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"If you're wantin' inside later, you'll show me some respect."
"No offense intended, Captain."
"None taken, cleric. Say an extra prayer to your god and be on your way.
Daylight's a-wastin'. One word o' ad-vice, though, before you go. If you don't
go lookin' for trouble in the old city, you're less apt to find it."
Immediately beyond the gates stood some of the worst slums in the
Realms lean-tos, propped haphazardly against the new city's tall stone walls,
shacks waiting for the wind to disperse their pieces like dandelion seeds,
long-abandoned buildings in an advanced state of de-crepitude. The inhabitants
were physical misfits and half-breeds, the only creatures despised enough by
both humans and monsters to serve as go-betweens for the civilized and
uncivilized parts of the city.
Even the horses lifted their heads high in a hopeless at-tempt to avoid the
stench, high-stepping to keep their feet clear of the refuse that littered the
alleyways. Ceru-lean barraged Shal with comments about the smells picked up by
his superior olfactory senses. Shal hushed him by reminding him that horsemeat
was undoubtedly a delicacy in these parts.
Unscathed except for the loss of a few copper pieces to insistent beggars,
they soon passed into the square that surrounded Kuto's Well. There was no
sign of movement as they entered the ramshackle gateway, and they pro-ceeded
quietly past the buildings that lined the large square.
Shal mentally ran through the spells she had memo-rized that morning. She
could feel the hairs on her neck bristle with the sense that they were being
watched, and she could tell from Tarl's tightening grip on her waist that he
felt it, too. Ren drew out one of his short swords, and Tarl pulled his hammer
from his belt. Behind them rose a loud squeal, and Cerulean instinctively spun
around to face the sound. From the other direction came the unmistakable
snorts and squeals of orcs. Cerulean spun again, positioning himself and his
riders halfway between the two sounds, then backed toward the center of the
square. Ren jerked the mare's reins and followed.
Six orcs, all at least six feet tall where their mangy, manlike shoulders met
their piglike heads, emerged from two shabby buildings, wielding clubs and
axes and closing in on the three riders.
"Get 'em!" Ren hissed, shifting his weight in the saddle and extending his
sword.
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"No! Talk to them!" said Tarl firmly. "They must know they're no match for the
three of us. We'll be able to find out more by talking."
The orcs pressed forward, shouting in their own crude language of grunts and
snorts.
Ren glanced at Tarl as though his head were on back-ward, but when the orcs
came closer, he started to speak first in broken orcish and then in thieves'
cant, which they appeared to understand. "Stop right there," Ren threatened,
"or we'll bash your heads in!"
The creatures stopped but continued to snort and snuffle and brandish their
weapons.
"We're passing through this way. We don't want trou-ble," Ren continued.
"We kill! No trouble!" grunted the orc closest to Ren.
Ren pointed his short sword at the big orc and said, "I kill you, even less
trouble." Ren bared his teeth and clicked his tongue, readying the mare for a
charge.
"We no kill! We no kill!" the orc snorted in panic. "Oth-ers kill. You worth
much gold."
Ren rushed the orc and grabbed it by the neck from behind. Then he pulled his
blade high and tight under its neck. "Come again?"
"You same party open up Sokol Keep. Lord of the Ruins want you dead. Offer
much gold for your heads. We not take. Others take!"
Ren glanced at Shal and Tarl, who were staring uncom-prehendingly at the
strange exchange. Ren repeated an abridged version of the conversation to
them, then pushed the orc away with the flat of his blade. "Leave us alone and
we don't kill you. Touch us or send an alarm, and you die. All of you!" Ren
bluffed a charge toward one group, and Shal and Tarl took the cue and charged
a short distance toward the other. The orcs fled like kicked dogs into the
surrounding buildings.
"They'll alert every orc in the old city the minute we leave," said Ren. "And [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]