Read Online The Scofflaw Magician (The Artifactor Book 3) by Honor Raconteur - Free Book Online Page A

that courtyard. Not about what you stole, but about
what you saw. You will answer my questions.”
    Gautum licked
his lips, head jerking in a shaky denial. “Wasn’t there.”
    “You will
answer my questions,” she continued inexorably. “Or I will turn you into a
toad.” As if considering this, she lifted her head to squint at the sun. “In
this heat, you’ll be baked in about an hour. I wouldn’t recommend the
experience.”
    The thief also
darted a look at the sun, as if weighing that option. He looked near to
fainting as he realized that a frog in this sort of environment really wouldn’t
last an hour. And he didn’t want to be a toad to begin with. Faintly, he
croaked, “What do you want to know?”
     

Sevana propped
her feet up on a barrel, letting her hat sink lower over her eyes, feeling like
everything was throbbing. Gautum the thief had been short on information. He
had only been able to tell her who was legitimately there on business and who
he knew was there causing mischief. The mischief makers were noted and Xald
would take care of them later, but it didn’t give her the information she
needed. After handing him off to the city guard, they went back to their list. She
and Xald had crossed back and forth across the city at least a hundred times,
ferreting out the missing people, or trying to. They’d crossed eight off the
list, and right now, she didn’t feel like they’d get to a ninth person. Even
with multiple potions and spells, her feet were aching, and the sun felt like
it had penetrated through her eyes and burned the back of her skull. Forget
custom, wearing a hat was a simple necessity in this country. She’d have been
sun blind and burned without it.
    Xald, unfairly,
didn’t seem as affected as she was. He’d settled her into a cool corner of a
pub of some sort, then gone to fetch her a drink. The man was tougher than a
bed of nails.
    Coming back, he
plopped a plate on the table but handed the drink directly to her. Sevana
accepted it with both hands and drained half of it in one long pull. She didn’t
care what was in it, it was nirvana to her parched mouth. Setting it down, the
taste finally hit, and she swiped her tongue over her lips. It wasn’t something
she was familiar with.
    “What is this?”
    “Lemon water
with mango slices. It’s a popular drink here.” Xald slouched into the chair
next to hers, briefly showing his own fatigue. “You like it?”
    “I do,” she
answered, surprised as she said it that it was the whole truth. “It’s light and
refreshing. And what are these?”
    “Curry naan.”
He lifted a thin slice of bread up and bit into it. “A simple snack, but we
need to eat something.”
    She had no idea
what it was, but was hungry enough to not care about that either. Ripping off a
piece as he had done, she popped it into her mouth. To Sevana’s taste buds, it
tasted spicy and exotic but delicious. Smiling for the first time in days, she
ripped off a bigger chunk and stuffed that into her mouth as well. “You better
order another plate.”
    “We have bowls
of curry coming,” he answered around a full mouth. “This is just to hold us
off.”
    “Smart man.”
She ate a whole slice of bread, if that was the correct term, and drained the
rest of her drink before feeling human enough to ask the obvious question,
“We’ve been at this, what, eight hours?” It had to be near that as night was in
danger of falling.
    “Near abouts.”
Xald drained his glass as well and sighed in satisfaction. “Master!” he called
to the bar, “another! Two glasses and a pan of naan!”
    The master, who
looked like he was in his seventies, gave a grunt of acknowledgement before
passing on the order to a girl that must be his great-granddaughter, with those
looks.
    Turning back to
her, Xald continued, “I recognized one name on the list. The ninth man we’re
looking for, Hamar, is known to eat here in the evenings. I expect him to come
at any point, as the master