Chapter fourteen
The pakzhan opens a few doors“By the Black Chunkrah!” I said to myself. “This is an infernally unhealthy spot to be in.”
There was not much of a breeze that night up in the city of Tali in Kavinstock, not even across the face of the crag; but I can promise you I felt a distinct draught across the back of my neck!
And then, to make my night, my left foot began to slip. There was no time at all to think. I acted at once and in the next instant found myself rearing up one-handed for the hard round spike jutting from the socket. My right fist clenched around the iron like the skeletal hand of Death.
Inevitably, I let rip a gasp of effort. That, together with the breaking tumble of the shard from under my foot, brought another growl from the opening above.
“Hear that, you
