The Hidden City

and making intricate gestures with her hands.
    ‘Ah,’ he said finally, lapsing back into Tamul and with an expression of comprehension flooding his face. ‘It is a peculiar notion.’
    ‘You know how the Troll-Gods are.’ She made a little face.
    ‘Didst thou in truth wring acceptance of thine outrageous demands from them?’
    ‘I had something they wanted.’ She shrugged. ‘They’ve been trying to think up some way to escape from Bhelliom for three hundred centuries now. They didn’t like my conditions, but they didn’t have much choice.’
    ‘Thou are cruel, Aphrael.’
    ‘Not really. I was driven by necessity, and necessity’s neither cruel nor kindly. It just is. I kissed them a few times when I stopped by a couple of days ago, and that made them feel better. It did once they realized that I wasn’t going to take a bite out of them, anyway.’
    ‘Thou didst not!’ He seemed aghast.
    ‘They aren’t so bad,’ she defended her action. ‘I suppose I could have scratched them behind the ears, but that might have insulted them, so I kissed them instead.’ She smiled. ‘A few more kisses and I’d have had them licking my fingers like puppies.’
    He straightened, then suddenly blinked as if realizing for the first time where she was sitting. She gave him another of those mysterious little smiles and patted his cheek. ‘That’s all right, Cousin,’ she told him. ‘You’ll come around eventually. They always do.’ And she slipped down from his lap and walked back across the room to rejoin her sister.
    ‘That’s my place!’ a burly fellow of indeterminate race asserted threateningly as Kalten dropped his saddle-bags and bed-roll on a clear spot under a large tree.
    ‘It was,’ Kalten grunted.
    ‘You can’t just walk in here and steal a man’s place like this.’
    ‘Oh? Is it against the law or something?’ Kalten straightened. He was at least a head taller than the other man, and he bulked large in his mail-shirt. ‘My friends and I are going to be staying right here,’ he stated flatly, ‘so pick up your bed and all this other trash and go someplace else.’
    ‘I’m not in the habit of taking orders from Elenes!’
    ‘That’s too bad. Now move away. I’ve got work to do.’ Kalten was not in a good humor. Alcan’s peril gnawed at him constantly, and even slight irritations rubbed his temper raw. Some of that must have showed on his face. The other man backed off a few steps.
    ‘Further,’ Kalten told him.
    ‘I’ll be back,’ the man blustered, retreating a few more steps. ‘I’ll be back with all my friends.’
    ‘I can hardly wait.’ Kalten deliberately turned his back on the man he had just dispossessed.
    Caalador and Bevier joined him. ‘Trouble?’ Caalador asked.
    ‘I wouldn’t call it that,’ Kalten shrugged. ‘I was just establishing some rank, is all. Any time you come into a new situation, you have to push a few people around to make everybody else understand that you’re not going to put up with any foolishness. Let’s get settled in.’
    They had erected their tent and were gathering leaves and moss for beds when Narstil stopped by. ‘I see you’re getting set up, Ezek,’ he said to Caalador. His tone was conciliatory, though not quite cordial.
    ‘A few finishing touches are about all that’s left,’ Caalador replied.
    ‘You men make a good camp,’ Narstil noted.
    ‘A cluttered camp is the sign of a cluttered mind,’ Caalador said. He shrugged. ‘I’m glad you stopped by, Narstil. We hear that there’s an army camped out not far from here. Do they cause you any problems?’
    ‘We’ve got an agreement with them,’ Narstil replied. ‘We don’t steal from them, and they leave us alone. That’s not a real army in Natayos, though. It’s more like a large band of rebels. They want to overthrow the government.’
    ‘Doesn’t everybody?’
    Narstil laughed. ‘Actually, having that mob in Natayos is very good for my business. The fact that they’re all there keeps the police out of this part of the jungle, and one of the reasons they tolerate us is because we rob travelers, and that keeps people from snooping around Natayos. We do a fairly brisk business with them. They’re a ready market for just about everything we steal.’
    ‘How far is this Natayos place from here?’
    ‘About ten miles. It’s an old ruin. Scarpa—he’s the one in charge over there—moved in with his rebels a couple of years back. He’s fortified it,