The Pharoah Contract

The man fell facedown, legs paralyzed, arms useless. He screamed, a high breathless sound, expressing almost as much surprise as pain. Ruiz advanced cautiously, ignoring the screaming, relying on Denklar’s assurances regarding the room’s soundproofing.

He turned the assassin onto his back, using his toe, pinbeam aimed at the man’s forehead.

“We meet at last,” Ruiz said, fall of the purest joy.

The man gulped air and stopped screaming. In the dimness, his face was unclear.

“What shall I do with you, now I have you?” Ruiz mused pleasantly.

The man remained silent, except for the hiss of his breath.

“Can’t you speak? If you’ll tell me why you’ve done these things to me, and to the League, I can promise you an easy death. Otherwise I’ll leave you for Brinslevos. He’ll be distressed by my escape, but he’ll have you — I was careful with the beam and you’ll live another day or two. I imagine he’ll be happy to uncover a conspiracy of oil men, and one’s as good as another, eh?”

Finally the man smiled. “You won’t give me to Brinslevos.”

“Why not?” Ruiz leaned forward, full of interest.

But the man twitched and died, as suddenly as the technician had aboard the orbital platform.

This is a frustrating thing, Ruiz thought. All his energy drained away, and he sat down to rest and consider. The assassin’s death had the same texture as the technician’s death. Coincidence? Probably not. He thought of the Gencha, and wondered.

After a bit, he shook himself and lit the lamp. He searched the room, finding nothing new. He approached the saddlebags with elaborate caution, but found them unprotected. Such insouciance, Ruiz thought, marveling. The pack contained a water flask, a sack of dried meat and fruit, a bundle of oil vials — less complete than Ruiz’s had been. Beneath a false bottom he found a collection of pangalac skinjectors, several neural inducers, and a bandolier of entertainment skeins. Under these trade goods, at the very bottom, he discovered a dataslate.

He drank from the bottle, hoping that the dead man’s apparent lack of subtlety was real and that the water was unpoisoned. He activated the slate and probed its architecture carefully. The slate’s access security was rudimentary, and Ruiz easily penetrated it. The slate held nothing but a list of conjuring troupes. Appended to each troupe’s file was a list of personnel, a synopsis of the troupe’s major illusions, a schedule of upcoming performances, and a priority number.

Ruiz studied the listings with intense interest. One troupe was identified with a priority number higher than any of the others. In three days, the troupe would perform a great Expiation in a town named Bidderum, a hundred kilometers to the south.

Luck indeed, he thought. Here was a member of the poachers’ organization, beyond a doubt. He wondered how this list would compare to the official League list. Beyond a doubt, the lists would not be identical.

He would be at Bidderum in three days.

He overcame his distaste and stripped the corpse, and then dressed in the assassin’s rags. The assassin had carried a number of weapons concealed under his rags; these Ruiz took also, as well as the man’s identity plaque. He picked up the saddlebags and slipped out of the room.

The inn was quiet. Apparently the folk of Stegatum were abed. Ruiz reached Denklar’s apartments without meeting anyone, and retrieved his staff.

In the stable, Ruiz had a bit of difficulty saddling the assassin’s striderbeast, which apparently smelled the death on its former master’s clothes.

But finally he was safely away from Stegatum, riding over the waste under the moon, and the sensation of escape, of freedom, was as fine a feeling as he could remember.

Chapter 13

Ruiz Aw squatted in the meager shade of a mud wall, waiting for the parade. Sweat trickled over his body, though the sun was sinking fast.

The townspeople of Bidderum filled the street leading into the square. They kept a cautious distance from Ruiz, respecting his strangeness. To encourage them, he fixed a leer of affable madness on his face.