The Gentleman Bastard Series 3-Book Bundle: The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, The Republic of Thieves Read Online Free PDF Page B

small
     boy, it seems. A very small boy. Though not without a certain measure of character,
     I venture, in the malnourished curves of his sad orphan’s face.”
    “His name,” said the Thiefmaker, “is Locke Lamora, and I wager the Order of Perelandro
     will find many uses for his, ahhhh, unusual degree of personal initiative.”
    “Better still,” the priest rumbled, “that he were sincere, penitent, honest, and inclined
     to discipline. But I have no doubt that his time in
your
affectionate care has instilled those qualities in him by example.” He clapped his
     hands together three times. “My boys, our day’s business is done; gather the offerings
     of the good people of Camorr, and let’s show our prospective initiate into the temple.”
    The Thiefmaker gave Locke a brief squeeze on the shoulder, then pushed him quite enthusiastically
     up the steps toward the Eyeless Priest. As the white-robed boys carried the jangling
     copper bowl past him, the Thiefmaker tossed a small leather purse into it, spread
     his arms wide, and bowed with his characteristic serpentine theatricality. The last
     Locke saw of him, he was moving rapidly across the Temple District with his crooked
     arms and bony shoulders rolling gaily: the strut of a man set free.
9
    THE SANCTUARY of the Temple of Perelandro was a musty stone chamber with several puddles
     of standing water; the mold-eaten tapestries on the walls were rapidly devolving into
     their component threads. It was lit only by the pastel glare of Falselight and the
     halfhearted efforts of a frosted white alchemical globe perched precariously in a
     fixture just above the steel plate that chained the Eyeless Priest to the sanctuary
     wall. Locke saw a curtained doorway on the back wall, and nothing else.
    “Calo, Galdo,” said Father Chains, “be good lads and see to the doors, will you?”
    The two robed boys set down the copper kettle and moved to one of the tapestries.
     Working together, they swept it aside and pulled at a concealed device. Some great
     mechanism creaked in the sanctuary walls, and the twin doors leading out to the temple
     steps began to draw inward. When they finished sliding together with the scrape of
     stone against stone, the alchemical globe suddenly flared into brighter luminescence.
    “Now,” said the Eyeless Priest as he knelt, letting a great deal of slack chain gather
     in little steel mounds about him, “come over here, Locke Lamora, and let’s see if
     you have any of the gifts necessary to become an initiate of this temple.”
    With Father Chains on his knees, Locke and he were roughly forehead to forehead. In
     response to Chains’ beckoning hands, Locke stepped close and waited. The priest wrinkled
     his nose.
    “I see that your former master remains less than fastidious about the pungency of
     his wards; no matter. That will soon be rectified. For now, simply give me your hands,
     like so.” Chains firmly but gently guided Locke’s small hands until the boy’s palms
     rested over Chains’ blindfold. “Now … merely close your eyes and concentrate … concentrate.
     Let whatever virtuous thoughts you have within you bubble to the surface, let the
warmth
of your generous spirit flow forth from your
innocent
hands. Ah, yes, like that …”
    Locke was half-alarmed and half-amused, but the lines of Father Chains’ weathered
     face drew downward, and his mouth soon hung open in beatific anticipation.
    “Ahhhhhhh,” the priest whispered, his voice thick with emotion. “Yes, yes, you do
     have some talent … some power.… I can feel it.… It might almost be … a
miracle
!”
    At that, Chains jerked his head back, and Locke jumped in the oppositedirection. His chains clanking, the priest lifted manacled hands to his blindfold
     and yanked it off with a flourish. Locke recoiled, unsure of what eyeless sockets
     might look like, but the priest’s eyes were quite normal. In fact, Chains squinted
     in pain and