Read Liars and Thieves (A Company of Liars short story) for Free Online Page A

mud.
    ‘She is a rune reader by trade,’ Osmond said. ‘Tells fortunes at fairs and markets, don’t you?’
    Narigorm said nothing. All her attention was focused on the three circles. I felt my gorge rise. The last time Narigorm had read the runes, she had predicted the death of one of our company, and the next morning we had found the body. I kept trying to convince myself that she had somehow witnessed the death or merely guessed at it, but there was such a malicious delight in her voice and eyes when she’d uttered the words that I almost felt as if she had caused it with those runes of hers.
    ‘No, Narigorm, not tonight,’ I protested. ‘We’re too tired for such games.’
    As soon as the words fell from my mouth, I knew that I had made a foolish mistake. Narigorm turned her ice-blue gaze to me, her eyes glittering.
    ‘It’s not a game, Camelot. It’s never a game.’
    ‘She found the stone, didn’t she?’ Pecker said stoutly. ‘I reckon she’s got the gift. Here, girl, you tell my fortune. Go on.’
    Narigorm smiled. ‘I need something of yours. That amulet you always wear.’
    Pecker’s jaw dropped. ‘How did you know  . . .? See, I told you she had the gift.’
    He hauled on a cord round his neck and dragged out an object from beneath his tunic. Narigorm was clever. She must have glimpsed the cord and guessed that a man like Pecker would wear some kind of hidden amulet to keep him from harm. In truth, I used that trick myself in the taverns and markets when I was looking out for those who’d be most easily persuaded to buy my charms or relics.
    Pecker handed Narigorm a greasy linen pouch. ‘Moonwort, that is. That herb’ll open any lock. And the heart of a toad. No man can catch you when you carry its heart,’ he added proudly.
    Narigorm took the bag and laid it carefully in the centre of the circles.
    Then she held her bag of runes above the amulet and, dipping her hand in, she pulled out three of the rune stones and flung them across the circles.
    Holy Jack shrank back, raising his arms so that they were crossed over his face as if he was warding off great evil and shrieking ‘“
Sanguis eorum sit super illos!”
“Their blood is upon them.” “They shall stone the diviner with stones.”’
    ‘It’s you that wants stoning,’ Pecker snapped. ‘Let her work.’
    ‘“You shall not suffer a witch to live,”’ Jack muttered sullenly, like a hound which must get in one last yap after it’s been commanded to be silent.
    Narigorm ignored both of them. She pointed to one of the runes.
    ‘
Kanaz,
the rune of fire and sickness.’
    Far from seeming dismayed, Pecker appeared delighted.
    ‘That means the salamander’s stone, that does.’ He moved closer, bending over the circles to peer at the other runes. ‘What does that one mean? Wealth? Heaps of gold and rubies? A fine house? You’ll see, the whole world’ll be crawling on their bellies to my door, knowing I have the certain cure. And I’ll make ’em pay through their pizzles for it.’
    Narigorm’s pale hand fluttered like a moth across the second rune.
    ‘
Beorc,
that’s the woman’s rune, the hearth rune.’
    ‘See that, Dye.’ Pecker lifted his head and beamed at her. ‘Runes are saying you’ll be the mistress of this grand house. Told you I’d make us rich one day, didn’t I?’
    A fine mist of rain had begun to fall again. Water dripped from the two puckered lumps of flesh either side of Pecker’s split nose, but in his excitement he seemed as unconcerned as Narigorm by the cold or wet. Above the ruins, the wind rattled the branches of the trees as if they were old bones. The firelight danced across the three circles on the ground, as Narigorm’s small fingers moved to the final rune. Pecker’s voracious eyes followed.
    ‘But
Beorc
isn’t alone. See,
Is
lies next to her, that means the woman is treacherous. She has betrayed you.’
    Pecker snapped upright, spinning round to face Dye.
    ‘What does she