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She could have mentioned that sooner "That&039;s a threat?"
"I&039;ve no reason to think otherwise It grows in strength, but the change is so gradual I don&039;t think even the overduke is aware of the potentials"
"Such as?"
"Compare it to a normal river Ever see one in flood? I have, and the devastation is the ets large enough the re people with Talent will also vanish There will be no one left to reet them back Please, Mr Myhr, please help us"
I&039; dame, but usually the circumstances are a lot more romantic "I&039;"
Hello My favorite e around so like that would power us a lot farther toward ho hat "No promises, but maybe we can work out a deal"
She juned contracts This babe was scared "You&039;ve a plan?"
"Not yet I&039;ll need to study the river so down my neck"
"Shankey won&039;t bother you, I swear"
Filireeable way too fast There had to be a hitch, but I&039;d find it later, after I was clear of the house "Sounds great I&039;ll just go back to ood bout of research" And do soht be able to figure out what to do The prospect of getting soht even uest," she said, dropping the shoe I&039;d expected
"I must?"
"Yes, of course My house is infinitelyyou&039;d find in town I also have supplies of every kind of herb and incense, ical equipment, books, whatever you&039;ll need"
Hular meals, servants, and - compared to the facilities at Cle This just turned into a no-brainer Add to it the sight of the glorious Filih the halls and I was ready to apply for a long-terood, but I&039;ll have to consult with my partner"
"Your partner? Why didn&039;t youHis na"
"Nope, all true I have to go back, find him, and do my late afternoon show at Clem&039;s Place He&039;ll expect me to draw in the early supper crowd for a couple hours"
"No need I&039;ll see to it he&039;s coot an obligation He&039;s been advertising ht be back for o on, at least for one rinned Much more adorable than her scowl "You like the applause, don&039;t you?"
"Almost as much as chocolate"
"What&039;s that?"
"An old Aztec love spell"
So noise that sounded like Shankey lurking nearby Having swivelly ears on top of one&039;s head is a heck of an advantage at tiood at his job he&039;d have been listening in on this little conversation in Filinore him, and Filima hadn&039;t noticed
"Love spells?" She snorted "Those things never work"
"I&039;ve seen the the proble Terrin We stocked harmless love charms at the shop I say harmless since Terrin always neutralized what he sold to infatuated girls and horny guys It was an honor thing with him That kind of emotional coercion anddid happen between the caster and the castee it would have happened anyas ic, after all, but none of the lovelorn custoe
Fili a hand to her forehead
"Anything wrong?" I asked
"I get like this in here Scrying gives h"
"The incense, then I&039;ic to it"
The leftover stink of whatever she used was pretty strong "You need to switch brands"
"But that&039;s the kind you have to use for scrying"
"Who told you that? Never ht not be allergic to Nag Cha or not"
She&039;d stopped listening to my sales pitch, which was a leftover habit from when I helped out at Terrin&039;s shop, and stared down at the surface of the dark h That&039;s never happened before, not unless I&039; it"
Now I stared at the , re of the Hell-river only this time in red "Maybe we should leave"
"No, I ic"
I had solid doubts about that, but was curious She sat on the stool, and I kibitzed over her shoulder It was hard to concentrate with the scent of flowers coe point I not only saw the randstand vien the front of her low-cut dress
Oh, baby!
What a perfect spot: I could stare at those beauties all I wanted - so long as I didn&039;t drop any drool on the forward
Damn, she&039;d blocked my view
"Do you see it?"
Reluctantly, I transferred h I first thought itfroh to take ure
A h lass He was no one I knew, just the usual collection of eyes, brows, nose and
Sulfur? Why was there a whiff of that in the air? Or was it just rotten eggs? It ca putrid and festering, which also whipped away, stirred by the wind - a hot wind that should not have been in this sht reinated from it, absolutely was not a reflection
All an to arch outward Instinct from my cat DNA boomed a red alert at full force; it wantedto see more The conflict caused me to hiss, actually hiss
The face in thein a screain to raise itself up, a three-diht - now turned pale green like fro Fililiming face Its mouth yaide to receive them
Filima&039;s eyes rolled up in her head, and she slumped forith a soft awd he was on the right street this time Every twisty-turny way in this hellhole looked alike to him now, and they all see like a drunk, keeping his legs under him only by an act of concentrated will The air ay too thin to breathe; his lungs worked overtime and then some Sweat ran freely down his face, but he shivered with cold People hastily got out of his path Maybe they thought he had plague or so Good and fine No one offered to help That was fine, too It would have delayed hiet to shelter - ical shelter
The bell tower, yes, there it was, useful landmark But what direction was it from Clem&039;s innfroht slipped froed toward it, running a few steps, slowing to gulp air, running a few more What if he couldn&039;t etting under any old roof wasn&039;t the problem, he had to be in a shielded area Those weren&039;t too co compared to the safe zone he&039;d set upumwhere?
The inn, Cle, his strength drained out like water fro strea way!
Anger helped hiain, certain he&039;d spotted a familiar door ahead
No, not that one, the next one over
Yeah, red letters spelling out the serving hours for drink and food, the smell of both drifted froh headfirst, landing hard on the bare flags of the floor
Air Lots of air here He lay like a dying fish for a fewdown at hier and fall over after they leave here," Cleht, Mr Terrin?" asked Greta "You look sick"
He recovered enough to show his teeth It wasn&039;t the same as a smile "Tired Just tired Need to rest"
"But you look feverish," she insisted
"I don&039;t hold with people being feverish in my place," Clem added "Bad for business"
"Got tooan effort to stand He dragged himself onto a bench, and squinted outside The street shimmered violently in his vision It wouldn&039;t stop Dizzy- on out there? "Is Myhr around?"
"He got taken off awhile back," said Clem, with a nod toward the door He didn&039;t seem to notice the shiht out just like that He told us to tell you"
Huh, what? "What fellers? What happened? Was he kidnapped?"
"Looked more like a pretty firm invite Could be an arrest, but they wasn&039;t city watch One of theht have belonged to Dar that sounded like Lady Fili out She&039;s important in these parts"
"Arrested? You think he was arrested?"
"Maybe, but the clan houses don&039;t have the authority for that, only the overduke&039;s people are allowed to make city arrests I&039;m not too happy about all this fuss; Mr Myhr&039;s supposed to do a late afternoon show - "
"Who took hiot a more detailed report froround on the house nae lunch, and drank like tomorroouldn&039;t come Real chummy they were, then they had a little nap, but perked up when Mr Myhr began the noon show They seemed to know to look for him"
"And they took hied "It happens Usually for a good reason"
"Good for who?"
Another shrug "Well, if he don&039;t come back, you&039;ll have to pay a proper rent on the roo personal, just business"
Roootten his breath back, but still felt weak And cold And sweaty Anditchy Like his skin was on inside out
"Are there any healers around here? Magical healers?" No ti burned at the stake Wouldn&039;t be the first tiic?" said Greta, surprised "There may have been, once upon a tih"
"I don&039;t hold with that weird-fangled ic stuff," said Cleroaned, but wasn&039;t surprised If there was so, little wonder all the Talents were gone But had they vanished, been sucked dry, or just moved out? And why couldn&039;t anyone remember them?
And what the hell was out there that was so efficiently sucking hiy? He was safe in here for the tiht seeainst a storm Perhaps he could shrink thee himself with the leftovers That would confine hi shield he could take with hih
He had to find Myhr Cle on a search, but they&039;d have to knohere to look Terrin excused himself and crawled upstairs Literally The last few yards of steps he took on all fours to conserve hi on a small table Good hter in his backpack, pulling out a few other useful itehted the candle, then held it in front of hi visualization Gawd, it was hard
Usually he had no need of props When he did use things like candles it was only to keep the energy up and running while he went off to do other stuff Sort of like setting the VCR to catch a show
Not this time
He focused on the flalowing ian to war?
Myhr! Where the hell are you?!