Free Book 3 - Water Sleeps by Glen Cook

run almost forever without tiring. “Maybe.
Maybe. She didn’t have any special talisman?”
    “Not that she mentioned to me.”
    I looked down at another terrible hand. Grilling Swan could get
expensive. I am not one of the better tonk players in the gang.
“What happened to the horses?”
    “Far as I know, they’re all dead. Time or magic or
wounds got them. And the queen bitch wasn’t happy about that,
either. She don’t like walking and she ain’t fond of
flying.”
    “Flying?” Startled, I discarded a card I should have
kept. That allowed one of the Guptas to go down and take me for
another couple of coppers.
    Swan said, “I think I’m going to like playing with
you. Yeah. Flying. She’s got a couple of them carpets that
was made by the Howler. And she just ain’t real good with
them. I can tell you that from personal experience. Your deal.
Ain’t nothing like falling off of one of them suckers while
it’s hauling ass, even if you’re only five feet
high.”
    One-Eye materialized. He looked about as bright and alert as he
ever did these days. “Room for one more?” His breath
smelled of alcohol.
    Swan grumbled, “I know that voice. No. I figured you out
twenty-five years ago. I thought we got your ass at Khadighat. Or
maybe it was Bhoroda or Nalanda.”
    “I’m quick on my feet.”
    Slink said, “You’re in only if you show some money
up front and you agree not to deal.”
    “And you keep your hands on top of the table all the
time,” I added.
    “You smite me to the heart, Little Girl. People might get
the idea you don’t trust me not to cheat.”
    “Good. That’ll save them a lot of time and
pain.”
    “Little girl?” Swan asked. There was a whole
different look in his eye suddenly.
    “One-Eye’s got diarrhea of the mouth. Sit down, old
man. Swan was just telling us about Soulcatcher’s magic
carpets and how she doesn’t like flying. And I’m
wondering if we couldn’t find some way to take advantage of
that.”
    Swan looked from one of us to the other. I watched
One-Eye’s hands as he picked up his first bunch of cards.
Just in case he might have done something to this deck sometime in
the past. “Little girl?”
    “Is there an echo in here?” Slink asked.
    “Is that suddenly a problem?” I asked.
    “No! No.” Swan showed me the palm of his free hand.
“I’m just getting a lot of surprises here. Soulcatcher
thought she was pretty solid on the Company survivors. But
I’ve already run into four people who are known to be dead,
including the world’s ugliest wizard and that Nyueng Bao
woman who acts like she’s in charge.”
    One-Eye growled, “Don’t you go talking about Goblin
that way. He’s my pal. I’ll have to stand up for him.
Someday.” He snickered.
    Swan ignored him. “And you. That we had down as a
man.” ’
    I shrugged. “Not many knew. And it’s not important.
The dope with the eye patch and smelly hat should’ve had
sense enough not to mention it in front of an outsider.” I
glared.
    One-Eye grinned, drew a card from the pile, discarded.
“She’s feisty, Swan. Smart, too. Designed the plan that
pulled you in. You started on another one, Little Girl?”
    “Several. I think Sahra will want the Inspector-General
next, though.”
    “Gokhale? He can’t tell us anything.”
    “Say it’s personal. Swan. You know anything about
Gokhale? He dabble in little girls like Perhule Khoji used
to?”
    One-Eye gave me an evil look. Swan stared. My mess-up this time.
I had given something away.
    Too late to fuss about it. “Well?”
    “Actually, yes.” Swan was pale. He focused on his
cards, having trouble keeping his hands steady. “Those two
and several others in that office. Common interests brought them
together. The Radisha doesn’t know. She doesn’t want to
know.” He discarded out of turn. He had lost his zest for the
game.
    I realized what the problem was. He thought my speaking freely
meant I expected to elevate him to a higher plane before