Вилорп

→I wave this away.

→"Yes. She gave you a new magic warm cloak."

→"Because you messed up your rescue operation. Not that there should have been any rescue operation in the first place. And then Lisutaris has the nerve to rope me into covering for her. Talk about ingratitude. I picked that woman up and carried her off the battlefield. I saved her life. And did she exhibit the slightest sign of gratitude?"

→"Why me?" protests Makri.

→"Me having to help hide Herminis. If the Abode of Justice finds out I'm involved, they'll be down on me like a bad spell. I blame you."

→"What isn't right?"

→"It's not right," I say, quite forcibly.

→Makri's talk of Lisutaris worsens my mood. For one thing I'm annoyed that I'm reduced to learning news of the war from Makri. I used to be a Senior Investigator at the Palace, abreast of all the city-state's affairs. I was a man with contacts. A man who knew what was happening. Now I'm a man who's dependent on rumour and gossip. It's irritating. What's more irritating is that I have to speak a spell every morning on behalf of Lisutaris. Unbelievable as it may sound, this spell is to help conceal Herminis, a senator's wife whom Makri, Lisutaris and several other criminally minded women broke out of jail just before the Orcs attacked. Herminis had been sentenced to death for the murder of her husband, a senator. The Association of Gentlewomen decided to intervene. As a result of this, Herminis ended up at the Avenging Axe and Lisutaris prevailed on me to help hide her from the authorities. It's not a task I welcome, and had Lisutaris not bribed, cajoled and blackmailed me in the most shocking manner, I'd have refused to have anything to do with it.

→Makri doesn't sound convinced. Our neighbours to the west, Simnia, might decide they'd rather hold the line against the Orcs on their own borders, and so might Nioj to our north. Everyone says they'll march to our aid but whether they will or not remains to be seen.

→"Nothing much. She can't tell how many Orcs are outside the city and General Pomius doesn't want to risk sending men to find out. But the Sorcerers have been busy with the messages. Everyone is making ready to help us in the spring."

→This is beyond me. My own hair hangs down in a long ponytail like the rest of the humble citizens of Twelve Seas and I never think about it from one day to the next. I ask Makri what news there is from Lisutaris.

→"I'm not worried about the public," says Makri. "I just don't have time. I have to work and study and be a bodyguard and then the Orcs are going to take the city and I'll be killed which I don't exactly mind but I wish I'd had time to see what I looked like with blond hair."

→"No one is going to mistake you for a senator's daughter. But what do you care? You've already managed to outrage the city. What's a little more public opprobrium?"

→True. Turanian women are generally dark-haired. Blond hair is usually only sported by prostitutes, but the style is also affected by senators' daughters, and sometimes their wives. Why only rich women and prostitutes do this, I don't know.

→"No it won't. Senator Lodius's daughter has blond hair."

→"It'll make you look like a whore."

→This takes me by surprise. Makri was champion gladiator by the time she was thirteen. She's such a brutal fighter I always think of her with a sword in her hand. Outside the city walls she stood over the unconscious body of Lisutaris and defended it with an astonishing display of savage determination, unflinching in the face of impossible odds. Hearing her come out with anything concerning personal vanity is strange, though since arriving in Turai she has taken on board a few of our feminine fashions, mainly low-class ones like a pierced nose and painted toenails.

→"I wanted to dye it blond."

→Makri runs her hand through her great mane of dark hair. She looks dissatisfied.

→Samanatius is a prominent philosopher in Turai. Makri holds him in great respect. I regard him as a fool because he teaches for free. Obviously the man has no knowledge worth selling. To be fair to him, he was on the field of battle when the Orcs attacked, even though he could have been excused military duty because of his age.