Read Tales from the vulgar unicorn- Thieves World 02 for Free Online Page B

purple mage really is. Not unless you know more than the other Sanctuarians.'
    'All I know,' she said, 'is that they say that the mage came here about ten years ago. He came with some hired servants, and many boxes, some small, some large. No one knew what his native land was, and he didn't stay long in town. One day he disappeared with the servants and the boxes. It was some time before people found out that he'd moved into the caves of the Isle of Shugthee. Nobody had ever gone there because it was said that it was haunted by the ghosts of the Shugthee. They were a little hairy people who inhabited this land long before the first city of the ancients was built here.'
    'How do you know he's a mage?' Smhee said.
    'I don't, but everybody says he is. Isn't he?'
    'He is,' Smhee said, looking grim.
    'Anyway, he sent his servants in now and then to buy cattle, goats, pigs, chickens, horses, vegetables, and animal feed and fruit. These were men and women from some distant land. Not from his, though. And then one day they ceased coming in. Instead, the Raggah came. From that day on, no one has seen the servants who came with the mage.'
    'He probably got rid of them,' Smhee said. 'He may have found some reason to distrust them. Or no reason at all.'
    'The fur trappers and hunters who've gone by the isle say they've seen some strange things. Hairy beast-faced dwarfs. Giant spiders.' She shuddered.
    'Benna died of spider bites,' Smhee said. The fat little man reached into his belt-bag and brought out a metal jar. He said, 'Before we leave in the boat tonight we'll rub the ointment in this on us. It will repel some of the spiders but not, unfortunately, all.'
    'How do you know that?'
    'I know.'
    They walked silently for a while. Then he sighed, and said, 'We'll get bitten. That is certain. Only ... all the spiders that will bite us - I hope so, anyway
    - won't be real spiders. They'll be products of the mage's magic. Apparitions. But apparitions that can kill you just as quickly or as slowly and usually as painfully as the real spiders.'
    He paused, then said, 'Benna probably died from their bites.'
    Masha felt as if she were turning white under her dark skin. She put her hands on his arm.
    'But ... but...!'
    'Yes, I know. If the spiders were not real, then why should they harm him? That is because he thought they were real. His mind did the rest to him.'
    She didn't like that she couldn't keep her voice from shaking, but she couldn't help it.
    'How can you tell which is real and which magical?'
    'In the daylight the unreal spiders look a little transparent. By that I mean that if they stand still, you can see dimly through them. But then they don't stand still much. And we'll be in the dark of night. So...
    'Look here, Masha. You have to be strong stuff to go there. You have to overcome your fear. A person who lets fear conquer him or her is going to die even if he knows that the spider is unreal. He'll make the sting of the bite himself and the effects of the venom. And he'll kill himself. I've seen it happen in my native land.'
    ' But you say that we might get bitten by a real spider. How can I tell which is which in the dark?'
    'It's a problem.'
    He added after a few seconds, 'The ointment should repulse most of the real spiders. Maybe, if we're lucky. You see, we have an advantage that Benna didn't have. I know what faces us because I come from the mage's land. His true name is Kemren, and he brought with him the real spiders and some other equally dangerous creatures. They would have been in some of the boxes. I am prepared for them, and so will you be. Benna wasn't, and any of these Sanctuary thieves will get the same fate.'
    Masha asked why Kemren had come here. Smhee chewed on his lower lip for a while before answering. ••
    'You may as well know it all. Kemren was a priest of the goddess Weda Krizhtawn of the island of Sharranpip. That is far east and south of here, though you may have heard of it. We are a people of the