Стивен Браст: Tiassa

I hesitated after they’d passed; there were a couple of ways to play this from here, but I knew what I wanted to do. There had been something nagging at me for a while, and, even if it wasn’t part of the big picture, I wanted to get it settled.

I gave myself some time to come up with reasons not to—almost a whole second—then I went back and around and poked my head back into the room where I’d gotten my meal the day before. There was a rope hanging there, vanishing into a hole in the ceiling. I pulled it.

In under a minute, Harro appeared and bowed. “My lord,” he said. “How may I serve you?”

“Just a little conversation, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Not in the least.”

“Would you like to sit?”

“I should prefer to stand, if I may, my lord.”

“That’s fine.”

I sat down and stretched out my legs.

“What did you wish to discuss, my lord?”

“Hevlika.”

I was watching closely; there was definitely a tightening around his jaw as he attempted not to react.

“What did you wish to know, sir?”

Remember when I was talking about how you need to use different means to get different people talking? Well, sometimes you need different means to get the same person talking, if it’s on different subjects. Let’s take Harro, for example: an Issola, a butler; he was all about duty. He’d rather die than violate his duty, which made it a question of turning it around, so that one aspect of his duty required him to violate another. When it was a personal matter, and didn’t violate his duty, that was entirely different, requiring an alternate form of negotiation.

I drew the dagger from my right side. It was big, as knives go, really more fighting knife than dagger, what with the wide blade curving wickedly down to the point for the last four inches—it’s the sort of knife that makes one think of long gashes in the torso with entrails falling out of them. Most of us don’t care for images like that applied to our person.

I held it loosely in my hand, thumb and forefinger at the crossguard, letting it bounce up and down like a snake looking for where to strike.

“Tell me about you and Hevlika.”

His eyes were wide, and on the knife, which was where I wanted them. I waited for a little while as his mouth, which seemed to have lost all connection to the rest of him, did a credible imitation of a fish.

“Maybe you’d like to sit down?” I said.

He sat on the bed and continued looking at the knife. At last he managed, “How did you know?”

I shook my head. “You’re confused about who is asking questions and who is answering them. I”—I pointed the knife at my chest—“am asking. You”—I pointed the knife at him—“are answering. Start answering now.”

“I…”

“Yes. You. Good. Good start. You and Hevlika. What’s the connection?”

“I’ll … I’ll call for help.”

“I don’t think I believe you, Harro. I don’t think you’re capable of generating a sound much louder than a whimper. But if you want, sure. I’m not sure who you’re expecting to rescue you, though. That monster that used to be Zhayin’s son is lying up on the balcony above the ballroom, getting cold and waiting for the excitement of its body getting rigid. As for Discaru, I believe I managed to send him back to whatever strange, unreal place spawned him, although I could be wrong. But if you want to try anyway, go ahead. I’ll only cut you twice for each scream, and only one of those will be on your pretty face.”

He stared at me.

I tapped the flat of the blade against my palm and gave him a few seconds to consider his options. He looked at the door and I chuckled. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He turned his attention back to the knife.

“We were.…”

“Yes. You were?”

“I’m in love with her.”

“Yeah? How’d that work out for you?”

“She hates me.”

“Where’d you meet?”

“I had occasion to accompany my lord to the dance, and I saw her.”

“Uh-huh. You saw her. Onstage.”

He nodded.

“And then, what? You decided she was destined to be your true love?”

“I—you make it sound pitiful.”

“No, pitiful is how you arranged for Gormin to be expelled from the House, just to get him out of the way.”

“Out of the way? I had no idea they were involved!”

As he said that, he took his eyes from the knife and looked at my face. I believed him.

“So, it was just to get his job? You made up the part about them being involved, had no idea it was true, and used it so you could get his job to be close to her? Really?”

He looked down again, at the floor now, not the knife. I took it as a yes.

“How long have you known that you’re a complete moron?”

“About two hundred years.”

“Here’s what I don’t get—no, here’s one of about a thousand things I don’t get. How is it that, back then, after you’d managed to get Gormin’s job by being a slimy worm with no more decency than your basic suckerfish, Hevlika never saw you? I mean, never even knew you were there?”

“How did you—”

I smacked the flat of the blade against my hand. He swallowed and changed his mind. “That was at Lord Zhayin’s orders, my lord.”

“But how?”

“It wasn’t difficult. I stayed away from the theater, and from her chambers. She never mingled. Back then, she either saw Lord Zhayin, or she’d visit the village.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“How long did that go on?”

“It wasn’t long, my lord. Only until the manor could be occupied, which was less than a hundred years ago. Most of the time has been spent working on the sorcery, you know, not the construction. Once the household—that is, Lord Zhayin, and Lord Discaru, and Gormin, and Odelpho, had taken up occupancy here, he no longer minded. That’s when Hevlika and I actually met.”

I nodded. “Good. Down to nine hundred and ninety nine.”

“My lord?”

I shook my head. “Then answer me this: Why?”

“Why what, my lord?”

“Why didn’t Zhayin want the two of you to meet?”

“I don’t know, my lord.”

“Um. Humor me. Take a guess. I won’t hold it against you if you’re wrong. I’m holding so much against you now there’s no more room anyway.”

He spread his hands.

“Why?” I repeated.

He looked thoughtful. “I don’t know, but, well, he was very secretive about everything in those days. He was always careful who spoke to whom, and we suspect that Discaru would sometimes cast listening spells on us. Perhaps it was part of that?”

“Huh,” I said. “And he isn’t like that anymore?”

“It’s different now,” he said.

“Go on.”

“Now he just tries to limit the intercourse between here and the old castle. The servants who bring the food are all deaf, and those of us here are forbidden to journey back there. I wouldn’t know how to, but I know it’s done, because of the food.”

“So, that’s why there are no guards here. He doesn’t want to bring them from the past. But then, why not hire some from here and now? And cooks as well?”

“I don’t know, my lord. Maybe he will. It’s only just been finished.”

“All right,” I said. “I think I’ve gotten as much from you as I can.”

“What are you going to do with me, my lord?”

I shrugged. “I should probably kill you, you know. Just to put you out of your misery.”

He made no response whatsoever.

“Are you inclined to live, Harro?”

“My lord?” He swallowed. “Yes, my lord.”

“Good. Because I’m not going anywhere. Well, I mean, I am, I’m leaving this place as soon as I figure out how. But I’ll still be in the area. And if, by chance, someone starts taking legal action to become reinstated in his House, and if in the process you’re questioned, you’ll cooperate, and you won’t lie. Because if you lie, you die. Is there an understanding between us?”