Blood on Bronze (Blood on Bronze Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

staying hidden, and
many other things, is knowing the right people. ”
    “That, at least,
I can understand. In my life, I mean my life as I have known it, it is much the
same… as I have discovered,” he said, his expression turning dark, and
something he fought to control flashing in his eyes.
    “Tell you what,”
she said, as a bit of jauntiness returned to her walk, “I’ll take you to The
House of Red. Old Lurshiga is one who won’t ask questions, and who can and will
keep secrets, no matter what. Her place is expensive for being so run down, but
that is because she has to build the cost of protection payoffs to the city guard
into her prices.”
    “I thank you,
Inina,” he said gravely.
    They left the
Street of Vipers, and went south down a side street. Arjun knew that a few
blocks more would take them to the wide King’s Road that ran, almost perfectly
straight, the long distance between the great plaza and the west bazaar. He
guessed that the neighborhoods Inina knew well ended there. Arjun himself had,
at one time or another, been to almost every district of the city, but he’d
been travelling with his father, carts of goods, and an entourage along the
main streets.  He’d never seen the back streets, like this, outside his own
district.
    Zakran was a
vast place.
    “There it is,”
said Inina.
    Ahead of the on
the left was a brick and plaster building of three stories. A large round plaque
mounted on the wall above its door was painted bright crimson. The windows on
the ground floor were of an unusual design – tall but very narrow.  Its front
door was recessed in from the street, and as they approached, Arjun saw it was
heavily reinforced. The place as a whole was sturdy, but run down, like a
decaying fortress.
    Arjun was
walking toward the door when Inina darted ahead of him.
    “Wait! Aren’t
you going to get some new clothes first? Even in the House of Red, there are
people who won’t be as good at secrets as Lurshiga, and you really stand out. I
also don’t think you’re someone who usually goes barefoot, and your feet look
like they agree with me.”
    Arjun stopped.
He’d been through so much barefoot in the last twelve hours that he’d almost forgotten
about it. His feet, however, were battered messes of cuts and dirt.
    “Luckily there
are a couple of peddlers nearby I know and trust,” said Inina.
    They first went
down the street to a dealer of simple unfitted clothes, the kind poor people
bought and adjusted themselves. The dealer, a heavyset greasy-looking man,
smiled at Inina, but gave Arjun a skeptical look.
    “My friend had a
rough night,” said Inina, “He needs some good street clothes. Sorry, he’s still
a little addled.”
    The dealer
smiled broadly, though his eyes moved to Arjun’s sword and ring, “Well young
sir, I have just the thing for you!”
    He then searched
his shelves and found a kilt and a cloak of plain cotton of roughly the right
size. “That will be three silver moons, young sir.”
    Arjun might be
ignorant of street life, but he was a merchant’s son, and not ignorant of
prices. The man was asking about four times what those clothes were worth.
    “Honorable
shopkeeper, as you can see from my tattered robes, my fortune runs low. I can
only afford seven copper moons.”
    The man stopped,
looked at him, and the smile faded to a look of concentration. After some brief
haggling, they settled on eleven copper moons, or a bit more than a silver. It
was still on the high side, but Arjun was in a hurry. He changed behind a reed
screen in the corner. For good measure, he hid his amulet and his ring in a
bag, and then bundled the other bag and his sword in the remnants of his robe,
which he tied and slung over his shoulder as a kind of poor man’s back pack.
    As they left,
Inina watched him with surprise and a bit more respect. “I didn’t expect that.
I thought people like you just sent your servants to go buy things, and didn’t
worry about the cost.”
    He