Honor Among Thieves by Elaine Cunningham Read Free Book Online Page A

alchemical energy that
disguises the Thorn’s powers.”
    “That would be my guess.”
    “Which would mean he knows more about the Thorn than
any human should.”
    Delgar muttered a curse. “I hadn’t thought it in
those terms.” He scrubbed both hands over his face, then sent her a
small, rueful smile. “To be honest, I don’t like the idea of elves
holding onto so much carmite, but at least you people have the
sense not to use it. I’ve yet to meet a well-informed human who
could resist acting on his knowledge.”
    “Time is short.”
    “Very.” He paused for a thin smile. “But thanks for
not adding ‘and so are you.’”
    Her brow furrowed in puzzlement. “Why would I do
that?”
    “Why indeed? Apparently I’ve been spending too much
time around humans. So, what do you propose we do next?”
    She considered their options in light of these new
possibilities. “Have you ever seen the Thorn?”
    Delgar huffed. “Yes, the elves gladly lend it to my
people whenever we can’t be bothered moving vast quantities of
stone around by hand.”
    “Oddly enough, I’m in no mood for sarcasm.”
    “Do you prefer irony? Because any dwarf I’ve ever met
would see plenty of that in this little rescue mission.”
    She supposed he had a point. Most dwarves believed
the carmite in the Thorn had been stolen from one of their ancient
troves.
    An idea began to take shape. “Can you work in glass?
If you had to, could you create a credible glass weapon?”
    He shot her a quick, insulted glance. “That’s the
first crafting skill a Carmot learns, as well you know.”
    “So if I drew the Thorn, you could make a copy. A
replica done in glass rather than crystal.”
    The dwarf shifted to face her. “What are you
thinking?”
    “We get someone inside the adept’s manor to steal the
Thorn and replace it with a glass replica. Fox could do this?”
    Delgar huffed a short laugh. “I doubt there’s a
stronghold in Sevrin that could keep him out. But Muldonny’s not
like Rhendish. He doesn’t take students and receives no tradesmen.
Only his clockwork servants come and go, and a few invited
guests.”
    “Then we shall have to intercept an invitation.”
    “His guests are all alchemists.”
    “We could send Avidan.”
    “ Avidan ?”
    “Why not? He’s an alchemist.”
    “He’s . . . less reliable than you apparently
believe,” Delgar said with careful diplomacy. “And he hasn’t left
the tunnels once since we found him in the mirror room. That was
three, maybe four years ago. There’s no telling how he’d react in
the outside world.”
    “Is there anyone else among you who could pass as an
alchemist long enough to get the information we need?”
    Delgar’s silence was sufficient answer.
    “If you think it might help, someone can go with him
to help keep him focused on the task at hand. The humans of Sevrin
seem to take servants with them wherever they go.”
    “That might work,” Delgar said. “Fox seldom works on
Stormwall Island. There are only a few people looking for him
there. Of course, there are fewer people in general. It’s harder to
blend into a crowd.”
    “Fairies are generally quite skilled at illusions.
Perhaps Vishni—”
    “No,” Delgar said emphatically.
    “No?”
    “Imagine the last person you’d want to take along
when you’re exploring an adept’s lair, then put that name on a
list. Vishni’s name would be three lines south of it.”
    His reaction confirmed Honor’s growing suspicions
about the fairy. “So Vishni is not to be trusted.”
    “Oh, you can trust Vishni,” he said. “The problem is,
you can trust her to ‘improve the story.’ And I suspect you’ve
heard enough fairy tales to guess how that generally turns
out.”
    “Then why do you keep her around?”
    Delgar’s smile held a bitter twist. “Every story
needs a hero. Fairy tales tend to be twisty, but the hero usually
wins. And Vishni sees Fox as an ‘archetype,’ the young trickster
hero who gets the