Cloak of Shadows - Ed Greenwood [47]
"You won't be the only one smelling like a tavern, though," Itharr said. Shar opened her eyes to look a question at him and saw that both men had stripped to the waist-hairy beasts, the pair of them-and were drying her with their undershirts. She wrinkled her nose again at the thought of smelling like an unwashed, sweaty man, then smiled at their hurt expressions and said hastily, "You are sweet, both of you."
"I was wondering when you were going to say that," Sylune's voice said in her ear, in a faint, private whisper. Belkram proudly held out Shar's leathers for her to see the hasty but neat stitching where they'd sewn her rent shoulder panel more or less back together.
She took their work in her fingers and shook her head in delighted wonder. "How did you do this in such a short time?" She clutched the leathers to her breast and looked from one beaming Harper to the other. "You'll make wonderful mates, you two!"
"Oh, no," Itharr said firmly, backing away.
"No, indeed," Belkram agreed, eyes wary. "We're kind folk, not crazy men."
Sharantyr stared at them and then around at the gory body behind her, the soot-blackened rocks, the mushroom pulp strewn everywhere… and started to laugh. Not crazy. Indeed.
The snorting sound from the empty air at her elbow told her Sylune shared her amusement.
Shar shook her head again, her broad smile refusing to fade, and then a gentle breeze touched her with cool fingers, reminding her that she was- She looked down, then up at the carefully raised eyes of the two men, and said crisply, "You have my thanks, and my clothes. I'd like them back now, if you don't mind."
They bent and gathered her garments promptly. There's a worn spot here on your halter," Belkram said helpfully, pointing, "where it's starting to pull apa-"
"I'll live with it, thanks," Shar told him firmly, taking everything in an armload and retreating hastily. "A worn part of my body customarily lives beneath it."
"Don't," Itharr said quickly, holding up a warning hand. "The body…"
Sylune added quietly, "To the right three paces, and there'll be no chance of slipping on gore or tripping over the… remains."
Shar sighed, breathed deeply for a few moments, and then turned her back on her two companions and marched around the body in a wide circle, heading for the other side of the ruins.
Belkram and Itharr exchanged glances, smiles, and shrugs. "Worth seeing, and that's all I'd best say," Itharr said quietly, reaching for the zzar bottle and its cork.
"I agree," Sylune's voice said sharply from the stone Belkram's fingers had just closed on. "Let's leave the comments at that fair observation, shall we?"
"Of course, great lady," the Harpers replied in swift unison, and were treated to the sight of a stone chuckling.
Belkram nearly flung it down a moment later when a startled scream rent the air from the far side of the ruin. The two men snatched out blades and sprinted to the rescue, running too fast to spare breath to growl, "What now?"-so Sylune voiced it for them.
They came around a rubble-strewn corner at a dead run, to see no nude ranger. "Shar?" Belkram called urgently.
"Here," their companion replied curtly, and they turned toward her voice. To find her, they had to pass through an arch and around the tumbled remnants of a wall, into a little sheltered corner. "Did you bring my blade?" demanded the woman huddled in the corner, shielding herself with her hands.
"N-no," Itharr said. "What befalls?"
"Turn around while I dress," Shar ordered, "but keep your blades ready. You may need them."
A few breaths later she joined them, breathing heavily in her haste. "What made you scream?" Itharr asked, feeling her hand on his shoulder. "You never scream."
"Well, thank you," Shar replied evenly, "but I do. And so would you, if you were a woman wearing nothing but a smile and walked almost right into them!"
"Who're 'them'?" Belkram