Redemption of Althalus

CHAPTER ONE Althalus the thief spent ten days on the road down out of the mountains of Kagwher to reach the imperial city of Deika. As he was coming out of the foothills, he passed a limestone quarry where miserable slaves spent their lives under the whip laboriously sawing building blocks out of the limestone with heavy bronze saws. Althalus had heard about slavery, of course, but this was the first time he'd ever actually seen slaves. As he strode on toward the plains of Equero, he had a little chat with his good luck about the subject, strongly suggesting to her that if she really loved him, she'd do everything she possibly could to keep him from ever becoming a slave. The city of Deika lay at the southern end of a large lake in northern Equero, and it was even more splendid than the stories had said it was. It was surrounded by a high stone wall made of squared-off limestone blocks, and all the buildings inside the walls were also made of stone. The broad streets of Deika were paved with flagstones, and the public buildings soared to the sky. Everyone in town who thought he was important wore a splendid linen mantle, and every private house was identified by a statue of its owner-usually so idealized that any actual resemblance to the man so identified was purely coincidental. Althalus was garbed in clothes suitable for the frontier, and he received many disparaging glances from passersby as he viewed the splendors of the imperial city. After a while, he grew tired of that and sought out a quarter of town where the men in the streets wore more commonplace garments and less superior expressions. Finally he located a fishermen's tavern near the lakefront, and he stopped there to sit and to listen, since fishermen the world over love to talk. He sat unobtrusively nursing a cup of sour wine while the tar-smeared men around him talked shop. "I don't believe I've ever seen you here before," one of the men said to Althalus. "I'm from out of town," Althalus replied. "Oh? Where from?" "Up in the mountains. I came down to look at civilization." "Well, what do you think of our city?" "Very impressive. I'm almost as impressed with your city as some of the town's rich men seem to be with themselves." One of the fishermen laughed cynically. "You passed near the forum, I take it." "If that's the place where all the fancy buildings are, yes I did. And if you want it, you can take as much of my share of it as you desire." "You didn't care for our wealthy?" "Apparently not as much as they did, that's for certain. People like us should avoid the rich if we possibly can. Sooner or later, we'll probably be bad for their eyes." "How's that?" another fisherman asked. "Well, all those fellows in the forum-the ones who wear fancy nightgowns in the street-kept looking down their noses at me. If a man spends all his time doing that, sooner or later it's going to make him cross-eyed." The fishermen all laughed, and the atmosphere in the tavern became relaxed and friendly. Althalus had skillfully introduced the topic dearest to his heart, and they all spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the well-to-do of Deika. By evening, Althalus had committed several names to memory. He spent another few days narrowing down his list, and he ultimately settled on a very wealthy salt merchant named Kweso. Then he went to the central marketplace, visited the marble-lined public baths, and then dipped into his purse to buy some clothing that more closely fit into the current fashion of Deika. The key word for a thief who's selecting a costume for business purposes is "nondescript,"Eddings, David is the author of 'Redemption of Althalus' with ISBN 9780345440778 and ISBN 0345440773.