Robert Asprin - TW 12 - Stealer' s Sky

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STEALERS' SKY
CONTENTS
Dramatis Personae, Lynn Abbey
Introduction, Robert Lynn Asprin
Night Work. Andrew Offutt
The Incompetent Audience, Jon DeCles
Our Vintage Years, Duane McGowen
Quicksilver Dreams, Diana L. Paxson
Winds of Fortune, C J. Cherryh
The Fire in a God's Eye, Robin Wayne Bailey
Web Weavers, Lynn Abbey
To Begin Again, Robert Lynn Asprin
STEALERS' SKY
Dramatis Personae
The Townspeople
ABOHORR-One-thumbed proprietor of the Vulgar Unicorn, now owned by Strick.
SILKY-A barmaid at the Vulgar Unicorn.
AHDIOVIZUN; AHDIOMER VIZ; AHDIO-Proprietor of Sly's Place, a legendary dive within the Maze.
THRODE-An employee at Sly's Place.
CLEYA; JODEERA-The woman Ahdio loves, and who works for him at Sly's Place. Since she is far too
beautiful to travel safely through the Maze, Ahdio has arranged for her to be protected by a
disguise of ugliness. OULEH-A doubly endowed denizen ofSIy's Place.
AMOLI-Madam of the Lily Garden brothel, a place of ill repute and endless possibilities.
CHOLLANDAR; CHOLLY-A master of glues and rendering.
FELTHERYN THE THESPIAN-Actor, director, and producer of Feltheryn's Players, a small theatrical
company which has found a better audience in Sanctuary than in the capital city.
GUSSELRAND-His wife and partner in all things.
LEMPCHIN-The youngest member of their acting company.
SNEGELRINGE-The romantic actor of the company.
ROUNSNOUF-The company comedian.
HAKIEM-Storyteller and confidant extraordinaire.
HANSE; SHADOWSPAWN-Native thiefofSanctuary, with often surprising friends and connections. He has
recently returned from a lengthy stay in the north.
JUBAL-Prematurely aged former gladiator. Once he openly ran Sanctuary's most visible criminal
organization, the Hawkmasks; now he works behind the scenes.
SALIMAN-His aide and only friend.
LALO THE LIMNER-A native Sanctuary artist whose paintings are more than they seem.
GILLA-His indomitable wife.
VANDA-their eldest daughter, employed as a companion to Lady
Kurrekai at the palace.
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WEDEMIR-Their eldest son, a member of Walegrin's guard, in love with Vanda's friend, Rhian.
LATILLA-Their younger daughter, just on the edge of puberty.
ALFI-Their son, a lively nine-year-old.
MORIA-Once one ofJubal's Hawkmasks, then a servant of Ischade. She was physically transformed into
a Rankan noblewoman before the magic died, and the transformation endures. She is in hiding with
Slilcho.
MYRTIS-Madam of the Aphrodisia House.
STILCHO-Once one of Shade's resurrected minions. He was "cured" of death when magic was purged
from Sanctuary.
ZIP-Bitter, young terrorist. Leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Sanctuary (PELS).
Now he and his remaining fighters have been designated as officials responsible for peace in the
city.
The S'danzo
ILLYRA-Half-blood S'danzo seeress with True Sight. Wounded by PELS in the False Plague Riots.
DUBRO-Bazaar blacksmith and husband to Illyra.
TREVYA-A crippled foundling presented to Illyra by Walegrin.
MOONFLOWER-Seeress of considerable talent and greater bulk mistakenly slain by Beysib bodyguards.
MIGNUREAL; MIGNUE-Her daughter, who loved Hanse and went north with him, but now dwells alone in
Firaqa.
JILEEL-Another, younger daughter.
TERETAFF-Moonflower 's husband.
THE TERMAGANT-Oldest of the S'danzo women practicing her craft in Sanctuary.
The Magicians
ILSIGI MAGES:
MARKMOR-A powerful, ambitious, youthful wizard.
MARYPE-His arrogant, yet blundering, apprentice.
RANKAN HAZARDS DWELLING AT THE MAGEGUILD;
RANDAL; WITCHY-EARS-The only mage ever admitted into the Sacred Band of Stepsons or trusted by
them. Now a teacher at the Mageguild.
DARIOS-An apprentice accidentally imprisoned in the Mageguild during the False Plague Riots. He
was freed by Lalo, from whom he is now learning a different sort of magic. Before his imprisonment
he was Rhian's fiance,
THOSE WHO ADHERE TO NO HIERARCHY OR DISCIPLINE BUT THEIR OWN:
ISCHADE-Necromancer and thief. Her curse is passed to her lovers, who die from it. Since the
diminution of magic in Sanctuary, she has been in isolation at her house on the White Foal River
STRICK; TORAZELAN STRICK TIF1RAQA-White Mage who has made Sanctuary his home. He will help anyone
who comes to him, but there is always a Price, sometimes trivial and sometimes not, for his aid.
AVENESTRA; AVNEH-Strick's increasingly obese assistant.
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Visitors in Sanctuary
THE SHEPHERD-A figure of considerable mystery. By his panoply he might be an Ilsigi warrior-but
all such men have been dead for years.
The Rankans living in Sanctuary
CHENAYA; DAUGHTER OF THE SUN-.4 beautiful and powerful young woman, the prince's cousin, who is
fated never to lose a fight. In her arrogance and innocence she made more enemies in Sanctuary
than even fate could handle and has left town until her reputation repairs itself.
DAYRNE-Her companion and trainer.
LEYN, OUIJEN, DISMAS, AND GESTUS-Her friends and gladiators at her father's school.
DAPHNE-Rankan noblewoman and first wife of Prince Kadakithis. Ostensibly sent to safety before the
arrival of the Beysib, she was actually kidnapped and sold into slavery on Scavenger's Island,
where Chenaya rescued her. She is now divorced from her husband.
PRINCE KADAKITHIS-Charismatic but somewhat naive half-brother of the assassinated Emperor,
Abakithis.
LOWAN VIGELES-Half-brother of Molin Torchholder, father of Chenaya. A wealthy aristocrat self-
exiled to Sanctuary and hoping to return to the Rankan capital in triumph someday. He operates a
gladiator school at his Land's End estate and has built a small, temporary arena there.
MOLIN TORCHHOLDER; TORCH-Archpriest of Sanctuary's war-god (whichever deity that is at the
moment). Architect for the rebuilt walls of Sanctuary. Supreme bureaucratic administrator of the
city.
ROSANDA-His wife. from whom he has been estranged for several years. She lives with Vigeles at the
Land's End estate.
RASHAN; THE EYE OF SAVANKALA-Priest and Judge of Savankala. Highest ranking Rankan in Sanctuary
prior to the arrival of the prince; now allied with Chenaya's disaffected Rankans at Land's End.
RHIAN-A young woman who has taken service with Lady Kurrekai.
STEPSONS; SACRED BANDERS-Members of a mercenary unit loyal to Tempus. Their years in Sanctuary
were maong the worst in their history. Many of them have already left town.
CRITIAS; CRIT-Tempus left him in charge of peacekeeping in Sanctuary when everyone else left. Also
the partner ofStraton, though that pairing has been in disarray for some time now. STRATON; STRAT;
ACE-Partner of'Critias. Injured by the PFLSat the start of the False Plague Riots. He has been
Ischade's lover and, though her curse has not killed him, most of his former associates count him
among Sanctuary's damned.
WALEGRIN-Rankan army officer assigned to the Sanctuary garrison where his father was slain by the
S'danzo many years before. He is now one of three officers responsible for the peace in Sanctuary.
He is also Illyra's half-brother.
The Beysib
SHUPANSEA; SHU-SEA-Head of the Beysib exiles in Sanctuary; mortal avatar of the Beysib mother
goddess. Lover of Prince. Kadakithis, whom she wishes to marry.
KURREKAI-The Beysa's motherly cousin.
INTRODUCTION
Robert Lynn Asprin
Zaibar bristled and glared angrily as a passerby jostled his back, nearly dumping his lunch off
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his lap and over the edge of the wharf where he sat. The Hell-Hound's annoyance went unnoticed,
however; the pedestrian continued on his way without a backward glance, picking his way through
the crowds. Letting his tight-lipped frown soften into a twisted grimace, Zaibar shook his head
with an inward sigh.
He'd have to find another place to eat his lunch in the future if he wanted any peace and quiet
during his midday break. It used to be that the wharves were nearly deserted during the day
between the time that the fishermen went out with the morning tide and the afternoon when they
returned. Now there were trade ships arriving from the Beysib Empire loaded with goods,
merchandise as often as not hawked directly from the boats, and the bargain hunters they drew were
no different from the noisy, haggling crowds in the Bazaar proper.
Normally, Zaibar avoided tracking, much less participating in, the politics that seemed to thrive
in Sanctuary like slime in a stagnant pond, preferring instead the narrow view of a career
soldier. By that view, he simply followed his orders without concerning himself with the
motivations or machinations of those who issued them. Lately, though, there seemed to be things
afoot which affected him directly to a point where he could not purge them from his mind, or avoid
speculating on their cause and effect.
One such thing was the town's growing prosperity. Apparently the Beysibs-in-exile who had taken up
residence in Sanctuary were approaching some kind of peace or understanding with the powers-that-
were in their old homeland. In any case, trade was beginning to develop with Sanctuary as the main
port. That, coupled with the new construction (which required constant appraising and reappraising
of one's habitual routes through town), was bringing money and jobs into Sanctuary at levels
unheard-of when Zaibar first arrived here escorting Prince Kadakithis. Of course, prices on
everything from food to women were going through the roof, at a rate that was rapidly outstripping
his meager soldier's pay.
Even more noteworthy, however, was what was going on with the Rankan Empire itself, the authority
to which the Hell-Hound was ultimately accountable for his actions-
Zaibar had been assigned to Kadakithis, and since that time had received his orders from the local
power structure. The chain of command in Sanctuary had become incredibly convoluted over the
years, though, with some units answerable only to faceless players in the capital itself,
bypassing the prince's authority, and it had all but collapsed completely when Theron murdered his
way to the Empire's throne. Now the Empire was in trouble to a degree that it was impossible to
ignore, even for those such as Zaibar who would prefer to leave politics to others.
The Hell-Hound shook his head again, remembering with no small measure of disbelief the last
briefing he had attended.
The big news of the briefing was that Theron was recalling the Rankan 3rd Commando and the
remaining elements of the Stepsons back to the capital "for reassignment to assist in suppressing
the civil disorder within the Empire." Even more surprising to Zaibar was the discussion which
followed the announcement.
Rather than working out the details of how to effectively police the city in the face of this
sudden loss of manpower, the meeting degenerated into an argument as to whether or not the units
in question would comply with the Emperor's orders! Even now, there was little sign of them even
going through the motions of preparing to leave.
To a career soldier like Zaibar, this was unthinkable . . . and a far more chilling commentary on
the Emperor's fading power than any idle street or barracks gossip. Once this door was open in his
mind, countless little observations and oddities flooded through, turning his thoughts and
speculations onto paths normally shunned.
He knew it had been some time since a tribute caravan had been sent from Sanctuary to the capital,
as there had been no call for guards for such an expedition. Originally he had shrugged this off,
thinking that perhaps the Empire had authorized that the extra tax monies be spent on the new
construction in town. Now he wondered if the prince had simply decided to withhold the monies. If
Ranke was unable to even collect taxes . . .
This had come to a head when someone in the barracks had speculated that the units being recalled
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were actually going to return as a tax-collecting force. This was, of course, pooh-poohed by the
other soldiers. If that was to be the new assignment, then why not give them their instructions
while they were still here rather than having them travel all the way to the capital?
No, every indication was that the Empire itself was in dire straits, and in its desperation was
turning its back on Sanctuary . . . cutting it adrift while it tried to muster its strength and
forces elsewhere. With the exception of a few isolated households who were conspicuously noisy in
their loyalty and preference to all things Rankan, the Empire's influence was all but gone from
Sanctuary . . . and the recall of the troops was simply a final, confirming gesture.
It was with no small surprise that Zaibar realized that he no longer thought of the prince ... or
himself ... as being Rankan. They had been absorbed into the permanent structure of this strangely
addicting town. Sanctuary was their home now, and as much a part of them as they were a part of
it. Ranke was just a name, at best annoying when it couldn't be ignored . . . and it was getting
easier to ignore it.
Realizing he was dawdling with his thoughts rather than eating or returning to duty, Zaibar rose
and threw the uneaten portion of his lunch into the water. The scraps rippled the steel-grey water
which reflected the blanket of clouds above.
Peace and prosperity had come to Sanctuary, the Hell-Hound thought, but it was like the
indeterminate cloud cover which hung over the city. Would the sun burn through and bathe the town
with warmth and light, or would the clouds thicken and darken into a storm?
A soldier could only watch and wait . . . and adapt.
NIGHT WORK
Andrew Offutt
Hanse believes in very little and perhaps nothing. Therefore he's always ready for anything,
particularly the unexpected. It's a trait that has served him well. Because he has to be a
pragmatist. Shadowspawn is a pragmatist.
-Strick
Wisdom is the ability to believe only what you have to.
-the Eye
Shadowspawn ranged through Sanctuary like a hungry tiger on the prowl.
His real name was Hanse and Hanse was mad. Better put, he was angry, but he was mad, too, in a
manner of speaking: mad with anger. Shadowspawn was hardly the first or the last person to be
driven into a sort of madness by anger. He had done heroic deeds: he had broken into the manse of
that sorcerer and stolen the earring that saved Nadeesh's life and enabled Strick to buy the
Vulgar Unicorn from the old physician. And then by all gods, by the will of Injustice Himself-that
evil gnomish dwarf who was left hand of ever-fickle Lady Chance-the heroic Hanse had been hit by a
stagger spell, punched by three big toughs, drugged, bound, gagged, and popped into a big cloth
bag. He had been hauled down to the dock, hauled onto a ship, and dumped into its hold.
Destination: slavery, in the Bandaran Isles.
Yet that did not happen. The next time Shadowspawn emerged from the shadowless sack and saw light
he was in the murky keep of that most sinister of men, Jubal. Jubal had bought him. True, after
some smirking and sneering and taunting Jubal had freed him, but not as an act of decency or in
exchange for the pitiful price the crime lord had paid. Oh, no. He had named a ridiculous sum,
close to sixteen pounds of gold, and Hanse's only choice had been to agree. A ridiculous,
monumental sumfive hundred pieces of gold! Ridiculous!
Ole Jubal, Hanse thought, must have been thinking with his nose, not his brain. And he wants to
take over peacekeeping in Sanctuary. Right. And put me in charge of guarding all the jewelers and
shops.
At least Hanse knew now that one of his kidnappers had been Tarkle, whose main occupation was
being a bully- And Hanse was just as sure that Tarkle with his brain borrowed from a minnow hadn't
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