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PROLOGUE

(Serpent and Wheel)

In the Shadow

The man who called himself Bors, at least in this place, sneered at the lowthat rolled around the vaulted charimace was hidden by the

black silk

h, just like the masks that covered the hundred other faces in the chamber A hundred

blackto see what lay behind thee room could have been in a palace, with its tallfro, its colorful tapestries and intricately patterned mosaic floor If one did not look too closely The fireplaces were cold, for one thing Flaave no heat The walls behind the tapestries, the ceiling high above the lamps, were undressed stone, almost black There were no s, and only two doorways, one at either end of the rooive the seh to bother with more than the outline and a few touches for detail

Where the chamber was, the man who called himself Bors did not know, nor did he think any of the others knew He did not like to think about where it h that he had been summoned He did not like to think about that, either, but for such a summons, even he came

He shifted his

cloak

, thankful that the fires were cold, else it would have been too hot for the black wool draping him to the floor All his clothes were black The bulky folds of the cloak hid the stoop he used to disguise his height, and bred confusion as to whether he was thin or thick He was not the only one there enveloped in a tailor’s span of cloth

Silently he watched his companions Patience hadenough, soht have had the same philosophy; they watched, and listened silently to those who had to speak Soave away uests, slender, goldenhaired youths proffering ith a bow and a wordless sht white

breeches

and flohite shirts And race Each looked e of the others, the boys as handsouish one from another, and he had an eye and a irl offered her tray of crystal goblets to hiht appear untrusting--or worse, and either could be deadly here--if he refused altogether, but anything could be slipped into a drink Surely so the number of their rivals for poindle, whomever the unlucky ones happened to be

Idly he wondered whether the servants would have to be disposed of after this htened froht hers above that sweet smile Blank eyes Empty eyes A doll’s eyes Eyes racefully away, and raised the goblet to his lips before he caught hiirl that chilled hiht he detected a weakness in those he now served, he found himself preceded, the supposed weakness cut out with a ruthless precision that left him amazed And worried The first rule of his life had always been to search for weakness, for every weakness was a chink where he could probe and pry and influence If his current masters, hisbehind his mask, he studied his companions At least there was plenty of weakness there Their nervousness betrayed theues A stiffness in the way this one held himself, a jerkiness in the way that one handled her skirts

A good quarter of theuise beyond the black oldandcriure -- impossible to say whether it was ray She had obviously chosen the spot because the colors of the tapestry set off her garb Doubly foolish to draw attention to herself, for her scarlet dress, cut low in the