Steven Brust - Jhereg

“That’s true,” agreed Morrolan. “But I’m afraid he’s correct. There simply isn’t any chance of my breaking it, and he realizes that. I’m rather surprised that you can’t understand that.”

I decided the time was right to intervene. “It seems to me that—”

“Silence, Jhereg,” snapped Aliera. “This doesn’t concern you.”

I reconsidered.

“It isn’t that I can’t understand it,” she went on to Morrolan, “it’s just that I think your priorities are wrong.”

He shrugged. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

It was the wrong thing to say. Aliera rose, and her eyes, I saw, had turned ice blue. “As it happens,” she said, “it wasn’t my oath, it was yours. If you were no longer master of Castle Black, we wouldn’t have this problem, would we? And I don’t recall anything in your oath that prevents a guest from attacking you!”

Morrolan’s hand was white where he gripped the hilt of Blackwand. Loiosh dived under my cloak. I would have liked to do the same.

“That’s true,” said Morrolan, evenly. “Attack away.”

Sethra spoke for the first time, gently. “Need I point out the guest laws, Aliera?”

She didn’t answer. She stood, gripping her blade, and staring hard at Morrolan. It occurred to me then that she didn’t want to attack Morrolan at all; she wanted him to attack her. I wasn’t surprised at her next statement.

“And guest laws,” Aliera said, “apply to all hosts. Even if they claim to be Dragons, but don’t have the courage to avenge an insult done to all of us.”

It almost worked, but Morrolan stopped himself. His tone matched the color of her eyes. “You may consider it fortunate that I have the rule I do, and that you are as much a guest as this Jhereg, although it is clear that he knows far more than you about the courtesy a guest owes a host.”

“Ha!” cried Aliera, drawing Pathfinder.

“Oh, shit,” I said.

“All right, Morrolan, then I release you from your oath, as regards me. It doesn’t matter anyway, since I’d much rather be a dead dragon than a live teckla!” Pathfinder stood out like a short green rod of light, pulsating gently.

“You don’t seem to realize, cousin,” he said, “that you don’t have power over my oath.”

Now Sethra stood up. Thank the Lords of Judgment, she hadn’t drawn Iceflame. She calmly stepped between them. “You both lose,” she said. “Neither of you has any intention of attacking the other, and you both know it. Aliera wants Morrolan to kill her, which preserves her honor and breaks his oath, so that he may as well go ahead and kill Mellar. Morrolan wants Aliera to kill him, being the one to break guest-laws, so she can then go ahead and kill Mellar herself. I, however, have no intention of allowing either of you to be killed or dishonored, so you may as well forget the provocations.”

They stood that way for a moment, then Morrolan allowed the ghost of a smile to pass over his lips. Aliera did the same. Loiosh peeked out from under my cloak, then resumed his position on my right shoulder.

Sethra turned to me. “Vlad,” she said, “isn’t it true that you are—” she stopped, reconsidered, and tried again, “—that you know the person who is supposed to kill Mellar?”

I rubbed my neck, which I discovered had become rather tense, and said drily, “I expect I could put a hand on him.”

“Good. Maybe we should all start trying to think of ways to help out this fellow, instead of ways to goad ourselves into murdering each other.”

Morrolan and Aliera both scowled at the idea of helping a Jhereg, then shrugged.

I gave a short prayer of thanks to Verra that I’d thought of asking Sethra to show up.

“How much time is there that the assassin can wait?” asked Sethra.

How the hell did she find out so much? I asked myself, for the millionth time since I’d known her. “Maybe a few days,” I said.

“All right, what can we do to help?”

I shrugged. “The only thing I can think of is just what Aliera thought of earlier—tracing him with Pathfinder. The problem is that we need some way of getting him to leave soon enough, without, of course, forcing him to.”

Aliera took her seat again, but Morrolan turned and headed for the door. “All things considered,” he said, “I don’t think it quite proper that I include myself in this. I trust you all,” he looked significantly at Aliera, “not to violate my oath, but I don’t think it would be right for me to conspire against my own guest. Excuse me.” Bowing, he left.

Aliera picked up the threads of the conversation. “You mean, trick him into leaving?”

“Something like that. I don’t know, maybe put a spell on him, so he thinks he’s safe. Can that be done?”

Sethra looked thoughtful, but Aliera cut in before she could speak. “No, that won’t do,” she said. “I expect it could be done, but, in the first place, Morrolan would detect it. And, in the second place, we can’t use any form of magic against him without violating Morrolan’s oath.”

“By Adron’s Disaster!” I said, “you mean we can’t trick him, either?”

“No, no,” said Aliera. “We’re free to convince him to leave on his own, even if we have to lie to do it. But we can’t use magic against him. Morrolan doesn’t see any difference between, for instance, using an energy bolt to blast him, or using a mind implant to make him leave.”

“Oh, that’s just charming,” I said. “I don’t suppose either of you has any idea of how we’re going to accomplish this?”

They both shook their heads.

I stood up. “All right, I’ll be heading back to my office. Please keep thinking about it, and let me knowif you get anywhere.”

They nodded and settled back, deep in discussion. I didn’t think much of the chances of their actually coming up with something. I mean, they were both damn good at what they did, but what they did wasn’t assassination. On the other hand, I could be surprised. In any case, it was certainly better having them work with me than against me.

I bowed, and left.

8

“There is no such thing as sufficient preparation.”

I returned to my office and allowed my stomach to recover from the aftereffects of the teleport. After about ten minutes, I contacted my secretary. “ Please ask Kragar to step in here ,” I communicated.

“ But, boss — he went in five minutes ago. ”

I looked up and found him seated in his usual place and looking innocent.

“ Never mind. ”

I shook my head. “I really wish you’d stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

I sighed. “Kragar, Aliera is willing to help us.”

“Good. Do you have a plan yet?”

“No, only the start of one. But Aliera, and, by the way, Sethra Lavode, are trying to come up with the rest of it.”

He looked impressed. “Sethra? Not bad. What happened?”

“Nothing—but just barely.”

“Eh?”

I gave him a report on what had occurred. “So,” I concluded, “now we need to figure out how we’re going to get Mellar to leave early.”

“Well,” he said thoughtfully, “you could ask the Demon.”

“Oh, sure. And if he doesn’t have any ideas, I’ll ask the Empress. And—”

“What’s wrong with asking the Demon? Since you’re going to be talking to him anyway, why not take the op—”

“I’m going to what?”

“The Demon wants to meet with you, right away. A message came in just before you did.”

“What does he want to meet with me about?”

“He didn’t say. Maybe he’s come across some information.”