Scott Lynch make a sensation with The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies … and now it ’s been six years without a fresh Lynch Koran . At last , he ’s back with a third Gentleman Bastard novel . The Republic of Thievescomes out October 8 , and we ’ve got an sole chapter from the middle of the book !
THE male child WHO CHASED RED DRESSES
clock time return , days and months chaining together into years , and Jean Tannen conjoin the Gentlemen Bastards . In the summer of the seventy - 7th Year of Perelandro , two age after Jean ’s arrival , a rare teetotal trance come over the metropolis - state of Camorr , and the Angevine carry ten feet below its usual height . The canal blend gray and tumid , thicken like blood in the nervure of a ripen stiff .
Canal trees , those glorious pose that usually roamed and whirl on the urban center ’s currents with their tenacious plasterer’s float - thread roots drinking the crud around them , now bob in glowering masses , confined to the river and the Floating Market . Their silk - bright foliage dulled and their branches sag ; their root hung mire in the water like the tentacle of drained sea - monsters . Day after day the Temple District was hide in layers of smoke , as every designation burn anything that came to mind in sacrifices plead for a hard , cleanse rain that would n’t come .
In the Cauldron and the Dregs , where the lowest of the scurvy kip ten to a elbow room in windowless houses , the usual steady menstruation of murder became a cloudburst . The duke ’s corpse - hunters , paid as they were by the chief , whistled while they fished putrefying former citizens out of drum and cess - infernal region . The city ’s professional criminals , more conscientious than its impulsive killers , did their part for Camorr ’s strain by have the remains of their victims into the harbor by Nox , where the piranha of the Iron Sea quietly made the oblation fell .
In this standard atmosphere , in the hot summer evening grueling with sess and the stench of a hundred discrete rot , the temple ceiling was out of the question for meetings , so Father Chains let his five untested wards pull together in the dank frigidness of the glass tunnel ’s kitchen . Their late repast , by Chain ’ orders , had been lukewarm function , with anything cooked bring in from stall near the Floating mart .
They had come together that week , as a complete set , for the first time in half a yr . Chains ’ interwoven programme of training had taken on the complexness of an acrobat ’s plate - spinning act , as his young Mrs. Humphrey Ward were shuffled back and forth between apprenticeships in miscellaneous temples and trades , learning their habits , jargon , rituals , and triviality . These excursions were arrange by the Eyeless Priest via a remarkable internet of contacts , extending well beyond Camorr and the criminal fraternity , and they were largely paid for out of the pocket-sized chance that the citizen of Camorr had charitably donated over the long time .
Time had begun to work its more obvious changes on the young Gentlemen Bastards . Calo and Galdo were cope with a growth spurt that had given their usual grace a humbling dose of clumsiness , and their voice were starting to veer wildly . Jean Tannen was still on the cherubic side , but his shoulder were broaden , and from scuffle like the Half - Crown War he had acquired the surefooted air of someone well versed in the art of introducing faces to cobble .
Given these manifest sign of physical progression around him , Locke was secretly displeased with his own consideration . His interpreter had yet to deteriorate , and while he was larger than he ’d ever been , all this did was maintain him in the same ratio as before , a medium child surround on all side by the taller and the panoptic . And while he knew the other boy depended upon him to be the substance and brains of their combined operations , it was a cold comfort whenever Sabetha came home .
Sabetha ( who , if she objected to being the only docile - lady Bastard , had never said so out flash ) was freshly returned from weeks of immersive breeding as a homage scrivener ’s apprentice , and bore new signs of physical progression herself . She was still tall than Locke , and the rude color of her tightly - plaited hair stay hidden by a browned alchemical washables . But her supple shape seemed to be adjure outward , ever so more or less , against the front of her thin teddy , and her trend around the glass burrow had revealed the hints of other emerging bender to Locke ’s vigilant center .
Her raw poise had produce in direct balance to her age , and while Locke held firm sway over the three other boys , she was a disjoined power , neither belittling his status in the gang nor overtly acknowledge it . There was a seriousness to her that Locke found deeply compelling , perchance because it was unequalled among the five of them . She had embarked upon a sort of miniature adulthood and skipped the fantastic facetiousness that defined , for example , the Sanzas . It seemed to Locke that she was more eager than the rest of them to get to wherever their preparation was require them .
“ Young peeress , ” said Father Chains as he infix the kitchen , “ and new gentleman , such as you are . Thank you for your immediate attention to my summons , a courtesy which I shall now repay by go down you on a path to thwarting and thorniness . I have decided that you five do not oppose amongst yourselves virtually enough . ”
“ Begging your pardon , ” suppose Sabetha , “ but if you ’ll bet more closely at Calo and Galdo you ’ll see that ’s not the case . ”
“ Ah , that ’s merely communication , ” said strand . “ Just as you and I speak by work words , the natural , private discourse of the Sanza twins appears to dwell alone of farting and savage beatings . What I want is all five of you confront off against one another . ”
“ You want us to start . . . hitting each other ? ” said Locke .
“ Oh , oh , I offer to score Sabetha , ” say Calo , “ and I volunteer to be hit by Locke ! ”
“ I would also volunteer to be hit by Locke , ” said Galdo .
“ Quiet , you Brassica rapa - brain alley apes , ” say mountain chain . “ I do n’t require you boxing with one another . Not necessarily . No , I ’ve fall in you all a great many tasks that have pitted you against the humanity , as individuals and as a group , and for the most part you ’ve trounced my expectations . I cogitate the time has come to pry you out of your comfortable little sum and see how you get along in competition against one another . ”
“ What sort of competition ? ” said Jean .
“ extremely diverting challenger , ” said Chains , raising his eyebrows . “ From the perspective of the old man who gets to sit back and look out . It ’s been three or four twelvemonth of steady training for most of you , and I want to see what happens when each of you essay to pit your zest for felonious enterprise against an opposition with a standardized educational activity . ”
“ So , uh , just to be readable , ” said Calo , “ None of us are go to be fighting Jean ? ”
“ Not unless you ’re inconceivably stupefied . ”
“ Right , ” said Calo . “ What ’s the design ? ”
“ I ’m go to keep you all here for the rest of the summer , ” said chain . “ A breakout from your apprenticeships . We can relish the marvelous weather together , and you could chase each other across the city . set forth with — ” He sneak a finger and pointed it at Locke . “ You . Aaaaaaand . . . ” He slowly shifted his fingerbreadth until it was pointed at Sabetha . “ You ! ”
“ Um , meaning what , exactly ? ” said Locke . Butterflies instantly came to liveliness in his stomach , and the short bastards were heavily armed .
“ A bit of elementary stalking and escape , on Coin - Kisser ’s Row . Tomorrow at noon . ”
“ beleaguer by hundreds of mass , ” said Sabetha coolly .
“ Quite right , my dearest . It ’s easy enough to follow someone when you ’ve got the whole night to hide in . I think you ’re ready for something less forgiving . You ’ll begin at the very southern ending of Coin - Kisser ’s Row , carrying a handbag with an open top . Inside the traveling bag will be four pocket-size rolls of silk , each a different coloration . Easily seeable from ten or twenty feet away . You ’ll take a leisurely stroll up the full length of the district .
“ Somewhere in your wake will be Locke , wearing a jacket with a certain number of brass instrument buttons , also easily count from a jolly narrow length . The secret plan is simple — Locke acquire if he can tell me the colouring material of the silk . Sabetha wins if she crosses the Goldenreach Bridge from Coin - Kisser ’s run-in to Twosilver Green without revealing the gloss . She can also win if Locke is bungling enough for her to count the number of buttons on his coat . Each of you wishing to report to me will have only one chance to be accurate , so you ca n’t simply keep guessing until you get it right . ”
“ bear on , ” say Locke , “ I get one direction to win and she stupefy two ? ”
“ Perhaps you may try combust down the Goldenreach Bridge , ” Sabetha say sweet .
“ Yes , she get two , ” said Chains , “ and fortunately for Camorr , the bridge is made of stone . Sabetha has a package to guard , and must , as I have said , move at a leisurely pace , with dignity . No running or mounting . Locke , you ’ll be expected to make no scenes , but your exemption of movement will be less restricted . ”
“ Ah . ”
“ You ’re not to physically touch one another . You may not plainly wrap up up the silk or the buttons . You may not have your opponent harmed or restrain in any mode . And neither of you may call upon any of the other Gentlemen Bastards for avail . ”
“ Where do we get to be , then ? ” said Galdo .
“ Safely at home , ” said Chains , “ sit the steps in my place . ”
“ Oh , balls to that , we want to see what happens ! ”
“ One thing the contest does not need , ” said Chains , “ is a Greek chorus of gawkers trip up along for the length . I ’ll be nearby , keep an eye on everything , and I call to give you a very lively account upon my return . Now — ” he farm two small leather bag and tossed them to Locke and Sabetha . “ Your operating funds . ”
Locke opened his travelling bag and count ten silver Solons .
“ You ’ve got all dark to consider about what you ’re doing , ” allege Chains . “ You may come and go as you please . Do n’t feel obligate to bribe anything , but if you do , the coins I ’ve give you are your absolute terminus ad quem . ”
“ What ’s this all for ? ” said Locke .
“ To put you on the spot , and thereby — ”
“ I remember , ” said Sabetha , “ he entail to ask , what ’s in it for the winner ? ”
“ Ah , ” say Chains , “ Of of course . Well , other than acquiring a vast sense of personal atonement , the success will reach their dinner job over to the loser for three night . How ’s that ? ”
Locke watched Sabetha , and when she nodded once , he did the same . The girl already seemed to be drop off in thought , and Locke feel a contact of savvy beneath his arise fervour . He had every confidence in his own skills , as they had bring him everything from coin - purses to corps without much difficulty , but the full extent of Sabetha ’s abilities was unknown to him . Her absences from the tabernacle had been protracted than those of any of the boy , and out there in the wider world she could have learned an infinite variety of nasty surprise .
Sabetha excused herself a few minutes subsequently and go away into the night , off to make whatever arrangements she thought were necessary . Locke followed in haste , throw on the white robes of an tiro of Perelandro , but by the time he get through the red-hot , smoky line of the Temple District ’s central plaza , she had long since vaporize into the shadows . Might she be hold off out there , watching , hoping to succeed him and learn what he was up to ? The mentation gave him a abbreviated pause , but the unhappy fact was that he had no concrete programme at all , so it really did n’t count whether or not she dogged his heels all night .
lack any better mind , he determine to tour Coin - Kisser ’s Row and refresh his retentivity of the district ’s landmarks .
He hurried along with a brisk whole step , finger interlaced within the sleeve of his robe , pondering . He intrust his clerical guise to shield him from inconvenience and harm ( for he was keeping to dependable vicinity ) , and so he remained caught up in the whirl of his own thoughts as his feet transport him down the full duration of Coin - Kisser ’s Row , then back up again .
The great counting - houses were shutter for the nighttime , the bar and coffee shops all but empty , and the reeking canal had little of its common drunken pleasure traffic . Locke stared at the monuments , the bridges , and the farseeing deserted mall , but no overbold stirring fell out of the sky . When he return home , more or less discourage , Sabetha had not yet turn back .
He fell asleep still waiting to hear her come back down the glass burrow from the temple above .
Coin - Kisser ’s Row at noontide lay sweltering beneath the liquified bronze Lord’s Day , but the upper classes of Camorr had fortune and appearances to maintain . The empty plaza of the previous nighttime had become a alert pageant of over - curry gang , which Locke and Sabetha now prepared to join .
“ I give you the field , ” said Chains , “ upon which you two shall fight down your mighty fight , wherein one shall stand tall , and the other shall end up with the dish aerial . ” chain was ascending the unforgiving heights of fashion in a black velvet coat and pearl - studded doublet , with three silver - warp belts taut against his abdomen . He wore a broad - brimmed black chapeau over a curly brown wigging , and he had enough fret running down his side to refill at least one of the city ’s epithelial duct .
Locke was dressed far more comfortably , in a wide-eyed white doublet , black knickers , and respectable shoes . Chains was holding Locke ’s crown , with its telling number of buttons , until Sabetha was sent on her direction . For her part , Sabetha wore a linen attire and a elementary jacket crown , both of a darkish loss that was nearly the color of cinnamon . Her pilus and face were hold back beneath a four - cornered hat with hanging gray veils , a mode that had get along apace back into style in the estrus and foulness of recent weeks . Chains had cautiously studied and O.K. these clothes — Locke and Sabetha could pass for servants dressed moderately , or rich children raiment lazily , and would be able-bodied to pursue their plot without suspicion or interference so long as they act .
“ Well , daylight ’s burning , ” say Chains , kneeling and draw the two baby toward him . “ Are you ready ? ”
“ Of of course , ” said Sabetha . Locke but nodded .
“ Young madam first , ” said Chains . “ Twenty second head showtime , then bring out your satchel as we discussed . I ’ll be moving along in the crowd beside you , hover over your performance like a merciless god . Cheating will be dealt with in a thoroughly memorable fashion . Go , go , go . ”
Chains held fast to Locke ’s upper right arm as Sabetha actuate off into the crowd . After a few moments , Chains spin Locke around , lifted his arms , and slipped the coating onto him . Locke ran his digit up and down the right lapel , count six buttons .
“ I stretch forth my arm and cast you into the air . ” Chains leave Locke a lilliputian shove . “ Now hunt , and lease ’s see whether you ’re a hawk or a parroquet . ”
Locke allowed the energy to hold him into the flow rate of the crowd . His initial posture seemed good . Sabetha was about thirty K by , channelise north , and her cinnamon wearing apparel was hard to neglect . moreover , Locke could n’t avail but point out that the patron of Coin - Kisser ’s wrangle formed an idealistic crowd for this variety of work , tending to move together in small , self - aware clusters rather than as a more sprawl chaos . He would be tail Sabetha down narrow avenues that would temporarily open and close around her , and even if she made respectable time she was n’t likely to be capable to hide in the blink of an eye .
Still , Locke was as anxious as he was excited , feeling much more parakeet than hawk . He had no plan beyond trusting to skill and circumstance , while Sabetha could have coiffe anything . . . or had she merely snuck off into the night for a few empty time of day to make him think that she could have put anything ? “ Gah , ” he gnarl in disgust , at least wise enough to recognize the danger of second - guessing himself into a panic before she even made her move .
The first few minutes of the chase were uneventful , though tense . Locke wield to close up the length by a few strides , no meanspirited feat considering Sabetha ’s long legs . As he go , the peculiar chatter of the Row enwrap him on all side . Men and woman blathered about trade mob , ship departing or expected back , pursuit rate , scandals , conditions . It was n’t all that different from the conversation of one of the lower districts , in fact , make unnecessary for more reference to thing like compound interest group charge per unit . There was no famine of public lecture about handball and who was screwing whom .
Locke hurry on through the din . If Sabetha noticed him creeping up on her , she did n’t hie up . Perhaps she could n’t , not while continue ‘ self-respectful , ’ though she did sidestep here and there , gradually moving herself further and further away from the canal side of the district and cheeseparing to the stride of the counting houses , on Locke ’s left .
Locke could see her satchel from time to time , advert nonchalantly from her right shoulder joint , and it seemed that with perfectly innocent small gestures she was handle to keep it mostly forward of her correct hip , conveniently out of sight . Was that the game , then ? Without using his arms or hands to flat conceal his words of brass buttons , Locke began making sure that his various twists and turns in the gang were always made with his left over shoulder turned fore .
If Chains ( occasionally seeable as a large lurking shape somewhere to Locke ’s right ) had any objection to this kind of mild rule - bend , he was n’t yet jump out of the gang to end the competition . Squinting , Locke spare a few seconds to glint around for unexpected hazards , then returned his gaze to Sabetha just in time to trance her causing a din .
With legato inconstancy that was readily apparent to Locke ’s do eye , Sabetha ‘ tripped ’ into a huge merchant , resile lightly off the monumental silk - clad hemisphere of his posterior . As the piece whirled around Sabetha was already turn in profile to Locke — curtsy in apologia , conceal her satchel on the far side of her body , and no doubt peering direct at Locke from under her humeral veil . Forewarned , he turned in unison with her , the other way , giving her a fine aspect of his buttonless leave side as he pretended to read to his right for something terribly important . Perfect standstill .
Locke was just too far out to hear what Sabetha said to the fat merchant , but her Son brought rapid satisfaction , and she was hurrying off to the north again before he ’d even finish turning back to his own business . Locke follow instantly , flush with much more than the day ’s stifling hotness . He agnize they ’d covered nearly half the southern district of Coin - Kisser ’s Row ; a quarter of the field was already used up . Even worse , he realized that Sabetha was spoil him if she even bothered trying to count his buttons . All she really had to do was keep him stymied until she could dash across the concluding bridge to Twosilver Green .
She continued slue to the remaining , closer and faithful to a improbable counting star sign , a many - gabled structure fronted by square newspaper column carved with dozens of unlike representations of around - bellied Gandolo , Filler of Vaults , god of commerce . Sabetha moved up the building ’s steps and douse behind one of those pillars .
Another trap to try and eyeball his jacket crown ? Tautly awake , carefully keeping his treasured buttons turned away from Sabetha ’s last known position , he hurried toward the tower . Might she be attempting to reach the interior of the counting - sign of the zodiac ? No , there she was —
Two of her ! Two identical figures in cinnamon - coloured dresses and long dingy veils , with little travelling bag sling over their correct shoulder , stepped back out into the sunlight .
“ She could n’t have , ” Locke whispered . Yet distinctly she had . During the nighttime , while he ’d been fretting up and down the sullen streets , she ’d arranged help and a bent of matching costumes . Sabetha and her three-fold saunter out from the carving of the juicy god , head north toward the Bridge of the Seven Lanterns , the halfway point of their little contest . For all the opportunities he ’d already seize in his short life to dwell upon Sabetha ’s every feature , both of the girls look exactly likewise to him .
“ Tricky , ” sound out Locke under his breath . There had to be some difference , if he could only spot it . The bag were probably his best hazard — sure as shooting they would be the concentrated elements of the costumes to synchronize .
“ rip for rainfall ! ” boomed a abstruse vox as Locke re - go in the crowd . stomach down on him came a rise of men in black and grey gown . Their mantles bear emblems of cut through hammers and trowel , mark them as Almighty of Morgante , the City Father , the god of order , hierarchies , and harsh consequences . While none of the Therin gods were ever call opposition , Morgante and his followers were undeniably the least hospitable to the semi - unorthodoxy of the Nameless Thirteenth . Morgante ruled executioners , constables , and judges , and no thief would willingly set foot in one of his temples .
The black - appareled procession , a 12 strong , was crusade along an open - topped wagon have an iron batting cage . A slender man was chained upright inside it , his eubstance covered with wet crimson gouges . Behind the cage resist a non-Christian priest bear a wooden electric switch topped with a claw - alike blade about the size of a finger’s breadth .
“ pedigree for pelting ! ” bitch the leader of the priest once again , and initiates behind him book handbasket out to the passing crowd . It was a mobile forfeit , then — for every coin toss into a basketball hoop the cage in captive would get another painful but carefully value slash . That gentleman’s gentleman would be a resident of the Palace of Patience , worming his way out of something harsh ( judicial amputation , most likely ) by offering his organic structure up for a few weeks of roughshod use . Locke had no further idea to spare the poor fellow , for the two girls in black red dresses were vanishing around the far unexpended side of the progression . He ducked widely around the diametric side , just in display case another ambush was in the offing .
The lady friend were n’t troubling themselves — they were maneuver flat for the Bridge of Seven Lanterns , and were close enough that Locke defy not end the gap . While the bridge was broad enough for two wagons to pass without grinding wheel - rims , it was narrow-minded indeed compared to the plaza , with nowhere to duck’s egg and duck if the girls tried anything clever . Locke matched their pace and trailed them like a kite , fading back to a aloofness of about thirty grounds . Halfway to the end of the contest , and he had n’t actually derive a foot !
The Bridge of Seven Lanterns was plainly solid stone , no unnerving toy left over from the long - vanished Eldren . Its parapets were low , and as Locke moved step by step up the easy arch he was offered a fine view of gobs of boats move sluggishly on the canal below — a opinion he cut , focused as he was on the slender scarlet shape of his two rivals . There was no wagon traffic at the minute , and while Locke watched , the dress - wearers separated , travel to polar slope of the bridge deck . There they paused , each one turning her body as though she were stare out over the weewee .
“ Hell shit damn , ” mutter Locke , trying for the first time in his life to emulate the protracted chain of profanity woven by the few adult role example he ’d ever had . “ Pissing cocksucker monkeys . ” What was the plot now ? drag one’s feet him indefinitely and allow the sun fudge them all ? look for inspiration , he glanced around , and then back the way he ’d come .
A third girlfriend in a cinnamon - red dress and gray-haired veil was walk straight toward him , not twenty yards behind , just at the point where the cobbles of the plaza receive the bridge embankment . Locke ’s stomach performed a flip that would have been the high spot of any tourist court acrobat ’s calling .
He change state aside from the newcomer , try out not to look too startled . Crooked Warden , he ’d been stupid not to check the whole area where Sabetha had nibble up her first decoy . And now , yes , his eye were n’t just playing prank — the two young woman in front of him were slowly , sedately , demurely abut in his direction . He was trapped on a bridge at the center of a collapse Triangulum of carmine dresses . Unless he ran like mad , which would signal to Chains and Sabetha alike that he ’d broken character and collapse up , one of the girls would sure as shooting manage to count his buttons .
Sweet gods , Sabetha had outwitted him before he ’d even heat up that cockcrow .
“ Not done yet , ” he muttered , desperately rake the expanse for any distraction he could clutch . “ Not yet , not yet . ” His wispy frustration had flared up into a perspiration - soak brat of lose — no , not simply losing , but fail by such an dumfounding arcdegree in his first contest against a girl he would have swallowed hot iron nails to impress . This would n’t just embarrass him , it would win over Sabetha that he was a little male child of no account . Forever .
As it hap , it was n’t fresh and subtle aspiration that spare him — it was his former teaser ’s reflex response , the unsociably crude method he ’d used to create street incident back in his Shades ’ Hill days . Barely agnise what he was doing , he flung himself down on his knees against the nearest parapet , with his administration buttons scant in from the endocarp . With every ounce of energy he possessed , he pretended to throw up .
“ Hooouk , ” he cough , a small-scale prelude to a disgusting symphony , “ hggggk . . . hoooo - gggghhhhkkk . . . HNNNNNN - BLAAAAAARGH ! ” The noises were hunky-dory , as convincing as he ’d ever machinate , and he pushed severely against the parapet with one shaking weapon system . That was always a great touch ; grownup fell firmly for it . Those that were repulsed would back off an extra three feet , and those that were openhearted would all but tremble .
He steal quick glance around while he moaned , shiver , and retched . Adult passer - by were dangle astray around him , in the distinctive fashion of the rich and busy — there was no lucre in attending to someone else ’s unhinged servant or courier boy . As for his red-faced - dressed nemeses , they had all halted , wavering like veiled apparitions . draw close him now would be suspicious and life-threatening , while stomach there like statues would speedily ask round needless tending . Locke inquire what they would do , know he had only succeeded in restoring a standstill , but that was certainly better than letting their trap break down him up .
“ Just keep retching , ” he whispered , and did so — as far as plans move , it was perhaps the worst he ’d ever conceive , but it now it was up to someone else to make the next move .
“ What goes ? ” A woman ’s voice , brim with federal agency . “ excuse yourself , son . ”
That someone else was , as it turned out , wearing the table mustard - colored crown of the metropolis spotter .
“ lose your grip on breakfast , eh ? ” The guardswoman prod Locke with the gratuity of a kicking . “ seem , just move along and be sick at the oddment of the bridge . ”
“ assist me , ” whispered Locke .
“ Ca n’t stand on your own ? ” The woman ’s leather fighting harness screak as she crouched beside him , and her belt - slung baton tapped the ground . “ Give it a minute — ”
“ I ’m not really sick ! ” Locke beckoned to her with one hired hand , concealing the gesture from everyone else with his soundbox . “ turn down , please . I ’m in danger . ”
“ What the blaze are you on about ? ” She looked wary , but did come in closer .
“ Do n’t react . Do n’t hold this up . ” In an instant , Locke had his small pocketbook of silver coins , thusfar unspent , transferred from his right hired hand to her unexpended . He pushed the woman ’s fingers lightly close over the bag . “ That ’s ten solons . My master is a plenteous human being . Help me , and he ’ll know your name . ”
“ Gods be courteous , ” the woman whispered . Locke have it off that old bag of silver medal represented several month of her pay . Would she bend for it ? “ What ’s go on ? ”
“ I ’m in peril , ” Locke maunder . “ I ’m being followed . A man wants the messages I carry for my skipper . Back on the shopping center south of here , he render to seize me double . ”
“ I ’ll take you to my watch post , then . ”
“ No — there ’s no indigence . Just get me to the north side of this bridge . Pick me up and carry me , like I ’m being arrested . If he realise that , he wo n’t wait around . He ’ll go tell his masters the watch has me , and once we ’ve gone a lilliputian ways , you may just permit me go . ”
“ rent you go ? ”
“ Sure , just typeset me down , permit me off with a warning , talk to me sternly . ”
“ That ’d seem bedamn maverick . ”
“ You ’re the watch , you could do what you like and nobody ’s sound to say anything ! ”
“ I still do n’t be intimate . . . ”
“ Look , you ’re not breaking any law . You ’re just lend me a hand . ” Locke lie with he nearly had her ; she had already taken his coin , now it was a affair of notching the promised reward up a bit . “ Get me off this bridge and my master will double what I ’ve give way you . Easily . ”
The guardswoman seemed to consider this for a few seconds , then grow from her crouch and seized him by the back of his jacket . “ You ’re not sick , ” she yelled , “ you ’re just make a gods - bedamn scene ! ”
“ No , please , ” cried Locke , praying that he was , in fact , witnessing a buy performance and not a sudden change of heart . The guardswoman lifted him , tuck him under her leftover arm , and butt north . Some of the well - dressed onlooker chuckle , but they all moved out of the way as Locke ’s improvised transportation system carried him away from the scene of his close - mortification .
He give up and struggled to keep up his destruction of the presumed deception . Some of his squirming was only too genuine , as the woman ’s baton handle keep jabbing him in the ribs , spoiling what was an otherwise surprisingly comfortable ride . At least he was being carried with his all - important buttons facing the guardswoman ’s side .
Locke scan his tilted discipline of vision and saw , to his delight , that the two red clothes in front of him had flutter far to the left and were keeping their aloofness from him and his temporarily tame yellowjacket . Would Sabetha believe he ’d really been take over against his will ? Probably not , but now she ’d have to sort out out a new plan of attack with her accomplices , whoever they were .
His own plans were developing speedily as he hazard to fight back against his captor . Once he ’d pay back well forrader of the girls , he could reduce off their onward motion to the final choking coil point , Goldenreach Bridge . And while his ultimate place there would find him once again outnumbered three to one , at least he would have more meter to play stain - the - real - Sabetha .
Kicking , snarling , and shaking his fist , Locke was carried at last down the opposite side of the bridge , onto the northern mall . Here the existent powers of Coin - Kisser ’s Row were situate , houses like Meraggio ’s and Bonaduretta ’s , whose webs of coin and cite reached out across the continent .
“ Do n’t make me tap your teeth in , ” his guardswoman rumble down at him as a peculiarly large chemical group of onlookers moved past . Locke could have applauded her theatrical common sense ; yellowjacket or not , the woman had expert instincts . Now , all they had to do was bump a decent spotlight to set him down , and he was as serious as —
“ Oh , constable , constable , please wait ! ” Locke heard the gentle strait of bleed pes even before he heard Sabetha ’s interpreter , and he wriggle madly , examine to spot her before she get in . Too late — she was at the guardswoman ’s other side , veil flipped back over her four - cornered hat . She was hold out a small dreary pouch in her right hand . “ You drop down this , constable ! ”
“ shake off what ? ” The woman turn to face Sabetha , swinging Locke into position to look immediately at her . Her cheeks were purge red and , inexplicably , she was letting her opened satchel just hang there . Locke stared open - mouthed at the four tidy little rolls of silk tucked therein — red , unripe , black-market , and blue .
“ You must be mistaken , female child . ”
“ Not at all . I saw it myself . I ’m sure this is yours . ” Sabetha pressed the piffling pouch into the constable ’s gratuitous hired man , precisely as Locke had just moments earlier , and in so doing she moved closer and lowered her voice . “ That ’s four solons . Please , please permit my little brother go . ”
“ What ? ” The constable sounded soundly mystified , but Locke noticed that she slipped the pouch into her coat with legato reflexes . He was beginning to distrust that this yellowjacket had some anterior experience with make offerings vanish .
“ I ’m sure he did n’t have in mind to cause a scene , ” said Sabetha , letting a note of despairing worry bring out into her voice . “ He ’s not hypothecate to be out on his own . He ’s not at all right in the school principal . ”
“ Hey , ” said Locke , suddenly realizing that noesis of the silk colors would n’t think much if he let the situation gyrate further out of his mastery . What the hell was Sabetha doing ? “ hold off just a minute — ”
“ He ’s a total moron , ” Sabetha whispered , squeezing the police constable ’s free hand . “ It ’s just not safe for him to be out without an escort ! He pass water up stories , you see . Please . . . rent me take him home . ”
“ I do n’t . . . I just . . . now , look here — ”
One or more wheels was clearly about to fell off the previously legato - running engine of the guardswoman ’s thought processes , and Locke cringed . short a wide , dark flesh insinuate itself between Locke ’s constable and the cinnamon - cherry figure of Sabetha , gently pushing the girl aside .
“ Ahhhhhhhhh , madam constable , I am so utterly delighted to see that you ’ve retrieved the two parcel I misplaced , ” aver Chains . “ You are a precious stone of efficiency , excellent woman , a gift from the Shangri-la . I beg leave to shake your hand . ”
For the third time in the duo of a few minutes , a tiny share of coin slipped into the palm of the now perfectly dumb - hit watchwoman . This rally was degraded and politic by far than either of those effect by the children ; Locke only saw it because he was being held in just the right position to catch a tiny glimpse of something dark nestled in Chains ’ deal .
“ Um . . . well , sir , I. . . ”
Sir Ernst Boris Chain leaned over and whisper a few quick prison term in her ear . Even before he end , the adult female softly lowered Locke to the ground . Not knowing what else to do , he moved over to fend beside Sabetha , adopting a much - practiced facial reflection intend to radiate absolute harmlessness .
“ Ahhh , ” said the police constable . Chains ’ fresh oblation joined the previous two inside her coating .
“ Indeed , ” said Chains , effulgent . “ Blessings of the Twelve , and fair rain be you , dear John Constable . These two will trouble you no further . ”
Chains dedicate a cheery wave ( which was just as cheerfully fall by the guardswoman ) , then turn and press Locke and Sabetha toward the east bank of the piazza , where stairs led down to a all-encompassing landing place for the hiring of passenger boat .
“ What happened to your little accomplices ? ” whisper Chains .
“ Told them to get lose when I went after that yellowjacket , ” said Sabetha .
“ well . Now , shut up and conduct while I get us a boat . We ’d well be anywhere but here . ”
All of the nearby gondolas were departing or top by , save for one bobbing at the quay , about to be boarded by a middle - aged man of business enterprise who was fish in a coin purse . chain pace swimmingly past him and give way the pole - man a queer kind of wave .
“ I say , ” say Chains , “ sorry to be previous . We ’re in such a heroic hurriedness to reach a friend of a champion , and I just knew that this would be the right form of boat . ”
“ The right sorting of right , sir . ” The pole - man was new and skinny , tanned Robert Brown as horse dung , and he wore a sandy - discolor beard down to the midsection of his stained blue adventitia . Charms of silver and tusk were woven into that face fungus , so many that the man actually chimed as he move his head about . “ Sir , I ’m apologetic as hell , but this is the man I ’ve been waiting for . ”
“ Waiting for ? ” The Isle of Man looked up from his coin - counting , startled . “ But you only just pulled up ! ”
“ all the same , I get a previous engagement , and this is it . Now , I do tap pardon — ”
“ No , no , this is my boat ! ”
“ It pains me to even up you , ” said Chains , rendering his annexation of the gondola car concluding by ushering Sabetha into it . “ Nonetheless , I must point out that the boat is actually the holding of the immature humans with the rod . ”
“ Which it is , already and unfortunately , at this time engaged , ” aver that valet .
“ Why . . . you brazen , aweless little pack of dockside diddlysquat ! I was here first ! Do n’t you dare take that boat , son ! ”
Locke had been play along Sabetha , and the middle - aged man reach down and grab him by the front of his cap . Equally swiftly , mountain chain back - handed the man so knockout that he immediately allow go and stumbled back two tempo , nearly falling into the canal .
“ Touch either of my children again , ” say Chains in a flavor of vocalism unlike anything Locke had ever see , “ and I ’ll break you into so many patch not a whore in the metropolis will ever be capable to cypher out which wrinkle scrap to suck . ”
“ Dog , ” yelled the man of business , hold a handwriting up to his bleed lips , “ You scoundrel ! I ’ll have your name , sir , your name and a place where my man can find you . I ’ll have you out for this , just you — ”
Chains throw away an limb around the mankind ’s neck opening . sprain the inauspicious fellow toward him , irons whisper raspingly into his ear — again , just a few time . Ernst Boris Chain then shoved him out , and Locke was astonish to see how wan the man ’s face had become .
“ I. . . uh , I. . . understand , ” read the man . He seemed to be having difficulty making his vocalisation work right . “ My , uh , apologies , deepest apology . I ’ll just — ”
“ Get the pit out of here . ”
“ Quite ! ”
The man accept Chains ’ advice , with haste , and Chains helped Locke into the boat . Locke sat on a bench at the bow direct beside Sabetha , feeling a warmth in his nerve that had nothing to do with the sunlight when his leg brushed hers . As Chains decide onto the bench in front of the two children , the rod - man nudged the gondola aside from the quay stone and out into the unagitated , unworthy H2O of the canal .
At that moment , Locke was as much in fear of Chains as he was of his proximity to Sabetha . sorcerous yellowjackets , commandeering boat , and throw wealthy man piss themselves — all of that , bribes notwithstanding , with just a few whisper run-in here and there . Who and what did Chains roll in the hay ? What was his real place in Capa Barsavi ’s hierarchy ?
“ Where to ? ” say the pole - man .
“ Temple District , Venaportha ’s landing place , ” tell string .
“ What ’s your outfit ? ”
“ Gentlemen Bastards . ”
“ Right , heard of you . Seem to be doing well for yourselves , mixing with the quality . ”
“ We do well enough . You one of Gap - Tooth ’s laddie ? ”
“ smirch on , brother . Call ourselves the Clever Enoughs , out of the west Narrows . Some of us have what you ’d call gainful employment , spotting likely marks on the canals . business organization ai n’t but snitch latterly . ”
“ Here ’s a picture of the duke for a smooth drive . ” Chains slapped a Au tyrin down on the bench behind him .
“ I ’ll drink your health tonight , Quaker . ”
concatenation let the pole - man get on with his work , and turn back to Locke and Sabetha , list close to them . He folded his hands and said restfully , “ Now , what the hell did I just see on Coin - Kisser ’s Row ? Can either of you translate that into some sort of vaguely logical accounting ? ”
“ He ’s got six buttons , ” said Sabetha .
“ Redgreenblackblue , ” spat Locke .
“ Oh no , ” said Chains , “ Contest ’s over . I declare a tie . No slithering to triumph on a technicality . ”
“ Well , I had to try out , ” say Sabetha .
“ That might have been the lesson , ” muttered Locke .
“ It ’s not over until it ’s really , really over , ” read Sabetha . “ Or something . You know . ”
“ My award students , ” sighed Chains . “ Sometimes a contest to chase one another up and down a crowded piazza really is just a contest to chase one another up and down a crowded shopping centre . Let ’s start with you , Locke . What was your plan ? ”
“ Uhhh . . . ”
“ You know , consider it or not,‘the God will allow ’ is not an actual programme , chap . You ’ve got one hell of a natural endowment for temporary expedient , but when that lets you down it lets you down firmly . You ’ve got to have a next move in mind , like in Catch - the - Duke . Remember how you managed that affair with the corpse ? I know you could do well than you just did . ”
“ But — ”
“ Sabetha ’s turn . Near as I could differentiate , you had him . You were the one in the nates , the one that came out after he chased the first two north , right ? ”
“ Yeah , ” said Sabetha , warily .
“ Where ’d you get the decoys ? ”
“ girl I used to hump in Windows . They ’re second in a couple of the bigger bunch now . We lift the dress and went over the plan last dark . ”
“ Ah , said Chains , “ There ’s that charming notion I was just talk over , Locke . A contrivance . What did your friends have in their base ? ”
“ Colored fleece , ” said Sabetha . “ proficient we could do . ”
“ Not defective . Yet all you could oversee was a tie with immature Master Planless here . You had him in a fine bind , and then . . . what , just ? ”
“ Well , he pretend to be queasy . Then that yellowjacket came along and collar him , and I. . . I thought it was more important than anything else to go after him and get him slack . ”
“ Get me loose ? ” Locke sputtered in surprisal . “ What do you imply , get me easy ? I passed that adult female ten solon to get her to pick me up and acquit me compass north ! ”
“ I thought she ’d snap up you for real ! ” Sabetha ’s subdued brown eyes darkened and the color rose in her brass . “ You little ass , I thought I was rescuing you ! ”
“ But . . . why ? ”
“ There was nothing on the ground when I postdate behind you ! ” Sabetha pull her hat and veil off , and angrily jerk out the lacquered pins in her hair . “ I did n’t see any sick - up on the nosepiece , so I thought that had tipped the yellowjacket to the fact that you were bullshitting ! ”
“ You thought I pay back collared for tangible because I confuse up wrong ? ”
“ I know what sort of mess you could make back when you were a street tormenter . ” Sabetha shook her hair out — alchemically adjusted or not , it was a visual modality that made Locke ’s heart punch the front of his costa John Cage . “ I did n’t see any mussiness like that , so I assumed you got pinched ! I gave that adult female all the money I had left ! ”
“ take care , I might have . . . I might have stuck my finger down my pharynx when I was little , but . . . I ’m not gon na do that all the time ! ”
“ That ’s not the point ! ” Sabetha shut down her arms and looked away . They were be active east now , across the foresighted curving epithelial duct north of the Videnza , and in the aloofness beyond Sabetha Locke could see the dark , blocky build of the Palace of Patience rising above slating roofs . “ You experience you were recede , you had no plan , so you vend a fit and made a passel of everything ! You were n’t even seek to win , you were just marshy . And I was sloppy to fall for it ! ”
“ I was afraid this might befall , sooner or later , ” suppose Chains in a musing feel of vocalism . “ I ’ve been thinking that we demand a more elaborated sort of mark language , more than what we flash back and away with the other Right People . Some variety of private codification , so we can keep one another on the same page when we ’re running a strategy . ”
“ No , Sabetha , look , ” say Locke , scarcely get wind Chains . “ You were n’t sloppy , you were bright , you deserved to win — ”
“ That ’s right , ” she pronounce . “ But you did n’t recede , so I did n’t deliver the goods . ”
“ attend , I grant . I give it to you . I ’ll do all your kitchen job for three day , just like — ”
“ I do n’t want a damn concession ! I wo n’t take your pity as a coin . ”
“ It ’s not . . . it ’s not ruth , good ! I just . . . you suppose you were really rescuing me , I owe you ! I desire your chores , it would be a pleasure . It would be my , my privilege . ”
She did n’t turn back toward him , but she stared at him out of the corner of her eye for a farseeing , still moment . Chains said nothing — he had gone still as a Harlan F. Stone .
“ Sloppy half-wit , ” Sabetha muttered at last . “ You ’re trying to be charming . Well , I do not choose to be charmed by you , Locke Lamora . ”
She shamble herself on the terrace and grip the gunwale of the gondola car with both hands , so that her back was completely toward him .
“ Not today , at any charge per unit , ” she said lightly .
Sabetha ’s anger stung Locke like a swallowed white Anglo-Saxon Protestant , but that pain was subsume by a ardent , more brawny sensation that seemed to swell his skull until he was indisputable it was about to crack like an testicle .
For all her seeming spiritlessness , for all her impenetrability and defeat , she ’d cared enough about him to throw the competition aside the instant she ’d thought he was in real peril .
Across the balance of that seemingly endless , miserably live summer of the seventy - seventh Year of Perelandro , he clung to that actualization like a amulet .
right of first publication © 2013 by Scott Lynch . excerpt by license of Del Rey , a air division of Random House , Inc. All rights reserved . No part of this excerption may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publishing company .
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