“I don’t.”
“Don’t lie to me.” Silken-soft. And the pain stabbed deep. “What can I give you
to make you stay?”
“L-life. F-for that.”
“No gold. No money. No woman. None of that.”
“To b-be alive-“
“That’s still our bargain. Isn’t it? They know about us. They took care enough
to set a trap for us. You think then that She doesn’t know? You think then that
we have infinite time? I’ve covered us thus far. They might not know who we are.
But careful as 1 am, dead man, Stralon came close to us. He probably knew us. He
probably passed that on. And that damnable priest and that damnable mage may
know who they’re looking for now. They might have thought it was Her. Now they
may go to Her and tell Her our business. And that won’t be good for us at all,
will it, dead man?”
“No.” It came out hoarse and strangled. “It won’t.”
“So let’s don’t take chances in the daylight, you and I. I have my means. Let’s
just be patient, shall we? I’ll take the Mistress. I’ll deal with Her. You wait
and see.” Gently Haught patted him on the cheek and smiled again, not
pleasantly. “The thing we need went back to the priest. It’s not there and it
is. I know how it works now. And I know where it went. Right now we need to move
a little closer uptown-when it’s dark, do you see?”
“Yes,” Stilcho said. If Haught asked him if pigs flew he would have said yes.
Anything, to make Haught go away satisfied short of what he could do, and what
he could ask.
“But in the meanwhile there’s a trip for you to take.”
“Oh gods, no, no, Haught-there’s this thing, I see it, gods, I see it-“