possibilities I saw and the less I liked this book. It sounded like a triple shot of Black Plague. “You think there’s a chance it really exists? That it isn’t just somebody’s fancy?”
“ Something exists that people are willing to kill for. But it just can’t be complete.” He sounded like he was whistling in the dark. “Else the thief wouldn’t have gotten to it. But it would be dangerous in any state. It has to be destroyed, Mr. Garrett. Please go straight to the Dead Man. Urge him to exercise his entire intellect. My people will do everything within their power.”
Tinnie’s place in the mess was fading fast. The stakes seemed huge. I should’ve known it couldn’t stay simple. My life never does. “Let me know if you come up with anything.”
Gnorst nodded. He had given me more time and information than either of us had planned. Now he seemed anxious to see me go. I said, “We ought to excuse ourselves and attack our respective tasks.”
“Indeed. My life has been complicated no end.” He signaled. The old boy from the front door popped out of nowhere. He took me back the way we had come. Somebody scampered ahead to warn all the dwarves. They were all hard at work when I passed by.
Nobody is that industrious all the time.
13
I slipped out into the afternoon, leaned against the wall a dozen feet from Dwarf House’s door, pondered my place in this exploding puzzle. The Book of Shadows. A real nasty. Did I have a moral obligation here? Gnorst and his gang knew how to handle it.
I understood the danger better by the minute. I was tempted by the book and didn’t yet know how it could be useful to me. Pretty easy to see why Gnorst was scared of it.
If I stayed involved, I was going to have to cover my behind. There were some rough players out there. I didn’t know them, but they knew me. Maybe it was time to drop by the Joy House, see if Morley had anything cooking.
I started toward his place, not hurrying, still trying to figure angles.
I didn’t get there.
There was a whole gang of them but they were dwarves, SO I had the reach. And for once in my young life I’d had the sense to go out dressed. I dented three heads and chucked one dwarf through a window. The owner came out and cussed and howled and threatened and kicked a dwarf I knocked down. Nobody paid him any attention. The rest of us were having too good a time.
I started out not really trying to hurt anybody. I just wanted to fend them off and get away. But they were playing for keeps. I decided I’d better argue more convincingly. My stick wasn’t getting the message across.
Somebody whapped me up side the head with a house. It had to be a house. Nobody dwarf size could hit that hard. The lights went out.
Usually I come around slowly after I’ve been sapped. Not that I have a lot of experience with that. This time I wasn’t slow, maybe because I was so excited about finding myself still alive, if a little run down.
I was bouncing along facedown. Cobblestones slid past inches from my nose. The hairy runts were taking me somewhere rolled into a wet blanket. They were skulking along through an alley. Maybe they wanted us to party some before they let me swim the river with rocks tied to my ankles.
I didn’t like the situation. Naturally, Would you? But there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it. I couldn’t even yell. My throat felt like I’d tried to swallow cactus.
However.
The dwarves stopped. They chattered gutturally. I strained, lifted my head, looked around. My temples throbbed. I saw red. When my eyes cleared, I saw a man blocking the alleyway ahead. He was alone and there were eight dwarves around me, but the numbers didn’t bother him.
His name was Sadler. He was one of Chodo Contague’s top boys, pure death on the hoof. The dwarves chattered some more. Someone was behind us, too. I couldn’t twist around enough to see him, but I could guess. Where Sadler went Crask was sure to follow. And
“ Something exists that people are willing to kill for. But it just can’t be complete.” He sounded like he was whistling in the dark. “Else the thief wouldn’t have gotten to it. But it would be dangerous in any state. It has to be destroyed, Mr. Garrett. Please go straight to the Dead Man. Urge him to exercise his entire intellect. My people will do everything within their power.”
Tinnie’s place in the mess was fading fast. The stakes seemed huge. I should’ve known it couldn’t stay simple. My life never does. “Let me know if you come up with anything.”
Gnorst nodded. He had given me more time and information than either of us had planned. Now he seemed anxious to see me go. I said, “We ought to excuse ourselves and attack our respective tasks.”
“Indeed. My life has been complicated no end.” He signaled. The old boy from the front door popped out of nowhere. He took me back the way we had come. Somebody scampered ahead to warn all the dwarves. They were all hard at work when I passed by.
Nobody is that industrious all the time.
13
I slipped out into the afternoon, leaned against the wall a dozen feet from Dwarf House’s door, pondered my place in this exploding puzzle. The Book of Shadows. A real nasty. Did I have a moral obligation here? Gnorst and his gang knew how to handle it.
I understood the danger better by the minute. I was tempted by the book and didn’t yet know how it could be useful to me. Pretty easy to see why Gnorst was scared of it.
If I stayed involved, I was going to have to cover my behind. There were some rough players out there. I didn’t know them, but they knew me. Maybe it was time to drop by the Joy House, see if Morley had anything cooking.
I started toward his place, not hurrying, still trying to figure angles.
I didn’t get there.
There was a whole gang of them but they were dwarves, SO I had the reach. And for once in my young life I’d had the sense to go out dressed. I dented three heads and chucked one dwarf through a window. The owner came out and cussed and howled and threatened and kicked a dwarf I knocked down. Nobody paid him any attention. The rest of us were having too good a time.
I started out not really trying to hurt anybody. I just wanted to fend them off and get away. But they were playing for keeps. I decided I’d better argue more convincingly. My stick wasn’t getting the message across.
Somebody whapped me up side the head with a house. It had to be a house. Nobody dwarf size could hit that hard. The lights went out.
Usually I come around slowly after I’ve been sapped. Not that I have a lot of experience with that. This time I wasn’t slow, maybe because I was so excited about finding myself still alive, if a little run down.
I was bouncing along facedown. Cobblestones slid past inches from my nose. The hairy runts were taking me somewhere rolled into a wet blanket. They were skulking along through an alley. Maybe they wanted us to party some before they let me swim the river with rocks tied to my ankles.
I didn’t like the situation. Naturally, Would you? But there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it. I couldn’t even yell. My throat felt like I’d tried to swallow cactus.
However.
The dwarves stopped. They chattered gutturally. I strained, lifted my head, looked around. My temples throbbed. I saw red. When my eyes cleared, I saw a man blocking the alleyway ahead. He was alone and there were eight dwarves around me, but the numbers didn’t bother him.
His name was Sadler. He was one of Chodo Contague’s top boys, pure death on the hoof. The dwarves chattered some more. Someone was behind us, too. I couldn’t twist around enough to see him, but I could guess. Where Sadler went Crask was sure to follow. And
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