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"What?"

Ohed "If I don't concentrate, I think like a tortoise!"

"What? You mean slowly?"

"No! Tortoises are cynics They always expect the worst"

,Why?"

"I don't know Because it often happens to them, I suppose"

Brutha stared around at Ephebe Guards with helone rogue marched on either side of the column A few Ephebian citizens watched idly froly like the people at hoed demons at all

"They're people," he said

"Full y"

"Brother Nhumrod said Ephebians eat human flesh," said Brutha "He wouldn't tell lies"

A s a nostril If it was a deood actor

At intervals along the road from the docks hite stone statues Brutha had never seen statues before Apart from the statues of the SeptArchs, of course, but that wasn't the sa

"What are they?"

"Well, the tubby one with the toga is Tuvelpit, the God of Wine They call him Smimto in Tsort And the broad with the hairdo is Astoria, Goddess of Love A coly one is Offler the Crocodile God Not a local boy He's Klatchian originally, but the Ephebians heard about hiood idea Note the teeth Good teeth Good teeth Then the one with the snakepit hairdo is-

"You talk about them as if they were real," said Brutha

"They are"

"There is no other god but you You told Ossory that"

"Well You know I exaggerated a bit But they're not that good There's one of 'e a flutemilkmaids I don't call that very divine Call that very divine? I don't"

The road wound up steeply around the rocky hill Most of the city seemed to be built on outcrops or was cut into the actual rock itself, so that one man's patio was another man's roof The roads were really a series of shallow steps, accessible to a man or a donkey but sudden death to a cart Ephebe was a pedestrian place

More people watched theods The Ephebians had gods in the saot a look at Vorbis's face The exquisitor was staring straight ahead of hi

It was all so new!

And devilish, of course Although the gods in the statues didn't look much like de out that this very fact made them even more demonic Sin crept up on you like a wolf in a sheep's skin

One of the goddesses had been having some very serious trouble with her dress, Brutha noticed; if Brother Nhumrod had been present, he would have had to hurry off for so down

"Petulia, Goddess of Negotiable Affection," said Oht and every other ti"

Brutha's oddess for painted jezebels?"

"Why not? Very religious people I understand They're used to being on their-they spend soat the-look, belief is where you find it Specialization That's safe, see Low risk, guaranteed returns There's even a God of Lettuce soh any one else is likely to try to beco coo, but it's you they turn to every tiot touhhand it to Petulia She spotted a gap in the market and filled it"

"There's a God of Lettuce?"

"Why not? If enough people believe, you can be god of anything"

Om stopped himself and waited to see if Brutha had noticed But Brutha see else on hispeople like that Ow"

He'd walked into the back of a subdeacon The party had halted, partly because the Ephebian escort had stopped too, butdown the street

He was quite old, and inthat had been dried out for quite soenerally made people think of the word "spry," but, at the moment, they would be much more likely to think of the words " wet" and would be one hundred percent accurate, too Although there was the beard It was a beard you could camp out in

The man thudded down the street without any apparent self?consciousness and stopped outside a potter's shop The potter didn't see addressed by a little wet naked iven hilance

"I'd like a Nu, please," said the old ibus" The potter reached under his counter and pulled out a towel The nakedthat this had happened to both of theth and, u hiot, sir Pots and general household items, but a bit short on axioot a piece of chalk?"

"Got soht here from last time," said the potter

The little naked les on the nearest bit of wall Then he looked down

"Why haven't I got any clothes on?" he said

"We've been having our bath again, haven't we?" said the potter