Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...

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Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html "Of course you do. What else would you be doing for Shefenkas? You think I haven't done my homework on you? Besides, I don't carehow you kill him, knife in the back or duel of honor, so long as you kill himdead , andsoon ." "I already told you, I won't leave my child an orphan. An iron-cycle is what I need!" "You're telling me it would take you thirty days to acquire a poison?" "Andestablish my route home." "That's just a matter of thinking it out! You aren't convincing me, Whitlock. I know you'd love to stall, to find some way to squirm out of this; you and I both know you have every reason to lie to me now. More than I to you." Fishhook? she thought. goodmeatnobonesman?, the cat's thought came back. followman,. "Look, Arkan, you can get messages to me. Give me what timeyou think reasonable, and call me to account then, whether it's tomorrow or ten or twenty days from now. Is that reasonable enough?" "Very reasonable. What say we meet again in an eight-day, and we'll take it from there?" "All right." Her voice was resigned. Ihate you, I hate the ground you walk on and the air you breathe. I hate your guts and if I could curse you, I would. I hope my ill-wish gives you pox and dysentery and leprosy, and that you die a mass of painful sores . She turned to walk away. "Good luck," he said. "I will pray for your success."Everything you make me feel, you asshole, your people will feel, next time I go into the Arkan camp . The intrigue is intriguing, thought Matthas, as he slipped back to his tent.But this trade has its pains. Like dealing with the likes of her, and having my honor, my integrity and my race shot on by same. After all these years, it shouldn't get under my skin, but somehow it still does; I guess at least I haven't had all my innocence burned out of me . Everyone thinks you're an asshole when you're a spy. At times in his career, -mostly early in it, he'd wondered himself. He reassured himself by reviewing the ethic that required the work of him:I had a gift for it, more than anything else. To do what you are best at is to serve your Empire, and the Gods, best . Yet did he have that gift because he was in some way innately cruel, relishing the dirty work he so often had to do? (It was, he'd noticed, generally against people who relished dirty work more than he, as they plotted or wreaked harm on Arko. Such as Megan, most likely, and Shkai'ra, certainly.) At the end of each bout of such doubts, he always came to the same conclusion, making him wonder every time why he bothered thinking these things at all. He had to do his duty, as best he could. That was virtue in itself, and—like it or not—what sort of person it showed him to be didn't matter.When I am Aitzas, he thought,I'll have the luxury of moralizing . He looked forward to that. Likelier now; it
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html seemed she'd bought his story of the poison tooth. That made for much easier breathing. Megan went back to the tent, lay down so none of her limbs would fall asleep on her, and in her mind stretched to find Fishhook. In the distant silence she could hear the cat's thoughts, like meows muffled through two rooms and four heavy wooden doors. goodmeat sheepsmell licklick groomtoes manmove??? slowslow swoop goodsheepmeat smellsneeze followfollow catchleaf chewholdkickkick play??? bitespit situplicklick meant that meant to whereman??? goodmeat follow hunt-sneak… bird! Slowdumb BIRD! The mental whisper faded. Megan sat straight up. "Shit, shit, shit. The damn beast is off chasing birds! I'll wring her fool feline neck!" "Don't worry, my heart," Shkai'ra said from the other bedroll where she'd settled down to let Megan track the wing-cat without disturbance. "Convince flutterbrain that the man gave her the bird and she'll find him. Or else she'll get interested in him again afterwards. She at least got the smell of him. We'll be able to find him, drop some snooze-drips in his water so he doesn't chomp himself dead, truth-drug him and then just keep sending his messages not to kill Lixand until the army gets to Arko." She was spouting every idea she could think of, to calm Megan down. "We'll dosomething ." Megan lay back on her elbows, breathing hard. "All right. You're right, love, it was just an off chance." She smiled a twisted grin. "Worst comes to worst, I'll kill him and I'll learn to live with myself as a Halya-damned oathbreaker, friend-killer." Shkai'ra gathered her up close in her arms, onto her lap. "Shhh, my heart, it's not that bad, not yet. You're letting the worst rule you. We'll find the guy, rescue Lixand, then scrag him." Megan buried her face in Shkai'ra's neck. "I'm doing this all the time, aren't I?" "Not too much. Too much and I'd scream at you." The smile Megan gave this time was more sincere. "Why, thank you. That would helpimmensely ." She stretched the kinks out of her muscles. "But you are right, in a number of ways. I love you, you great brute." "I love you too, yousmall snippy disagreeable ." Megan tried to smile at Shkai'ra's version of the Ri's name for her. "You forgotsharp ." "Sorry.Sharp. A-hia , we'll work it out." Zaik knows how, the Kommanza thought.But somehow .
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Und now I vind dose two—Celestial
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