[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
knows that you re tumbling the downstairs maid.
A look of tentative satisfaction came over the stocky landlord s face. Ha! You may be some kind of
besotted seer who can see certain things, but you can t see everything! I know my wife. If she knew that,
she would have confronted me with it.
Turning away from the men supporting him, Knucker coughed once. Not in this instance. Because, you
see, she is tumbling the downstairs maid also. It s a matter of mutual tumbling, actually.
The proprietor looked stricken. By all the deities, you may not know everything, but you know too
much! Turning away angrily, he resumed the ascent. No more, tell me no more!
As they struggled up the stairs, Simna leaned closer to the man he was helping to support. So the lady
of the house and a servant are having a twiddle, hoy? An inquisitive leer stole across his face. If you
know that, you must know all the details.
Turning to him, Knucker tried to stand a little straighter as he was half carried, half dragged upward. I
may be many things, sir, but at least I am not degenerate.
Hoy. There lies the difference between us, bruther. I admit to what I am.
A drink. The little man licked his lips and smacked his tongue against his palate, sending out the
universal signal of need common to all his kind. I ve got to have something to drink.
We will try to get you some nice tea as soon as we are settled, Ehomba told him reassuringly. A look
of horror came over Knucker s face.
The landlord had stopped outside a door. I have only one room vacant, and it is far too small for your
party. But this one here is a spacious chamber and you will be quite comfortable within if I can
persuade the current occupant to move. He put his finger to his lips as he gently inserted the key in the
lock and opened the door. The gentleman is presently within, but I will offer him a discount and a free
breakfast, and I think if I explain the situation to him calmly and rationally he may be willing to accept
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
alternate quarters for the night.
As soon as the door was open, Ahlitah pushed past the assembled humans. I ll explain the situation to
him.
No! As the proprietor reached out to grab and try to restrain the big cat, a small but loud voice
shrieked warningly within his head, What do you think you aredoing ? Ordinary common sense
immediately overwhelming his stalwart sense of managerial duty, he hastily drew back his hand.
Silently padding across the floor, the black litah approached the large bed and the single sleeping shape
within. Reaching up, he rested a forepaw on the figure s shoulder.
Mmph wha ... ? The sleeper s eyes flickered. Then they opened wide. Real wide.
Ahlitah leaned close and spoke softly. Go away.
Wide awake, the naked sleeper gathered sheets and blanket around him and flew off the bed in the
direction of the door. I m gone, he responded. And he was, not even pausing to complain to the
landlord. The stubby owner did not try to stop or slow him. He could not have done so in any event.
I expect I ll find him downstairs, in my office. He sighed again. He ll probably want a refund.
Stepping into the room, he brought out a striker and lit the two oil lamps within, one on the wall by the
doorway and another that sat on a small writing table. There is another, smaller bed in the second
sleeping room. Through that door, there. He pointed. Please try to keep quiet. It s very late, and
everyone else in the house is asleep.
Ehomba assured him that they would prepare for slumber as noiselessly as possible. Having curled up
next to the unlit fireplace, the litah was already halfway unconscious.
Come, the tired herdsman directed his friend. We will put this fellow into the other bed.
How come he gets a bed? Simna protested as they hauled their mumbling cargo toward the other
room. Why not just dump him right here? He doesn t make a very good man. He might make a
serviceable doorstop.
Ehomba eyed his companion sternly. It was his money that paid for these lodgings.
Hoy, right but he won t remember that in the morning. He uttered a subdued expletive. I know, I
know. Do what s right. But it pains me, it does.
There is no need for you to pout, the herdsman chided him. You may have the large bed. I can tell by
the look of it that it is too soft for me. He nodded back the way they had come. There is a couch, and
thick carpets on the floor. I will be fine.
I wasn t worried about you, long bruther. But the swordsman s tone belied his attempt at callousness.
Together they stripped Knucker of his ragged, profoundly stained clothing. Undressed, he looked even
more pitiful than when clothed.
I wonder when he last ate? Ehomba murmured as he examined the emaciated torso.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Simna grunted as he tossed short, tattered boots into a corner. You mean when last he chewed
something. This lush has been drinking his meals for some time.
Perhaps we can get something solid into him in the morning, the herdsman speculated.
Pausing in the process of undressing, Simna looked up curiously. Why do you care? He s a total
stranger and, whether he knows everything or simply less than that, not a particularly admirable one.
There are candidates more deserving of your concern.
No doubt, Ehomba agreed, but they are not here. He is. He studied the mumbling, self-engrossed
figure thoughtfully. Tell me something, Knucker.
What? Looking up, the exhausted little man they had saved from the demons of the night locked eyes
with his rescuer. Who are you?
As they laid the drunk down on the clean sheets, Simna ventured a coarse observation on the ingratitude
of the inebriated.
When a man stands all day doing nothing but watching cattle and sheep crop grass, he learns patience.
It does not matter, Ehomba told him. Bending over the bed, he murmured, Knucker, what is the
meaning of life?
Their charge was already half asleep. His lips moved and Ehomba leaned close. He stood like that,
inclined over the bed and its single diminutive occupant, a look of intense preoccupation on his long,
handsome face. After a moment he nodded, and straightened.
I thought so. His tone suggested quiet satisfaction.
Simna waited. When nothing further was forthcoming, he blurted sharply, Well?
The herdsman looked across the bed at his companion. Knucker was sleeping soundly now and, as far
as Ehomba could tell, without difficulty. Well what?
Bruther, don t play the coy with me. Whatis the meaning of life?
Someday I will tell you. The herdsman started around the foot of the bed, heading for the main room.
Someday? What do you mean someday ? Simna followed him, leaving the little man in darkness and
silence.
In the main room Ehomba contemplated the couch. After first removing his pack and weapons, he began
to arrange himself on the thickly carpeted floor. When you have grown up. Stretching out flat on his
back, he closed his eyes and crossed his hands over his lower chest.
Grown up? Listen to me, master of mewling lambs, I m not one to take kindly to a comment like that!
One eye winked open to regard the irate swordsman. Take it any way you like, but keep your voice
down. If we make too much noise and wake the other tenants, the landlord is likely to throw us back out
into the street. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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knows that you re tumbling the downstairs maid.
A look of tentative satisfaction came over the stocky landlord s face. Ha! You may be some kind of
besotted seer who can see certain things, but you can t see everything! I know my wife. If she knew that,
she would have confronted me with it.
Turning away from the men supporting him, Knucker coughed once. Not in this instance. Because, you
see, she is tumbling the downstairs maid also. It s a matter of mutual tumbling, actually.
The proprietor looked stricken. By all the deities, you may not know everything, but you know too
much! Turning away angrily, he resumed the ascent. No more, tell me no more!
As they struggled up the stairs, Simna leaned closer to the man he was helping to support. So the lady
of the house and a servant are having a twiddle, hoy? An inquisitive leer stole across his face. If you
know that, you must know all the details.
Turning to him, Knucker tried to stand a little straighter as he was half carried, half dragged upward. I
may be many things, sir, but at least I am not degenerate.
Hoy. There lies the difference between us, bruther. I admit to what I am.
A drink. The little man licked his lips and smacked his tongue against his palate, sending out the
universal signal of need common to all his kind. I ve got to have something to drink.
We will try to get you some nice tea as soon as we are settled, Ehomba told him reassuringly. A look
of horror came over Knucker s face.
The landlord had stopped outside a door. I have only one room vacant, and it is far too small for your
party. But this one here is a spacious chamber and you will be quite comfortable within if I can
persuade the current occupant to move. He put his finger to his lips as he gently inserted the key in the
lock and opened the door. The gentleman is presently within, but I will offer him a discount and a free
breakfast, and I think if I explain the situation to him calmly and rationally he may be willing to accept
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
alternate quarters for the night.
As soon as the door was open, Ahlitah pushed past the assembled humans. I ll explain the situation to
him.
No! As the proprietor reached out to grab and try to restrain the big cat, a small but loud voice
shrieked warningly within his head, What do you think you aredoing ? Ordinary common sense
immediately overwhelming his stalwart sense of managerial duty, he hastily drew back his hand.
Silently padding across the floor, the black litah approached the large bed and the single sleeping shape
within. Reaching up, he rested a forepaw on the figure s shoulder.
Mmph wha ... ? The sleeper s eyes flickered. Then they opened wide. Real wide.
Ahlitah leaned close and spoke softly. Go away.
Wide awake, the naked sleeper gathered sheets and blanket around him and flew off the bed in the
direction of the door. I m gone, he responded. And he was, not even pausing to complain to the
landlord. The stubby owner did not try to stop or slow him. He could not have done so in any event.
I expect I ll find him downstairs, in my office. He sighed again. He ll probably want a refund.
Stepping into the room, he brought out a striker and lit the two oil lamps within, one on the wall by the
doorway and another that sat on a small writing table. There is another, smaller bed in the second
sleeping room. Through that door, there. He pointed. Please try to keep quiet. It s very late, and
everyone else in the house is asleep.
Ehomba assured him that they would prepare for slumber as noiselessly as possible. Having curled up
next to the unlit fireplace, the litah was already halfway unconscious.
Come, the tired herdsman directed his friend. We will put this fellow into the other bed.
How come he gets a bed? Simna protested as they hauled their mumbling cargo toward the other
room. Why not just dump him right here? He doesn t make a very good man. He might make a
serviceable doorstop.
Ehomba eyed his companion sternly. It was his money that paid for these lodgings.
Hoy, right but he won t remember that in the morning. He uttered a subdued expletive. I know, I
know. Do what s right. But it pains me, it does.
There is no need for you to pout, the herdsman chided him. You may have the large bed. I can tell by
the look of it that it is too soft for me. He nodded back the way they had come. There is a couch, and
thick carpets on the floor. I will be fine.
I wasn t worried about you, long bruther. But the swordsman s tone belied his attempt at callousness.
Together they stripped Knucker of his ragged, profoundly stained clothing. Undressed, he looked even
more pitiful than when clothed.
I wonder when he last ate? Ehomba murmured as he examined the emaciated torso.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Simna grunted as he tossed short, tattered boots into a corner. You mean when last he chewed
something. This lush has been drinking his meals for some time.
Perhaps we can get something solid into him in the morning, the herdsman speculated.
Pausing in the process of undressing, Simna looked up curiously. Why do you care? He s a total
stranger and, whether he knows everything or simply less than that, not a particularly admirable one.
There are candidates more deserving of your concern.
No doubt, Ehomba agreed, but they are not here. He is. He studied the mumbling, self-engrossed
figure thoughtfully. Tell me something, Knucker.
What? Looking up, the exhausted little man they had saved from the demons of the night locked eyes
with his rescuer. Who are you?
As they laid the drunk down on the clean sheets, Simna ventured a coarse observation on the ingratitude
of the inebriated.
When a man stands all day doing nothing but watching cattle and sheep crop grass, he learns patience.
It does not matter, Ehomba told him. Bending over the bed, he murmured, Knucker, what is the
meaning of life?
Their charge was already half asleep. His lips moved and Ehomba leaned close. He stood like that,
inclined over the bed and its single diminutive occupant, a look of intense preoccupation on his long,
handsome face. After a moment he nodded, and straightened.
I thought so. His tone suggested quiet satisfaction.
Simna waited. When nothing further was forthcoming, he blurted sharply, Well?
The herdsman looked across the bed at his companion. Knucker was sleeping soundly now and, as far
as Ehomba could tell, without difficulty. Well what?
Bruther, don t play the coy with me. Whatis the meaning of life?
Someday I will tell you. The herdsman started around the foot of the bed, heading for the main room.
Someday? What do you mean someday ? Simna followed him, leaving the little man in darkness and
silence.
In the main room Ehomba contemplated the couch. After first removing his pack and weapons, he began
to arrange himself on the thickly carpeted floor. When you have grown up. Stretching out flat on his
back, he closed his eyes and crossed his hands over his lower chest.
Grown up? Listen to me, master of mewling lambs, I m not one to take kindly to a comment like that!
One eye winked open to regard the irate swordsman. Take it any way you like, but keep your voice
down. If we make too much noise and wake the other tenants, the landlord is likely to throw us back out
into the street. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]