Steven Brust - Phoenix

I led us up to the throne, stopping just out of range of those spears, and said, "Your Majesty King Corcor'n, we wish you a pleasant evening. Um, excuse me, is 'Your Majesty' the proper form of address?"

He swallowed twice and said, "It will do."

I said, "My name is Vladimir Taltos. My friends are called Morrolan e'Drien and Aliera e'Kieron. We've come to discuss peace."

The two guards with the spears looked very unhappy and kept glancing at the two Great Weapons. Well, hardly surprising. I said, "Perhaps, my friends, we should sheathe our weapons." They did so.

The King said, in a raspy whisper, "How did you get here?"

"Sorcery, Your Majesty."

"But-"

"Oh, yes, I know. We've solved that problem."

"Impossible."

I shrugged. "In that case, we're not here, and you can safely ignore us. I should tell you, Your Majesty, that I came here in order to kill you and as many important advisors and chiefs as we could find. We changed our minds when we saw how poorly protected you were."

"Messengers have gone out," he said. "Troops will be arriving in moments."

"In that case," I said, "it would be well if we had our business concluded before they arrive. Otherwise, well, things could get ugly."

His mouth worked in anger and fear. The grey-haired woman leaned over to him and started to say something. I gave silent orders to Loiosh and Rocza. They left my shoulders and flew to the two guards. As puppets controlled by a single string, the guards winced, began to panic, caught themselves, and held still as the jhereg landed on their shoulders. I was very impressed with the guards; they trembled, but didn't move. I smiled.

The King said, "You assassinated—"

"Yes," I said. "I did. And you will never know the reason. But you have sunk several of our ships, killing hundreds of our citizens. How many lives is a King worth, Your Majesty? We are willing to call the score even if you are."

"He was my father."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry," he said scornfully.

"Yes. I am. For reasons I can no more explain than I can explain why I did it. But what's done is done. Your father was given a good blood price, Your Majesty; the crews of—how many ships? Your Majesty, we want to end it. Can you—?"

At that moment there was the sound of tramping feet. I broke off my speech, but didn't turn around.

"How many, Loiosh?"

"About twenty, boss."

"Aliera, Morrolan, watch them."

"We're already doing it, Vlad," said Morrolan. I think it bothered him to appear to be taking orders from me. Tough. At that moment I heard Daymar's voice in the back of my mind. I let the contact occur and said, "All is well. Check back later." The contact faded.

There were, indeed, a good number of them, but we were between them and the King. Moreover, each of the two guards who stood between us had a poisonous jhereg on his shoulder. I said, "You must decide, Your Majesty. Unless, that is, you would like us to slaughter your troops for you first, and then continue the negotiations?"

"How do you know," he said at last, "that I will hold to an agreement made under these circumstances?"

"I don't," I said. "Furthermore, you are most welcome to break it. If you do, of course, we will be back. Perhaps with a few thousand troops."

He turned to the old woman at his side and they spoke together quietly.

"Loiosh, what are they saying?" "She says Elde has no objection to peace if he can get a guarantee that—"

"Very well," said the King. "I agree. The ships we've sunk will be the indemnity for the damage done to us. We—bide a moment."

He spoke quietly to the two men on the other side of the throne. "Loiosh?"

"I can't hear them, boss."

"All right. The old woman must be the ambassador or something from Elde Island. Perhaps the others are advisors of some sort. "

We waited while they spoke together, then the King nodded and said, "But we require two things. First, assurances that no reprisals will be taken either against us or against our ally. Second, we want the assassin and his accomplice returned to us for punishment."

I turned to glance at Morrolan and Aliera. Aliera was still watching the armed men at the back of the room; Morrolan turned his head toward me and silently mouthed the word "assassin," with a lift to his eyebrows. I smile and turned back to the King.

"As to your first condition," I said, "I give you my word. Isn't that sufficient?"

"No," said the King.'

"You aren't really in much of a position to bargain." "Maybe," he said, apparently beginning to recover now that he had troops handy. "But maybe it isn't all that easy for you to break through here. Maybe you cannot send troops to invade us. Maybe it was only a fluke that allowed the three of you to arrive here this way. Maybe you didn't break through the way you claim you did, but sneaked past our ships in a vessel of your own."

"Maybe," I agreed.

"But do you think we could slip past you in your own waters? And do you want to chance it?"

"If you do not meet the conditions, yes."

"What sort of guarantees do you want?"

"The word of your Empress."

I said, "We are unofficial envoys. I cannot speak for her."

"We will write out a treaty that specifies the conditions. The Empress may sign it and return it to me, or not. We will allow a single small ship, bearing your Empire's standard, to land to return the document. We will cease our attacks for three days, which will give time to sign and return it. I warn you that, during those three days, our preparations for war, and the preparations of our ally, will continue."

"Fair enough," I said. "As to the second condition, it is impossible."

He looked at me, then spoke quietly to his advisors. The one I recognized kept glancing at me. The King

looked up and said, "In that case, you may signal the slaughter to begin, for we will not allow you and your

accomplice to go unpunished."

"Your Majesty, have your scribe prepare the document while I consider this matter. We may be able to work something out."

"Very well." The old man at his left hand, it seemed was the scribe. He left for a moment, and returned with pen, blotter, ink, and parchment, and began writing.

I said, "May I approach you, Your Majesty?"

The two guards in front of him tensed, but he said "Very well."

"Vlad, what are you doing?" asked Morrolan.

"Bide a moment," I said.

I spoke to the King quietly for a few minutes, with the advisor, the emissary, and bushy-brows listening in.

Loiosh said, "Boss, you—"

"Shut up."

"But-"

"Shut up."

The King looked at me closely, then at the advisor, who nodded. Bushy-brows also nodded. The emissary said, "It is no concern of ours, Your Majesty."

The King said, "Very well. So be it," and the scribe continued writing. I backed up. Loiosh and Rocza returned to my shoulders, and the two guards relaxed.

Aliera said, "Vlad, what did you just do?"

"Worked a compromise," I said. "I'll explain when we're back home."

While the scribe was working, I felt Daymar's contact once more. "Five minutes," I told him. "We're almost done."

----- "I'll have Seth—" His pseudo-voice faded away in mid-sentence. The scribe finished, the King signed it. I took it, read it, nodded, rolled it up, and handed it to Morrolan, who at once started unrolling it.

"No," I said. "Read it at home."

"Why?"

"We have to leave now."

And, indeed, at that moment I felt Day mar's presence again. "Okay," I told him. "Take us home."

The spell came on very slowly; so slowly I was afraid for a moment it wasn't going to work. But a reddish glow

began to surround us. It became stronger, and I felt jt begin to grab and take hold, and I felt the beginnings of the disorientation I'd felt before.