Steven Brust - Hawk

“Malak Circle.”

I moved forward; this time he let me.

Kragar was facedown, and, yeah, he was still breathing, but that was a kill-shot. I should know; I’ve made enough of them. It was just a matter of time, and not very much of it. I didn’t think there was anything a physicker could do. It’s really hard to get someone with a knife, point-first, one shot, and make it a kill. Just because I’ve done it so often doesn’t mean it’s easy. This was done by someone who knew what he was doing.

For a long, long moment I just stood there, paralyzed, staring at him. Then I stirred. Dying, but not yet dead. Maybe, maybe. I drew Lady Teldra and everyone spun to me.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “Just a precaution. Drop the teleport block.”

They didn’t look reassured. Or agreeable to my idea. One of them started to speak. I said, “There’s no time to argue. Do it.”

Still holding Lady Teldra, I slipped the amulet off my neck and put it away. I could hear Loiosh start to say something, and then stop as he recognized the futility.

Yeah, right then, in various places around Adrilankha, sorcerers-and probably hired sorceresses-were going, “Oh, so that’s where he is.”

So what.

I put the amulet into its case and recalled a certain face, and voice, and, above all, attitude. She was short, bad-tempered, very good at any number of things.

“Vlad? I’m rather busy just at the-”

“Aliera, Kragar is hurt. Dying.”

“Yes?” she said. “And?”

“And I need to save him.”

“Best of luck with that.”

“Aliera.”

“What?”

“It’s Kragar.”

“I’m glad you understand.”

“Aliera, he was hit because he’s been helping me.”

There was a pause. Then a psychic sigh. “Are you with him?”

“Yes.”

The was a pop of displaced air, and she said, “Fine, then. But you owe me.”

Before she was done talking, Kragar’s bodyguards had drawn their weapons. Aliera gestured, and they all went flying back against the far wall. I don’t mean the weapons, I mean the bodyguards.

“It’s all right,” I told them. “She’s here to help. And owe you? What about saving your life?”

“My life is nothing,” she said. “This is humiliating.”

The bodyguards stood up. They still had their weapons out, and were watching Aliera, but not moving.

“Fine,” I said. “I owe you.”

She nodded.

“Guys,” I said. “Put the weapons away, all right? Seriously. Don’t piss off the Dragon. It never ends well.”

The bowlegged one with thick eyebrows said, “Yeah, all right,” and they made their weapons vanish. Aliera paid no attention; she stepped forward and knelt next to Kragar.

She looked him over, then glanced back at me. “You are paying for getting the blood out of this gown.”

I didn’t say anything. In particular, I didn’t point out that Aliera probably had gotten blood on everything she owned at one time or another. Loiosh did, but only to me.

“Nice knife-work,” said Aliera. “And there’s a staydead spell on it, too.”

“A staydead spell?” I said. “Did you just make that up?”

“The term. Not the spell.”

“I kind of like it,” I said. “The term. Not the spell. Can you keep him from dying?”

“Not if you keep distracting me,” she said.

Her fingers dug into Kragar’s back at various points around the knife. Then she slid a hand under his chest, and her shoulders tensed. I felt the swirl of sorcerous energy, which reminded me to put my amulet back on, after which I didn’t feel it anymore. I resheathed Lady Teldra.

“Good work, Boss. Now that they already know exactly where you are, you cleverly vanish, and stay right where you were. That’ll fool ’em.”

I ignored him, Aliera ignored everyone and kept working-pressing her fingers around the wound, mostly; at least, that’s all I could see. I unclenched my hands. A moment later I unclenched them again. I kept watching, waiting.

I almost strained my neck trying to simultaneously stay out of Aliera’s way and watch what she was doing. It was futile because, from what was visible, she wasn’t doing anything. Of course, in reality, she was doing a great deal; I hoped it was enough. Loiosh shifted his weight back and forth on my left shoulder. Sometimes when he does that it means he’s nervous; other times it’s comforting to me. I’m not sure what the difference is, but he always seems to; on this occasion it was a comfort.

I needed some.

Kragar coughed, which I thought was a good sign until Aliera said something un-ladylike and muttered about stupid lungs.

There was a disturbance at the stairway, and lots of weapons were suddenly out-including mine, I discovered. It turned out to be the physicker, who was summarily sent back to where he’d come from. We all put our weapons away. Aliera never stopped working. Or muttering under breath. Her back was to me, but I’d have bet big that she was scowling.

After about three minutes she stopped and glanced back at me. “I’m losing him,” she said.

“Isn’t there anything-”

“Yes, there is. Get everyone out of here.”

When Aliera uses that tone, I don’t argue. The others gave her looks, but shuffled out of the room. She didn’t seem to mind if I stayed, so I did. When they were gone, she fiddled with her necklace and removed a tiny, round stone of dark blue, of a type instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with Elder Sorcery. And to me as well. I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “Good thing you had everyone leave, Aliera. It wouldn’t do to break the law in front of a bunch of Jhereg thugs.”

She glared at me. “Do you want him saved or not, Vlad?”

“Yes, my lady. Shutting up, my lady.”

She turned her attention back to Kragar.

I took a step closer. She put the stone on the small of his back and as she pressed her fingers into his back, the stone darkened, some red creeping into it, and light played across its surface.

Kragar said, “What-” and screamed.

“Lie still,” said Aliera. “Better, go back to sleep.”

His head dropped back to the floor. Aliera used a term of strong approbation under her breath. “I’d worry about brain damage,” she said, “only-never mind.”

Ten minutes later, I made my contribution to the event: I found a cloth and wiped the sweat from Aliera’s forehead. Glad to help.

“Death is a process,” said Aliera.

“Yeah,” I said.

“In some sense, one could say he’s dead. But what’s really happening is that his heart is unable to pump blood. So I have to artificially force the circulation while repairing it.”

The knife rose about an inch. She kept working.

“There aren’t many sorcerers who could manage to do that while repairing the heart, keeping the arteries intact, preventing the other organs from shutting down, and making certain the pathways from the brain don’t die out before they’re needed again. It isn’t easy. Just so you know.”

“I know,” I said.

A few minutes later she pulled the knife out and set it aside. Blood rushed from Kragar’s back for an instant, but Aliera ran her finger along the wound and it closed up. Then she placed her palm over it and held it there. A moment later, I noticed that the blue stone had vanished.

Aliera sat back. “Done,” she said.

“He isn’t awake.”

“I used a sleep spell. The screaming was annoying.”

“But you can wake him up, can’t you?”

“But then he’ll say something, and I’ll kill him, and all of this work will be wasted.”