Steven Brust - Dzur

“Yeah, either of those are reasonable. What else?”

“Well, they can’t try to kill you any more than they already are, so no change there.”

“True enough.”

He frowned. “If you really want my help in figuring this out, you’ll have to give me a better idea of what’s going on.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You keep saying things like, ‘things are in motion,’ but you don’t say what things.”

I nodded.

“So, you want to tell me?”

“Not especially.”

“Vlad—”

“Okay.” I took a deep breath. “The Left Hand seems to be—”

“Seems to be?”

“Kragar, I’m giving you my best guesses. If you’re going to demand certainty, we need to give it up now.”

“All right.”

“The Left Hand seems to be backing Terion in his bid for the Council, because his mistress is one of them. They—the Left Hand—are trying to take over the action in South Adrilankha, figuring that will tip things in Terion’s favor. With me so far?”

“Uh huh.”

“Okay. Now things get fun.”

“Oh, good. I’ve been waiting for the fun.”

“Well, what happens when you send your forces against a particular part of the enemy’s lines?”

“Vlad, have you been hanging out with Sethra?”

“Okay, sorry. Anyway, because Terion has gotten involved in South Adrilankha. It’s become a battleground.”

“Yes, you mentioned one other was involved. The one I’m supposed to find out about.”

“How do I find you, once I know?”

“Ugh. Good question. There’s a shoemaker named Jakoub. Leave a note with him.”

“You sure he won’t read it?”

“You’re funny.”

“I know. So, you were saying South Adrilankha has become a battlefield; so, while you’re smoking out this guy—”

“Right. And, at the same time, I’ve just given Mario the commission—”

“To kill Terion’s mistress.”

“Yep.”

“So, you figure, you’ll find out who is running that operation in South Adrilankha, and kill Terion, and mess up the Left Hand when Mario kills that sorceress ... uh, and then what?”

“That’s the problem. I’m no longer sure.”

“What if you do all of that, and leave Terion alive?”

“What does that do?”

“Gives you bargaining power.”

“How ... oh, right. Anyone else who’s interested.”

“You have something to give them.”

“That could do it,” I said.

“And it removes the problem of exactly how you get to him before someone gets to you.”

“Yeah, that was a problem I hadn’t solved yet.”

“So we go with it?”

“I admit there’s a lot to be said for it.”

“But?”

“But I’d really like to kill Terion. He’s a bastard.”

“No shortage of those.”

“Yeah. No, you’re right. That just might be the one number that might work for getting Cawti out of this jam.”

“It gives you a wedge, but how to use it—”

“Oh, that part I have worked out already.”

“Oh? Well, now you’ve gotten me interested. What’s the big plan?”

“That’s your other part.”

“Uh huh.”

“And at least one person is going to have to know you’re working with me.”

“Okay”

“And that isn’t going to be safe.”

“I got that part.”

“Okay. Set up a meeting with the Demon for me.”

He kept his face expressionless. “Are you going to kill him?”

“No.”

“I just ask because I’m sure he’s going to kill you.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you ... okay.”

“You’ll do it?”

“Yeah.”

“Not quite yet.”

“Oh?”

“We need to wait for things to ripple in.”

“You mean, for word to get out—”

“Yeah.”

He nodded. “Is this going to work?”

“Maybe.”

“Best shot, right?”

“Right.”

He grinned. “It’s good to be working with you again, Vlad.”

“I hope you’re still in a condition to say that in a couple of days.”

He nodded judiciously. “That would be good,” he said. “Oh, by the way ...”

“Hmm?”

“What do I get for this?”

“I’ll buy you a meal at Valabar’s.”

“Done,” said Kragar. 14. Brisket Of Beef

Telnan shook his head in wonder. “How can they make food this good?”

“It’s not actually all that difficult,” I said, “if you know how to make pepper-essence and you’re a genius.”

I’d just given him a small bite of my beef. He had the look on his face of a man who had just discovered that food can be sublime. Yeah, I knew that look, and I envied him his epiphany.

I communed with the brisket for a while, which left me too busy to be envious. A little later he said, “What is pepper-essence?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“If it goes into that, yes I do.”

“Melt a couple of spoonfuls of goose fat, stir in a few spoonfuls of powdered Eastern red pepper. Stir it, don’t let it burn. You get an inten­sified pepper flavor.”

“Oh. Yes, it’s very intense. It’s ...”

He groped for the word.

“Sublime,” I suggested.

“Yeah.”

They start with a brisket of beef. I don’t know exactly what con­nections they had, but it was better beef than my father was ever able to get. The sauce was built with onions, garlic, Eastern red pepper, salt, and just a little tomato. And then the pepper-essence with sour cream. That’s about it.

Amazing, isn’t it? That simple, that basic, for such an effect. There’s a moral in there, somewhere.

I made it back to South Adrilankha safely, and threaded my way through familiar streets, to Donner’s Court. There weren’t many people here, and the few who were, weren’t paying any attention to innocuous little Sandor.

“Boss, what are we doing?”

“Now is when I kill the Demon Goddess.”

“Now is when you reassure me you aren’t joking.”

“I’ll be back in a bit,” I said. “ Don’t go too far.”

I drew Lady Teldra.

“Boss, what—”

I laid her blade flat against the top of the shrine.

Something ripped somewhere inside and outside of me, with a grinding sound and a feeling that wasn’t painful, but seemed like it should have been. There was a space of time of unknowable duration where I saw only a terrible bright blue, and as it faded, my right hand seemed to have turned into a golden shimmering spear, which resolved itself almost at once into just my hand, still holding Lady Teldra.

“Hello, Goddess,” I said.

It worked better than I’d expected: I was standing in her Halls, just as I remembered them, and she maybe four feet away from me; and Godslayer was naked in my hand. I could see her relax a little as she regarded me.

“I hadn’t known you could do that. I must be certain to seal that portal.”

“If you have the chance.”

“If you’d planned to kill me,” she said, “you wouldn’t have spoken to me.”

“It still isn’t too late.”

“I do not bargain with mortals.”

“Even mortals who have the power to destroy you?”

“Especially those.”

“How’s that policy worked out for you?”

“Mixed. Where is your familiar?”

“Back in the real world steering clear of your wrath.”

“Good plan. So, what put a burr under your saddle?”

“A what under my which?”

“Sorry. I still think of you as Fenarian. What put a notch in your blade?”

“Some memories have returned.”