Free Pathfinder Tales: Lord of Runes by Dave Gross

sheath.
    “Whazzatonnerbah?”
    Janneke arched her back as she stretched, proving she was a couple inches longer than her bed. She swallowed and cleared her throat. “I said, what’s that on your back? A tattoo?”
    “What? No, I don’t got any.”
    “Oh. I just figured you Sczarni boys usually go for tattoos.”
    “You think I’m Sczarni?”
    “Well, you sound like a Chel, but you look Varisian. Aren’t you?”
    “By blood, yeah.” I looked over my shoulder but couldn’t see whatever she saw. Maybe she bruised me worse than I figured.
    “Turn around.” She sat up and turned me herself. Whatever she saw made her let out a big, beer-hall guffaw.
    “What? What?” I tried to see but found myself turning around like Arni chasing his own tail. “You got a mirror under all this garbage?”
    “No,” she said, still laughing. “But look.”
    She pointed at a wanted poster beside the bed. Last night she’d caught me up in some northern wrestling move and pinned me there for a nice little while.
    The ink was smudged from where it’d come off on my skin, but I could still make out the words:
    8,000 ALIVE, 2,000 DEAD
    ZORAN
    Human Male Varisian
    Wanted for Great Theft
    May Possess DEADLY Arcane Artifacts
    Known associates: Sczarni, Chimneysweeps, Cerulean Society
    Report to Citadel Volshyenek
    KORVOSA
    The image was smeared, but the freckled nose and pointed chin looked familiar. “This guy related to the thief who robbed me?”
    “What?” Janneke blinked and scowled at the bright eastern window. “No, it was him I was chasing. Zoran.”
    “That was a woman.”
    “Zoran is a master of disguise.” A few strands of hair fell across her face. She gathered them up and started weaving them back into braids. “The city guard thinks he disguises himself as a servant to get inside the houses he burgles.”
    “I know the difference between a man and a woman.”
    She shrugged. “If you see him again, tip me off. I’ll cut you in.”
    “I don’t know how long we’ll be in town. Depends on how long it takes the boss to settle his business.” Digging around for my belt, I came up with her helmet. The black paint made for a pretty good cougar face, but I could see it used to be gray steel. “That guard captain didn’t like your hat. How come?”
    “You’ve never heard of the Gray Maidens?”
    I shrugged.
    “We were a special unit answerable only to the queen. When that went bad, we split up. My commander formed a new outfit. We went north and hired ourselves out as guards, bounty hunters, whatever we could find. When that went bad, I came back here to freelance. What kind of work do you do?”
    “I’m a…” I had to think about it. Over the years, my arrangement with the boss had changed. He’d called me his friend, but that goes only so far when one of you’s a lord of Cheliax and the other’s whatever the hell I am. Whenever the question came up, we always ended up where we started. “Bodyguard.”
    Janneke nodded. “And your boss? What’s he?”
    “He’s what you call incognito.”
    “You mean he’s traveling incognito.”
    “No, we’re traveling in a carriage. He’s incognito.”
    It took her a second to decide whether I was just that adorable. She hit me with the pillow. “I don’t understand even stupid jokes before my first cup of coffee. Let’s get some. There’s a gnome with this wild steam machine down by the Traveling Man.”
    “That sounds great, but I’d better…” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. “Business and pleasure, you know. On the job. Professionalism.” Once I heard myself, I realized I was babbling.
    “Yeah, sure.” She didn’t like it, but she heard what I was really saying. “I could use some more shuteye.”
    “If I see your gal, I’ll let you know.”
    “Guy. But sounds good.”
    There was a little more of that before I got out the door. Not my cleanest getaway, but I’d had worse. Sometimes much worse.
    I cut north to Jeggare Street, hoping to