Timothy Boggs - Hercules Legendary Joureneys 03 Read Online Free Page B

or three, if they didn't take deep breaths. Between the crescents, gaps barely the width of two men walking abreast provided entrance and exit.
    The outer stone wall was the biggest problem. Despite its height, a quick survey of the surrounding area made him suspect a lot of folks just climbed to the roofs of the nearest buildings to watch whatever was going on. For free. Something would have to be done about that. Perhaps—
    "Ah, Virgil, there you are," a husky voice said.
    He prayed for strength, resolution, and, in a pinch, invisibility.
    This was the most difficult part of all his assignments—negotiating with town leaders for percentages of the profits. Unfortunately Phyphe had a leader of the leaders, and last night it was clear she had more in mind than just a simple handshake to close the deal.
    "Olivia," he said warmly, fixing a welcoming smile in place as he turned. He made a show of checking the sun. "Right on time. Wonderful. Wonderful."

    Olivia Stellas was of indeterminate age. Her face was smooth and taut. Very taut. So taut that Virgil wondered when he first saw her why her ears were still on the sides of her head. Her hair was incredibly, unnaturally black and long, and elaborately braided into a high cone-like pile, with two coy curls dangling at her temples; there wasn't a doorway in town she could walk through without ducking. Her lips were thick and red, her eyes dark and unreadable, her nose the only feature that had sharp angles.
    Virgil had a feeling that whenever she walked on the beach, sharks for hundreds of miles around ducked for cover.
    She linked her arm with his and led him into the arena, gliding, eyes shifting constantly, head up as if testing the air.
    "My sources tell me you've had troubles recently."
    "Rumors," he assured her, patting her hand and suppressing a shudder. "Jealous rivals."
    "The earth tremors?"
    "Coincidence."
    "The fire?"
    "A drunk knocked a torch over at the entrance."
    "The riot?"
    He grinned. "Three men fighting over Miss Delilah, our contortionist."
    "Hyanth?"
    They stopped in the center.
    "Really, Olivia," he said. "A man turned into a frog?" He laughed as a man of the world laughs with a woman of the world at the way rumors persist in the lives of the rubes of the world.
    Olivia didn't laugh. She smiled. Tautly.
    Virgil shuddered again, especially when she bumped her hip against his and suggested they repair to the nearest quiet place in order to complete the arrangements.
    He agreed.
    She winked.
    He thought, I want a raise.

    • • •
    In the beginning, Dragar only wanted to be a competent trickster—a man who could pull rabbits and rats out of a cap, pull ribbons out of his ear, and make people laugh when he pulled a dinar from the nose of an unsuspecting audience member. As a young man he had been short and dumpy; a young man he had a terrible stutter; as a young man he had been tormented and beaten up and shunned and reviled.
    As a young man he had been a lousy magician. He had little flair, little skill, and every time he lowered his arms, a chicken fell out of his sleeve.
    Dragar Illarius didn't want to be a magician anymore.
    He wanted more.
    Much more.
    He stood in the center of the room that mop-head, Virgil, had secured for him, and scanned the chests that held his props. He was no longer short, no longer dumpy; he no longer stuttered, and no longer cared whether people liked him or not.
    "You want the big bed or the little one?"
    He closed his eyes briefly. "The big one, of course," he said to the woman in the adjoining room.
    "You always get the big one."
    "I'm the star. I deserve it."
    Aulma came to the connecting door and put her hands on her hips. Nice hips, Dragar thought as an unbidden smile touched his lips; nice everything else, too, but really nice hips.
    She pouted. A practiced pout he had seen a hundred times, and ninety-nine times it had almost worked.
    The one time it had worked she didn't have anything on but her long blond hair, so he