Part 12 (1/2)

”Certain.” The dwarf kept his face serious. ”I'm sure that friend Airvhan is eager to get back to his boat.” And antagonizing a customs official further didn't make any sense. ”And I, for one, have no desire to spend any more time in the hot sun. I take it we will find good taverns near the docks?''

Airvhan nodded quickly. ”Quite good. All the inns in Pandathaway are superb, friend Ahira. Much wine. Good wine.” Cautiously, he held out a palm, keeping it near his body.

Karl lumbered over to him, smiled at the guards... and paid.

Karl and the rest followed Ahira into a sidestreet off the docks. The street opened into a cobblestone courtyard, surrounded by two-story buildings, white marble houses curved to accommodate the courtyard, and the fountain in its center.

The stones were hard under Karl's sandals, and his legs had grown used to the rolling of the Pride; he was glad when Ahira called a halt.

Karl dropped his rucksack and leaned his sword against the fountain's rim, taking a moment to smile at the two dolphin sculptures spouting water into the breeze. He smiled as he wiped the spray from his face; the dolphins seemed to smile back as they stood, frozen in midleap. ”I like that.”

The dwarf scowled. ”Business first. Then, if there's time, you can rubberneck all you want.”

Doria spoke up. ”That's unfair, Ahira. We've got time.” She smiled at Karl. ”Plenty of time.”

Walter took a knife from the sheaths at his hip and flipped it end over end, catching it absently as its hilt thanked into his palm. ”Matter of fact, I think friend Karl is owed a thank-you.” His mouth quirked into a smile; he took two more, juggling all three knives in a steady, effortless flickering of steel. ”Without that diversion, I wouldn't have been able to pa.s.s as a warrior. A juggler, maybe,” he said, picking the knives one by one out of the air and replacing them in their sheaths, ”but not a swordsman.” He patted at his scimitar. ”I can't use this d.a.m.n thing worth s.h.i.+t.” He stood. ”But you're right. Let's find ourselves a place to stay, then go exploring.”

”Exploring?” Aristobulus hissed. ”What we have to do is find the Great Library, anda””

”How about getting something to eat?”

Karl quashed his own resentment at the way the dwarf had snapped at him. ”Everybody, shut up. Ahira's in charge, and he's talking.”

Ahira rewarded him with a puzzled nod. ”Fine. But first of all, what is this about games? I don't remember you telling me anything about it. Them.”

”Whatever.” But the dwarf was right. He hadn't said anything about the Games. Karl scratched at his ribs. But why think about all that now?a”what he really needed was a bath and some sleep, on safe, dry, unmoving land.

No, don't let yourself get lazy now. He hadn't remembered, not until the elf had mentioned the Games. It was the same problem he'd been having, ever since they landed on this side. Memories of things he'd known back home were irregular, elusive. When he could remember something, it was reliable; but it was much easier to think like Barak, be the swordsmana”

No. ”Sorry... I didn't remember.”

”Wonderful.” Andy-Andy glared at him. ”And what else don't you remember?”

He forced himself to ignore her and spoke to Ahira. ”If it's as Deighton said, then the Council likes to encourage the best warriors to stay around, to stay in Pandathaway. Some are hired for the local... police force; helps to keep the city a nice place to be. As for the rest, well, having the best around keeps up Pandathaway's reputation as the place to buy or hire anything, anybody.

”For wizards or clerics, there's no problem: There's always good-paying work. Besides, there's a bunch of churches and magical guilds, who pretty much run the citya”so guild members get a stipend from the Council when they're out of work. It's easy to do thata”hey! I forgot all about the prices.” Information, images crowded his mind. Deighton had shown him a listing. A night's stay in a relatively low-cost tavern would run more than two pieces of gold, A good bottle of wine would cost ten, twelve silvers. And it was a fulla” ”It'll cost us at least a gold piecea”eacha”just to get into the Library. And that won't include...” He curled his fists in frustration. What wouldn't it include? It was just on the edge of his mind.

But he couldn't think of it. That wasa”

”Easy, Karl.” Andy-Andy held his arm, then visibly remembered she wasn't speaking to him. She turned away.

”Relax.” Walter smiled at him. ”You were telling us how they manage to keep mercenaries around.”

”Right. Since there isn't much work here, they put on Games. If you're good enough, you can support yourself in the once-a-tenday ones, if only just barely. But in the Seasonals, you can make a killing.” He smiled. ”So to speak. You can't get much more than bruised; the contact events use blunt, wooden weapons.”

”Wonderful.” Ahira spat on the cobblestones. ”Do you think we have to waste our time on these Games, or can we just hit the Library, buy what we need, and get out?”

”I don't know.” Karl shrugged. ”What's our total worth?”

Ahira turned to Aristobulus. ”Give me your best guess.”

The wizard's eyes went vague. ”a.s.suming standard rates of exchange... maybe two-thousand gold.” He shook his head slowly. ”And from what Hakima””

”Walter.”

”a”said about Lundeyll, that would have been almost enough to have bought the whole town, back there.”

”So what?” Ahira turned to Walter. ”We're here now. How far away do you guess the Gate is?”

”Mmmm, it's got to be some distance; Frann only knew that it was east of Pandathaway, and he's from here. I don't know; maybe we have enough, if we don't spend too much money on room and board while we're here.”

Karl snorted. ”Two thousand? That isn't a lot; Lucius paid five hundred just for one horse. We need six.”

”Five and a pony,” Ahira snapped. ”Fine. Here's what we have to do.” He extended a blunt finger. ”One, find a place to stay, at least for the night. Two”a”another fingera””get to the Great Library, find out where the Gate is, figure out how we'll need to equip ourselves in order to get there.”

”Which wouldn't be a problem,” Karl said thoughtfully, looking at Aristobulus, ”if somebody hadn't blown up the box with all the goodies.”

”Shut up. Three, we need to know what the situation is here, find out how to raise the money we'll need. Which also means we'll need to know when the next Games area”is.”

”Whatever.” Karl nodded. ”We might be able to do well enough in the tendays, if we're good enough,” He fondled the hilt of his sword. I bet I am.

”Don't.” Walter didn't look at him.

”Don't what?”

”Don't be sure you're good enough.”

”d.a.m.n you, just because I got a bit sloppy, that first timea””

”It isn't that. Think it out.” The thief's expression proclaimed that Karl wasn't going to like it. ”We're all G-Cla.s.s or so, right?”

”Right, but if that corresponds to the way things worka””

”As it seems to, then you think we're pretty much up there, right?”

Karl thought as hard as he could, If you don't stop reading my mind, I'm going to break some bones, making sure that his face showed what he was thinking.

”Well,” Walter went on, ”we aren't pretty much up there if they've got the best warriors in this world in Pandathaway, are we? We might be big fishes ina””

Karl smiled and held up a hand. It had been a long time since he'd been able to outthink Walter. ”You think it out. Look, what would a really high-level fighter do? Go around looking for work? h.e.l.l, no. They gather followers, claim some landa”either dragging in peasants to farm it, or using locals. There's not going to be a whole lot of folks as good as we area”as good as I ama”who are still wandering around, trying to build a name. Maybe we'll have to deal with a local champion or two, but not more than that. Right?”

”Not bad, Karl. Not bad at all.”

Ahira rapped his axehilt on the fountain's rim. ”Enough. I came up with three things we have to do; anybody else have a fourth?”

”No.”

”Uh-uh.”

”I don't.”