Steven Brust - Athyra

“But,” he resumed suddenly, as if a thought had just occurred to him, “I can point out a few things. First of all, the only reason you think he’s so wonderful is because you know people from Bigcliff, who have a real scum of a Dzurlord. So what makes your Baron so great is that you have someone horrible to compare him with. As I recall, you weren’t very impressed when you learned that I could have done worse things to you than I did, and you were right. As far as I’m concerned, saying someone could be much worse is not much of a recommendation.”

Savn shook his head. “But he’s never done anything to us.”

Vlad’s eyebrows twitched. “Doesn’t he come by and pick the best portion of your crop, and take it for himself?”

“Well of course, but that’s just—”

“I don’t want to argue it,” said Vlad. “There’s no point in talking about all of the things you take as the natural order of life that I don’t think are. But that’s part of the answer to your question, which is just to ask questions of everyone, and of yourself. Try to identify the assumptions you make, and see if they stand up. Master Wag, you said, scoffs at witchcraft, doesn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“Well, why do you chant to drive fevers away? The incantations you use resemble witchcraft more than a little.”

“Maybe they do,” said Savn. “But I know witchcraft works, so why shouldn’t the chanting?”

“Sure,” said Vlad. “But how does Master Wag explain it?”

“Well, it’s because the Fever Imps—”

“How do you know there are Fever Imps at all?”

“Because the chanting works.”

“Fair enough. Why, then, do you also use herbs, and why go to such effort to keep me cool?”

“You need all those things.”

“Are you sure? Maybe the herbs would work by themselves. Maybe the chanting would work by itself. Maybe all I’d need is to be kept cool. How do you know?”

“Well, I assume, since it’s been done that way for years—”

“Don’t assume, find out.”

“You mean, I can’t know anything until I’ve proven it for myself?”

“Hmmm. No, not really. If someone learns something, and passes it on, you don’t have to go through everything he learned again.”

“But, then—”

“But you don’t have to accept it on faith, either.”

“Then what do you do?”

“You make certain you understand it; you understand it all the way to the bottom. And you test it. When you both understand why it is the way it is, and you’ve tried it out, then you can say you know it. Until then—”

“But can you ever really understand something?”

“Yes, I think so.”

Savn fell silent. Eventually, Vlad cleared his throat and said, “I’m afraid I haven’t helped you much.”

Savn looked up at his odd face, with the thick black hair down in front of his ears and above his thin lip, more dark hair falling in waves inelegantly to his shoulders, with wrinkles of age on his forehead where none should yet be. Savn wondered how many people he had killed, and how rich he had become doing it, and why he had stopped.

“No,” he said. “You’ve helped me a great deal.”

Vlad gave a terse nod.

Savn said, “Would you like to tell me what you’re going to do now?”

“What, before I know whether you plan to help me or betray me?”

“Haven’t you been asking me to trust you, in spite of all the reasons you’ve given me not to?”

“I suppose I have,” said Vlad.

“Well, then, why shouldn’t I ask you to trust me, in spite of those very same reasons?”

Vlad looked at him for what seemed to be a long time. Never before had Savn wished so much to know what someone’s thoughts were; he was very much aware of the two jhereg, sitting patiently at Vlad’s side, with their poison fangs barely concealed by their reptilian jaws. Then, abruptly, Vlad laughed. “Well taken. I can’t argue, so I concede. But what about you?” he added, looking at Polyi. She stared back at him, then turned to Savn. “Whatever you do, I’ll go along with it.”

“Are you sure?” said Savn. “Yes.”

Savn turned back to Vlad. “Well?” The Easterner nodded. “If you follow the waterway, you’ll find it seems to run into a wall. If you go under the wall, it splits into several streams, none of which has much water, and all of which end in identical walls that look natural. Some of these—four, as far as I can tell—actually lead into the basement of the manor house. They are probably sorcerously controlled.”

“Can you get past them?”

“Yes, given enough time.”

“How?”

“You mostly wear your way through with diligence, patience, and a chisel.”

“Can’t you knock it down with sorcery?”

“Not without alerting him; he’s very good.”

“Then why can’t he find you?”

“Because I’m very well protected against being found.”

“So is that what you’re going to do? Break through the wall and ... and murder him?”

“Not a chance. He may be expecting me to do that, he may not, but he’ll certainly be guarding against it. I might, however, make him think that’s what I’m doing. It’s the obvious way in.”

“Then what will you do?”

“I haven’t decided yet. I’ve got a few things going for me, but I haven’t figured out how to make them work.”

“What things?”

“The assassin. He’s not getting along with Loraan at all.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because he’s been there for more than a week, and Loraan made that attack on me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The Jhereg,” said Vlad, looking straight at Savn, “want me to be killed with a Morganti weapon. Loraan’s attacks were not bluffs—he tried to kill me and almost succeeded. He—”

“Wait a minute. Attacks?”

“Yes. There have been two so far.”

“I only know of the one at Tem’s house.”

“The other happened the day before. I got careless and allowed myself to be seen too close to his manor house, and he made a sorcerous attack on me.”

“And it failed?”

“I have,” said Vlad, “a few tricks up my sleeve. I was really sloppy in staying at Tem’s house long enough for them to find me. My only excuse is that it’s been some years now since I’ve had to worry about that sort of thing. In any case, neither attack would have been Morganti; neither would have satisfied the Jhereg. So my conclusion is that Loraan is just barely cooperating with them, and they are just barely cooperating with him. They need each other, because this is Loraan’s area and because the Jhereg have the expert assassins. But neither of them like it. That’s what I hope to use. I’m not certain how to go about it, though.”

“I see,” said Savn. “Have I answered your questions?”

“Yes.”

“Then, do you care to tell me what you’re going to do?”

“I won’t turn you in,” said Savn. That seemed to satisfy Vlad, who closed his eyes and breathed deeply, leaning against the wall. “You tire easily, don’t you?”

“I think,” he said, “that I’ll be able to begin healing myself in a day or two. After that, it shouldn’t be long.”

“So the idea is to keep you safe for two days.”

“More or less. Less, I hope.”

“Do you think this place is secure?” Vlad frowned, then looked at the jhereg, who rose and flew out of the cave. “Maybe,” said Vlad. “But, in any case, we will now be warned of anyone approaching, so, as long as they don’t put a teleport block up over the entire area, I’ll have a chance to get out.”

“A what over the area?”

“Never mind. Loraan would either have to know exactly where I was, or be willing to use a great deal of power to cover the entire area.”