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Fili what looked to be ice water fro to smile pleasantly, but could have saved herself the effort My back hairs were up - in a very literal sense - and she&039;d have to do h human DNA to resist that bribe Of course, it also helped that I was clueless The black mist, or Hell-river as they called it, was Terrin&039;s area of expertise He should be the one here, not ?" I asked

"Why do you ask?" she countered

I hate when people read ulterior motives into banal conversation "Because when you answer it&039;ll cover up the noise when I belch"

Her ain and her eyes flickered She didn&039;t seeonna answer?"

She lifted her chin "I&039;ve been here for three years, sinceday"

Damn She was married "What&039;s your husband&039;s line of work?"

"He doesn&039;t work He died just teeks ago"

Damn She ed "I&039;m sorry My condolences"

"Thank you May I ask what your line of work is?"

"I&039;s took place She straightened a little and her eyes got brighter, if that was possible "Really? What do you do?"

"I sing and tell jokes"

She ca the naood life I travel a lot, lanced at Shankey and Debreban, ere doing their best to be invisible with the rest of the servants

"I used to do that," she said "I don&039;t reat"

"You used to sing?"

"And dance I was the best oochie-coochie girl in the five provinces" No little pride in her tone

I gulped as ure into an oochie-coochie outfit I&039;d never seen such a costuirl wrapped in the final silky wisp from the Dance of the Seven Veils, with more beads and feathers than fabric "I bet you were Wish our paths had crossed earlier so I could have caught your act"

"You&039;re sweet, but I&039;ve hung upshoes I&039; for soain"

"Maybe so, but with all this - " She shrugged as though to take in the enornity of et out, cut loose, and boogie through the night"

"Oh, we have parties It&039;s not the sa about so up Could you telland dancing in the streets, ga"

"Sounds like a blast Need any entertainers?"

She smiled "Perhaps"

"Paid entertainers?"

"Perhaps I&039;ve just been placed in charge of planning it out"

"Coo-ool Maybe you could find a spot for reat at Master of Cereht beto coy I don&039;t like coy unless it&039;s sincere

"What do I have to do to get it?"

"Tell me about the Hell-river"

I put down my fork My plate was empty anyway Sooblet Another server slipped some kind of elaborate dessert in front of me that smelled of brandy I sensed a conspiracy "I&039;d really love to help you, but I don&039;t know anything about it What I saas huge, black, and spooky as hell Last night it tried to ooze intothe house awake But when Clem and his wife looked outside they didn&039;t see any ically sensitive, so they don&039;t see most of what&039;s around theuess so"

"Please" She leaned forward, so casual that she was intense "Please tell me about yourself, then"

Wow A beautiful woman who feeds me and wants ood at belly-rubs?

"Well," I began, then out of nowhere started singing to the tune of a hillbilly sitco

Lemme tell you a story &039;bout a cat named Myhr

A poor patterman with really soft fur;

He travels around with a dude na really is wearin&039;

(Cashless they are, ain&039;t it a shame?

Donate, please!)

I did NOT knohere that had co on ets laid

They have lots of fun but rarely get paid;

They&039;re aheadin&039; hoht

In therides Donate, please!)

Fili along the lines of where I&039;d been born - which I didn&039;t know, having been too young at the time - and other dull stuff like that

But why should I tell ers? This wasn&039;t a bank loan application

Elsewhere, at Overduke Anton&039;s Palace

"She was a bit surprised at first, of course, but after expressing to her your complete confidence that she was indeed the very best choice, Lady Filiether the festival"

Anton lifted a long hand an inch fro the flow of Perdle&039;s droning voice The man tended to turn even the siood See to it she has whatever she needs to organize things"

"Yes, my lord There is quite a lot in the palace archives she will no doubt find extremely useful"

"People, too She&039;ll want an outside staff that knohat it&039;s doing Find those who have worked on the festival before and make sure they&039;re sent &039;round to her"

"Excellent suggestion, ht Anton

"Lord Cad his suit to her, I think"

Anton shifted, restless His throne was very co and wanted to stretch his long legs,and if she&039;d like so comment that wanted a response "Why do you think that?"

"Captain Debreban of his guard was at Dare in hand Said he was visiting his friend Captain Shankey He didn&039;t appear too comfortable, but I suspect I sometimes intimidate a few of the lower echelons You kno it is, my lord"

Perdle couldn&039;t intimidate so much as a rabbit, but it would have been ireeably "The burdens of rank and all that" He should have a ith Cadmus about Fili off for aAnyway, she&039;d be busy with the planning work

"I think perhaps her ladyshipof your festival proposal before I ever arrived to deliver it, though" Perdle shuffled his papers, tucking them under one arm, ready to bow hi? Anton hadn&039;t thought of giving her the job until thaton hi spells had been in place for decades and still worked just fine Besides, everyone knew Filiic "How so?" he asked casually

Perdle sounded pleased "Because she already had soh there&039;s no circus in town A rather odd-looking fellow"

Anton gave a"Probably an old crony fro, yet didn&039;t say a word I suppose he couldn&039;t with thatbit of work Very realistic rendition of a cat&039;s face it was Thought it was a sort of man-cat creature at first Took me back a step when I clapped eyes on - "

"A cat&039;s face?" Anton&039;s heart sped up, but he was careful to keep his voice normal

"Yes, my lord If he is one of her entertainer friends we must have him perform here while he&039;s still in town The h what he does besides I could not venture to guess An acrobat or an actor, perhaps?"

Anton ht with a cat&039;s face and a hu hi Cadmus was no worry, but this other creatureAnton took his visions seriously, because too many of the bad ones tended to come true in a very literal sense He had hoped this new one would only prove to be symbolic In vain Dammit

"What news have you on the Hell-river?" he asked

Perdle gave an apologetic cough "Forgive ot about that report Very puzzling business it is, too It didn&039;t behave in its usualusual about the da Anton wished Perdle would realize that "Go on"

"One of the Talents on watch noticed a section of it flowing up the side of an inn near the bell tower Someone had aopen on an upper floor there and was looking out That ht have attracted the river&039;s notice The tenant closed the shutter and the river hovered outside for a goodly while, then subsided It&039;s happened before No one was hurt But very strangely the river vanished away from the streets shortly after, hours ahead of its usual time at dawn"

"Who was in the room?"

"I don&039;t know, my lord, but can find out"

"Do so"

"At once"

"Yes, my lord"

"And write out some sort of informal invitation to send to Lord Cadmus Ask if he&039;s free to coht I think Velma would enjoy the diversion" Unless required by the demands of his office, Anton preferred just the two of them alone at dinner It had been especially true since the couests had to stay overnight and he disliked i on people Perhaps they were flattered by the invitation, but there was the risk it o to their heads Bloody politics Ah, well, this was as good a ti-to about Filima Velht sink in

"At once, my lord"

"And Perds?"

"Yes, my lord?"

"Have someone keep an eye on Filima&039;s house When that fellow in the cat mask comes out, ask him over I&039;d like a look at him"

"Oh, yes, your lordship" Perdle seemed pleased "I&039;"

Gooseflesh crept along Anton&039;s ar but amused

In the Streets Near Clem&039;s Place

Terrin poked his nose into yet another herbalist shop, but sensed nothing of ical note At least it wasn&039;t full of wannabe wizards, tree huggers, and kids in black trying to scare their Bible Belter parents with pentacles and over-dyed hair Dallas had been full of those, but so long as their checks and credit cards cleared he neverinto his shop Besides, he&039;d put plenty of wards up to keep out the real riff-raff, seen and unseen

No shortage of Talents back ho none at all His nape hair had been on end from the first moment The exact cause of his unease still eluded hiht track for it

In search of others of his kind he&039;d asked around Ru his questions so only insiders would understand So to openly ask about ic People here were fairly comfortable about it; they&039;d heard of Talents, but no one knehere to point hi that so," but they couldn&039;t recall who It was like trying to track down an urban legend; everyone had a story, but no real source to naed hi weird, like those movies where New York City&039;s deserted because someone had dropped the booing on If that was normal for this world, then okay-fine, but if not, then he wanted out A-s-a-p Sooner, if possible

But none were to be found Usually he couldn&039;t help but sniff out another Talent In fact, they tended to trip over each other But here, nothing

He did find a few ave him the creeps He&039;d pass by their sealed doors and shuttered s and feel a strange tugging, but it vanished when he drew near Touching the buildings to pick up leftover vibes didn&039;t work All he felt was brick or plaster; any latent enature of the previous tenants just wasn&039;t there That was very wrong, particularly for the older structures Nearly everything was capable of absorbing that kind of energy and holding it for a ti it was like a great wind had swept through and swept away all the irls he&039;d spent some athletic afternoon hours with had cheered him a lot, but not powered him up as much as he&039;d expected They&039;d all parted coh he felt a little better for the psychic feeding and physical exercise, he should have been bursting with energy, not dragging around like a sloth on downers

It seeet back to the inn for a nap, then poith Myhr about speeding up their departure froh techno withdrawal

Terrin didlike the deafening blast of electronic h his body with crowds of kidsto the hyper-beat like one gigantic aniy than even he could pull into hiht now, just to crawl back up to feeling low-end norall bladder had done a meltdown a few years back The docs had had to suck it out with medical vacuum hoses because it had liquefied Too bad He&039;d wanted it in a jar as a souvenir The painkillers had been fun, though He could use a few right now for a little flying Nothing specific hurt, but being knocked out for a day or sothat street bruiser on hadn&039;t helped; not the physical part, but the ic Gawd, he was drained

Free association ofclick in his head

Mirror He wanted a ht have one would be a shop selling wo Not a Walht

He found a likely prospect, walking through the open door like he owned the place, sketching a wave at the startled proprietress Was she staring because this was a chicks-only place or was there another reason? A framed mirror stood on her front table where she could keep an eye on it Not large, and kind of warped, but valuable enough Vanity and thieves were universal, he&039;d found in his travels

The shop was nearly too dark for hilass to reflect outside light onto his face and got a good look

Oh Shit