing out his name, and the other

girls, and Janni, spreadeagled, staked out on the ground, his mouth open,

screaming at the sky. ‘Ah,’ he heard, ‘Nikodemos. So kind of you to join us.’

Then a woman’s face swam before him, beautiful, though that just made it worse.

It was the Nisibisi witch and she was smiling, itself an awful sign. A score of