Free Book 2 - Lord of the Silent Kingdom by Glen Cook Page B

business."
    Mention of a present pierced the fog in the giant's mind. Dad
remembered? I was beginning to wonder. You have any trouble out there?
In the street?"
    Puzzled, Hecht said, "No. We hired a boy off the quay. He brought us
straight here." He indicated the possessions they had dropped after
being admitted. "The city almost seems deserted."
    The fat man asked, "You didn't get stopped by any Family patrols?"
    "No."
    "You will. There'll be rumors about strangers out by now. That'll
turn into spies from the Brotherhood or agents of the Deves. They
really want to get even with somebody. Sonsa is dying. And they claim
it's all our fault. Not the damned Deves. They're gonna need passes.
Good ones. Brothers, when they stop you, forget who you are. Just show
your passes. Do what they say. Don't give them any excuse to strip you
down. They do, you'll be lucky to end up just having your stuff taken
and your ass seriously kicked. They killed a Deve last week. And he was
under the protection of Don Alsano."
    Ghort chirped, "Matt, you want to remind me why I had to come with
you?"
    "Stupidity?"
    "Yeah. That's the one."
    Tiny offered what was, likely, the only profound statement ever to
escape his mouth. "You can't fix stupid."
    "Shit. Man. I like that," Ghort said. "I'm gonna use that."
    The old woman yelled in from the next room, "Will you see who the
hell is at the door, Tiny? Hey! You girls get back where you belong."
Hecht spotted several girls trying to get a look at the visitors. They
seemed awfully young for denizens of a joy house. "You two from Heber.
Come in here. That should be a customer. I don't like my customers to
see each other."
    "Really?"
    Voices at the door. Ghort said, "That's Pella. I better see what's
up." He went.
    Beomond asked Hecht, "You been involved for long?"
    "Only a few years."
    "Been to Runch?"
    Hecht considered admitting that he had. But that might start Ghort
asking questions.
    He was doing fine with his Duarnenian past. "I hope to go someday.
To the Holy Lands, too. To walk the roads the Founders walked, among
the Wells of Ihrian… I have to make the pilgrimage. But the traffic all
seems to be headed this way these days. Those who sent the packet were
Special Office."
    "You talk too much. These walls have ears."
    "Point taken. Apologies." He had let too much thought leak through
while he concentrated on Ghort's conversation with Pella.
    Old Bit had gone into a corner. She rummaged through a pile of what
looked like refuse, came up with passes bearing ihe Durandanti family
crest. "These will do. As long as you stay away from Durandanti
patrols. If you don't act like what you are and piss somebody off.
These make you agents of Don Alsano Durandanti. The Three Families are
trying to get along. Them against the world. Don Alsano has a plan to
bring Sonsa back."
    "Hey, Matt! Granny!" Ghort yelled. "The kid says somebody's staking
the place out. There's four of them. Another one ran off like he was
going after reinforcements."
    "That's not good," Bit said. "Not if they think you're the ones who
came in on the smuggler. They'll want to know why you didn't go
straight to the Don's palace. I know what. The girls don't have
anything to do. We'll make up families for you. Beomond, get your
damned birthday present put away. Tiny! Look around. Make sure there
ain't nothing laying out that we don't want to answer questions about."
    In ten minutes Hecht and Ghort left the House of the Ten Galleons
accompanied by their wives, Ghort's son, and Hecht's brace of
prepubescent daughters. He had a real daughter in al-Qarn older than
these apprentice prostitutes. The purported wives managed to look
surprisingly respectable.
    Bit had had practice showing witnesses what they wanted to see.
    The thugs in the street evidently did not find it remarkable that
men would take their families along on a visit to a brothel. There were
no challenges. Hecht wondered how they meant to catch spies with no
more information than they