Dead Letter Read Online Free PDF

exam. Lanuille could suck Limbo and still have mana to burn. Why
did the gods dress up an empty head with magic and make Kettna
suffer through drought?
    The
novice refused to give a look behind to see if the adepts were
following. Why give them the satisfaction? Besides, from the
direction of the uneasy stares, Kettna knew that the escort of
mages followed her like a caravan guard. Soon she would discover
how well they kept up in the city. If Lanuille and the conversing
men were going to have to protect her, surely it was important to
test their effectiveness.
    Lake
Road curved up from the docks. Leading up to Calimska’s outer
walls, the sheds and storehouses thinned and were replaced by shady
trees and flowering meadows dotted with idle sheep. Silk Gate was
crowded with wagons, heading back to farm to beat the evenfall.
People on foot lined up to get back into the city before dark set
in and the curfew tax came down.
    Kettna
took her place in line to enter through the side pedestrian door of
the gatehouse. A city guard strolled down the line, eyeing the
citizens. “Copper in! Copper in! Get your shine out!” A single
copper was nothing for a mage, but for others it was half a day’s
labour. This discouraged transients working inside and spending
outside the walls. The Calimskan guilds had manipulated the
economics of entry and exit to favour established local businesses
for the benefit of all. When the shimmering magical shield went up
in dragon season, the tariff for entry sharpened enough to
penetrate a rich merchant’s vault. It was an effective and divisive
deterrent allowing only rich outsiders to seek refuge from rogue
dragons. Anything less would mean Calimska suffocated in a plague
of poverty. What’s more, it ensured that local workers inside the
walls thought twice before seeking their fortune outside. Calimskan
economics secured power firmly with the guilds. Business ruled
here, not a monarch with sycophantic lords, sucking life and labour
from the peasantry.
    Her
father, the Chamberlain of the Order, had told Kettna stories of
rising discontent in the city. Anti-Guilders, they called
themselves, a league seeking a fairer system. Kettna had read their
political pamphlets, and saw merit in some of what they said.
However, for every civil act they engaged in, they behaved like
hooligans stirring up a fight.
    A
raggedly dressed woman hawked oranges up the line and her shrill
call distracted Kettna’s thoughts. “Oranges for clippings! Halve a
copper and take four gold!”
    The
guard waved his arm at the peddler. “Off with ya now! Quit the
line.”
    “ Ain’t breakin' no law. I’ll sell what I want outside the
gates. ”
    The
guard advanced on her, cudgel at his side. “Mind your tongue,
woman.”
    “ Or what? Drag me inside so’s to arrest me?” The woman spat on
the guard’s boots and ran.
    The
guard dashed after her and snatched the hawker’s arm, dragging her
down in a spill of oranges. The guard raised a tight fist and laid
into the woman’s face. He raised it again, but Kettna was there,
seizing his wrist and pulling the guard off the woman. “Enough! Let
her be.”
    The
guard turned on Kettna, a red knuckled fist ready to lay into her
too, until the adepts ran up to deter the attack. Four mages of the
Order gave the guard pause. “I meant no harm to your
lot.”
    “ And you are fortunate none came upon us,” said Lanuille.
“Injury upon one of the Order would bring you suffering for the
rest of your days.”
    The
peddler collected her basket and replaced the spilled oranges. Her
lip was split and swollen, dripping blood mingled with tears down
her chin.
    “ No law is broken here,” said Kettna, helping the injured
woman pick up the oranges. “Leave the peddler to her
business.”
    “ Sure enough, there’d be a law broken. Her lot break a score
before they break a mornin’ loaf. Bet my mother’s grace, those
oranges were stolen.”
    “ No such lies!” shrieked the woman. “I