Free The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes Page B

University tenure!"
    Hessler was a tall, squint-eyed man permanently in need of a shave. He tended to hunch inside his robes, and he gestured a lot with his hands in ways that made others irritated. His most memorable feature was his mouth, mainly for what came out of it.
    "Your disrespectful attitude and pilfering could have been tolerated," Porisporant went on, red-faced and pointing now, "had your remarks been restricted to matters of the arcane. But by your public attitude, you have misrepresented the University's regard for the Voyancy and the Republic!"
    Hessler manipulated the air with twitching fingers. "But, but, but the entire premise of the Republic involves free speech, which should imply that—"
    "The Republic must be clear on the University's respect and admiration for the policies of the Voyancy," Porisporant said, "especially in these trying times."
    "Am I being suspended for pilfering," Hessler asked, "or for what I said?"
    "For your crimes against the University—" Porisporant intoned as though someone important were listening.
    "I only did that to pay for my moth—"
    "—taken in light of your pernicious and unpatriotic attitude—" Porisporant went on.
    Hessler shook his head with a sneer. "So I'd get different treatment in I—"
    "—you are hereby expelled," Porisporant finished with a malicious leer. "Guards, this man is not to re-enter campus, and his goods are hereby claimed to help pay off the debt he incurred through his thievery."
    "Oh, you can't be," Hessler began, and when Porisporant turned away, raised his voice, "you can't be serious! You can't expel me! The founders of this university were warlocks who trafficked with demons! A few magic trinkets can't be cause for—I'll go to Professor Cestran! He'll overturn this, you frog-eyed Republic lickspittle! You'll see! I'll be back in two weeks!"
    Porisporant closed the door behind him. The guards stayed outside, watching.
    When it became clear that the conversation was over, Hessler stalked off. Cestran was on vacation, as Hessler had last heard, in the port city of Ros-Sesuf, where the elderly wizard made his home. It was several days away on horseback. Hessler hadn't had much on him when Porisporant had arrived with the guards, and he had nothing stashed away.
    But Hessler was, as even Porispont had to admit after discovering the black-market trinkets, a creative individual.
    "The sign says you're looking for guards," he said to a fat bearded caravan master a few hours later. "You're headed to Ros-Sesuf."
    "How d'you know that?" The caravan master glared suspiciously at the gangly man in the shimmering purple robes. "You some kind of wizard?"
    "As a matter of fact, I am," Hessler said in irritation, "but it's obvious you're going to Ros-Sesuf without any magic at all." He pointed at the wagon. "The smell from your wagons clearly shows that you were carrying greenroot, which you'd have gotten from inland and sold here. But you're now carrying dye and silks, judging by the guild stamps on the crates. You couldn't sell those inland, and that means you must be heading to Ros-Sesuf, to sell the expensive items in a port city." He snorted. "Why, you'd be a fool not to notice."
    The caravan master grimaced. "But you're a wizard."
    "Of course I am!" Hessler declared, waving his arms. "Look at the robe!"
    "Official and licensed and all?" the caravan master asked with a squint. "Went to the university in town here, did you?"
    "I did indeed go to that university," Hessler proclaimed, "and may Jairytnef, mistress of magic, strike me dead if I lie." This was not a technical falsehood, which was good, as Hessler preferred to remain truthful when daring the gods to slay him if he were lying.
    "Fine," the caravan master grunted. "Pays food and five per day, ten if we see trouble. You ride with the new boy."

    The new boy turned out to be a fresh-faced young lad named Rybindaris, who tried not to gawk as they rode out of town. He had seen sixteen summers, if