page 9
"In debt for dust? A third time I say you are a fool." Tynmez backed away from him and gestured at his enforcers. "Finish unloading his stock. Quickly!" He swung back to Poal. "The two spotted Aarouns I saw in your crates will recoup what I've spent in bribes. The rest are no better or worse than what I found.""Then leave them," Poal said. He tried to speak lightly, but there was an edge in his voice.
Tynmez must have heard it. "I will leave you your gladiator bait and a curse to go with it. May it bite you and turn on you. May your wounds go septic. May your brain grow riddled with abiru fever, that you wander the streets forever, witless and gibbering to shadows only you can see."
Poal drew in his breath to retaliate, and felt another warning jab of the weapon pressed to his side. He held his breath instead, fuming too much to feel relief at having tricked Tynmez. When his transport was stripped of its cargo, Tynmez and his guards departed in a whoosh of jetted air and flying dust.
Poal stood in the street, coated with dust, his neck rill at full extension. When he could finally command himself enough to speak, he turned on his enforcers with a glare, and flicked out his tongue.
"You're fired, the lot of you."
The Toth whose ear had been bitten by the mother of the golden Aaroun glared back at him. "I got no bribe. I--"
"Then make your brothers share with you," Poal said viciously. He brushed by the brutes, who stared at him with their mouths open, and climbed aboard his transport so fast he made it tip and scrape one edge on the ground.
Dropping the Aaroun on the seat beside him, Poal revved the engine and lifted it straight up just as the Toths finally figured out he was serious about firing them all. He roared away over their massive heads, leaving them bellowing insults in his wake.
Not until he flew under the curving arch of new dock construction bordering the side of the ghetto and tucked himself into the general stream of traffic did Poal relax his death grip on the controls. His temper calmed down, and he began to mentally add up losses. They were plenty. He had lost the wages squandered on his enforcers, plus their stun-sticks, restraint ropes, and sidearms. He had lost a day's worth of stock, good stock, all of it, despite what he'd said to Tynmez. He had nearly lost his life.
It was a heavy blow, especially coming this early in the year. If not for the prize still in his possession, he would be facing ruin right now.
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