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.Heard it all, heard it all, kvetching carping, boring, boring.I stop carping when you get a brain, hair fool!Kikun turned them all out, leaned against the wall, and tried to sleep.TheLael-Lenox was the sole female in his personal clutch of gods and sometimesfound it necessary to defend all females in sight.When she was in one of those moods, she was capable of raising such a storm,he threatened more than once to ex-orcise them all and find his peace inabsolute, unadorned reason.The ultimate atheism.They were powerful, though, these gods he d birthed for himself from hisflesh and soul and the collective experience of his people.They were not,perhaps had never been even in their crudest form when he was a child gropingtoward consciousness merely convenient ways of dealing with parts of himselfhe was incapable of understanding.He knew on one level that the only realitythey had was what he chose to give them, but at a deeper level by far, heNEEDED them.They had a grip on him he d never shake loose.Most of the timehe didn t want to.Most of the time.He slept.##Grandmother Ghost pinched him awake when the Game broke for thethird time.The Players departed by their sep-arate doors, Hadlukcollected the women and took them out.Jao juhFeyn supervised thecleaning of the Mewa Room, took a last look round and went out, lockingthe door behind him.Kikun slipped away with the women, then followed juhFeyn as Jaochecked the Shimmery s security.When Jao left for bed, Kikun undid the alarms on the back door, went out.13Morning.He collected a fork, a spoon, a plate and a cup from the kitchen, thenfollowed the girl carrying breakfast into Rose s room, waited in a cornerwhile she laid out the meal on the table, knocked on the bedroom, got ananswer, then left.Rose came out yawning, blinked when she saw Kikun sitting at the table sippingat pinkish-yellow fruit juice from a crystal pitcher.She looked over hershoulder, shrugged, came across and sat down. Idon t know who s listening.Kikun leaned back, watched her pour the rest of the juice into her glass. Noone.She pulled her mouth into an inverted smile, shook her head. I don t know,she said,  maybe so.Well? Found it.There s a park out back, chain fence around it.Guards.Three flitsPage 150ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlin there.Black and silver one with some kind of sigil on it, that s probablyhis.Didn t try to get to it.No point in that, not yet.It ll be locked.He s either carrying the keys or has them in his rooms.I lltake a look there during the first break.See what I can find. He yawned,yawned again. You look like someone s sucked the air out. Just tired.Lot of things going on.Takes it out of you, you know. Kuna, nothing s going to happen today, except more of the same.Why don t youstay here and sleep? It s an idea. Have a nice hot bath, stretch out on the bed.It s a good bed,, comfortable,lovely sheets, like this. she smoothed her hand along the heavy silken stuff of her dress,  onlywhite. You sold me. He got to his feet. You re just a wall away.You need help,scream.She giggled. Go to bed, Kuna.Scream, huh! Not likely.He wriggled all over, shaking his skin along his bones, then strolled out.The bed was as comfortable as promised.He stripped, stretched out between the sheets, started to sigh and was deepasleep before the sigh was finished.14Grandmother Ghost the Lael-Lenox pinched him awake a short time before themaid came in to make the bed and straighten the rooms.Kikun pulled on his clothes and strolled out.Rose was talking with the Pirate who was describing an improbable fish he dencountered in theSouthern seas.Kikun listened a moment, drifted on.Must be using him asshield against the High Vaar, he thought.Tlee! what a bore.He stopped besideher chair, raised his brows.The small table where her stake was piled wasbowed under the weight of the gold on it, more rouleaux piled beneath it andaround its legs.Rose could have herself cast lifesize in gold and makeherself half a dozen copies.How we re supposed to cart that off, even a thirdof it.Grandmother Ghost leaned into him, inspecting the pile:Yellow peril, sad stuff, poison stuff, that chile has the right idea, baby.Otter giggled, faded when Grandmother turned to glare at him.He d sufferedhis share of pinches and scolds and wasn t looking for more.Blackbear touched Kikun s arm.The maids were coming from the suites.They circled the room and left.Kikun yawned and went to search Barracuda s room.15Rose shook him awake.He sat up, bleary-eyed and yawning.She laughed. Scream, hunh! What? Just a comment, not a summons.Supper s laid.Get yourself up, wash yourdishes, come join me [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]