Sanctuary - Lynn Abbey [241]
Raith was right that Cauvin didn’t know Naimun. He’d successfully resisted that honor and would have done the same with Raith himself, but Arizak had insisted. The Torch had made Cauvin the heir of his secrets, his wisdom, his wealth, and—above all else—his headaches.
Arizak wasn’t so bad, and Raith was already a friend, but his mother, Nadalya, was Mina with real power. And then there was Vashanka. The Torch’s exiled god had started appearing in Cauvin’s dreams. Cauvin couldn’t say which was worse: the god’s visits or the mere fact that he was dreaming regularly, vividly, and that sometimes, in his dreams, he did things that resembled witchcraft.
Cauvin marveled that no one had suspected the Torch of witchcraft. froggin’ sure, there was no way the Torch’s luck could be explained by prayer, especially prayer to a banished god. Cauvin wasn’t a witch; at least he didn’t think he was. Vashanka said, in Vashanka’s nightmare way, that the Torch’s witchblood hadn’t kindied until he was older than Cauvin and that Cauvin knew as much about his ancestors as the Torch had known, which was to say froggin’ nothing. Vashanka had also reminded Cauvin that the mortal world was very small and very young. Everybody was related to everybody else; everybody had a drop or two of witchblood hiding in the pit of his heart.
How many drops did it take to steal a soul?
The trumpets blared again. The Dragon raised his war cry and led his cohort in a gallop across the forecourt. One of the horses balked on the first pass. In the press and confusion, it went down with its rider. Their screams echoed in the Torch’s bedchamber. Raith bolted from the room, and Cauvin turned away. Soldt was unperturbed.
“Raith was right. There should have been twenty-four carpets out there, not counting Prince Naimun.”
“She escaped,” Cauvin replied, icily.
“You’re a fool, Cauvin, if you think she’s not coming back, and coming back for you.”
“I might be wrong, but I’m not a sheep-shite fool. I’ll be ready for her, whatever she decides to do.”
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.
SANCTUARY: AN EPIC NOVEL OF THIEVES’ WORLD
Copyright © 2002 by Lynn Abbey
Thieves’ World and Sanctuary are registered trademarks belonging to Lynn Abbey and are used with permission.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
eISBN 9781429969987
First eBook Edition : May 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Abbey, Lynn.
Sanctuary : an epic novel of Thieves’ world / Lynn Abbey.—1st ed.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 0-312-87491-X (acid-free paper)
I. Title.
PS3551.B23 S26 2002
813’.54—dc21
2001059660
First Edition: June 2002
Table of Contents
Title Page
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Epilog
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Title Page
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Epilog
Copyright Page