[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.If I get caught, hopefully it'll be before I get the fire feather." So they'd just imprison him.Rather than kill him."So I should sneak in via the Cathedral." That made him nervous for reasons he couldn't explain - or didn't want to explain."That doesn't tell me how to get past the gates and all.""Carriage," Shinju said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, teeth tearing neatly into a last bit of the fish on her plate."What?" Raz stared blankly.Shinju gave him a patient look."Carriages go in and out of the palace all the time.I've seen them coming and going as late as midnight.All you need to do is slip beneath one of those and ride it into the palace.""That sounds like fun," Raz said with a grimace, "but I suppose it's better than attempting to scale a wall, which was all I had." He sopped up the last of the juice from the mutton with his bread and looked at the other two at the table."You're being awfully quiet.""Merely watching a peer work," Ivan said with a smile."Usually I simply hire you.""And leave out pertinent information," Raz said."And try to underpay."Ivan grinned."It's so much fun getting your ire up, I can never resist.What do you want for this job?"Raz stared at his empty plate and reached absently for his ale."Nothing," he said after a moment."Consider it repayment for trying to help with Pechal." He swallowed the last of his ale, eyes burning.Slamming the empty tankard down, he looked at each of his friends in turn."This could go bad very easily.It usually takes us weeks to do a job.If anything happens to me, just get out of town.They won't have any reason to suspect I'm anything but alone, but better safe than sorry.""If anything happens," Ailill said quietly."I will get you out myself.""Don't," Raz said."If they catch me before I get the feather, they'll just lock me up for a few days.If they get me after I've got the feather, they'll just kill me.No reason to stick around either way.""Raz…" Ivan said with a frown.Raz stood up, shaking his head."I have my own reason for going," he said quietly."This is just a good excuse.Now come on, I've got a carriage to catch.Thanks for dinner." He didn't anyone a chance to reply, but turned and strode from the inn and out into the still-crowded streets.He weaved and bobbed through the crowd, ducking into alleyways where he could, making his way steadily across town tothe south side.The scent of the ocean came up behind him, and Raz smiled fondly."What say you, my lovelies?""That one," Shio said, pointing to a carriage coming up the road, still some distance away, eschewing one that was much closer, nearly at the gates."It comes often, and the coachman often stops to talk to the guards a moment.The trust will work to our favor."Raz nodded."You noticed all of this in merely a day?""Of course," Shio said with an offended sniff."Compared to what we usually do, this is easy.""Right.All right, my beauties, distract the nice coachman for me then? And remind me why I'm doing this."They each reached up to kiss his cheeks, lips soft and warm."Because you don't want to lose anymore friends.It's achallenge.And something is troubling you.""As usual, the two of you know far too much," Raz grumbled good naturedly."Here we go, then."Nodding, exchanging smiles, the twins slipped from the alleyway clinging to each other and laughing up a storm.Somewhere in their stumbling, they'd managed to open their shirts enough that they were less than modest.They were eerily good at playing drunken maids.Raz snickered as the coachmen stared, almost feeling sorry for him.On top of their quite feminine shapes and inarguablebeauty, the sisters also had an exotic card to play - he doubted even the coachman for a noble had seen very manyKundouins, and certainly none like Shio and Shinju.file:///H|/NOVEL/New%20novel/2.htm[9/25/2009 10:21:36 AM]AmaSour FictionThe coachman was forced to stop as the girls tumbled into his path, laughing and shouting, clearly thoroughly drunk.Razdouble checked the street was clear, then slipped out of the alleyway and into the well-lit street, stalking over to thecarriage and rolling beneath it.He tested the undercarriage, making certain he had good hand and footholds, then listenedas Shio and Shinju wrapped up their charades, no doubt leaving the poor coachman with thoughts aplenty to help keep himwarm at night.He heard the coachman once more settle into place, talking briefly with whomever was inside the carriage, then heard thecrack of a whip.Just in time he grabbed onto the undercarriage, settling himself in for a rough ride as the carriage continued on its way to the palace.Several minutes later, just as he was beginning to think his arms and legs could take no more, the carriage was at last left in the dark of a carriage house.Stifling a groan, relieved that the hastily contrived plan had actually worked, Raz let go and hit the floor with a soft oomph, then rolled out from under the carriageSomewhere bells chimed eight o'clock.Still too early.He would have to wait until it was much, much later.Shrugging, Raz opened the carriage he'd been hiding beneath and climbed inside.He had four hours to waste, might aswell take a nap.Chapter ThirteenThe moon was full and bright in the sky as he slipped out of the carriage house, turning the darkest hour of the night into a strange sort of midday.The faintest hint of the ocean was carried on the breeze, mixing with the smell of horses andcarriages, and a slightly…cleaner smell than would ever be found in the bustling city beyond the palace.Raking his hair into some semblance of order so that it wouldn't get in his way, Raz rolled up his sleeves and made certain his breeches weretucked into his boots, his shirt into pants.In his vest he could feel his lock picks.He'd never favored carrying a weapon.The massive carriage house was some distance from the palace proper but close to the stable.Taking a deep breath, Razconsidered his options.The colorful spiraling towers of the Cathedral loomed, close but not close enough to make this easy.Cutting straight across the open field would be the easiest route, sparing him the danger of the palace, running intowhatever servants or nobles might be about.But he wasn't certain there were other routes into the Cathedral - it was a part of the palace, and it was entirely possible that as old as it was, the only way into it was via the palace.In which case he'd trek across the field for nothing and have to risk himself trying to find a way in.Though he couldn't imagine that would be too hard to do.The palace was enormous; there must be several routes inside…but those routes would all be guarded
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]