Read Other Places 1: Shortcuts for Free Online Page B

system and let him in. Then he'd use his mojo to, you know, get the safe open. That went fine, and we got away clean, but when we got out he tried to claim they only had ten thousand in the safe. I know they had more than that, I saw it, it was at least ten times more. Mainly bonds. He has them in that sack. When I called him on his shit, he ran off and came here."
    Zack felt his face twitch at the mouth, then looked hard at the other man.
    "You, what's your story. That one sounds about right to me. Anything to add?"
    "I didn't lie , we got ten thousand cash. That's all I said we'd share. The bonds are different."
    Zack rolled his eyes. Then after a few seconds his left hand went out.
    "Hand over the bag. Now. I told you I don't have time for bullshit. Everyone knows that if you say you're going to split the take you mean all of it. Don't try to word lawyer this. I swear, if I have to come around this counter, I'm borrowing the snake man's knife and I will remove your right hand for stealing, even if I do have to clean up the mess. Yeah, it's in the guild rules, moron, look it up." The man hugged the bag to his chest harder, not willing to hand over anything it seemed.
    Putting his right hand out toward the other man got the knife to come out, which got the Mage to squeak and set the bag down.
    "Jesus, who the fuck do you think you are? I pay for protection..."
    Giving the man a long look the bonds and cash came out onto the counter top. It was even more than the Snake had said, nearly twice as much. Zack made two piles of each, the thinner man starting to look far more satisfied. As he started to reach for the loot, Mirror Him put a single finger up.
    "Arbitration fee. What do you think is fair?" He looked at the man who made a face.
    "Fuck. Well, fair enough, you're doing this right. Five percent? That's standard for the shifters at least. I don't know what you Mages do. I thought that was normally just ripping people off, but I can't complain about the service so far."
    Then the man smiled when that five percent got taken off of the Mage's pile.
    "What the fuck? How come I have to pay for this? I pay my dues, that should cover things like this. Arbitration of disputes and all that crap."
    Mirror Him stepped back, letting Zack have his mouth again. He smiled, which got the man to move away from him a few steps. Like he was scary or something?
    "Arbitration between Mage guild members is free. However, you came seeking asylum, which was provided in the most efficient manner possible, with a resolution of the problem you needed to be protected from. All of your wealth, at least what you carried in the door, was automatically forfeit when you walked in and said the words. As a rule, crimes that you commit in the greater community are not grounds for asylum, but I didn't want to be too picky, since I'm new. What that all means is that I could have taken all of it and you couldn't have done a thing about it. Consider yourself lucky that I don't add a fine for being stupid. All you had to do was treat your partner with fairness, but you couldn't let yourself do that for some reason. Didn't it occur to you that the two of you working together might have made a lot more over time than stealing from him now would?"
    The lecture seemed to fall on deaf ears. The other man chuckled a little and started picking up the papers with their gold letters and the stack of bills. It was a little awkward, since things were trying to slip out of his grasp a bit.
    "You should buy something. Some nice candles maybe? Or incense. You're here, have the funds, and more importantly could use a nice big and innocent looking sack to carry things in. I have a whole stack of them down here... for customers." He smiled hopefully and found himself surprised when the man actually did it, getting a half dozen things. Mainly candles, but he also got a nice pair of stonework candle holders. The other man fumed for a bit, but selected a few things out too. There