Last Argument of Kings Read Online Free PDF Page B

and
wedged under with dirt. He stared down at the familiar stump for a
moment.
    â€œStill
alive,â€

Leadership
    Jezal clattered
through the cobbled streets astride a magnificent grey, Bayaz and
Marshal Varuz just behind him, a score of Knights of the Body, led by
Bremer dan Gorst, following in full war gear. It was strangely
unsettling to see the city, usually so brimful with humanity, close
to deserted. Only a scattering of threadbare urchins, of nervous city
watchmen, of suspicious commoners remained to hurry out of the way of
the royal party as they passed. Most of those citizens who had stayed
in Adua were well barricaded in their bedrooms, Jezal imagined. He
would have been tempted to do the same, had Queen Terez not beaten
him to it.
    â€œWhen did
they arrive?â€

A Rock and a Hard Place
    Glokta shook
with laughter, wheezing gurgles slobbering through his empty gums,
the hard chair creaking under his bony arse. His coughs and his
whimpers echoed dully from the bare walls of his dim living room. In
a way, it sounded very much like weeping. And perhaps it is, just
a little.
    Every shake of
his twisted shoulders drove nails into his neck. Every jerk of his
rib-cage sent flashes of pain down to the very tips of such toes as
he had left. He laughed, and the laughter hurt, and the pain made him
laugh all the more. Oh, the irony! I titter with hopelessness. I
chuckle with despair.
    Bubbles of spit
blew from his lips as he gave one last long whine. Like a sheep’s
death rattle, but less dignified. Then he swallowed, and wiped
his running eyes. I have not laughed so hard in years. Since
before the Emperor’s torturers did their work, I shouldn’t
wonder. And yet it is not so very difficult to stop. After all,
nothing is really very funny here, is it? He lifted the letter,
and read it again.
    Superior
Glokta,
    My
employers at the banking house of Valint and Balk are more than
disappointed with your progress. It is some time now since I asked
you, in person, to inform us of Arch Lector Sult’s plans. In
particular, the reasons for his continuing interest in the
University. Since then we have received no communication from you.
    It may
be that you believe the sudden arrival of the Gurkish beyond the city
walls has altered the expectations of my employers.
    It has
not, in any way whatsoever. Nothing will.
    You
will report to us within the week, or his Eminence will be informed
of your divided loyalties.
    I need
hardly add that it would be wise for you to destroy this letter.
    Mauthis.
    Glokta stared at
the paper for a long while by the light of the single candle, his
ruined mouth hanging open. For this, I lived through months of
agony in the darkness of the Emperor’s prisons? Tortured my
savage way through the Guild of Mercers? Slaughtered my bloody path
through the city of Dagoska? To end my days in ignominy, trapped
between a bitter old bureaucrat and a tank full of treacherous
swindlers? All my twisting, my lying my bargains, and my pain. All
those corpses left beside the road… for this?
    A new wave of
laughter rocked his body, twisted him up and made his aching back
rattle. His Eminence and these bankers deserve each other! Even
with the city burning down around them, their games cannot stop for
an instant. Games which may very well prove fatal to poor Superior
Glokta, who only tried to do his crippled best. He had to wipe a
little snot from under his nose he laughed so hard at that last
thought.
    It almost
seems a shame to burn such a horribly hilarious document. Perhaps I
should take it to the Arch Lector instead? Would he see the funny
side, I wonder? Would we chuckle over it together? He reached out
and held the corner of the letter to the twisting candle flame,
watched fire flicker up the side, creep out through the writing,
white paper curling up into black ashes.
    Burn, as my
hopes, and my dreams, and my glorious future burned beneath the
Emperor’s palace! Burn, as