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

the least this endeavour needed, though Crit would never pair again …

He put it to them when all were well disposed from wine and roasted pig and

lamb, standing and flatly telling them Tempus had left, putting them in his

charge. There fell a silence and in it he could hear his heart pound. He’d been

calmer ringed with Tyse hillmen, or alone, his partner slain, against a Rankan

squadron.

‘Now, we’ve got each other, and for good and fair, I say to you, the quicker we

quit this cesspool for the clean air of high peaks war, the happier I’ll be.’

He could hardly see their faces in the dark with the torches snapping right

before his face. But it didn’t matter; they had to see him, not he them. Crit

heard a raucous growl from fifty throats become assent, and then a cheer, and

laughter, and Strat, beside and off a bit, gave him a soldier’s sign: all’s

well.

He raised a hand, and they fell quiet; it was a power he’d never tried before:

‘But the only way to leave with honour is to work your tours out.’ They

grumbled. He continued: ‘The Riddler’s left busy-work sorties enough – hazardous

duty actions, by guild book rules; I’ll post a list – that we can work off our

debt to Kitty-Cat in a month or so.’

Someone nay’d that. Someone else called: ‘Let him finish, then we’ll have our

say.’

‘It means naught to me, who deserts to follow. But to us, to cadre honour, it’s

a slur. So I’ve thought about it, since I’m hot to leave myself, and here’s what

I propose. All stay, or go. You take your vote. I’ll wait. But Tempus wants no