Steven Brust - Jhereg

“So naturally,” I said, “you went charging right in there.”

“Naturally,” he agreed, ignoring my sarcasm. “I kept him talking long enough to trace where he was, put up my standard protection spells, and teleported in.”

“Was Fentor alive then?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yes. While I was trying the trace, I made them put me in contact with him, to verify that he was alive. He was unconscious, but living.”

“In any case,” he continued, “I arrived. That, uh, lady we just left threw some kind of spell. I assume it was preset. I didn’t realize that it was her until just now, of course, but whatever it was removed my protections against physical attack.” He shook his head. “I’m forced to admire their timing. You would have appreciated it, Vlad. Before I was really aware of what had happened, something hit me in the back of the head and I saw a knife coming toward me. Most unpleasant. I had no time to counterattack in any way. As they intended, of course.”

I nodded. “They knew what they were doing. I should have figured it out sooner.”

“How did you catch on at all?” asked Aliera.

“Certain parties had mentioned that they had found a way to kill Mellar without bringing the whole House of the Dragon down on their heads. It took me way too long, but it finally occurred to me that the one way to do that, without getting Mellar to leave Castle Black, would be if Morrolan were to turn up conveniently dead. Then, of course, there wouldn’t be a problem, since he’d no longer be Morrolan’s guest, as it were.”

Morrolan shook his head, sadly.

I continued. “As soon as I found out that Fentor and Uliron had changed shifts, I knew something was up. I figured out what it had to be, contacted Aliera, and, well, you know the rest.”

He didn’t, of course, but I wasn’t really in the mood to tell him how I almost managed to dissolve myself—and half of Adrilankha—in raw chaos.

Morrolan looked at me hard. “And who,” he asked, “is this person, who came up with this marvelous scheme?”

I matched his stare, and shook my head. “No,” I said. “That information I can’t give even you.”

He looked at me a moment longer, then shrugged. “Well, my thanks, in any case.”

“You know what the real irony is?” I said.

“What?”

“I’ve been trying to come up with some way to prevent another Dragon-Jhereg war myself, and when one drops right into my lap, I chuck it out.”

Morrolan allowed himself a small smile. “I don’t really think they’d go that far, do you?” he asked.

I started to nod, stopped. Damn right they’d go that far! And, knowing the Demon, he wouldn’t waste a lot of time being about it.

“What’s wrong, Vlad?” asked Aliera.

I shook my head and contacted Fentor.

“ Yes, my lord? ”

“ Are you back on duty? ”

“ Yes, my lord. ”

“ Run a full check on all our secure areas. Now. Make sure nothing’s been breached. I want it done an hour ago. Move! ”

I held the contact while he gave the necessary orders. If I were going to take out Mellar, how would I get past Morrolan’s security system? I ran it through my mind. I’d set the damn thing up myself, however, so of course I couldn’t see any flaws in it. Ask Kiera? Later, if there was time. If it wasn’t already too late.

“ Everything checks, my lord. ”

“ Okay. Bide a moment. ”

Morrolan and Aliera were looking at me, puzzled. I ignored them. Now . . . forget the windows—no one gets in that way. Tunnel? Ha! From a mile in the air? When Morrolan can detect any sorcery done around the castle? No way. A hole in the wall? If they weren’t going to use sorcery, which they shouldn’t be able to, it would take too long. Doors? The main door had witchcraft, sorcery, and Lady Teldra. Forget that. Rear doors? Servants’ entrances? No, we had guards.

Guards. Could the guards have been bribed? It would take, how many? Damn! Only two. How long did he have to set this up? Not more than two days. No, he couldn’t find two guards who would take in only two days, without finding one who would talk first. Kill all the ones who said no?

“ Fentor, any deaths of guards within the last two days? ”

“ No, my lord. ”

Okay, good. No one was bribed. What else? Replace a guard? Oh, shit, that’s what I’d do.

“ Fentor, do we have any new guards working today? People who have been on the pay roll less than three days? If not, check for servants. But check for guards first. ”

That’s what I’d do, of course. Take a job as a guard, or a servant, and wait for the perfect moment. All I’d have to do is arrange for the right guard to be busy, or ill, or to need sudden days off, maybe bribe one person, maybe not even have to, if I could get access to the records and slip my name in.

“ As a matter of fact, yes. We have someone new outside the banquet hall. The guard who normally has that duty —”

I broke the link. I was already running and half out the door before I heard Morrolan and Aliera shouting after me. The Necromancer, who hadn’t said a word the entire time, remained behind. After all, what was another death, more or less, to her?

I charged down to the banquet hall at full tilt. Loiosh, however, was faster. He was flapping his way about ten paces ahead of me when I saw the two guards outside the door. I saw that they recognized me. They bowed slightly and came to alert as I started to get close. I noticed, from fifty feet away, that one of them had a dagger concealed under his uniform, which is very un-Dragonlike. Thank Barlen, we were in time.

Morrolan was close to my heels as I approached. The guard with the concealed dagger locked eyes with me for a moment; then he turned and bolted into the room, Loiosh close behind him. Morrolan and I raced after him. I took out a throwing knife; Morrolan drew Blackwand. I cringed involuntarily from the things that that unsheathed blade did to my mind, but I didn’t let it slow me down.

There were shouts from inside the hall, doubtless in response to Morrolan’s psionic orders. I ran past the door. For a moment, I couldn’t see him, obscured as he was by the crowd. Then I saw Loiosh strike. There was a scream, and I saw a sword flash.

We stopped. Mellar was now in plain view, looking not at all concerned. He favored Morrolan with a look of inquiry. At his very feet was the “guard.” The latter’s head was a few feet off to the side. A real guard stood over the body, his longsword bare and dripping. He looked up at Morrolan, who nodded to him.

Morrolan and I walked up to the body and removed a dagger from the outstretched hand. He took it and studied it for a moment. He said “good job,” to the guard.

The guard shook his head. “Thank the jhereg,” he said, looking at Loiosh with an expression of wonder on his face. “If he hadn’t slowed him down, I’d never have made it in time.”

“ Finally, someone who appreciates me. ”

“ Finally, you do a day’s work. ”

“Two dead teckla on your pillow. ”

We ignored Mellar completely and walked back out of the room.

“All right,” snapped Morrolan as we left. “Get this place cleaned up.”

Aliera appeared beside us, and we headed back toward the library. Morrolan handed me the dagger. I touched it, and knew at once that it was Morganti. I shuddered and handed it back to him. There were just too damn many of those things floating around, lately.

“You realize what this means, don’t you?” he said.

I nodded.

“And you knew this would happen?”

“I guessed it. When the attempt to nail you didn’t work, they had to go ahead and get him anyway.”