Steven Brust - Jhegaala

He nodded his eyes still wide.

"Would someone in the mob out there like to know where the Coven leaders are right now?"

His eyes widened some more and he nodded. "East of town about three-quarters of a mile, where the road suddenly makes a sharp right, if you continue straight, there is a path that leads down a hill to a brook."

"Ostafa Creek," he said.

"Cross the creek and bear left for about three hundred yards. When the creek turns left, look to your right for a clump of bushes. Move them aside and there is a hole in the ground with a ladder."

He gave me a look I couldn't read, and went out.

I could now hear commotion in the street outside of my window; I imagine there was a panicked meeting of all the shopkeepers, wondering what they were going to do now, and mothers gossiping about what had happened, which was already starting the transformation from news to history to myth. Five hundred years from now, there will have been a great battle between the witches and the Evil Guild, in which they slaughtered one another, and would have laid waste to the region if the Young Count, riding at the head of his army, had not arrived in the nick of time.

My name would never appear, which was as it should be. We assassins are not big on appearing in news accounts or history books.

The street became quiet.

Meehayi came back in a few minutes later. "They've gone off," he said. "To—"

"Are we ready to leave?"

"There was a little delay."

"What sort of delay?"

"Father Noij was trying to talk them out of going to see the Coven."

"Ah," I said. "Did he have any luck?"

"They ignored him. He should be here soon."

I nodded and tried to wait patiently. It was more difficult than it ought to have been; but this was the time when, if something were going to go wrong, it would. And being helpless has never been high on my list of favorite things.

I listened to my breathing and waited, not thinking very much about anything. My legs itched under the splints.

"Boss, a mob has just arrived. About thirty of them."

"Good. Come back ."

"You don't want to watch?"

"I've seen enough."

" On my way, then."

Rocza, I noticed then, was already back; she had returned while I was watching through Loiosh's eyes.

It's a useful thing to be able to do—actually see through the eyes of your familiar— and something very few witches have ever mastered; but it can be dangerous as well, because you have no idea what's going on around you.

It was about a quarter of an hour before he got back, during which time Meehayi expressed concern about Father Noij and what was happening. I suggested he go find

him and he went off to do so. While he was gone, Loiosh returned.

"We're waiting for Father Noij," I told Loiosh.

" I saw him with the mob, Boss. I think he's trying to stop them."

" Hmm. Determined son-of-a-bitch. Never figured such a low-life bastard to care about anything enough."

"Is this bad?"

"Probably not. Just delays us a bit. I hope."

No, I couldn't really see any danger. But I had had things timed nicely, and this introduced places where something might go wrong: I didn't want the Count, for instance, insisting on seeing me and asking embarrassing questions. Or the physicker, for that matter. It could lead to complications.

It was, in the end, a couple of hours before Father Noij came in, looking unhappy.

"They've hanged six witches," he said. "Leaders of the Coven."

My eyebrows climbed. "Indeed?"

He nodded.

Meehayi was right behind him. "You didn't know?" he asked me.

"How could I?"

That earned me another Look.

"Who was 'they'?" I asked Father Noij.

"Members of the Merchants' Guild, mostly."

I nodded. "Do you know a fellow named Orbahn?"

He nodded. "He was one."

I half regretted not having Loiosh stay around to watch that, but, as I'd told him, I'd seen enough.

At that point, someone I didn't know came into the room. I tensed, until Meehayi introduced him as his big brother. He was actually a little smaller than Meehayi, but that still left a lot of room for big.

Father Noij himself picked up the box full of my things that had been taken when— that had been taken for me. I held the amulet in one hand, Spellbreaker in the other; if anything happened to the box, I'd get by all right.

I winced as they set in to pick me up, Meehayi sliding his arms under mine, his brother taking my legs; but it didn't hurt. I must be recovering quickly. The virtues of clean living.

Speaking of clean living, damn but those two were strong! They got me down the back stairs only troubled by the narrowness of the stairway and my size; my weight, as far as I could tell, they didn't even notice.

More important, as far as Loiosh, Rocza, or I could tell, no one saw us.

Once more out into the stench, and I was lying down in the back of a wagon. Meehayi climbed up and took the reins; Father Noij got up next to him, and the brother jumped in next to me. Meehayi gave a cluck, and the horse set off. Loiosh and Rocza flew overhead, watching.

The ride was all right; I bounced a lot but it wasn't too painful.

They unloaded me like cargo and put me on a small boat of some kind; I didn't get a look at it. I was placed in a hammock that was a lot more comfortable than I'd have thought. Father Noij left without a word, or even looking at me. There were sounds of footsteps around me and over my head.

Loiosh and Rocza were jumpy and nervous, but I wasn't, because if something had gone wrong there wasn't anything to be done about it at this point. A certain amount of fatalism is necessary in this business or you'll drive yourself nuts worrying about things you can't help.

I felt the boat push away, and the current take us, and I relaxed, thinking I was safe.

Well I was, for the most part.

I had done a bit of ocean sailing before, and I didn't especially like it; but this was an entirely different sort of experience. If I had my way, I think I'd live on a boat on the river, just to be able to sleep there. I wasn't able to watch us leave Burz behind, but I could imagine it, and I did. My dreams were good that night.

The boat trip lasted three days, during which time I never saw a crewman, nor, indeed, anyone except Meehayi, who brought me my food and helped take care of me in other ways. He said little during that time, which was fine with me; I wasn't feeling especially talkative myself.

I asked him about our progress and he said we should be arriving tomorrow. I asked him if he'd ever been to Fenario before and he said no. I asked if he was excited about being there and he didn't answer. I had the feeling something was bothering him, but I didn't think I was in a position to ask him what it was if he didn't feel like saying.

That evening he came in with a tray with brown bread and a bowl of the fiery pork stew that they'd been serving every evening. As he approached with the food, Loiosh flew over and landed on the side of the bed, interposing himself between me and Meehayi, and hissed.

Meehayi stopped, looked at him, looked at me, and said, "How does he know?"

I don't know if my mouth dropped open, but it felt like it should have. "You were going to try to kill me?"

"I don't know," he said, looking me dead in the eyes without, as far as I could tell, any expression at all. "I was thinking about it." He half turned and lifted his shirt, and I could see the hilt of a very long, very big knife in a sheath around the back of his pants.

I stared at him. "Why?"

"Look at what you've done," he said. "You are an evil man."

"Okay, what have I done?"

"You had Master Chayoor killed, you had people in the Guild arrested, you, you must be behind what happened to the witches too. I don't know." He kept looking at me. "How many people did you have killed?"