Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...
Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...
Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...
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Generated <strong>by</strong> ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html<br />
could masquerade as an Arkan would be you."<br />
"Shit," Shkai'ra said, wrinkling her nose. "Just when this war was getting interesting.And I was in line for<br />
a cavalry brigade ," she added to herself.My last chance at comm<strong>and</strong>. Oh, well .<br />
"Love—you aren't taking meseriously , are you?"<br />
Shkai'ra held out one, red-blond braid. "Ia, I am. Unless you think we could pull off a rescue through<br />
letters in wartime?"<br />
"Shkai'ra… you don't know the language well enough. You don't move like an Arkan woman <strong>and</strong> never<br />
will. Arrgh—oww. I know you think Arkans are blind, but…"<br />
"No, Megan," said the Kommanza, smiling. "Remember that time we were in one of those Thanish<br />
trade-towns… Vyksa, wasn't it? And it took that idiot Thanish ch<strong>and</strong>lerten minutes to realize we were<br />
female.Zoweit-zum , I had my shirt unlaced almost to the bottom of my breastbone <strong>and</strong> he didn't notice!<br />
People see what they expect; Arkans are even more trained to see 'men' in pants <strong>and</strong> 'women' in skirts<br />
than Thanes, <strong>and</strong> city ones don't meet outsiders, like those Thanes would."<br />
"As a man! You'retall enough… But you'd have to go as asolas if you wanted to be armed, <strong>and</strong> they're<br />
fish-guttedliterate , let alone fluent in their mother-tongue, in a certain accent, <strong>and</strong> knowing who to talk<br />
up <strong>and</strong> down to—not to mention the low voice! There'd' be no reason for you to be in the City Itself<br />
unless you were wounded…" Her voice trailed off, thoughtfully. "Wounded on thehead . The right sort,<br />
<strong>and</strong> you wouldn't be able to write much, or talk straight…"<br />
She shook herself mentally. "No. Koru, what am I thinking? This isn't enough information for you to go<br />
haring off ahead of the army to chase Lix<strong>and</strong>—one scrap of paper with a box number on it. Besides, you<br />
can hardly walk up to You Know Who <strong>and</strong> say 'I need to leave your army for a few weeks to get my<br />
wife's son, or she'll have to kill you.' " She put a h<strong>and</strong> on Shkai'ra's knee. "Thank you anyway, love, for<br />
the thought."<br />
"No," Shkai'ra said. "We were planning to think of a way to get you out of the choice, Lix<strong>and</strong> or<br />
Gold-bottom; this is it. Think about it when you're a little less wretched, after you've slept some. There's<br />
notearing hurry, because you have a good excuse for delay to give therokatzk now—you're wounded!<br />
And think about that message; Lix<strong>and</strong>'s obviouslynot being held <strong>by</strong> Irefas proper,nia ? If he were, that<br />
would be going to the Marble Palace, not a drop-off box."<br />
"Maybe. Maybe not."<br />
"Yourrokatzk never said 'we have him in the Marble Palace dungeon'—just 'I have him.' He's<br />
freelancing, with a few other people, probably not more than half a dozen—easy work for me. Worth the<br />
attempt, at any rate." Her eyes closed for a second. "Rest now. We're going to win."<br />
Megan chewed on her Arkan pen, looking at the neat columns of positives <strong>and</strong> negatives on the paper<br />
before her. She was propped up on pillows, the lap-desk on her lap; her bad leg hurt like a rotten tooth<br />
but bigger, the pain made worse <strong>by</strong> the lurching of the un-sprung wounded-cart, even on roads this<br />
smooth. It was stuffy in there, <strong>and</strong> people kept groaning.Never thought I'd wish I were riding . But the<br />
Haians weren't going to let her up yet; when she did try st<strong>and</strong>ing, just to see what would happen, she<br />
instantly felt why they didn't—her head going light, <strong>and</strong> her whole body insisting on lying down again.