Steven Brust - Issola

shape, solidified, and became the Goddess herself, who appeared standing, tall,composed, and with a wry look, and she said, “Well, I’m here. Now you must tell me, are you traitors, or fools?” 11. Disagreements with Deities

All sorts of replies came to mind, but I managed to hold them back. Letting Morrolan and Aliera deal with her would be more fun.

The Goddess stood taller than Morrolan, and glared down at him. He put on his supercilious look and seemed unimpressed with her glare; if it was an act, it was a good one, and if it wasn’t he had a remarkable amount of confidence in himself. Or he was a complete fool, which I’d suspected for some years. Or, at any rate, a Dragonlord, which is much the same thing.

He said, “You believe they planned all this, Verra? That they wanted you here? Fine. So what? Sethra believes—”

“Sethra,” said the Goddess scornfully.

It had never occurred to me that I might one day hear “Sethra” pronounced scornfully; that would have to count as the big shocker for the day.

Morrolan shrugged. Aliera said, “Sorry if you were incon­venienced, Mother, but we were tired of waiting around.”

“It isn’t a matter of convenience, my dear. It is a matter of permitting them to bring me to a place where they can destroy me.”

Morrolan said, “Most of a day, I believe.” I stared at Morrolan for a second, trying to figure out how that made sense in regard to anything, then decided not to try.

“I shan’t let them,” said Aliera.

Verra said, “You shan’t let them?”

“That is correct.”

“My darling Aliera—”

Teldra cleared her throat, and instantly had everyone’s at­tention. She said, “Our apologies, Goddess, if we have been precipitate. But may I beg you to tell us, now that we have acted, what we ought to do?”

The Goddess smiled, as one might at a kitten rolling on the floor playing with a piece of string. She said, “Ah, my little Issola. How sweet. Well, I will answer your question. First, we—” She stopped in midsentence, stared at something over Teldra’s shoul­der, and said something that sounded like, “kyrancteur!”

At first I thought it was an exclamation in some foreign language, or else she’d suddenly recognized a friend who was invisible to the rest of us, but then Morrolan said, “Yes. Or trellanstone, if you prefer; that is the name we have always known it by.”

“How could it have come to this place?”

“It is,” said Morrolan. “With Vlad’s help, using an old in­vocation,” which, in case you didn’t notice, made no sense at all.

Verra didn’t seem bothered by the non sequitur. “I see,” she-said slowly. I looked up at her bony face, with its slightly askew forehead, and strange jawline, and deep-set eyes, and the thought suddenly came to me: She’s scared.

I found myself thinking, Dear Verra, protect us, before I caught myself. She glanced at me, and a smile flickered briefly around her lips, then went out. She turned her eyes once more to the trellanstone. Presently she asked, “What was it, exactly, that Sethra said?”

Morrolan cleared his throat, started to answer, stopped, and finally said, “There was a great deal of military theory in it.”

“That doesn’t astonish me,” said the Goddess.

“I might summarize it by saying that complex enemy plans are the easiest to defeat, and we shouldn’t be afraid of walking into a trap.”

“Uh huh. What else?”

“She reminded me that they can be killed.”

“So can we all.”

Morrolan shrugged. “I have never liked giving up the ini­tiative.”

“Nor I,” I muttered under my breath, earning me a quick glance from the Goddess, who evidently had very good hearing.

“And yet, my love,” said Verna to Morrolan, “we are here, on their world, and they can appear if and when they wish, so they have the initiative. And if little Sethra is that certain, why isn’t she here herself?”

“Mother,” said Aliera. “You know the answer to that very well.”

Verra gave her an indulgent smile. “Perhaps I do.”

“I don’t,” I remarked, but they all ignored me.

“Moreover,” continued Aliera, “you also know, I am certain, that if you hadn’t wanted to come, you wouldn’t have. You are no demon to be summoned and dismissed, and no one here except perhaps our Easterner could take you for one.”

“Could I have refused a plea for help from my daughter?”

Aliera snorted. “Easily.”

Verra chuckled. “My darling child, you don’t know me as well, perhaps, as you think you do.”

Morrolan said, “It is the only means we have of learning,” which made no sense whatsoever; I was starting to get used to that though.

Aliera herself didn’t deign to respond. The Goddess spread her arms and gave Morrolan an exaggerated bow. “Very well, then,” she said. “You have summoned me, and I am here. What, exactly, is your plan?”

Aliera and Morrolan looked at each other.

After an embarrassing moment, Verra said, “You don’t have a plan?”

“Not exactly,” said Morrolan.

“Plans are overrated,” I said. “Let’s just start killing things. If there’s nothing else around, we can always kill each other.”

“Don’t tempt me,” said Morrolan.

I snorted. Verra said, “Perhaps you should allow the three of us to confer, my dear Easterner.”

“Sure,” I said. “I’ll just amuse myself by exchanging sarcastic comments with Loiosh.”

“No doubt you will,” she said.

Lady Teldra was standing across the room, as calm and patient as an issola, as if waiting for some call that hadn’t come. She had taken herself away from the conversation while no one was watching. I reflected on what a fine skill it would be to know when you weren’t wanted at a place you didn’t want to be, so you could make everyone happy by going away. I walked over to her. She looked up at me, a slightly quizzical expression on her face. I said, “How do you do that, Teldra?”

She smiled and raised her eyebrows, and came as close to looking smug as I’d ever seen her.

I said, “So, all right, how do the laws of courtesy tell us we should handle this mess?”

“The laws of courtesy,” she said, still smiling, “are strangely silent on the subject.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“In any case,” she added, “I think you know them as well as I do.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said. “If there’s anything I know, it’s courtli­ness and good manners. I’m even better at politesse than I am at refining petroleum.”

“I know little of petroleum, Vlad, but I do know that you are actually quite skilled in the arts of courtesy.”

“Right.”

Behind me, Aliera and Morrolan were continuing to speak to the Goddess, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. In the event, this did not displease me.

“It is the simple truth, Lord Taltos. It is how you survived for so long in the world you used to inhabit—or, more precisely, the worlds.”

I bit back a smart reply and just waited. After a moment, she said, “The Jhereg has its own rules and customs, you know—codes of appropriate behavior. You couldn’t have survived among them without knowing what all of their signals mean. And I’ve seen you with my Lord Morrolan. That is another different set of codes.”

I snorted. “I’ve almost pushed him far enough to kill me. More than once.”

“I know that, too,” she said.

“Well then?”

“What stopped him from killing you?”

“His strong sense of self-interest combined with iron self-control.”

“I don’t believe that is entirely correct, Lord Taltos. I know him rather well, I think, and there are severe limits to his self-control, whereas there are no limits to his pride. Had you pushed far enough, you would have faced a mortal contest.”