Hakiem's response was habitual: 'Pay? I didn't order it. It was you who filledthe cup. Pay for it yourself.' He regretted the words immediately. One-Thumb'streatment of drinkers who refused to pay was legendary throughout the Maze. Tohis surprise, then, it was One-Thumb who gave ground.

'Well, all right,' the big man grumbled. 'Just don't make a habit of it.'

The old storyteller felt a rare twinge of remorse as he left the Unicorn. Whilehe had no love for One-Thumb, neither had he any reason to wish him ill.

The big man hadn't just lost a year of his life - he'd lost his fire - that coreof ferocity which had earned him the respect of the town's underworld. ThoughOne-Thumb was unmarked physically, he was only the empty shell of his formerself. This town was no place for a man without the strength to back his bluster.

The end of One-Thumb's story was in sight - and it wouldn't be pleasant. Maybewith a few revisions the story - if not the man - had a future.

Lost in his thoughts, Hakiem faded once more into the shadows of Sanctuary.

LOOKING FOR SATAN by Vonda N. Mclntyre

The four travellers left the mountains at the end of the day, tired, cold, andhungry, and they entered Sanctuary.

The inhabitants of the city observed them and laughed, but they laughed behindtheir sleeves or after the small group passed. All its members walked armed. Yetthere was no belligerence in them. They looked around amazed, nudged each other,and pointed at things, for all the world as if none had ever seen a city before.As, indeed, they had not.

Unaware of the amusement of the townspeople, they passed through the marketplacetowards the city proper. The light was fading; The farmers culled their produceand took down their awnings. Limp cabbage leaves and rotten fruit littered theroughly cobbled street, and bits of unrecognizable stuff floated down the open