Steven Brust - Athyra

At last he said, “But what if he is undead, like you say?”

“He is,” said Vlad. “That makes it a little trickier, that’s all.”

“Then you admit you’re going to do it,” said Polyi, in the same tone of voice she used upon discovering the piece for her game under Savn’s blankets.

“What if I am?” said Vlad. “Do you think I should just let him kill me?”

“Why don’t you teleport away?” said Savn.

“Heh,” said Polyi. “Teleport? If he could do that, he could have fixed his finger.”

“Polyi—” said Savn.

“First of all,” said Vlad, looking at Polyi. “I’m not a physicker. A physicker who knew sorcery could have healed my hand if I’d gotten to him quickly. Now it would be very difficult, and I haven’t been in touch with anyone that good in some time.

“Second,” he continued, looking now at Savn, “never attempt complicated sorcery—and teleportation is complicated—when you’re weak in the body. It upsets the mind, and that can be fatal. I’ve done it, when I’ve had to, and I will again, if I have to. But I’ve been lucky, and I don’t like to depend on luck.

“Third,” he said, addressing them both, “I do, indeed, intend to kill Loraan—Baron Smallcliff. But I’m in no shape to do so now. He knows I want to kill him; he killed Reins in order to draw me in, so that when I tried to kill him he could kill me. I don’t know everything that’s going on yet, so I don’t know how I’m going to kill him. If I did, I certainly wouldn’t tell you. I wouldn’t have told you this much if I hadn’t betrayed myself already, and if I didn’t owe it to you.

“But there it is,” he said. “I’ve told you my plans, or as much of them as I have. If you want to betray me, I can’t stop you.”

He looked at them and waited. At last Savn said, “I don’t know what to do.”

“I think we should go home,” said Polyi.

“Then what?” said Savn.

“I don’t know.”

Savn looked at the Easterner, who was watching them carefully, his expression blank. “She’s right,” said Savn. “We really should go home.”

“Yes,” said Vlad. “I’ll be all right here.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. And, whatever happens, no one is going to be able to take me by surprise.”

Savn glanced at the jhereg and nodded.

Vlad settled back against the wall of the cave and closed his eyes. “I believe I will sleep now. Will you help me to lie down?”

When they were done eating, they gave the bones to the jhereg, who seemed well pleased with them. Savn wanted to say goodbye to Vlad, but the Easterner was sound asleep. He and Polyi left the cave together, blinking in the bright afternoon sun. They started for home.

I will not marry a handsome soldier,

I will not marry a handsome soldier.

He would not want me when I’m older.

Hi-dee hi-dee ho-la!

Step on out ...

By—unspoken agreement they took the long way, not passing through town; as a result they didn’t see anyone. Savn wondered if there were still parties out looking for Vlad, and if Mae and Pae had joined them. Thinking of Mae and Pae filled him with a vague unease over and above his fear of whatever punishment they’d inflict on him for staying out all night. He thought about it, trying to figure out why, and eventually remembered how oddly they’d acted the night Vlad had come to their home, at which point Savn realized that he wasn’t afraid of what Mae and Pae would say; he was afraid of what they wouldn’t say.

It was as bad as Savn had feared, or worse. Mae looked up, nodded at them, and went back to stripping seeds. Pae, who was counting sacks, just gave them a brief smile and said, “Savn, isn’t it time for you to be at Master Wag’s?”

“Yes, Pae,” said Savn, trying to keep his voice from trembling.

“Well, be on your way, then.”

Savn watched Polyi, who was obviously trying to conceal how upset she was. She said, “Don’t you want to know where we’ve been?”

“Well,” said Mae, straightening up and stretching her back, “you’re here, aren’t you? You’ve been fine, haven’t you?”

“Yes, but—”

Savn caught her eye and she fell silent.

“We’ll be going, then,” said Savn.

Mae and Pae nodded abstractedly and returned to their work. Savn and Polyi didn’t speak until they reached the house, where Savn gallantly offered to let Polyi bathe first.

She ignored his offer and said, “What’s wrong with them?”

“With who?”

“Cut it out,” said Polyi. “You know what I mean.”

Savn started to protest, then gave up and said, “I don’t know. I think—No, I don’t know.”

“What do you think?”

“Never mind.”

“Is it something Vlad did to them?”

Savn looked away and repeated, “I don’t know.”

“Maybe he—”

“I don’t know.”

“AH right,” she said, pouting. “Don’t yell at me.”

“Do you want to bathe first, or should I?”

“I don’t care. Go ahead. No, I will.”

“Let me, I have to get to Master Wag’s.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“I don’t know. I’ll hurry.”

Savn bathed quickly, and leaving the house, cut across the fields away from the counting bin so he wouldn’t have to face Mae and Pae again. He also skirted the town, although he was frightfully curious about whether they were still searching for Vlad.

When he arrived at Master Wag’s, he was greeted with the words, “I didn’t expect you to be here today. How’s our patient?”

“He was well when I left him, about five hours ago.”

“Had he eaten?”

“Yes.”

“No fever?”

“None.”

“Still weak?”

“Very.”

“Did he empty his bowels?”

“No. Liquid only.”

“Hmmm. Not good, but not yet bad, either.”

“Are they still looking for him?”

The Master nodded. “Not with any great intensity, perhaps, but Speaker insisted that they keep searching the area until they were certain he had left.”

“That sounds like they think he did.”

“Speaker probably does, but that doesn’t much matter. They’ll keep looking, I’m afraid, and eventually they’ll find the caves.”

“It may take a long time.”

“Oh, yes. It would take days to just search the caves—they’re immense, convoluted, and lead all the way back into the cliff. But still—”

“Yes. I hope they don’t get to them soon.”

“In any case, Savn, the Easterner shouldn’t be alone for very long. He could relapse at any time.”

“All right,” said Savn. “I’ll return at once.”

“No, as long as you’re here, you may as well relax for a while. We can discuss that procedure you performed. I want to show you just what you did, and why it worked, so you can be more certain next time.”

Which is what they did for the next hour; the Master explained the problem and the cure, while Savn listened more intently than he ever had before. It was different, he realized, when you knew exactly why you were doing something, when you’d actually seen someone with the injury and were learning how to save him.

After that, the conversation drifted onto other matters of the healing arts, and even here Savn noticed a difference in the Master’s attitude: he was less brusque and somehow more respectful of Savn—as if by saving the Easterner, Savn had proven himself to Master Wag.

At one point, the Master stopped in the middle of explaining the sort of thoughts that must be kept out of the head of a person in danger of fever, and said, “What is bothering you, Savn? You seem disturbed about something.”