Dance of Time Read Online Free PDF Page A

safe.”
    Zez nodded. “Would anyone be alarmed if we disarm the guests without saying anything?”
    Magistrate Elbrod smiled. “That would be why we have asked you here. If you can disarm them without causing a fuss, that would be appreciated.”
    Zez looked at Immune. “If my partner and I could have a moment to plan, that would be welcome.”
    “You have seven minutes. The families are preparing to exit the water.”
    Zez pulled Immune away from the magistrate and smiled. “If I freeze them, can you pat them down for weapons?”
    “Of course. When do you wish to do it?”
    “Once everyone is inside. If there is any violence before that, I will grab them.”
    “Fair enough. Am I looking for anything in particular?”
    “These folks like poisons. Spikes, vials and projectiles.”
    “So, I will keep an eye on the upper levels. You will monitor the guests.”
    He had caught onto her hint that assassins might be lurking in the upper levels. She noted thin tendril of his mist crawling up the walls to scan the balconies.
    Zez watched the incoming guests. Each family entered from a separate door, and the hall was filled with silent and hostile men and women in wet formal wear.
    The bride was dressed in wet green silk, and her groom was in a yellow, long tunic that stuck to his skin.
    The magistrate rang a gong, and the happy couple approached him.
    Zez froze everyone and nodded to Immune. “They are held.”
    “Frisking.” Immune disappeared as the thick fog that was his natural state filled the chamber.
    Weapons began to appear, and they were piled in front of Zez’s feet.
    It only took five minutes, but she had an arsenal in front of her. No wonder they had been called in.
    He re-formed next to her and held her hand. “Ready?”
    She nodded and the procession resumed.
    A few of the guests patted their pockets and frowned, but the magistrate began the ceremony.
    Zez was finding it hard to concentrate on the crowd as Immune stroked his thumb across the back of her hand. The slight touch was distracting, but she had a job to do.
    When the magistrate pulled out the binding needle that would be used to pierce the hands of the couple, binding them together in blood and pain, Zez moved forward, freezing the assembly again.
    She took the needle and examined it. With a frown, she took it to the side of the room and grabbed a bottle of wine.
    “What is it?”
    “At first guess, it is poison.” She used a napkin and wine to clean the needle.
    She repeated the cleansing three times before she was satisfied that anything remaining would not be toxic.
    “The magistrate?”
    “Or someone who wanted to implicate him. Either way, it will be fine. The needle won’t kill anyone.”
    She set it back in the magistrate’s hand and returned to her position, taking Immune’s hand again. “We have to look the same.”
    He chuckled. “I am not complaining.”
    The magistrate brought the needle down through the hands of the young couple.
    Zez watched for flickers of disappointment or confusion in the expressions of those assembled, and to her surprise, it was the bride.
    This was an arrangement that had nothing to do with the couple sealing it. The bride had wanted a war and a scandal, and instead, she had gotten married.
    Zez watched the bride carefully as the wounds were bound and the couple filed to the couch that was arranged at the back of the hall, behind the spot where Zez and Immune were standing.
    A gauze curtain was drawn, and Immune squeezed her hand. She froze the room again.
    He sighed. “I didn’t check the bed.”
    He quickly rifled through the bedding and patted down the grim couple, “This is a rough start. They are both armed to the teeth.”
    The weapons joined the pile at Zez’s feet.
    She wrinkled her nose. “Killing people is far easier than keeping them from killing each other.”
    He chuckled and took her hand again. “As soon as the consummation is over, we can leave. They can destroy each other all