http://www.joeabercrombie.com/extract_best_served_cold.htm
“‘You stabbed me, you dumb old bastard! You stabbed me!’
‘You’re hardly even cut, fathead! You should’ve kept a hold on her!’
‘I should stab the useless pair of you!’ hissed Orso’s voice. ‘Just get it done!’
Gobba’s great fist came down, dragged Monza up by her throat. She tried to grab at him with her left hand but all her strength had leaked out through the hole in her side, the cuts in her neck. Her clumsy fingertips only smeared red traces across his stubbly face. Her arm was dragged away, twisted sharply behind her back.
‘Where’s Hermon’s gold?’ came Gobba’s rough voice. ‘Eh, Murcatto? What did you do with the gold?’
Monza forced her head up. ‘Lick my arse, cocksucker.’ Not clever, perhaps, but from the heart.
‘There never was any gold!’ snapped Faithful. ‘I told you that, pig!’
‘There’s this much.’ One by one, Gobba twisted the battered rings from her dangling fingers, already bloating, turning angry purple, bent and shapeless as rotten sausages. ‘Good stone, that,’ he said, peering at the ruby. ‘Seems a waste of decent flesh, though. Why not give me a moment with her? A moment’s all it would take.’
Prince Ario tittered. ‘Speed isn’t always something to be proud of.’
‘For pity’s sake!’ Orso’s voice. ‘We’re not animals. Off the terrace and let us be done. I am late for breakfast.’”
4 out of 5
