Madame Pompadour's Blade

By Tom Purdom

Intrigue in royal France. Mystery. Flashing blades. Magic. A classic historical fantasy, as only Tom Purdom could tell it!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Release date: Dec 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781479479863

Book preview

Table of Contents

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

MADAME POMPADOUR’S BLADE by Tom Purdom

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Copyright © 2008 by Tom Purdom.

Originally published in Jim Baen's Universe, June 2008.

Published by Wildside Press, LLC.

wildsidepress.com | bcmystery.com

MADAME POMPADOUR’S BLADE

by Tom Purdom

This story was selected for Black Cat Weekly

by World Fantasy Award-winning editor

Darrell Schweitzer, the former editor of

Weird Tales and Worlds of Fantasy & Horror.

They passed the carriage about an hour after they left Paris, as Geveaux had expected. It was a cool, sunny morning in early April. Even the peasants driving geese and pigs toward the city behaved as if they might be momentarily satisfied with their lot. Geveaux rode past the carriage on the left, with Francois behind him. He glanced at the windows but they were covered with dust. He would just have to assume Mademoiselle Arlette was seated inside. They were overtaking the carriage at the right point and it matched the description he had received from the spy at the Hotel Rousset: sandy brown with bright green wheels and trim, three bays and a black doing the hauling.

Geveaux raised his hat to the coachman. He shouted a pleasantry about the nature of the morning and the coachman saluted with his whip. The butt of a silver plated pistol gleamed above the sash the coachman had wrapped around his cloak.

Geveaux turned in the saddle as he galloped past the front horses. Francois was plowing down the road