Steven Brust - Jhereg

“We’ve been lucky,” I added. “I’ve been too slow to pick up on most of this. If Mellar had happened to walk by the door any time in the last hour, it would be all over by now.”

We entered the library. The Necromancer nodded a greeting to us and gestured with her wineglass, the strange, perpetual half-smile on her face. I’ve always liked her. Some day I hope to understand her. On the other hand, perhaps I’d better hope not to. As we seated ourselves, I said to Morrolan, “I’ve been meaning to get around to talking to you since I found out about the bodyguards.”

“Bodyguards? Whose? Mellar’s?”

“Right. As far as I can tell, he has two of them.”

“ As far as who can tell, boss? ”

“ Shut up, Loiosh. ”

“That is rather interesting,” said Morrolan. “He most assuredly had no bodyguards when he arrived.”

I shrugged. “So they aren’t on your guest list. That makes them fair game, doesn’t it?”

He nodded. “It appears that he doesn’t especially trust my oath.”

Something about that bothered me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

“Possibly,” I said. “But it’s more likely that he doesn’t trust the Jhereg not to start another war, just to get him.”

“Well, he’s correct in that, is he not, Vlad?”

I nodded, and looked away.

“Whoever this Mellar was in the Jhereg” said Morrolan, “he certainly must have hurt some pretty big people.”

“Big enough,” I said.

Morrolan shook his head. “I just can’t believe that the Jhereg would be that stupid. Both Houses were very nearly destroyed the first time, and the last time—”

“ ‘Last time?’ ” I echoed. “It’s only happened once, as far as I know.”

He seemed surprised. “Didn’t you know? But of course, it wouldn’t be something the Jhereg would discuss excessively. I wouldn’t know myself if Aliera hadn’t told me about it.”

“Told you what?” My voice sounded faint and hollow in my own ears.

Aliera cut in. “It happened once more. It started the same as before—with a Jhereg killed by an assassin while he was a guest in a Dragonlord’s home. The Dragons retaliated, the Jhereg retaliated, and . . . ” She shrugged.

“Why haven’t I heard of this before?”

“Because things went to Hell after that, and it never got really well recorded. Briefly, the Jhereg who was killed was the friend of the Dragonlord, and he was helping him out on something. Someone found out what he was doing and put a stop to it.

“The Dragons demanded that the assassin be turned over to them, and this time the Jhereg agreed. I guess House Jhereg felt that he should have known better, and also it may have been a private quarrel on some level. In any case, the assassin escaped from the Dragonlord’s home before he was killed. He killed a couple of Dragons on the way out, then he killed a couple of the Jhereg bosses who had turned him in. He was killed himself, later, but by then it was too late to stop anyone.”

“Why? If it was just the one individual—”

“This was during the reign of a decadent Phoenix, so nobody was trusting anybody. The Jhereg thought that it was the Dragons who had killed the bosses, and the Dragons thought it was the Jhereg who had arranged the escape.”

“And then things went to hell, you say? Right then?”

She nodded. “The Jhereg killed enough of the right Dragonlords, including some wizards, so that a certain one, who’d been planning a coup, found himself forced to move too soon, and to rely too heavily on magic. And, without his best sorcerers, the spell got out of control, even after the Emperor was dead, and . . . ” Her voice trailed off.

It started to sink in. I can subtract as well as anyone can, and if the first Dragon-Jhereg war was when it was, then the second one had to be . . . decadent Phoenix . . . Dragon coup . . . went to Hell . . . spell got out of control . . . dead Phoenix Emperor . . .

“Adron,” I said.

She nodded. “My father. The assassin had reasons of his own to hate the Emperor and was working with father to find a way to poison the Emperor when things fell apart. As you know, it was Mario who finally killed the Emperor, when he tried to use the Orb against the Jhereg. Another Phoenix tried to grab the throne, and father had to move too quickly. The next thing you know, we have a sea of chaos where the city of Dragaera used to be, no Emperor, no Orb, and no Empire. It was close to two hundred years before Zerika turned up with the Orb.”

I shook my head. Just too damn many shocks in too damn few days. I couldn’t handle it.

“And now,” I said, “it’s going to start up again.”

Morrolan nodded at this. We were all silent for a time, then Morrolan said quietly, “And if that happens, Vlad, which side will you be on?”

I looked away.

“You know,” he continued, “that I’d be one of House Jhereg’s first targets.”

“I know,” I said. “I also know that you’d be in the front lines trying to waste the organization. As would Aliera, for that matter. And, by the way, I’d be one of the first ones the Dragons went after.”

He nodded. “Do you think you could convince the Jhereg to let this one go?”

I shook my head. “I’m not an Issola, Morrolan, and I don’t have that sharp a tooth. And, to tell you the truth, I’m not all that sure that I’d do it if I could. I’ve heard all the reasons why Mellar has to go, and they’re hard to argue with.”

“I see. Perhaps you could convince them to wait. As you know, he’ll only be staying here a few more days.”

“No way, Morrolan. It can’t be done.”

He nodded. We sat there in silence for a time; then I said, “I don’t suppose there is any way, just this once, that you could let us have him? All you have to do is kick him out, you know. I hadn’t intended to even ask, but . . . ”

Aliera looked up, intent for a moment.

“Sorry, Vlad. No.”

Aliera sighed.

“All right,” I said. “I didn’t really think you would.”

We were all quiet again, for a few minutes; then Morrolan spoke once more. “I probably don’t have to say this, but I will remind you that if anything, anything at all, happens to him in this house, I’m not going to rest until I find out the cause. I’m not going to hold back, even if it’s you.

“And if it is you, or any other Jhereg, I will personally declare war on the House, and I’ll have the backing of every Dragon in the Empire. We have been friends for a long time, and you have saved my life on more than one occasion, but I will not allow you, or anyone else, to get away with the murder of one of my guests. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Morrolan,” I said, “if I had intended to do anything like that, I wouldn’t have asked you about it, would I? I would have done it already. We’ve known each other for—how long? —four years? I’m surprised that you know me so little that you’d think I’d abuse your friendship.”

He shook his head, sadly. “I never thought you would. I just had to make sure that the matter was stated clearly, and in the open, all right?”

“All right. I guess I had it coming to me for asking you what I did, anyway. I’ll be heading off now. I’m going to have to think about this.”

He stood as I did. I bowed to him, to Aliera, and to the Necromancer. Aliera bowed back; the Necromancer looked out at me from within her dark eyes, and she smiled. As I turned toward the door, Morrolan gripped my shoulder.

“Vlad, I’m sorry.”

I nodded. “Me, too,” I said.

14

“Oft ’tis startling to reveal