Read Online Blood on Bronze (Blood on Bronze Book 1) by Anthony Gillis - Free Book Online Page B

looked embarrassed. “Well, I suppose on average,
about ten or fifteen copper moons a night, sometimes a lot more, and sometimes
nothing. Out of that, I have to make payoffs to the local guards and a couple
of minor officials, and I spend some of it on gifts to make sure a few of my
friends stay my friends. So… I guess really closer to a silver moon a night to
live on.”
    Arjun looked at her, reminded himself not to get lost
in her beauty and to stay focused on his line of thought. “And besides the
confidence games and kickbacks, you’ve done some actual sneaking around,
getting into places unseen, hiding, things like that?”
    She looked at him quizzically, “Well, I learned a long
time ago not to rob from anywhere around here, and lately I’ve thought it was
easier and safer to wait for marks to come here than to go pilfering halfway
across town. But… yes, I’ve done a lot of sneaking and hiding in my life.”
    She stopped, and touched his arm. “But what’s your
point with all this?”
    “Instead of taking risks every night doing things that
make my conscience itch, why not work for me?”
    “Huh?”
    “I’ll pay you two silver a night to train me for a few
hours on how to move with stealth, to hide, and how to break into places
quietly.”
    Inina stared at him in skeptical confusion, “I thought
you disapproved of such things, and now you want to learn them? You won’t make
money at it paying for the privilege…”
    “I said nothing about wanting to make money. What I
want with such skills is something else entirely,” he said, with a dangerous
edge rising in his mind and voice.
    She looked disturbed, and concerned.
    “Arjun, I mean Sharur, when are you going to sleep,
and where are you going to get the money? That gold in your bags has got to run
out sometime.”
    “I have gems in there too. Even at the rate I’m
spending, I can live a very long time on what I have. As for sleep, I will find
it where I can.”
    “I… well, all right. I’ll do it.
    ~
    Bal-Shim smiled as he watched the work in progress at
Ashur’s former residence. Everything of any value was being pried up, stripped
down and collected for sale. When that was done, he’d sell the house and
grounds. Because it was hard to get anyone but a bronze maker to live along
this street, and because the other bronze makers were no longer willing to work
with him, he might not get the price he wanted. But since he’d gotten it for
free, any price was a profitable price, and he’d find someone.
    At Bal-Shim’s side was a tall gaunt man with hollow
cheeks, a very long beard plaited with silver, deep-set eyes under thick black
brows, and somber gray and brown robes trimmed in blocky runes made of lead and
copper. He spoke in a soft voice.
    “You are wasting no time, Bal-Shim.”
    “On the off chance that the wheels of the council
somehow turn against us, and Ashur is released, I want to get every last coin
out before it happens.”
    Besides, thought Bal-Shim, it was much easier and less
tedious than actually running a business. He’d never really had the patience
for it himself, and the fools he hired could manage running his simple show
operation, but keeping Ashur’s going, let alone getting it to make money, was
beyond their skill or his interest.
    The other man spoke again, “You are being needlessly
fearful, son of Shulggi. With each passing week we and our friends grow
stronger, and thereby the chance of anything turning against us on the council
grows less.”
    “Still,” said Bal-Shim, “It wouldn’t do to have Ashur
released. Not while the other bronze makers are still in business and a force
to be reckoned with.”
    “In time,” said the other, “that will cease to be a
problem, and the making of bronze will pass from the hands of the followers of
Zamisphar into yours.”
    Bal-Shim thought happily of the wealth that might
mean, though he might have to take the unpleasant step of hiring more overseers
to run at least