The Aeronaut's Windlass (The Cinder Spires, #1)

by Jim Butcher

“I am cat,” Rowl said smugly, “which means I have made better use of my time.”

“You speak Cat,” Benedict said. “I mean, I’d heard that some people claimed to do it but . . . For goodness’ sake, you sounded exactly like a cat just now.”

Rowl nodded his head sharply, once, a very human gesture. “Then I will also extend courtesy. Tell her my name, and that she has not yet

earned a cat name of her own, but that breakfast is a good start.”

She was one of Maul’s Whiskers, his spies and hunters.

morning, Barnabus,”

Now, then, Captain.” He turned back to Grimm. “You have questions, I answers. Shall we see if they match?” “Please,” Grimm said. “I appear to be your guest. Have I you to thank for caring for me?” Ferus’s shoulders sagged in evident disappointment. “Apparently they do not match. I was going to say strawberries.” His lips compressed and he shook his head. “You aren’t very good at this game, Captain.”

“It is often very useful for others to think you less intelligent than you are,” Benedict said, his tone amused. “It works particularly well against those who aren’t as intelligent as you in the first place.”

“There are many things you have never done,” Rowl responded. “To be frightened of them is of no use to you.”

Bayard made a half circle out of the fingers of his right hand and frowned down at them in puzzlement. “That’s odd. There’s no drink there.”

Rowl felt sure that Bridget’s fragile feelings would be crushed if he denied her the pleasure of sharing her meat with him.

It was a well-known fact that humans became more addled than usual when running in herds.

Gwen arched an eyebrow at her cousin and turned back to Brother Vincent. “Wouldn’t it be faster to walk in straight lines rather than wandering back and forth like this? This way does not seem sensible.” The monk’s smile widened. “Did anyone forbid you to do so?” “Well, no,” Gwen said. “Why aren’t you walking the way you believe to be sensible, then?” Gwen blinked. “Well . . . it was obviously the way everyone walks here, I suppose.” “Did you wish to avoid offending our sensibilities?” “No. Not exactly,” Gwen said. “It just . . . it seemed the proper thing to do.” Brother Vincent nodded. “Why?” “Because . . . well, look at it. The stones are all worn down where

everyone has walked.” “Do you feel you should walk the same path because so many have walked it before you came, miss?” Gwen glanced at Benedict, but her cousin only looked back at her in silence, apparently interested in her answer. “No, of course not. Except yes, in a way. I hadn’t really given it any thought.” “Few do.” Brother Vincent bowed his head and turned to continue leading them down the hallway, and Gwen had the sudden impression, from his body language, that he was a teacher who had just concluded a lesson.

Character name

“I have heard of the Nine-Claws,” Rowl said. “They seem perfectly adequate.” “I have heard of the Silent Paws,” Neen replied. “I find nothing overly objectionable about them.”

As deaths went, Bridget thought, being asphyxiated by warm, soft, furry little beasts seemed a bit less ghastly than some she had considered lately, but nonetheless she preferred to avoid it.

“Can I use my metal circles to hire a human to clean my paws? Is there a human who could do so competently?” “I shall do it,” Bridget said, rising. She winced and touched her cut lightly. “But I desire competence,” Rowl protested. “You are too rough with your wet cloths. If you would only use your tongue, as is proper—” “I think not,” Bridget replied firmly. “I know where your paws have been.”

“Boarding ax,

The thing was part ax and part sledgehammer, meant for battering down the doors or bulkheads of an enemy ship, not for true combat.

She had never gotten it through her gentle head that there was a time for a soft paw and a time for red claws.

The scalelash was a deadly instrument, made of small rings of metal knitted into a tapered tube, each ring hung with a pointed, edged metal scale.

The bloody things weighed as much as an ax and hit with nearly

as much fo...