Moon's Artifice Read Online Free PDF

scrawny arms and legs ; still of that awkward age where her body didn’t quite seem to fit together yet.
    Emari turned to face her, big black eyes wide and questioning. ‘There’s a rope on the house.’
    ‘A rope ?’ Kesh laughed. ‘What do you mean ?’
    She leaned out across the little girl. As she looked up, a seagull on the roof just above them cried loudly, making Kesh jump in surprise. Emari below her dissolved into giggles, prompting Kesh to laugh and tickle her sister into submission before again looking out. It seemed Emari was right ; there was a cable attached to the apex of their roof which ran taut across the street to the tavern there.
    ‘So there is,’ Kesh mused, ‘painted grey too – to blend in with the sky maybe ?’
    ‘Why’s it there ?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ she said with a shake of the head.
    Kesh ushered her sister off the window sill and stood where Emari had been. After a few seasons on a merchant ship she had no fears about clambering around an open window and levered herself almost entirely out to inspect the cable more closely. Reaching up she could just about grab it and an experimental tug told her the cable was securely fastened to the main beam of the roof, tied with a knot that wasn’t meant to be undone easily.
    ‘Maybe this is what Master Greycloud heard a few days back,’ she called down to Emari. ‘Remember he complained about a cat or something making a noise on the roof ? That’s his room right there.’
    Emari nodded, hands clasped together in delight. ‘It was someone tying the rope on ! But who ? Oh ! It could be Master Shadow ; I told you he was an Astaren !’
    Kesh tutted at her sister. ‘Don’t be so silly, and don’t say such things where the guests might hear you, Master Shadow in particular. He’s not the sort to take kindly to idle gossip about him. As for this, I think it’s a thief’s road – an escape route over the rooftops.’
    ‘Really ?’ Emari squealed. ‘What sort of thief ?’
    ‘I don’t know !’ Kesh clambered down again. ‘How would I know that ? All I’m saying is everyone knows thieves use the rooftops to keep off the streets when the fog comes, but this road’s too wide for anyone to jump. You can get all the way to Dragon District from the tavern, but you can’t cross this road easily because we’re on the public thoroughfare – it has to be wide enough for nobles of different houses to pass without starting an argument.’
    ‘The thieves run across it ?’
    ‘No, but I used a cable like that a thousand times on board the
Piper’s Lament
. You hang under it by your hands and feet, and crawl like a monkey underneath. Even at night I’d be across in no time and ready to cut the cable if anyone tried to follow.’
    ‘Or a goshe !’ Emari gasped. ‘A goshe could run across and anyone following would fall !’
    ‘Not at night,’ Kesh said dismissively. ‘You’d need eyesight like a cat to see it on the run and balance better than the best-trained goshe could have.’
    ‘Do you think Master Shadow is a goshe, Kesh ?’
    She ruffled Emari’s tangled dark curls. ‘How should I know, little one ? But it’s not polite to ask ; some people don’t like the goshe and might take offence. He carries himself like a fighter – I bet you he’s good too – but he’s not warrior caste, that’s for certain. Most likely he trains at a Shure, yes.’
    ‘He is goshe ! I’m sure I’ve seen him dressed like one, all in black. Do we like the goshe, Kesh ?’
    ‘Of course ! Whatever folk whisper about them, they cured your fever when you first came to live here, remember ?’
    ‘So why don’t others like them ?’
    ‘Money and tradition mostly,’ Kesh said with a sigh. ‘Some members bequeath their money to the Shure they trained at rather than their relatives and high-castes don’t much like low-castes being taught to fight at all. ’
    ‘So Master Shadow might take it as an insult if I asked him ?’
    Kesh