Lhind the Thief Read Online Free PDF Page B

asked
eagerly and politely. “It travels with me. Went off yesterday to find out where
we are, so now we are able to steer in the right direction.”
    “The wind picked up,” I said. I could feel it. The ship
rolled as if alive. “It’s making me sick. Where are we, anyway?” I demanded.
    “The storm blew us a ways north. The right direction, as it
happens. We just outran the other ships we’d been traveling with. We should
reach port by tonight.” He set the tray down before me, then sat on one of the
trunks with the air of one who intends to have a good, long chat.
    So I forestalled his questions. “How’d you and the
Slime-Slurping Night-Crawler happen to be there when I did that spell after the
chase, in Tu Jhan?” I whined, then jammed wheat-cake into my mouth and chewed
as noisily as possible.
    “Sli— ? Do you mean Rajanas? We were spending time in the
marketplace, waiting for some of his party to finish shop-visits, when Rajanas
saw you rob that unpleasant man in the yellow dyers’ smock. The man was
bringing quite a bit of attention to himself, calling that apple-woman a
cheat.”
    “ He’s the cheat,” I
snarled.
    “So that’s why you provoked a chase? To get him away from
the woman? Is she a relation of yours?”
    “She’s my great-auntie. She’ll be desperate, looking for
me,” I moaned pitifully.
    “She did not seem unduly concerned when the chase began. No
doubt she had her reasons,” Hlanan said, his head tilted at more of an
interrogative angle.
    “Auntie counts on me being home soon’s I can,” I said.
    “Home being . . .” He began.
    “You don’t need to know where her house is.”
    “True. Beg pardon.” Hlanan inclined his head. “Anyway, it was
your taunts that intrigued me at first. You called him a . . .
What was it? A stinking scum of a sweat-sack. I wondered if you were bidding
fair to become the gutter-poet of Tu Jhan.”
    “The what?”
    “A reference to the Gutter-Poet of Akerik, who made himself
famous in the Shinjan War. It’s a long story. You don’t read or write?”
    “No,” I snarled, and then whined with as much affront as I
could muster, “You did all these rotten things to me just because I mouthed
that bullying dyer instead of cutting and running?”
    “You sound outraged.” He grinned. “Well, partly that, and
partly because you are so young. It made no sense, sorcerer’s apprentice and
thief. Especially in Thesreve. I wouldn’t dare to do any spell in that
country.” He gave me a quick, lopsided smile, but his gaze remained steady and
observant.
    “That’s exactly why I don’t want any more magic than the one
spell I stole,” I said, and crunched into a piece of bread. “Yum!” Crunch,
crunch, slurp, smack!
    “Do you like being a thief?”
    I shrugged. “It’s an easy enough life, if you’re fast.”
    “Your family are thieves as well?”
    “Yep,” I said. “Whole family. Both parents. Grams and
gramps. Gotta get back quick.”
    “Do you never spare a thought for those you steal from?”
    “Ha, ha!” I laughed, proud of the spattering of bread I
sprayed. “It’s always them’t never been hungry, who say that.”
    Hlanan’s brow creased thoughtfully. “Who has said it to
you?”
    I shrugged again, sharper. “I never saw that anyone was the
happier for being honest. Take Auntie! Honest, but still Yellow Smock cheated
her, saying he’d protect her, but he didn’t. And as often as not she went
hungry. So I decided, why not do something? It would be fun.”
    “Fun? Even though you were pursued and your life
threatened?” Hlanan’s eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you want me to think you have
loyalties?”
    “Because I don’t have any,” I retorted. “I do what I like. I
go where I like—” I began, then remembered the invisible Grams and Gramps and
family, so I moved on quickly, “Loyalty is weakness, setting yourself up for
another betrayal.” I waved a slice of peach. “Loyalty to freedom, and fun,