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particularly in the small towns, but the majority of people were far more
casual, with women casually wearing colorful print skirts hanging on their
hips and comfortable tops, and men in more casual pants and shirts, usually of
dark, somber colors, and wearing vests of various colors over their shirts.
Hats, however, seemed to be out of fashion for either sex inside the hub.
Social norms still hadn't progressed here to the point of seeing women wearing
pants, but it certainly was a lot more casual than back "home" and some of
those skirts were hanging pretty low and some of those tops were pretty damned
tight. It also beat those stretch outfits that always felt like they were
cutting her and grabbing her in all the wrong places.
The Kudaanese fashion, though, which Sam was expected to wear for consistency,
was for light solid colors in the skirt and a halter-type top, sometimes set
off with a matching blanketlike cotton garment that had a hole in the center
for sticking your head through, but there was also a small pocket on just one
side that contained a pull-out integrated hood with tie strings. Wearing it
that way you had your head pretty well covered and the rest became something
of a cape.
The light colors, design, and all-cotton nature reflected simple attempts at
dealing with the horrible sun of the Kudaan region. Sam's hairy legs and
underarms were also reflective of a colonial origin; most hub women shaved
them.
The last touch wasn't so much fun but made the most dramatic change in her.
Kira had mixed a nearly alchemical mixture of foul-smelling chemicals and had
thoroughly and repeatedly treated Sam's now long black hair with it. It had
taken most of the color right out of the hair over repeated rinsings, giving
Sam what she thought of as "dingy gray" hair. Kira called it silver and tried
to be nicer about it. Still, Sam's sun-darkened complexion and weathered look
combined with the long and full "silver" hair to provide a striking change in
appearance.
Only Sam didn't like it, but she preferred it to meeting Klittichorn
face-to-face.
She had just the right image, which was why the fake origin was picked, but
there was still a real risk. Agents of Klittichorn might not know her
appearance very well, all things considered, but Crim had had that run-in with
Zamofir who had told him pretty much everything, and somebody was certain to
be suspicious of the fact that the Navigator had now suddenly left his train
and was heading in a general westerly direction in the company of a Kudaanese
woman.
Sam came back up from the woods near where they camped to see Kira checking
supplies. "Something up?" Sam asked her.
Kira nodded. "The hub's filling with all sorts of strange and not-so-strange
faces," she told her. "There's also a rough sketch of your face making the
rounds, unofficially. It's not very accurate or very good but it won't stop
them
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0-%20Riders%20of%20the%20Winds.txt from looking hard at every heavy young
woman they come across. You look different but it's a no-questions-asked
reward and many won't bother to ask questions. A number of short, fat women
have been reported disappearing, and the police and militia here are as
corrupt as the rest. We have what we need and we've been here long enough.
Once we get into the colonies on the other side they'll have a hard time
finding us. There are just too many possibilities, even if they know our
direction. It's only in the hubs that we have to really worry.
Get a good night's sleep. How are you feeling?"
"Pretty good," Sam told her, " 'cept it seems like I got to pee every twenty
minutes. Maybe that's the price of girls havin' muscles. I dunno. Why do you
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ask?"
"Because this is still a big place and it's our turf, as it were. We have as
many people bought here as they do and we know the land better. That's why we
haven't run into ugly scenes so far. But those who hunt us know that as well,
and they also know that the one place we have to show up is at the exits.
There are only eight possibilities there and you can bet that there's a ton of
people looking over the most likely exit points and enough looking even at the
out-of-the-way ones."
"Can't you just avoid the guard posts?"
"Not without ditching the wagon as well and cutting our way through fencing.
Then we'd have to take random choice on whichever colonial 'petal' was up and
we'd be reported there sooner or later by any officials or Guild trains we
might meet. And, going west and north, we're going to be out of our normal and
familiar grounds ourselves, and that means we have to watch it. Some of these
places are pretty dangerous."
Sam looked at her. "You got any bright ideas?"
Kira shook her head. "No, and I've been thinking of little else. Maybe Crim
will come up with something in the morning."
"The problem," said Crim, "is the wagon and supplies. Two of us on horseback
wouldn't have much trouble sneaking out of here, although we'd have to take
pot luck on which petal happened to be up. When you start getting into
unfamiliar territory, though, it's best to stick close to the main roads and
have the bare essentials with you, and for this type of journey I don't want
to ditch the wagon and head for the hills until we have to. The worst thing
this rebellion business has done is to bury honor. There are lots of possible
friends and allies out there but we can take none of them for granted. That
means going legitimate whenever we can. And that means going right through one
of these checkpoints."
She stared at the map. "What about doing a go-'round?" she mused aloud. "I
mean, you go through there, alone, with the wagon, and I go through on the
side, here, by cuttin' through the fence and meet up with you out in the misty
zone. I know there's bound to be a border checkpoint wherever we're goin', but
there's a pretty long distance between the hub and the colony."
He shook his head. "No, it's not that easy. First of all, they stamp your
identity papers when you go through. Yours wouldn't have the exit stamp."
"Then maybe I go all the way myself. You know, like paralleling you, keepin'
you in sight but off a bit. I sneak in the other side when you bring up the
right world and meet on the other side of the border."
He frowned. "I don't like it. First of all, that's over forty leegs to cross,
and you'd have to be pretty far off me to avoid being seen. Maybe a lot of
magicians could make a horse invisible but I never got that far in the course.
Second, things seem to have a way of happening to you. If we get separated at
this point and you wind up in some other, nastier world all alone, I might
never find you, and while I wouldn't help the other side on a bet I'm doing
this for profit, remember."
She was undaunted. "The big thing is just to be close enough to you to be sure
I
can get over to you but without them guys seein' me on either side. How close
could I get in that mist without gettin' caught up in the wrong world?"
"Fairly close. You can see where the connection is made because the mist
doesn't sparkle and it's darker. Why?"
"Well, why can't I try it on foot? I got myself built up pretty good."
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He sighed. "That's not across the street, you know. I know you've been running
a few leegs a day and walking more, but it'll take you some time to make it
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that far. Too risky." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]