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.It was only that there were a great many other places where he would prefer to spend his future, rather than in that cool and unexciting land.Besides, he thought, it would be harder for the Culmian folk to trace him if he took Coinspinner somewhere else, somewhere very far away most likely, for his reward.And sooner or later, whenever the Sword left him, he would become vulnerable to their revenge.And now, even as Kebbi rode and grinned and sang, a nagging suspicion began to grow in him that he shouldn't be relying totally on the Sword's good fortune.It was never good to rely that heavily on anything outside yourself.He'd have to start using his brain again, at least.Kebbi ceased to sing, and gradually began to be more alert.Thus most of the day passed uneventfully for the deserter.During its course he began, almost in spite of himself, to take serious thought on the subject of what hisdestination ought to be, if it was not to be Tasavalta again.Kebbi's plan to steal theSword of Chance had taken form quite suddenly, only after the expedition to Sarykam was under way, and until now it had seemed to him enough, once he had his prize, to travel to some great distance from the land of Culm.Vaguely Kebbi came to have in mind two or three cities, only one of which he had ever visited, all distant places where he thought he would be able to sell his treasure at a great profit if he chose, or where he could use the Sword somehow to obtain some of the wealth with which he would there find himself surrounded.He supposed in an uncertain way that if the Sword, or the powers Page 22ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlbehind it, just knew what he wanted, he would somehow be provided with the necessary means to reach his goal.He took thought on the subject now, as he rode steadily along, but no better plan presented itself.Well, there was no hurry.Toward evening he came to a place where his trail intersected another one, the latter almost large enough to be called a road.Here the fortunate traveler spied an isolated building, big enough to be more than a simple house, in front of which a dozen or more people were gathered.In the glow of the setting sun the place looked like the poorest kind of inn.If there had not been people to be seen in front of it, he would have doubted that the dilapidated structure was in regular use.Certainly it was badly in need of maintenance and probably not far from collapse.Kebbi's first impression was that this place might well be a den of bandits.What might have been an inn's sign had fallen into ruin some time ago, and there was no deciphering it now.A couple of large tables, and some chairs and benches, all badly weathered, stood in front of the place.Ten or twelve thuggish-looking men were standing idly about in a few small groups.Kebbi's imagination suggested that they might be only waiting for the fall of night before revealing their true identities as some breed of nocturnal monsters.As he drew nearer the men in turn looked him over quietly, for the moment having nothing to say.In a place a little apart from the men, a few women were also waiting, for what it was hard to guess.By the look of them they might have been the dregs of Red Temple outcasts.One was lighting a fire in the open.Kebbi, feeling the inevitable stiffness of a long day's ride, and knowing that he must show it, stopped in front of the inn and dismounted-there was no way to disguise the fact that he was riding a good and valuable animal, and he would not have been surprised to be told that some of the loungers were already trying to guess what his riding-beast might be worth if they could get it away from him.Well, let them try it.Somewhere he'd heard that Mark, before he became Prince ofTasavalta, had been wounded-scratched, at least, and probably not too inconveniently-while carrying Coinspinner in the thick of a ferocious battle.Well, maybe that light scratch had somehow been lucky for the man who was to rise from commoner to prince-maybe it had even brought him his exalted rank.Anyhow, fate, working through the Sword of Chance, had brought Mark out of obscurity into a great position in the end, hadn't it?He, Kebbi, was ready to accept a light wound for a similar result.The gods knew he'd already had some bad ones for much less reward.One of the younger loungers was coming toward Kebbi now, indicating with a servile smile that he was ready to act as groom for this obvious gentleman-soldier.And now, from somewhere inside the building, a villainous-looking landlord materialized to wonder aloud if the new arrival was seeking food and lodging."I'll take a drink first," Kebbi told the man."Ale, if you have it.And some care for my mount.After that, we'll see about the rest
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