The Wizard of Karres: Chapter Seventeen

    “We’re getting closer,” said Sedmon to Sedmon. “At Hanson’s Reach we missed them by weeks. Maybe we can catch up finally on Tornam.”

    “Provided we don’t have to clean up any more messes along the way,” cautioned the second Sedmon. “Eliminating Imperial agents is a dangerous pastime.”

    The first Sedmon shrugged. “He was too curious as to why we wanted descriptions of the cast of the Petey Byrum and Keep. The lattice ships do get watched. They’re good cover, mind you. I think we need to look into investing in one, someday.”

    The Sedmons back on Uldune nodded. “The records here indicate that several of them are considerably indebted to our bank. And the one we’re following is in financial difficulty.”

    “The records we’ve looked at indicate this to be the norm. They’re potentially profitable, of course, but it’s usually the debt load that cripples them. And a lot of the showmen seem to have the financial acumen of a Humpity. But this Himbo Petey seems a cut above most. Our contact with the Imperial Bank of Credit and Commercial Ventures does indicate that he’s been trying to bring it under control.”

    All of the Sedmons knew they were avoiding thinking about how they would deal with meeting up with Hulik do Eldel. Like almost all of the Daal’s citizens, she was blissfully unaware that she’d actually met, physically, four different bodies. The same mind, of course.

    At one stage, when they’d first begun considering a personal liaison with the Imperial agent, the hexaperson had assumed they would conduct it the same way as they dealt with the people of Uldune—with one of them on display and the rest in reserve, in hiding. But as time went on, and the do Eldel grew more central to their thoughts, the thought of deceiving her became distasteful. Besides, as intelligent and capable as Hulik was, it would probably be futile as well. Even though the Daal had kept a certain distance from her in the past, he suspected that she had already guessed at least part of the truth.

    But they’d deal with that issue once they caught up with her. First, they had to do that.