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contrary. Those that can afford what we provide are the kind to run like
scalded moggies from any smell of sleaze. We don t have to pander to the
sickheads which suits us just fine.
If you say so. Watts was Ginny?
No. Agent. Go-between.
I can certainly believe that, he likes his skin, our Ginny.
Right. But we didn t have much trouble making the connection. Watts list
wasn t long, just slimy, with Ginbiryol Seyirshi perched atop the pile. We
took a good look at what we found and we said no thank you, we don t care to
deal.
Why? What s wrong with Ginny, besides him being a murderous kidnapping little
bastard, I mean.
He sat rubbing the cat behind its mobile ears and scowling at the
sky. Ginbiryol Seyirshi, entertainment entrepreneur extraordinaire. Phah!
The butabek makes snuff-flakes. Torture milked to the last drop. His client
lists read like a roll of ... hmm, well, say a list of those Voallts Korlatch
will not deal with. Hunting is one thing, but slicing up a beast while some
mokkus jerks off, that s different. He s also got a thing for offing children.
Nice huh?
Shadith frowned. That doesn t quite ... he likes creatures more than people,
the children, all right, he s weird about children, especially girls. Don t
get your backhair up, Ciocan. I believe you, it just means he s more
complicated than I thought? She moved her shoulders uneasily, not happy with
that idea, then shifted focus to another suggestion. You said his
agent wanted Ri-Tors. You think he s planning to exchange you ... us ...
for them? Or maybe he s running out of victims and wants the world list you
wouldn t give him.
No, I m afraid not. Nothing so simple. I think we re players in one of his
Limited Editions. A snuff job on a grand scale, if anything that drunk does
could be called grand.
The hawk came wheeling down, lit on the trunk, wob-bled a little, then perched
there, treading the
wicker uneasily, his eyes fixed on Rohant.
After staring at the bird for a long moment, Kikun turned to the meadow in
front of him, pounced on a tuft of grass and came up with a small rodent. He
jumped to his feet, took it to the trunk, and tossed it to the hawk.
Rohant scowled. Don t do that, Kikun; I don t want Sassa taking food from
anyone but me.
He won t. Kikun s nostrils flared as he watched the bird tear into the
rodent. You, me, same thing to him. He came back and sat beside Shadith,
slender wiry arms draped over his drawn-up knees. Tell the tale, shi che i
Ciocan.
Not much left worth telling. Wars and massacres, plagues and ... you name
it, he sits up there recording it. He growled, then spent some time
soothing the cats; the anger in his voice made them uneasy. The hawk
screamed and beat its wings. Kikun chirrupped at the bird and calmed it,
though it still stepped nervously from foot to foot.
Shadith scratched at her arm, scowled. Three people? That s all he s got up
there, counting him, you can t count the mercs or the Paems.
He s got money and drugs and a Talent at twisting people. Given he locates a
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place in the right mood, that s all he needs. Rumor says he s depopulated half
a dozen worlds. For what that s worth. He spat, his dreadlocks moved out from
his scalp. They say he boils down the death of a people to the peak moments,
his definition of peak. He spat again, wiped his hands on his knees; his
golden eyes narrowed to threat slits as he contemplated Ginny s iniquities.
They say he does one Limited Edi-tion about every ten years, he makes a
thousand copies of the show and charges a WorldYear Income for each. And gets
it. I think that s why we re here. I think this world is ready to
explode and we re detonators. We could be infected with some plague, we
could be put here to start a war, you name it, csezheri.
Sari What a mess. By the way, call me Shadow, hmm? I think you re right. Any
ideas what we do about it?
Kikun laughed suddenly. He s mad as a wish with its foot in a hole. Hopping.
You had better walk very soft, Shadow our friend.
Shadith blinked. Mindread? You can stretch it that far?
Oh, no. It just come to me. Things do that. Now and then, then and now.
He blinked at her, looking for the moment as mindless as the little lizard
he d held a while ago. What is, was, will be, it s all here, in me, in you,
Twiceborn. In this also. He pulled a blade of grass loose, handed it to her.
She let the grassblade fall, switched her stare to the wide blue stretch of
empty cloudless sky. Then he s watching right now. He ll always be watching.
Listening to everything we say. Whatever we try, he ll know it and can counter
it before we can do anything.
Kikun shrugged. So so.
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