Steven Brust - Phoenix

He went into the leather shop that housed his offices in back. I gathered Rocza to my other shoulder and followed him in. I've always loved the smell of fresh leather, though here it was a bit overpowering, I suppose due to the admixture of scents of various oils and unguents used by this mysterious trade. In the front part of the store hung vests and jerkins, and when I slipped past to the back, there was an old Vallista laboriously pushing a heavy needle thick thread into the seam of what looked like a leather flagon. Why anyone would wish to drink from a leather flagon, I don't know.

Before he noticed me, I got past him and was facing a stairway leading up. At its top were two Jhereg who didn't look friendly. They studied me and seemed to be wondering if they should challenge me or just drop me where I stood. I reached the top alive and said, "Vlad Taltos to see Lord Boralinoi."

The shorter of the two said, "Appointment?"

"No."

"Wait there, then."

"Yes."

He concentrated for a moment, nodded as if to himself, and said, "What do you want to see him about?" He had a voice like a metal file; it set my teeth on edge.

"It's a personal matter."

"So make a sacrifice."

"Whom do you suggest?"

He smiled a little. I wondered if he kept his teeth crooked on purpose, just for the effect. He concentrated again, then said once more, "Wait."

After a minute or two of standing there regarding the toughs who were regarding me, he said, "Go on in, the boss will give you five minutes."

"Oh, happy day," I said, and went past them.

There were five more in the next room, one at a desk and four lounging around. I knew them all for killers at once. The one at the desk nodded to me, the others looked me over much the way I look over a game hen before I loosen its skin to fill it with mushrooms, garlic, and tarragon.

There were three doors. I pointed to the middle one, asked a question with my eyebrows, received a nod, and went through. His desk was big, and he sat behind it like he belonged there. There were two Jhereg in the room with him, one quiet-looking wisp of a man with a pinched in face and a dimple who was either an accountant or a sorcerer, and another tough, this one with the cold look of someone who would kill anyone, anytime, for any reason at all. When I came in he shifted his shoulders and an a hand down his chin, in a gesture I recognized as checking to make sure the surprises under his cloak were all in place and ready. I automatically ran a hand through my hair and adjusted the clasp of my cloak. All of mine were set.

There were no windows in the room, and, so far as I could tell from a quick glance, no other exits. I'd give odds that there was a hidden door somewhere, because that's how these people work, but I couldn't find it. Loiosh shifted uncomfortably on my shoulder; he didn't like the lack of an escape route, either. Rocza, on my other shoulder, picked up some of his nervousness. Boralinoi's eyes rested on each of the jhereg in turn, then he looked at me.

"I've heard of you, Lord Taltos," he said.

"And I, you, Your Lordship."

"You wanted to speak to me. Go ahead."

"It's a private matter, Your Lordship."

Without taking his eyes from me, he said, "Cor, N'vaan, don't speak of this to anyone."

That was the best I was going to get, then. I said, "I'm coming to you for advice about my marriage, Your Lordship."

"Sorry. I'm not married."

"A shame, Your Lordship. Marriage is bliss, you know. But I believe Your Lordship might be able to help me, anyway."

He took a scent-cloth from his collar and waved it in front of his face, dabbed it against the corners of his mouth, crumpled it up in his hand, and leaned back in the chair. "You're talking about the woman who's been working with those troublemakers in South Adrilankha."

"She's the only wife I have, Your Lordship. I'd sure hate to lose her."

"Why do you come to me?"

"It was by your orders that those people were arrested. I would think you could have one released."

"What makes you think I arranged it?"

"A dream I had last night, Your Lordship. We Easterners always believe our dreams."

"I see." He leaned forward and stared at me. "Listen to me, Baronet Taltos, so I don't have to repeat myself. Those troublemakers are making trouble, and not just in South Adrilankha. The trouble they're making affects what happens in the rest of the city and beyond its borders. We've already had noticeable cuts in our profit in several areas, traced directly to Teckla getting too smart for themselves. If a thing like that happens on its own, so be it; I wouldn't interfere. But it isn't happening on its own, these people are making it happen. And who's right in front of making it happen? Your wife, Taltos. A Jhereg. The Empire has come to us, through our representative, and complained. They've denied petitions of ours because of the trouble stirred up by this Jhereg Easterner wife of yours. We can't have that.

"Yes, I got them arrested. I'll even tell you how, Taltos. I had a sorcerer of mine blow up a watchstation in South Adrilankha, and leave messages all over it that looked like they'd done it. Does that shock you? It shouldn't. They needed to be put away, and I've put them away. If I haven't done it thoroughly enough, then I'll go back and do it again.

"I'm sorry it's your wife who's involved, Lord Taltos, I really am. But that's just your hard luck. Let her out? She was the one I most needed to get. So live with it. Go out and find someone else. If I have my way, she'll rot in the Imperial Dungeons until the Great Sea of Chaos floods the Empire. That's all I have to say. Happy New Year."

"Easy, boss."

"I know, Loiosh. I'm trying. Keep Rocza under control, will you?" I didn't say anything for a moment, trying to check my temper, and to keep the effort off my face. Then I spoke slowly and carefully, to make sure there was no mistake.

"So you arranged for my wife to be arrested by the Empire?"

"Yes"

"That is, my wife in particular?"

"Yes."

I looked him up and down once, and said, "You know, I believe I'm going to mess you up."

"No, you're not," he said, and concentrated very briefly. 'The door behind me opened, and, as I turned my head, five of them came through. They were all of them holding daggers; no doubt they'd been waiting for this. I turned back and saw that Boralinoi had pushed his chair back and the two who'd been standing there stepped between him and me. The tough one drew a shortsword. There was an awful stillness, as if the time between heartbeats had stretched across an ocean of movement, holding the world exactly as it was for just one instant that took forever.

"You're right," I said at last. "I'm going to kill you." Interestingly enough, if there'd been fewer of them I might not have gotten out of there. But the room wasn't really big enough for all of them to work together, as long as I got the jump; and I did. Loiosh let me see what was behind me well enough for me to throw a pair of daggers into the stomachs of the two directly behind me, which slowed them down a great deal, and at the same time Rocza flew at the most dangerous of them, the sorcerer.

I spun away throwing a handful of darts randomly in the general direction of the three between me and the door, then pivoted away from whatever those behind me might be up to. I was through the door before they could recover. Loiosh went flying down the hall to find out what was up ahead while I turned back to the door. I had just time to draw my rapier, which is sometimes a handicap against the huge Dragaeran longswords, but worked very nicely indeed against the Jhereg with the dagger who charged out at me. I cut his knife hand and scored his neck in two quick movements of the wrist that would have made my grandfather proud, then backed up a few steps.