Perilous Seas by Dave Duncan Read Free Book Online

stupid pastime. Soon she was losing disastrously. Inosolan was
doing even worse.
    So
was Jarthia-and the more she lost, the higher she raised the stakes.
    Fuzzily
Kade tried to work out the plot, for obviously there must be a plot. Azak’s
gold was disappearing at a scandalous rate. Of course the village women could
not stop the game while they were ahead and doing so well-that was mere good
manners. Soon the girl posted by the door was calling more names, and the
players were excusing themselves to go and whisper urgently to their husbands
outside, and then return to the circle. Kade and Inosolan yawned and fought their
weariness, and watched the small fortune grow steadily smaller.
    “Mistress
Jarthia?”
    Jarthia
rose and went to the door. Predictably, Fourth would refuse nothing to his
delectable, son-bearing young wife. After a brief muttering, Jarthia hurried
back to rejoin the play.
    Kade
yawned again, then snapped awake ... So that was it! “Mistress Hathark?”
    Inosolan
shot a guilty glance at her aunt from under sleepsoaked eyelids, then heaved
herself to her feet. She was visibly dragging as she went to the door. But
certainly Azak would cooperate also, because he had duties to perform while the
encampment bedded down, with no marital joys to look forward to.
    In
a moment Inosolan came stumbling back, yawning. “He says we may stay
while Jarthia does,” she told Kade seriously, “and Fourth will
escort us.”
    The
game continued; the stakes increased. Kade squirmed as she saw how much this
escapade was costing. What on earth was Inosolan hoping to accomplish? As the
room emptied it seemed to grow larger, and eerie echoes developed in the
shadowed corners. Soon only half a dozen players remained, the three locals all
twittering excitedly over their astonishing good fortune. Inosolan passed her
aunt more “loans.” Kade yawned shamelessly, and struggled to stay
awake, and fought against logical inner voices that told her not to be silly,
she was too old for this and she certainly ought to insist on going off to bed,
and they had a long way to go the next day ...
    But
another, very tiny, inner voice was whispering that she surely wasn’t as
old as that, and the hour was far from late by Kinvale standards, and Inosolan
must surely have something serious in mind if she was throwing away money like
this. Somehow Kade battled on, against brain-numbing exhaustion, losing
ridiculously and watching Inosolan doing little better. The dim room swayed;
her head lolled; her eyes blurred. She did not see a signal pass, but there
must have been one, for Jarthia suddenly went on the offensive. The money began
to move inexorably in her direction, and the chuckling and joking of the locals
became rarer, then stopped altogether, as their gains dwindled.
    Soon
it would be over, Kade thought with relief. Soon Jarthia would have all the
coins in the room, and then the gamblers must call it a night.
    And
suddenly the pressure eased ... returned ... faded altogether. The world came
back into terrifying focus.
    Kade
glanced up in horror and saw triumph blaze up on Inosolan’s face.
     

4
    Hospitality
was a duty to the God of Travelers. Violence within Tall Cranes itself was
extremely unlikely-Azak had said so at supper. He had then ruined the
reassurance by pointing out how few men were present in the village. The rest,
he had suggested cheerfully, might well be preparing an ambush for the morrow,
at some respectable distance.
    Nevertheless,
Fourth Lionslayer escorted the ladies back to the encampment grounds. It was a
distance of a few hundred paces only, and the worst dangers it offered were
barking curs, but the way wound along between the tiny settlement’s squat
stone cottages, and therefore was not a journey women should make without a man
to guard them. There was also the matter of passwords when the duty lionslayer
challenged-passwords were men’s business. This attitude riled Inos to
frenzy, but Kade rather enjoyed