Fool's Gold by Jon Hollins

Author:Jon Hollins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction / Fantasy / Epic, Fiction / Action & Adventure
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2016-07-19T04:00:00+00:00

Athril was a large and bustling town. The lake stood at the confluence of several rivers, and if one skirted its edge, and avoided the territory of the Leviathans, then it was an entirely navigable stretch of water. Certainly the taxes imposed by Dathrax were obscenely high, but the taxes everywhere were obscenely high. And compared to Will’s louse-ridden armpit of a village, Athril appeared positively metropolis-like.

The walls of the buildings were painted as often as they were whitewashed. People bustled through the streets too busy to pay attention to each other. Store owners called from the doors of shops—solid and with glass in their windows—rather than from rag-covered stalls. The occasional crowd of guards walked down the street, eyes watchful for all the mischief a cowed populace could summon.

Fishing vessels clustered on the shoreline, enjoying the safety of the shallows. Their owners sat in small groups mending nets and exchanging exaggerated stories. A crowded market square filled the air with a thrumming noise that was audible from the town center to the stockade wall, where at that moment three rather nonplussed guards were regarding Firkin, Balur, Quirk, and several hundred of their closest friends.

“You want to come in?” said one of the guards, as if he had never heard of such a thing, and as if his proximity to a gate were something entirely coincidental. He looked to his colleagues.

“I don’t know,” said one. “Dathrax never said nothing about no big crowds.”

“He said not to let in no one suspicious,” said the first. “I’m finding a crowd like this somewhat suspicious.”

“You can’t be generalizing just like that,” piped up the third guard. “For example,” he said, “that bloke over there is looking dead suspicious. But those two are just kids. I don’t think no kids are suspicious.”

“What if they’re dwarves?” said the second. “I’m reckoning dwarves are suspicious.”

“Now that’s just open racism that is,” said the third. “You can’t just go saying that all dwarves are suspicious. Very diverse people. Lot of different outlooks on the world. Some are arseholes to be sure, but some are lovely.”

“He’s into that short one over at the brothel,” said the second.

“So what if I am?” said the third. “I have diverse tastes, I have. I’m a man of the world. Should try yourself a short arse, and see what you’re missing.”

Beside him, Balur noted, Quirk was clamping her lips together with considerable force.

“The problem is,” said the second, “no one ever said what the definition of suspicious was. Open to too much subjectivity.”

“No it’s fucking not,” said the first guard. “Subjectivity is the whole fucking point. You’re a guard. A professional. You are paid to have a discerning eye in this arena. If you don’t, you’re not a guard, you’re a fucking bystander.”

“Now hang on, Joel,” said the third guard. “That’s a bit strong”

“I’m not sure it’s strong enough,” said Joel.

The second guard looked miserable. He fell back against the stockade wall, kicking at the dirt.

Balur opened his mouth to make a suggestion.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.