Notable moved his head and averted his face.
"Goo-ood Notable," Shadowspawn whispered.
His miffed rider did not deign to acknowledge those sounds he had come to know and love. He began wriggling, preparing to jump down. Shadowspawn pressed harder.
He murmured, "Just hang on, Notable. See, we cross this roof-uh." He broke off while someone passed on the street or "street" below. "Then we break into a trot an'-"
He jumped again, pouncing more as Notable might have done than in the way of a man. He landed almost noiselessly on another roof with his knees bent nearly up to his chest. This roof sloped and Shadowspawn dropped both hands to it, and pressed. He remained in that position long enough to be sure he was not going to lose footing.
Notable meanwhile drew in all claws, gathering himself, then shot out the rearward ones long enough to leap past this maniacal human's head and onto the roof. He ran right up and stopped only when he was on the ridgepole, which was not so narrow as the pointed-wedge sort. Tail lashing, he pretended to have been solely interested all along in gnawing a particular place in his coat. He peeped around casually to see Shadowspawn sitting athwart the ridgepole, unraveling a slender and expensive rope from around his waist.
"If you don't climb on me," he muttered over his shoulder, "it'll be a lot harder for you to get down."
He followed that with a kissing noise. Notable's tail moved restlessly in indecision but he pretended to have something caught in his paw that needed gnawing out. Another glance showed him that the human had tethered his line and was letting himself over the edge of the roof. Trotting along the ridgepole as if it were a broad meadow, the big cat paused to lower his head and stare into Shadowspawn's eyes. Shadowspawn made another kissy noise. Quite delicately for one his size, Notable stepped onto the black-clad shoulder and leaned against the youthful face. He rode down.
Not far. Amoli liked to sun herself, which was why she had caused the little railed balcony to be constructed just outside her window. To her, it was useless at night. Not to Shadowspawn. He whispered, "We're there," and moments later was preparing to enter the darkened room. It was all as simple as that ...
Except that just as he was about to swing over the sill the door opened from the corridor, and light from ensconced lamps as well as a carried one burst into the room.
"-as soon as we have accumulated enough money from the slave business," a voice was saying, and it was the voice of Marype, who was just behind Amoli, who bore the lamp, and in those few words he had told Hanse everything Hanse had wondered about; everything he wanted to know.
Cat and cat burglar crouched low in the darkness outside the window, with black-haired tan hand pressing red fur in an urgent request for motionless silence. As he had learned to do long ago from his mentor Cudget, the superb thief called Shadowspawn did not try to see, or to hold his breath; he controlled his breathing while he listened. He heard the door close. He didn't have to look to be aware that the light remained within the chamber. He didn't hear the chest being opened, but he heard the jingle and then the sound of a lid closing. A key turned in a lock.
"Always a pleasure," Amoli said.
"... business with Tarkle," the voice of Marype muttered, and the door opened again, and closed. The light remained. Shadowspawn stayed where he was, crouched. His head was cocked so that he could stare up at a slow-moving cloud, gray against midnight blue and black. When he decided that it had moved enough, he rose and entered Amoli's private chamber.
She sat before her little table a couple of feet from her bed, gazing into the costly electrum mirror she had propped up while she adjusted her high-coined hair. With eyes much larger than the gold coins called imperials, she stared at the dark-clad reflection of the young man behind her. The elbow of his upraised left arm pointed at her; the hand was just beyond his ear. Amoli's eyes flared and her mouth began widening.
"You try yelling or reaching for anything untoward and I throw," he told her quietly. "I know who told Tarkle what to do to get rid of me. I know who pays Tarkle. I know what you and Marype are up to. I know you told him I'd been there that night, almost the moment I left here. Also, I just heard you two. Amoli, open that chest."
She stared at him in the mirror. "I-he took the key."
"In that case we just ruin the lock. I'm no beginner at that."
Slowly, she turned. Slowly, she rose, all prosperously plump and soft in silk and lace of rose and pale blue, scattered with jewels and a wetly glistening string of fine pearls. Only then did she notice the great big red animal-
"Oh!"
Notable replied with a long r-sound.
"Easy, Notable, she's too smart to try anything stupid with two of us armed with all these sharp things." He showed Amoli a clear-eyed gaze. "You remember I told you about my attack-trained watch cat? Did you think I was joking?"
"You intend to take the money, Hanse? Rob me?"
"I forgot to mention, don't try any dumb words to persuade, either," he told her in that same soft voice. "We all know where that money came from. Even my price is in there-the price the slavedealers paid your lackey Tarkle for me. I have to pay Jubal rather more to be able to call myself free again; he bought me, Amoli, old friend."
She was shaking and her eyes continued wide and glassy as her earrings. "I'll give you-"
"You'll give me the pearls, Amoli, and six hundred pieces of gold. Just six hundred."
"Oh, not the pearls'" Her hand went to them.
He knew at once that it was just as he had supposed; they were indeed good pearls, and they meant more to her than the gold. Hanse was pleased. He said, "Yes, the pearls."
She made a sobby sound. Seeing his implacable stare, she heaved a great sigh and brushed clothing off an apparent low table. That revealed the table as a long, good-sized chest. After a hesitation and another sigh, she squatted beside it. He watched her extract the large black key from her bosom.
"He made me, Hanse. I didn't-"
He moved a couple of paces to be nearer her, and between her and the door. He had relaxed his cocked arm, but made sure she could see the fiat, hiltless throwing knife between his fingers. "Your luck is that you're not lying there wearing this sticker in your key-nook and staring straight up at nothing while I open that thing," he told her. "Don't just blabber and make me mad, all right? Both you and Marype are leaving this town. I hope you don't love him, Amoli. I had decided to let you walk out."
She heard his gentle emphasis on the words "had" and "you," and again a shiver rustled her silk.
"I don't love him," she said. "He isn't even M-but damn it, I do love these pearls."
He smiled. Her words and tone told him that she had resigned herself, made up her mind to stay alive and safe. She was going to do it. He watched her lift the lid of the short coffin. She took out the several bags tucked inside and commenced counting out gold coins into one of them. To Shadowspawn the clinking noises were as perfumed lips whispering sweet anythings in his ear.
"Sure a lot more than five hundred imperials in there, aren't there?" he said conversationally.
Either Amoli considered it wiser not to reply-or perhaps too distasteful to think about how much was here and how much of it was about to depart her company.
"What d'you think five hundred imperials weigh?"
"Not nearly enough to be so important," she said.
"Amoli," he said, in a dangerous voice, "I asked-"
"A few pounds. Three or four."
"When you've counted five hundred into that bag, just pop in the pearls and count the rest into another."
"Oh, Hanse, my pearls ... oh, I'm so sorry ..." She began to sob.
"Well, I could let you keep the pearls, but they'd probably just take 'em away from you."