"No, I have not. And if the Association of Gentlewomen has been pursuing the Elvish Cloth it's news to me. Why would they want it anyway?" #51 | | |
"Same reason everybody else in this city wants things. For money. You told me you needed fifty thousand to buy a Charter. Taking a collection box round Twelve Seas isn't going to get you far. But a nice fat thirty thousand for the Cloth will." #52 | | |
Makri absolutely denies it. "I don't even believe that Hanama is in the Association of Gentlewomen. #53 | | |
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"So? Maybe she feels she's not making out as well as she should. Held back from promotion by the men in the Assassins Guild. And, now I think about it, when she came round on the beach she called you Makri. Struck me as pretty friendly at the time, for someone you'd only ever seen once before during a fight. And the Princess passes on her best regards as well . . ." #55 | | |
We stare at each other across the room. Makri strides over to me and sticks her nose right in my face. #56 | | |
"Thraxas," she says, her voice clipped and hostile. "You might be right about the Association. #57 | | |
Maybe Hanama was getting the Cloth for them. I hope she was. We need the money. But I wasn't in on it. I wouldn't pass any information about your business behind your back, because you're the only friend I have in this stinking city." #58 | | |
She glares at me angrily. I glare back at her. Seconds pass in hostile silence. It strikes me that I don't have too many friends in this stinking city either. #59 | | |
"You've been working too hard, Makri. Let's go downstairs. I'll buy you a drink." #60 | | |
