City of Death by Laurence Yep

Author:Laurence Yep
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

34

Scirye

Kat bowed to the princess and then to Scirye. “I think the ifrit will be worth a hundred Pippalanta, so if I may, I will take my leave now, lady. Between Nandi, Wali, and Oko, you should be fine.”

“Where are you going?” Scirye asked.

“I’ll tell Princess Maimie and your parents exactly what happened and where you’re going,” Kat promised.

“You’re going back to the citadel?” Leech asked.

Kat chuckled. “They’re searching outside the citadel, not inside.”

Wali gave him a wink. “Only an idiot would go back there.”

“Which certainly applies to me.” Kat grinned. “Don’t worry. I’ll lose myself among the servants.”

“What if one of them turns you in?” Leech wondered.

“We weren’t the only ones who were angry over the way we were treated,” Oko explained. “We have many friends among the staff. They’ll protect Kat.”

Scirye stroked Kles’s leg as she thought for a moment. “I agree with you that it’s vital the princess and my parents know the truth,” she finally said. “So all three of you should go.”

“I think Wali and Oko should go with you,” Kat insisted.

“This is not a request,” Scirye said firmly. “This is an order.”

The red-headed Amazon stared at her defiantly for a moment but then sighed. “Your sister used to look at me just like that when she was telling me to do something I didn’t want to do.”

“I suppose she looked at me just the same way,” Scirye admitted.

“I still think—,” Wali began but Kat elbowed her.

Kat glowered at her friend. “Didn’t we say we’d leave the thinking to her?”

“Well, that was then and this is now,” Wali grumbled but she fell silent.

“And tell my parents that I’m alive and well and…” Scirye hesitated, knowing it would be dishonest to say that she would be all right. They were facing too many unknown dangers for that. “Just tell them that I love them and that I’m carrying out the task the goddess has set for me.”

By the time they got the message, Scirye would be beyond their reach so they would not be able to command her to stay with them.

Oko took out the pistol. “Here, lady, you should take this.”

The two other Pippalanta offered their weapons as well and the princess offered to supplement those with more guns, but of the friends only Scirye had used one.

“And I didn’t hit the target much,” Scirye said.

“Using a gun in a real fight is different from practice,” the princess observed. “So perhaps daggers would be more useful to you.”

Scirye was impatient to leave, but she had to wait while the princess’s servants gathered up supplies and weapons for them. When they had been outfitted, they trooped after the princess and Nandi back to the open plaza at the center of the caravansary.

While the Pippalanta stood a little apart, Scirye and the rest of her friends stood in a line with Kles inside Scirye’s robe. Then, raising one arm, Princess Catisa held the forearm just before her mouth as she began to murmur a spell. The next moment the bracelets began to jiggle as if they had come to life.

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