Chapter ten
At The Leather BottleLon the Knees said: “If you insist, Lyss...”
“I do damn-well insist, so that’s an end to it.”
“The Leather Bottle is not the place for—”
“Look, Lon. A poor weak defenseless girl has been known to stick a knife into a hulking great brute of a man insulting her. Well, is that not true?”
“Aye, aye. But—”
“That’s an end, Lon! Queyd-arn-tung!”[9]
They were standing in a shadowed doorway of a respectable street, the Lane of Sweetmeats, and the evening drew on in long mingled shadows of emerald and ruby. Already the Maiden with the Many Smiles floated over the rooftops of Rashumsmot casting down her fuzzy pink light to blend oddly with the last trailing remnants of the radiance from Zim and Genodras. The air tanged with spicy odors. Folk moved with purpose,
