
The tunic he wore beneath the cloak was wool also but died a neutral russet color. Starting out before
dawn on the caravan road, Samlor would wear as many as three similar tunics over this one, stripping
them off and binding them to his saddle as the sun brightened dazzlingly on the high passes.
The bottom layer against his skin of silk, the only luxury Samlor allowed himself or even desired while he
was on the road.
He was a broad-shouldered, deep-chested man even without the added bulk of his cloak, but his wrists
would have been thick on a man of half again his size. The skin of his hands and face was roughened by a
thousand storms whipping sand or ice crystals across the plains, and it was darkened to an angiy red that
mimicked the tan his Cirdonian genes did not have the pigment to support.
When Samlor smiled, as he did occasionally, the expression flitted across his face with the diffidence of a
visitor sure he's knocking at the wrong address. When he barked orders, whether to men or beasts, his
features stayed neutral and nothing but assurance rang in his chill, crisp tones.
When Samlor hil Samt was angry enough to kill, he spoke in soft, bantering tones. The muscles stretched
across his cheekbones and pulled themselves into a visage very different from the way he normally
looked; a visage not altogether human.
He rarely became that angry; and he was not angry now, only cautious and in need of information before
he could lead Star and her legacy out of thisdamnable city.
The clabbered milk was served in masars, wooden cups darkened by the sweating palms of hundreds of
previous users. As the tapster paused, midway between reaching for the coin now or drawing the beer
first, Samlor said, "I'm trying to find a man in this town, and I'm hoping that you might be able to help me.
Business, but not—serious business."
That was true, though neither the tapster nor any other man in this dive was likely to believe it.
Not that they'd care, either, so long as they'd been paid in honest coin.
"A regular?" asked the balding man softly as his hand did, after all, cover the gold which Samlor was not
yet willing to release.
"I doubt it," said the Cirdonian with a false, fleeting smile. "His name's Setios. A businessman, perhaps, a
banker, as like as not. Or just possibly, he might be, you know… someone who deals with magic. I was
told he keeps a demon imprisoned in a crystal bottle."
You could never tell how mention of sorcery or a wizard was going to strike people. Some very tough
men would blanch and draw away—or try to slit your throat so that they wouldn't have to listen to more.
The tapster only smiled and said, "Somebody may know him. I'll ask around." He turned. The coin
disappeared into a pocket of his apron.
"Uncle, I don'tlike —"
"And the beers, friend," Samlor called in a slightly louder voice.
There was little for a child to drink in a place like this. Star didn't have decades of caravan life behind
her, the days when anything wet was better than the smile of a goddess. The beer was a better bet than
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