Read Online The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble's Braids by Michael McClung - Free Book Online

for the use of a mistress who happened to be travelling. The interesting tidbits you pick up, sitting around Tambor’s.
    I had a decision to make. I had planned to set up shop in the unused building and observe the Elamner’s grounds from the roof. See how many guards, and what sort of rotation. Whether there were dogs. See what I could see of the interior of the villa, from a safe distance. The patrol here had complicated matters. I thought about it, and decided the risks did not outweigh the possible benefits.
    I sat there in the darkness, utterly still. Two tiger moths fluttered around my head, landed on my arm. Began to copulate. I ignored them, though they were as big as my palm. Distractions can be fatal. About a half-hour later the guard made another circuit. He was armed with short sword and crossbow. The sword was sheathed, the crossbow’s stock tucked into the crook of his arm. He was professional enough. He scanned his surroundings and didn’t talk to himself or hum or whistle. He wore a doublet and loose, almost baggy trousers tucked into low boots. He wasn’t wearing chain armor, that much I could tell. I couldn’t tell from this distance if his doublet was just padded, or if iron plates had been sewn into it. Either was common.
    As he moved off, away from me and in the direction of Heirus’s villa, I moved quickly and quietly to my left, toward the cliffs. There was my best chance of entering  the dilapidated building.
    Once I got to the back of the villa it was a case of good news, bad news. The good news was that practically the entire back wall was open to the air, a series of huge windows with dilapidated shutters, to afford a view of the sea. Most of those shutters were stacked haphazardly on the ground about twenty feet away. Now it was a series of open, gaping entrances. The bad news was that there was absolutely no cover from the house to the cliff other than that low, wide stack of shutters. And there were two more guards stationed just inside the building.
    I eased back into the deeper shadow of a huge hackberry, and waited some more. Listened to the dull roar of waves crashing against rocks forty feet below. Eventually the roaming guard came around the far corner and exchanged a few words with his two companions. I couldn’t hear what they said over the surf. One appeared to grunt and took over the walking duties, crossbow slung over his shoulder.
    I decided gaining entry to the abandoned villa wasn’t worth the risk. Once you get in, you have to get out. Again I was at a crossroads. Go home, think of some other approach. Or go ahead, into Heirus’s villa, practically blind. I wasn’t kidding myself. If I went into that villa tonight, it would be to kill the man. I could let this go, if I wanted to. Corbin hadn’t asked me to avenge his death. All he’d asked me to do was look after his dog.
    Kluge’s words came back to me. First they’d hacked off his fingers, then they’d let him run. Then they’d killed him, just for the sport of it.
    Tonight was as good a night as any, and better for being sooner rather than later.
    I trailed the roving guard at a safe distance back toward my entry point, then made my way carefully toward the Elamner’s villa through the dense undergrowth that had been the front garden. I reached the sagging wall and took a look.
    Between the two walls lay about ten yards of open ground that ran all the way to the cliffs. Someone kept the vegetation trimmed there; nothing grew more than ankle high. I couldn’t see anyone on the wall across the open space, but I would have bet gold someone was set to watch that open space. I could see a small wooden door set into the side wall of the Elamner’s villa, and about ten feet from my position, a gap in the wooden wall of the abandoned one. Where the guards passed back and forth, no doubt. Where the watcher would be stationed. No doubt the roaming guard would give the ‘all’s well’ every time he passed.
    All