Looters Of Tharn

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The last words of the christening ceremony, echoed away through the high vaulted nave of the church. As the echoes died away, Richard Blade heard the bells in the tower high above begin to ring.

Bim-bong-bunnnng. Bim-bong-bunnnng.

Reginald Smythe-Evans turned to Blade. His thin face split in a broad, toothy, but unmistakably sincere grin. «Well, Richard. Very glad you could be young Edward's second godfather. Zoe wanted it badly, but we couldn't be sure you'd be around for the christening. Dashedly awkward if one of the godfathers didn't show up, eh? And we know you're always flitting off on dangerous business of some sort. But you made it.» He thrust out a pale, long-fingered hand, to grip Blade's with surprising strength.

Blade found himself able to smile back with almost as much sincerity as Reginald. He hadn't felt much like smiling when Zoe's letter first arrived, asking him to be second godfather to Edward Thomas Richard Smythe-Evans. A long time ago Richard Blade had loved Zoe. She had loved him, too. But one evening she had said good-bye, and a few months later she married Reginald. That had hurt. It stopped hurting for a while, but Zoe's letter picked away at the old scar.

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