(eng) Martha Wells by City of Bones

Author:City of Bones [Bones, City of]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Khat spun and scaled the wall as if he had springs in his legs. Only when he was perched on top did he look for Constans.

The mad Warder leaned against a fig tree as if he owned the place—which, for all Khat knew, he might. He still wore the dusty black mantle, with no veil. He said, “I told you it would do you no good.

Was I wrong?”

“I didn’t know you came out in daylight,” Khat said. That was only partly a taunt. Constans didn’t look quite real under the morning sun. With his height and sun-faded hair and light eyes he could have been kris, somebody’s crazy old granduncle. Except somebody’s crazy old granduncle couldn’t make two men lose themselves in broad daylight simply by wanting it.

“Was I wrong?” Constans was gently persistent.

Khat dug his fingers into the stone to keep his balance and glanced around. There was a walkway on the other side of the wall, with a shaded colonnade to one side with tiled benches for passersby. No sign of anyone. He said, “This wasn’t what you meant.”

“True,” Constans admitted. “But I wasn’t wrong.”

An errant breeze ruffled Khat’s hair, and through a gap in the trees he saw the vigils halfway across the garden by the lotus pool, arguing. He didn’t know how much longer he dared stay here. “Why did Shiskan kill Radu and not me?”

Constans shook his head, mildly exasperated. “If you don’t know what happened there, you still know nothing.”

He’s not wrong about that, either. Khat snorted. “Then why bother with me?”

“And how long can you run from everything?” Constans countered, sounding as if he really wanted to hear the answer.

In this city where Khat’s dead body was worth more than he was alive, not long. And the Waste was nowhere to run to. The person Rhan thought he and the others wanted back was long gone, had died years ago when the pirates had shown him just what helplessness was. If he ever went back to the Waste to live for good, it would be with the ghosts. Constans saw far more of that than was safe, and any answer that even approached the truth was dangerous. Khat asked again, “Why bother with me?”

“Has Riathen burned the bones for you lately?” Constans started forward, moving unhurriedly. “You should let me do it for you. I don’t let my preconceptions cloud my vision.”

Khat thought, That’s enough of this, and fell back off the wall, landing on his feet. He ran down the walkway, not looking back.

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