The Warring States, Books 1-3 by Strandberg Greg

Author:Strandberg, Greg [Strandberg, Greg]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2013-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

FOUR

The chime sounded and Wu rose from his desk. He dipped his brush into a small cup of water then ran it over a cloth for a few moments, removing the black ink. He then laid it beside the ink pot, shuffled a few stacks of paper into one orderly pile, grabbed another stack, rose from his desk, and turned toward the door. The four other men Wu shared the small inner office with were each walking toward the door as well, nodding good night as they went. Wu was the last out and closed the door behind him, pulling a ring of keys from inside his robes to lock it. The large outer office was a bustle of activity as the younger clerks and scribes rushed about with stacks of papers. Each wanted to get to the right desks as quickly as possible so that they too could be out the building and on their way home, or more likely to their favorite drinking establishments. Wu easily moved through them and toward a side wall of the larger office where a man still sat at his desk. He looked up as Wu approached, a frown spreading onto his face.

“You just brought me a stack that size this time yesterday,” the man complained.

“I know you like to keep busy,” Wu said to the man as he laid the stack of papers down on the desk.

The man snorted but said nothing, not even glancing at the new stack that had just been added to the several already there.

Wu turned and headed for the door of the outer office, moved through to the long hallway branching off into yet more offices, and then through the front desk room before finally emerging from the building entirely. He didn’t pause as he stepped onto the cobbled avenue and turned toward the small side street that led to his lodgings. He only noticed the numerous potholes as he stepped around them and didn’t give the equally numerous beggars a look at all. Within minutes he was walking through the door of The Barracks and heading toward the bar.

Despite the fact that the final chime of the day had just sounded a few minutes earlier, the common room of The Barracks was already half-full. Men were busy throwing back glasses of wine and mugs of ale, the second already for many of them, Wu judged from the din of voices already growing loud.

Wu walked up to the bar but before he even reached it Sa had placed a small tray down with several bowls on it. Wu lifted one of the lids and steam wafted up into his face. Ah, beef tonight; Wu could tell from the smell. He put the lid back on the bowl, grabbed the tray, and headed for the small staircase at the side of the room. Another few moments brought him to his door, through it, and to the small table opposite his bed. He placed the tray down, pulled out the rickety chair, and sat down.

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.