Gemworld Read Online Free PDF

twins.
    “Are you sure you want to do that?” asked the taller of the two, casually.
    “Personally, Reit, I’d hate to be the one to fall asleep in the same cell as the man I’d stolen from,” the shorter man cheerfully remarked to his friend. “No telling how such a person would exact revenge. Or his friends,” he added pointedly, casting a sly wink Sal’s way.
    The thug hesitated, his gaze sweeping between the two men. Finally, he glared back at Sal, and thrust the bowl at the taller of the two gentlemen.
    “Wise move,” Reit said, receiving the bowl.
    Then the thug swung at the shorter of the pair. Lightning fast, the punch was caught, leaving the goon to stare in surprise at his restrained fist. “Not so wise move,” the taller brother said, shaking his head in pity.
    What happened next was hard for Sal to follow—not so much the skill in the martial arts he was witnessing, but the style itself. Hand-to-hand combat was a standard to the Navy SEAL training regimen, but the sheer speed and variety of moves astounded him. Punches and kicks came out of nowhere, then melted into blocks and throws. The shorter man seemed to flow around the thug, cuts and bruises seeming to just appear on the thug’s face.
    “I believe this is yours, sir,” Reit said, handing Sal the bowl. He glanced briefly at the melee, only mildly interested. “Pleased to finally make your acquaintance, by the way. Reit Windon du’Nograh, at your service. That flurry of death over there is my brother, Retzu.”
    As if to emphasize the point, Retzu spun a kick across the hoodlum’s chin, dropping him like so much dead weight. Sal noted that when Retzu crossed to join his brother, he wasn’t even sweating. A very dangerous pair indeed.
    “Greetings, mate,” Retzu said, taking Sal’s hand and pumping it firmly. “Good to finally see you up and about.”
    “Uh... hi,” was all that Sal could force out. He indicated the crumpled hoodlum where he lay groaning his misery. “Thanks for helping me with that guy.”
    “Oh, no worries there. Any friend of Jaren’s is a friend of ours.”
    Oddly, that was comforting to Sal. He’d definitely rather have Bruce Lee Junior here as a friend than... well, whatever he was to that bully.
    ***
    The brothers du’Nograh joined Jaren and Sal for “dinner”—if the term could honestly be applied to the revolting sludge, however loosely. As he ate—again, loosely applying the term—the brothers and Jaren made small talk, and Sal started to gain a sense of them.
    The brothers were twins, in fact, and almost identical. Reit was a hair taller than Retzu, and was more muscular where his brother was more sinuous, but other than that, their features were the same. They both had night-black hair hanging down to the middle of their backs. They both sported mustaches and goatees. They both had slightly tilted brown eyes and copper skin, though Sal could see very pale tan lines around the neck area. He almost couldn’t tell them apart until they spoke, but once they did, all trace of similarity vanished.
    Retzu was obviously the more outgoing of the two. He had a swaggering way about him, an arrogant lilt of his voice that reminded Sal of a snake oil salesman, able to sell water to a drowning man, and at a premium price to boot. If Sal was any judge, Retzu was imprisoned for theft, or something equally shady. He seemed one to play by his own rules. He had a quick wit and an infectious, if rascally grin. Sal liked him immediately.
    Reit, on the other hand, was his brother’s polar opposite. He was much more reserved than his brother, more thoughtful and precise. He was sparing with his words, and he guarded them judiciously. It was like pulling teeth to get the man to speak more than a few sentences at a time, and those ambiguous at best. But when he did speak, his intelligence rang through. For all that Retzu was carefree with his speech, Reit meticulously crafted his as if gilding the words for