Steven Brust - Hawk

No, “image” isn’t exactly the right word. It was more like a feel, or a taste of his presence. Not much, but it was something. All I needed to do was-

Oops.

This was where I turn the sense of presence into a psychic impression embedded in a crystal. Only I’d forgotten the part about having a crystal ready. You get out of practice with this stuff.

I could say that I held the spell together while I tried to figure out what to do, but that wouldn’t give you any idea of how hard it is to maintain awareness of something as nebulous as another’s consciousness while, you know, thinking. I could have dropped the spell and just done it again, but I was too irritated. I fumbled with the drawstring of my pouch and managed to find a coin. I used that.

In the end it worked fine, and I let the spell drop, feeling exhausted and embarrassed. Loiosh snickered into my mind, but didn’t say anything. I think it was his sense of self-preservation.

“Anything, Loiosh?”

“You were spotted, Boss, but no attacks.”

“Good, then.”

“Uh, going to put that thing on again?”

“In a sec. Might as well save you a trip.”

“Make it fast, Boss. They’re bound to be setting something up.”

“Yeah,” I said. “They always are.”

I waited a few minutes until the hour. Daymar and I had left things undecided, but maybe he was opening up anyway. I reached out for him, and yeah, there he was. Without his shields, it’s like a fish that goes for your line if it’s anywhere in the lake. (Yes, I fished once. I didn’t care for it.)

“Hello, Vlad. You require something?”

“If you aren’t busy, I need someone located. I have-”

“A psychic impression embedded in a crystal?”

“Actually, in a one-orb coin.”

“Oh? Why a coin?”

“An experiment. I’ve always wanted to try that spell with objects other than crystals, and this seemed like a good opportunity.”

“All right. Where are you?”

“My old offices.”

“I’ll be there.”

I was going to thank him, but his presence was already gone from my mind. I put the amulet back on, feeling a certain amount of tension go out of my shoulders.

“Hey, Boss, what about the other spell?”

“The oth-crap. I forgot about it.”

“Are you going to have to do this all over again?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll ask Morrolan for help. I don’t want to think about it right now.”

He let it drop. I went back upstairs to wait for Daymar.

I checked in on Kragar, who was asleep in his chair, but seemed to be doing all right. His people walked past, checking on him, milling about. I couldn’t quite read the looks they gave me, but they weren’t openly hostile. But if the only reason they hadn’t turned on me before was because Kragar had told them not to, and if he was no longer in shape to tell them not to, and if they realized that it was my fault that he was no longer there to tell them not to, things could get interesting.

That’s interesting as in, “Oh, I’m dead now and my soul has been destroyed. How interesting.”

The guy who appeared to be in charge was called Sellish. I told him a guy named Daymar might be appearing, that he was with me, and that we were going to find out who wanted Kragar shined.

“Good,” he said and seated himself next to Kragar’s desk. I’d been impressed with how well Kragar had done taking over the area, but it wasn’t until now, when he was laid up, that it really hit me how much in control he was. I made a mental note not to tell him so. But it meant there was a good chance none of his people would betray me, kill me, or do other unpleasant things.

There were a few padded chairs in front of the desk in the other room-the desk that, in my mind, I still saw Melestav sitting at. I indulged in a moment’s annoyance about him. I hate it when someone I like … yeah, skip it. Moment over. Then Daymar came tromping up the stairs. I heard the footsteps before I knew who it was.

“Hello, Vlad.”

“Daymar. Here.” I tossed him the coin. He missed it, but levitated it back into his hand before it hit the floor. I suspect he missed it on purpose, just so he could do that. He studied it.

“Hm,” he said.

“Can you use it?”

“Oh, yes. It’s surprising how well it took the impression.”

“Good.”

“His name is Havric. Right now he’s at a place called the Front Gate in Little Deathgate, having drinks with two other Jhereg.”

He waited and looked at me.

“Daymar.”

“Vlad?”

“You’re very good at what you do.”

“I know.”

“Feel like a walk to Little Deathgate?”

“Can’t we teleport?”

“Not while I wear this thing.”

“Um, couldn’t you take it off?”

“We’ve had this conversation, Daymar.”

“Oh, right. Walk, then. But what if they see you?”

“Yeah. Mind putting a bit of cloud over me?”

“Sure.”

I took the amulet off so he could work. My vision blurred, then cleared. Daymar said, “That’s odd.”

Okay, sorry, I need to explain something.

The simplest way to not be seen is an invisibility spell, making light bend around you. The better you are, the tighter the bend you can get and so the less chance there is of someone noticing a distortion, but even sloppy it’s easy to do and effective. The only trouble is, if you happen to walk by someone with a reasonable amount of skill in sorcery, you’re going to stick out like a kethna at court. Even when I’m wearing the amulet, Lady Teldra can identify an invisibility spell in the area if she’s paying any attention at all. The best way to deal with that is to plant a field around you that absorbs the sorcerous energy. It isn’t easy, because it requires getting into your mind and folding-well, skip it. It’s hard. I can’t do it. Daymar can.

“What’s odd?”

“Your head-there was a wall in it.”

“A wall? How could there be-oh, right. Yeah, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“All right.”

I replaced the amulet. We stepped onto the street, and I found myself staring at my left palm.

“I’ve remembered and forgotten this once before.”

“Brought back memories, did he, Boss?”

“Yeah.”

“Now probably isn’t the time.”

“Right.”

Loiosh and Rocza were flying above us, keeping an eye out. I walked next to Daymar, making sure I didn’t bump into anyone and hoping I was as invisible as I should be but didn’t feel. We turned north onto Backin, which was narrow enough that it was tricky not running into people who didn’t know I was there, so I stepped behind Daymar.

It felt like a longer walk than it actually was, what with feeling like an idiot walking in Daymar’s footsteps. The invisibility was a blessing in more ways than one.

The Front Gate was on top of a butcher’s shop. You climb three steps from the street and enter a long, thin room, with a bar running half the length. Rocza flew off to wait, Loiosh hid in my cloak. As we entered, Daymar looked around before my eyes had a chance to adjust and said, “There, in the back.”

“All right. Make me visible again.”

“Might be more fun the other way, you know.”

Daymar was surprising me in all sorts of ways.

“More fun,” I agreed, “but less efficient.”

“All right,” he said, and the air in front of my eyes swirled for a moment. We approached the table.

The three of them were looking at us as we walked up, but no one reached for a weapon. We stopped about six feet away. They remained seated. “Havric,” I said.