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 />
my mouth runs away with me at times like that."<br />
He waved it off. "Can't remember a thing. Well… except something about something… gold." Megan<br />
chuckled. "I hope I didn't say anything inappropriate."<br />
"No, not at all. So tell me, O Infallible: what did your comm<strong>and</strong> council have to say about what<br />
transpired last night?"<br />
There was something wonderfully satisfying in seeing someone who had all those use-names look so<br />
sheepish. "To be honest," he said, "I've kept them too busy this morning, <strong>and</strong> Kaninjer's kept them too<br />
far away ever since to say anything. I'm not nursing any hope that they'll forget, though." He shrugged, the<br />
typical Yeoli double-shrug, the shoulders <strong>and</strong> then the good arm. "What can I say? They'll tell me, 'You<br />
should be more careful.' I will say, 'Yes, I admit it. I will.' Some will leap on that <strong>and</strong> say, 'You young<br />
idiot, why didn't you listen to us sooner?' in the hope that will make me listen to them more next time.<br />
Others will keep an awkward silence, tryingnot to make me feel like an idiot. Others will worry that it'll<br />
shake my confidence, while still others will worry that I'll go haring off on some even more dangerous<br />
stunt just to prove my Infallibility. And I'll just keep going the same way I have all along, except I'll check<br />
for traps."<br />
Megan raised one brow, drawing the leather card case out other belt. "I'm glad I'm not in a position<br />
where I'd have to try to out-stubborn you." He laughed. "Let me show you something."<br />
Megan unlaced the card case. She made no claims to be a seer—most such tended to cringe at the<br />
thought of h<strong>and</strong>ing their cards around—but carried them just to practice. She shuffled through the twelfth<br />
card, pulled it out <strong>and</strong> laid it in his h<strong>and</strong>.<br />
"The Hanged One. A very powerful card. And very symbolic." In some witches' decks, the figure was<br />
shown hanged <strong>by</strong> his neck, as if being executed; with most, though, including Megan's, he was pictured<br />
hanging upside down <strong>by</strong> one ankle, from a tree-branch.<br />
Chevenga burst out laughing. "What doesthat augur? Danger? A wound? Salvation <strong>by</strong> magic? A<br />
scolding comm<strong>and</strong> council?"<br />
She grinned, <strong>and</strong> let her voice take on the cadence of the fortune-teller. "Fulfillment, moral or physical<br />
sacrifice, the period of respite between significant events. The approach of new life forces. A period of<br />
indecision. Change, if willing sacrifice is made."<br />
"Well," he said; laughing, "I wasn't willing to step in the snare, if I'd had the choice. Here's the period of<br />
respite, whether I like it or not. I don't know where the indecision was…"<br />
My face is stone, Megan intoned to herself.Don't let him see where the indecision was .<br />
"Change," he went on, "that remains to be seen, I guess. Or maybe the meaning's different if instead of<br />
turning up the Hanged One, youare the Hanged One." He h<strong>and</strong>ed the card back, <strong>and</strong> she tucked it<br />
away. "Well, thank you again. I owe you."<br />
Megan forced a natural smile. "Shit, Chevenga, you don't owe me. Like I said, it could have been the<br />
other way around, <strong>and</strong>you would have had to saveme." He would have , she thought. "These things all<br />
come out even." Yes, a voice seemed to say in her mind.They do . "Nobody owes me anything."<br />
He reached to kiss her h<strong>and</strong> again; she had to let him. This time there was something small <strong>and</strong> hard in