by Steven Brust
“What—”
“Run over to the City and deliver a message.”
“I’ve done that before.”
“Never for this much, I’ll wager.”
He shrugged. “I get the other one when I get back with a reply, right?”
“Right.”
“And if he doesn’t give me a reply?”
“Then you’re out of luck.”
“All right. You’ll be here?”
I nodded and handed him the note. “Do you read?”
“A little.” He frowned and stared at the writing, then he nodded. “I can make this out.”
“Good. If you’re back in less than two hours, I’ll make it two imperials.”
He set off at a walk, just to show me how independent he was. I’m sure he broke into a run the instant he was out of sight. I liked him.
“I could have saved you a few imperials, Boss.”
“I know. But I want you around me right now.”
“Expecting trouble?”
“No. I’m just … I want you around.”
“Okay.”
I returned to the room, put all that was Vlad, at least externally, into a sack, and said good-bye to the room. Whatever happened, I wouldn’t be back there. That part didn’t make me sad.
I returned to Six Corners and bought a pear. I took my time eating it. I rinsed my hands off at the market pump and left a copper for the poor, because it would have looked funny if I hadn’t.
I spotted the kid about a minute before he spotted me. He handed me a note. I glanced at it, verified the signature, and gave the kid two imperials. He gave me an odd look.
“You’re wondering what someone like me has to do with the Jhereg.”
He nodded.
I smiled. I was briefly tempted to have him watch while I turned back into Vlad. Strange. Why would I want to impress this punk? Maybe he really did remind me of me. But I just gave him an enigmatic smile and said, “See you around.”
“I doubt it,” he said. I guess he wanted to get in the last word. Yeah, he was like me.
I wandered away from the market and found a quiet place where I could study the note more carefully. “Vlad there’s a back room at the White Lantern I know the place and will have protection there for you be there at the sixth hour Kragar.”
“Okay, Loiosh. It’s set.”
“I don’t know the White Lantern, Boss.”
“I know where it is. And we either trust Kragar, or we don’t.”
“Do I get a vote on that?”
“No.”
“Didn’t think so. Who’s going to cross the river?”
“Sandor.”
“Okay. When?”
“Now.”
“It’s early.”
“Yeah. So just maybe they aren’t watching all the bridges yet.”
“Which one are we taking?”
“Chain.”
“Because there’s room to move around, or just to make my job harder?”
“Both, of course.”
An hour later I was safely across the bridge. I thought about heading to Valabar’s to wait, but there were a lot of reasons not to; mostly because it was no secret how much I loved it, and it was bound to be watched now that I was known to be around. So I went back to the Imperial library, picked up a book at random, and read for a few hours.
Just before the fifth hour, I left the library and found one of the coaches that served the Palace. The third one was willing to carry an Easterner. Or, at any rate, an Easterner who offered to pay double, and paid in advance. Sandor climbed into the coach and drew the blinds. Forty-five minutes later, Vlad climbed out in the middle of Malak Circle. I didn’t give the driver a glance as I left his coach; I just lost myself in the crowd of the market. Loiosh and Rocza landed on my shoulders.
“Do you have a plan when we go in, Boss?”
“No.”
“What about us?”
“I want you both with me.”
I found a place to watch the place that could watch the front door. I determined that no one was there, so I moved up a place. Did you follow that?
I became relaxed, calm, and much more confident than the situation called for; at which point I realized my hand was resting on Lady Teldra’s hilt. Thank you, I thought to her, and was almost surprised that there was no response. What had Sethra meant about her “waking up”? It might become awful crowded in my head. I’d have to get them all to take turns. Maybe I could …
“It’s time, Loiosh.”
“I know.”
I walked across the street, hands empty and at my sides, and walked through the front door as if it was perfectly safe. Well, maybe it wasn’t, but no one attacked me. No one even particularly noticed me.
Malak Circle is not in one of the classier parts of town; it isn’t somewhere to go if you want to rub elbows with the high end of the nobility. The exception is a public house with an outstanding wine list and barely passable food. There was no sign indicating a name for the place, but it was clearly marked by a bright, white lantern that was kept burning even during the day.
The inside of the Lantern had pale stonework with blue mosaic trimming, and there were no tables of the type I’m used to, just little things, suitable for setting a drink on, next to each of the big comfortable chairs. It was a good place for me, because Jhereg stand out there; mostly you’ll find Dragonlords, Dzur, Lyorn, and Tiassa. I stood out, but so would the Demon, as well as anyone placed there with unfriendly intentions toward me. Also, killing someone there was liable to bring on a lot more heat from the Phoenix Guards than the Jhereg would like.
I got looks from everyone there when I came in. That was good. I’d have been worried about anyone who didn’t give me a glance or two. I walked straight to the rear, where there were two doors back-to-back. I glanced at the host. He pointed to the right-hand door, and I took it.
It was a private little room, well lit, with no windows, and, above all, no one in it. I left the door open and took a seat around to the side, where I could see the only door well enough, but without ostentatiously placing myself in an ideal defensive position. Loiosh and Rocza sat on my shoulders, unmoving, waiting, like me. I caught the faint psychic whispers that indicated they were having some conversation with each other. There was a steady, quiet hum of conversation from the next room. No one was loud at the White Lantern.
I checked the time. It was just the sixth hour. I waited.
About two minutes later, a Jhereg I didn’t recognize came in, glanced at me without acknowledging my presence, let his eye flick over the rest of the room, and then nodded back toward the door. The Demon came through next, followed by another bodyguard, who closed the door. The Demon hadn’t changed much. I didn’t stand.
He sat down across from me and said, “All right. Talk.”
“Shall we get a drink first?”
“Talk.”
“You don’t want to be sociable?”
He looked at me.
“Damn,” I said. “And here I thought we were friends.”
“Talk,” he said, with a sort of “this is the last time I’m going to say it before I have people kill you and I don’t care what deal we’ve made or what the consequences might be you scum-sucking asshole” intonation to it. I’m good with intonations.
“A bunch of people want the number-one seat on the Council. I—”
“You applying for the job?”
I chuckled. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass. I’m thinking of going into dry goods.”
“Uh huh.”
“Terion’s got the backing of the Left Hand, for reasons we don’t need to go into. You—”
“You did it!” he burst out suddenly.
I raised an eyebrow and didn’t say anything. He grunted. “All right. Go on.”
“I can get you the game.”
“You can, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“How?”
“That’s my business.”<
br />
“If you think that’s going to let you off the hook for what you did—”
“No, I don’t. Me getting off the hook isn’t part of the deal. But I do want thirty hours, just so I can finish this.”
“I don’t speak for the Jhereg.”
“Thirty hours from your people.”
“That would not be impossible. Let’s hear it, then.”
“South Adrilankha.”
“What about it?”
“I want it to be hands-off for the Jhereg. All of it.”
“For how long?”
“Let’s say … until the end of the next Dragon Reign.”
“That could be quite a while.”
“Yes.”
“You are unlikely to still be alive by then.”
I chuckled. “That’s something of an understatement.”
“My point is, Lord Taltos, how do you expect to enforce it?”
“I trust you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Well, yeah, I guess I don’t.”
“So, then?”
“I have friends.”
He looked at me and waited.
I said, “I imagine you’ve already heard about who had a shine put on her last night.”
He put a few things together in his mind and nodded slowly. “I see.”
“Yeah.”
“That would do it, I expect. You’re asking a lot, you know.”
“I know.”
“The Organization will grow there on its own, and it will be crying out for someone to run it. There will be a lot of work involved in keeping the Jhereg out of there.”
“That’s how I see it, too. But you know what you get for it.”
“Can you deliver?”
“I think so.”
“You think so.”
I nodded. “And, of course, if you don’t end up in the number-one spot, you don’t pay.”
“And your life isn’t part of the deal?”
“Nope.”
“Okay. What else?”
“As part of leaving South Adrilankha alone, you negotiate with the Left Hand. They’re the ones running it, and—”
“Your wife. That’s the meat of the whole thing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“All right. I was trying to figure out why you got involved in this in the first place. Now I know.”
“Uh huh.”
“You dived into this whole thing for her.”
“Yep.”
“Like a Dzur hero come to save the maiden.”
“You got it.”
“How does she feel about that?”
“None of your fucking business.”
“That’s what I figured.”
“Do we have a deal?”
“I gotta be honest. I don’t know if I can call off the Left Hand at this point. They aren’t under any authority but their own.”
“No, but if they get, uh, called off, as you put it, I think you can negotiate with them to stay out.”
He gave me a contemplative look. “I don’t know what you have in mind, of course. But that would depend on exactly how they get called off.”
“Yeah.”
“Care to tell me about it?”
“No.”
“Then I can’t give you an answer, can I?”
“I’m negotiating with them.”
“Negotiating.”
“Uh huh. If you want, you can show up for the negotiations.”
“Oh?”
“I’ll be meeting with them around seventh hour, give or take.”
“Where?”
“In South Adrilankha. There’s a district called Six Corners. Not far from there is a house, Number Eleven Stranger’s Road. We’ll be meeting there.”
“And I’m invited?”
“Yes. At least, that’s where we’re starting the negotiations.”
“And when will these negotiations be concluded?”
“Like I said before, I’ll need about thirty hours.”
“Then I can’t give you an answer before then.”
“Sure you can. A conditional answer.”
He nodded slowly. “You’re asking a lot, you know.”
“You’re getting a lot.”
“Yes, I am.”
“And, as I said, feel free to show up.”
“Yeah. I might do that.”
I gave him some time to think it over. A part of me regretted that I wasn’t still in the Organization, working for someone like him. He’d be a good guy to work for. And life would be so much simpler.
After a moment, he nodded. “Okay on the thirty hours. And, yeah, depending on how these negotiations go, I’ll agree that if you get me the position, I’ll keep us out of South Adrilankha until the end of the next Dragon Reign, or until I’m knocked on the head, whichever comes first.”
“That works,” I said.
“You know it won’t make any difference, right?”
“Hmmm?”
“I mean, if you’re thinking that you’ll be doing something to help those people—”
“I’m not. If anything, it’ll be worse for them, unless they find someone who knows how to run this sort of operation efficiently.”
He nodded. “She must be some kind of woman.”
“Yeah,” I said.
“It’s too bad things worked out this way, Vlad. I’d have liked to have you working for me.”
I nodded.
“Good luck,” he said.
“Thanks.”
He got up and walked out, taking his bodyguard with him.
“Good going, Vlad,” said Kragar. “Now, can you pull it off?”
“I hope so,” I said.
16
Red Wine
There was a place I passed through when I visited the East a couple of years ago. It was sort of a meadow, extended downward from a bare, rocky slope, and ending in woods. It wasn’t very big; standing on the top of the slope you could see the woods clearly enough. But in that place, there were an odd collection of berry plants and flowers, and I happened to hit it at a time when they were all emitting their specialized scents. There were wild roses, brittleberries, whiteblossom, honeykeolsch, and clover.
I mention this, even though at the time my mind was on other things and I didn’t pay much attention, because, though it was of the type that is called “full” and “deep” and “strongly flavored,” there were hints of most of those in the wine Mihi brought to accompany the beef.
I set the glass down and opened my eyes.
Mihi winked at me and walked away as Telnan drank some wine and nodded. “Goes good with the food,” he said.
“Got lucky,” I said.
He flashed me a grin. Only one meal, and he was already figuring out my sense of humor.
“I’ll bet there’s a whole art to that, isn’t there? I mean, picking the right wine to go with a meal.”
“There is,” I told him. “I don’t know how they do it, but I’m glad to reap the rewards.”
He nodded. “Think you can really tell the difference, though? I mean, between a wine that goes perfectly with what you’re eating, and wine that only sort of goes with it? Is there, I don’t know, a lot more pleasure, or something?”
I actually had to think about that, for more reasons than to try to figure out what he was asking. “There are a lot of things,” I said, “that you don’t actually notice, but have an effect anyway.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” said the Dzur. He looked lost in thought for a minute. “That really is true,” he repeated, as if I’d said something profound.
I let him think so while I ate some more of the beef.
I said, “They chill it just a bit, for me, even though it isn’t supposed to be served that way. Not chilled like a white wine, but just a little chilled. I just think wine is better when it’s a little bit cold. Unlike brandy.”
“And heroics,” he said, grinning.
“Hmmm?”
�
�It’s hardest to be a hero when you have to do it cold.”
“I don’t follow you.”
“I was just making a joke.”
“Oh, all right.”
“But it’s true, though.”
“I don’t—”
“It’s one thing to go charging into a fight when you’re outnumbered, and you just, you know, hack away as best you can. It’s another when you have to just sit there, everything against you, and no one to actually attack. All the demons in your head start on you, and, it’s like, you’re giving yourself every chance to be afraid, but you have to keep on anyway. I’m not describing it very well.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in that situation.”
“It’s not as much fun as you might think.”
I nodded and took another sip of wine. Just a little bit chilled, the way I like it.
“You were there for the whole thing?” I asked.
Kragar shook his head. “I arrived late.”
“I thought you might do that. Were you expecting him to make a play for me?”
“Vlad, you aren’t out of here, yet.”
“True.”
“I’ll go out first.”
“Just like the old days.”
“Sort of.”
“Hey, Kragar, I’m trying to remember something.”
“Yeah?”
“You know, all those times I walked out of a door wondering if someone was on the other side waiting to put a nice pretty shine on my skin, was there ever anyone there?”
“You mean, has anyone come after you when you were looking for it? Not that I recall, but maybe I wasn’t around.”
“This might be the first time, you know.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re a superstitious Easterner, and you think if you say it, it won’t happen.”
“Exactly.”
“Good plan.”
It worked, too. At least, no one took a shot at me when I left the Lantern.
“What now?” he asked. “You hungry? We should have gotten something to eat.”
“Yeah, I’ll just sort of hang out here for another hour or two, that would be smart.”
He chuckled. “Office?”
“Sounds good.”
We made it there with no trouble, but I’d be lying if said I wasn’t nervous during the walk.
The guy running the game nodded to me as I went past. He ignored Kragar.
