Steven Brust - Dzur

“I’m looking for a gift for my uncle,” I said.

He didn’t respond at once; I suppose that wasn’t all that un­common a phrase. He said, “What sort of herbs does he usually consume?”

I cleared my throat. “I’m looking for a gift for my uncle,” I said again, very carefully.

“Oh!” He stared at me, but even looking couldn’t see through the disguise. Which was odd; it wasn’t much of a disguise. He said, “What sort of gift did you have in mind?”

“Anything you sell will be perfect.”

He nodded, gave me a funny look, and said, “We haven’t used that code in three years.”

“Oh,” I said. “Sorry. What’s the—no, never mind. Excuse me.”

He nodded, and I went past him into the next room.

The Shereba game was going, and I could swear the same stumps were in the same chairs in the same positions with the same piles of coins stacked the same way as the last time I’d been in there. If I’d looked at their faces, no doubt I’d have seen a differ­ence, but it wasn’t worth it. The muscle-on-duty gave me a glance. I differentially pointed at the far door, and gave a sort of bob of my head. He nodded, and I passed through to the stairway.

A Jhereg I didn’t recognize was leaning against the wall at the top of the stairs. I stopped halfway up and said, “Is Kragar in?”

“I think so,” he said. “Who should I say—”

“Tell him someone is here with a message from Kiera the Thief.”

His eyes widened a little, and I think I gained some respect. His face went blank for a moment, then he said, “Bide.” I nodded.

A moment later he said, “Okay, go on up.”

I climbed the familiar stairs, and it occurred to me that this place, that had once been my office, might be the only establish­ment in the Empire where an Easterner could expect to be treated politely. As a legacy, I could do worse.

I didn’t recognize the fellow sitting behind what had been Melestav’s desk before Melestav had succumbed to temptation. He nodded to me, and said, “It’s that door. Go right in.”

Yeah, I knew that door. It had been my door. I felt about a half a second of irritation at Kragar for taking my office, then realized how absurd it was. I was looking very carefully when I entered, and there he was, seated at the desk, looking at me with his general-purpose smirk, as opposed to his smirk of recognition.

“I’m Kragar,” he said. “Sit down. You have a message from—”

“Yeah, I lied about that part,” I said. “Mind if I shut the door?”

“Vlad!”

I took that as a yes and shut the door.

He said, “What are you—”

“Mind opening the window, Kragar?”

“Why? Oh.”

He opened the window. Loiosh and Rocza flew in the window and took positions on my shoulders. Loiosh hissed a greeting at Kragar, who shut the window behind them.

“Okay, Vlad. Now. What are—?”

“You,” I interrupted, “are just about the sneakiest son-of-a-bitch I know.”

“Huh? What did I do now?”

“It’s what you’ve been doing for years, and never told me about.”

“Uh ... Vlad, I’m not sure—”

“Tell the proprietor his shipment is ready, and he might need more space to store it all.”

Kragar’s jaw dropped, which provided me a measure of satis­faction.

“How did you ... I don’t know which question to ask first.”

I nodded. “My life is often like that.”

“Vlad—”

“Okay, we can get to your questions in a bit. But first, you have a job to do.”

“A what?”

“A commission to fulfill.”

“What commission?”

“Tell the proprietor—”

“You mean, you’re serious about that?”

“What would make you think I’m joking?”

After a while, he said, “Umm, all right. You’re serious. I need to—Verra’s tits, Vlad! You just come in here and ... all right. Do you have a name?”

“Sandor.”

“Okay, where do I find this Sandor?”

“No, no. That’s my name. While I’m in disguise.”

“Is that a disguise? I thought you’d just changed the cut of your clothes.”

“Shut up,” I suggested.

“Nice beret, though. It suits you.”

“Shut up.”

“Okay, well, good, now I know what to call you while you aren’t answering my question.”

“You mean the name of the target.”

“Yeah, that would be helpful.”

“It’s a sorceress named Crithnak. Left Hand.”

“Okay. Any other information?”

“Her sister is dead.”

“Okay. Is that important?”

“I doubt it.”

“What else?”

“She’s very good. She managed to find me when she shouldn’t have been able to.”

“I’m sure he’ll be terrified. What else?”

“How long have you been his contact, Kragar?”

“About, uh, ninety years, I guess.”

“How did you meet him?”

“A mutual friend introduced us.”

“A friend? I didn’t think Aliera even liked you.”

He chuckled. “One for you, Vlad.”

“Kragar, didn’t you once tell me, in so many words, that you didn’t know how to get hold of Mario?”

“Uh, I don’t think I ever said that. I may have implied it pretty strongly.”

“Heh.”

“But I also asked him if he wanted to get involved that time. He didn’t.”

“Why not?”

“I didn’t think to ask him. I usually don’t.”

“Okay.”

He nodded. “Wait here. I have an errand to run.”

“Yep.”

I sat back to wait.

“You think he’s doing it, Boss?”

“You mean, as opposed to running off to arrange to get the bounty on my head?”

“Yeah.”

“I trust him. Don’t you?”

“Yes, but mostly because if he doesn’t get that message to Mario, Mario will kill him.”

“Good point.”

I glanced at the open door, and wondered if I should shut it. But, no, it wasn’t my office anymore. I looked around. Yeah, I missed the place. Maybe not all that much, but I missed it.

“Okay, Vlad. Now do I get to ask questions?”

I jumped about halfway to the ceiling and glared at Kragar. “Don’t ask why I’ve never killed you, because I don’t think I know the answer.”

He smiled. Maybe I’ve never killed him because he’s the only one who always knows when I’m joking.

“What about me?”

“You missed one just the other day.”

“So, where have you been, Vlad?”

“You mean, for the past few years?”

“Well, no, I meant the past few days. But I’m curious about the past few years, too.”

“All over. Went back East, northwest ... all over.”

“Okay. But, these last few days—oh. You’ve been in South Adrilankha, walking around like an Easterner.”

“Right. How have you taken to running things?”

“I like the money.”

“Yeah, that part is nice. Any problems?”

“Yeah. Finding someone so stupid that he’s willing to do for me what I always did for you.”

“That would be tough, wouldn’t it?”

He nodded. “So what’s been going on? I haven’t heard—”

“You’ve been working for Mario all this time, you sneaky bastard?”

“Well, yeah.”

I shook my head. “And the worst part is, you’re really enjoy­ing it that I’m so shocked.”

He smiled innocently.

“Bastard.”

“Does this mean you won’t tell me what’s going on?”

“Do you really want to get any more involved with my affairs than you already are?”

He shrugged. “Why not?”

“Well, for starters, they’ll kill you.”

“Okay. What after that?”

“Chances are, that’s all.”

“So only one thing to worry about? That’s not so many.”