The Honorable Barbarian Read Online Free Page A

a dollsized, turquoise-colored dress. Taking the pins out of her mouth with her free hand, she said: "Will this do, young sir?"
    Kerin disliked being referred to as "young" but he was so eager to begone from the place that he paid the asking price without haggling. Back at the inn, he whistled: "Belinka!"
    "Aye? Let me see!" Kerin felt the dress snatched out of his hand. It bobbed about in midair before the faintly-seen form of Belinka, who chirped:
    "Oh, curse of the purple skull! How shall I get the thing on over my wings?"
    "If you're an immaterial being, what's the problem?" asked Kerin.
    "Not so immaterial as all that. But you would not understand."
    "I wondered about the wings, also. How about cutting a pair of slits?"
    "'Twill spoil the effect!" she cried. "It won't hang aright!"
    "How can I help that? Must these slits go all the way to the bottom, or can you fold your wings, like fans, to get them through narrower openings?"
    "Methinks gaps about so long would suffice," she said, holding her hands apart. "Here, catch!" The bluegreen garment fluttered towards Kerin. "How wilt accomplish this task? By sawing with your dagger?"
    "Nay," said Kerin. "My family sent me forth well equipped." From his bag he dug out a small canvas sack containing needles, thread, and small scissors. "They insisted I be able to mend my gear."
    He set to work on the gown, saying: "Turn around, Belinka, and make yourself more visible—oh, damn!"
    "What's amiss?"
    "I cut the slit too far on one side. I fear I'm no tailor. Canst sew a fine seam?"
    "Nay," she said. "Not wearing clothes on our plane, we've never developed that skill."
    Kerin sighed and addressed himself to threading the needle. After several attempts, he said: "Belinka, your hands are daintier than mine. Could you stick the end of the thread through that little hole in the needle?"
    "I will try. . . . Oh, you have the end frayed out, so of a surety it won't go." She licked the end of the thread and twisted it into a point. "There you be!"
    Kerin began sewing the edges of the longer cut together. "Ouch!"
    "What befell?"
    "Pricked myself. Methinks this be my first needle."
    For a few seconds he worked away quietly. Then Belinka, rummaging in Kerin's sewing kit, held up a shiny object. "What's this, Master Kerin? It looks like a helm for one of us Second Planers, albeit too small for me.
    "That's what we call a thimble. I am supposed to use it somehow in this task, but I know not how." He continued sewing.
    Belinka exclaimed: "You've got it all wrong, clumsy oaf! One side of the cut matches not the other, so the fabric will gather in bunches."
    Kerin spread his hands. "'Tis my best effort. If it's not good enough, the reason is you distracted me by asking about thimbles."
    "That's right, blame me for your clumsiness!" She paused, then said in a less petulant tone: "Why not ask the dollmaker's wife? Methinks she made the dress in the first place."
    Kerin grunted. "A fine fool I should look, trailing back across half the city to ask her to repair my botchery! I'll try the wife of our present host."
    Kerin went and found the innkeeper's wife. With another rush of embarrassment, he explained his errand. "This poppet for my little niece, now, has wings like unto an insect."
    The innkeeper's wife examined the garment; Kerin was sure she was hiding a laugh. "'Tis a quarter-hour's work, an I guess not amiss. 'Twill cost you thrippence, Master Kerin."
    "Agreed," he said.
    Back in his room, he held out the dress for Belinka's inspection. She took it and flitted about, so that the bit of fabric fluttered this way and that. When she turned on her full visibility, she wore the dress with her wings protruding through the slits. "What thinkst?"
    "Enchanting, my dear; though I admit I liked you the way you were. But you cannot wear the garment outside our room."
    "And why not, sirrah? I can be invisible."
    "Aye, but the sight of the dress fluttering about in midair, without occupant, were quite as