Wen Spencer Wolf Who Rules

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.A hundred feet down, thetunnel joined another.Wolf knew that they couldn't be inside the museum anymore.file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Bureaublad.tml.jpg,%20advance%20reader%20copy)/A416520554__21.htm (23 of 27)5-1-2007 1:07:18- Chapter 21"What is this place?" Wolf asked."You ask a lot of questions.""I like knowing where I stand.""Yeah, nice when you can get it." The oni kept walking."These are the oldsteam tunnels that used to heat all of Oakland.""Who are you?""My name is my own to have." The oni said."That makes it awkward to thank you."The oni paused to look at him.Finally, he said, "You can call me Tommy.""Tommy," Wolf bowed."Thank you."Tommy grunted as if surprised."You are Lord Tomtom's son?" Wolf asked.Tommy started down the tunnel without seeing if Wolf followed."His bastard.Don't think that you did a disfavor to me by killing him.Quite the opposite.I would have killed him myself if I thought I could have gotten away with it.""I see.""No you don't.You have no idea.He raped my mother just to see if he couldget a human pregnant.It took him months to get her knocked up, and kept hertied to the bedpost the entire time.Even after I was born, he'd come to ourplace and beat the snot out of both of us and rape her again, just because hecould.""Is that why you helped me?"Tommy glanced at Wolf, ears laid back.At the next intersection, he paused toask quietly, "What am I?""You? You're an oni.""The fuck I am.I'm a human.""Your father ""Was a sadist pig." Tommy stalked off."So my good, kind, beat-to-death motherdoesn't count, even though she contributed half my genes, gave birth to me,and raised me to be a man? A human man.I'm not one of them.Not that thatmeans shit to you elves."Wolf had never considered that the half-oni would think of themselves ashuman.How could he refute the difference that mindset made in a person?Page 201ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlMaking Tinker an elf had not changed her basically human outlook.If thehalf-oni had the capacity of human compassion, then it had to be logical thatthey could be revolted by the oni's lack of it."It means something to me," Wolf told Tommy.Tommy stared at him again, as if trying to see into the inner workings of hismind.Perhaps he could."We know that the plan is to kill all of us mixed blood alongside of the oni,but we're more willing to gamble on you elves being humane than the oni."How ironic, that both sides were looking for humanity in the other."We don't want to be their slaves," Tommy continued."We've had thirty yearsof that shit.""Then why didn't you leave? There's a full planet for you 'humans' to go to."Tommy made a sound of disgust."It's all so black and white to you elves? Idon't get how you can livefile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Bureaublad.tml.jpg,%20advance%20reader%20copy)/A416520554__21.htm (24 of 27)5-1-2007 1:07:18- Chapter 21so long and not realize the world is full of gray.We didn't leave because wecouldn't.""Why couldn't you?""You can't just walk out at Shutdown.The U.N.has fences and guards and youhave to have the right papers or they throw you in prison.And even if you getpast the guards, you need a birth certificate and social security numbers andhigh school diplomas to live in United States.And you need money, or you'reout on the street and starving.""And you don't have these things?""The oni are masters of keeping power to themselves.They've got all thepaperwork.They try to keep us from learning how to speak and read English.They know how much money we're making, and they'll beat we us half to death ifthey even suspect we're trying to keep a little on the side.We don't know howmany oni there are in Pittsburgh who is a disguised oni and who isn't sowe can't even turn to the humans for help.The oni spy on us as much as theyspy on you."Wolf wasn't sure if Tommy was telling him the truth, but certainly it wouldexplain how the oni kept control of the half-breeds.He could see ways aroundthe oni enslavement until then he remembered that all the half-oni wouldhave been born and raised in the oni control.A child could be kept ignorant,molded into believing it was helpless.Tommy stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.The half-oni's ears twitched.Wolf caught an echo of harsh voices.He would have to accept it as real."There are oni ahead of us," Tommy whispered."We can't go this way.I canonly cloud their sight and they have noses like dogs."Wolf nodded, and followed Tommy back to a tunnel they'd passed before.Theywent through a maze of turns and up a flight of stairs to go through anothergrate into a basement stacked high with cardboard boxes.The labels indicatedthat the boxes once held cans of food.Just as Wolf wondered if they stillcontained their original contents, Tommy opened a door and the smell ofcooking food flooded over them.Beyond the door was a large kitchen filled with Asians.A low right-angledcounter divided the kitchen off from the restaurant's dining room.The longleg into the dining room was a bakery display case filled with buns andbreads."What are you doing here, Tommy?" One of the cooks, an old man, asked inMandarin as he took a tray of buns from the oven."Bringing him here?""The oni are in the steam tunnels," Tommy answered in the same tongue."Ugh!" the old man grunted."You get us all killed."Wolf looked at the crowded kitchen."These are all mixed bloods?""No." Tommy wove through the cooks."These are all humans.That was myPage 202ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlgreat-uncle."A herd of children galloped into the kitchen from a back room.Some could passas human might even be fully human but mixed in were children with hornsand tails.With cries of dismay, in ones and twos, the adults yanked thechildren out of Wolf's path, leaving only one child standing alone.The little female looked up at him fearlessly and he knew her.Zi."Hi." She cocked her head, puzzled by his presence.She had a cookie in eitherhand.She held one up to him."Do you want a cookie?" And when he hesitated,she added."I didn't drop it or anything.""Thank you." Wolf took the cookie with his left hand and bowed slightly toher."That is very nice offile:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Bureaublad.tml.jpg,%20advance%20reader%20copy)/A416520554__21.htm (25 of 27)5-1-2007 1:07:18- Chapter 21you.""Come on." Tommy caught him by the left wrist, and said in rough low Elvish."If oni find you herethey kill everyone.""What is she doing here?" Wolf resisted being moved [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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