Steven Brust - Hawk

“The which?” said Morrolan

“Never mind. Another thing. But there are ways things could go wrong, and I’m trying to come up with a means of staying alive if they do. Having a big cloud of smoke at hand might be useful.”

“All right. I can get that.”

“Thanks.”

“What else?”

“A cloak.”

“But you have-oh. What’s special about this one?”

“It needs to have a stiffened frame.”

“Vlad, if you’re trying to fly without sorcery, I can tell you-”

“Not fly; just not land so hard if I jump off a cliff. I probably won’t need it. I have an enchanted lockpick, and I can’t think of any way this will play out that I’ll need both of them; but I’m trying not to take chances. I’d rather not say more because if I tell you, you’ll laugh at me, call me an idiot, and refuse to have anything more to do with it.”

“All right,” he said. “A cloak that will slow a fall. All you need is a cloak with reinforced hems and throat closure, and a little padding or stiffening around the neck.”

“All right.”

“Does it need any other special features?”

He was asking about places to conceal weapons, and as he didn’t approve of concealing weapons, I allowed as to how that wasn’t important in this.

“I’ll take care of it,” he said. “I know someone.”

“Thank you.”

“When do you need it?”

“Soon. Tomorrow or early-what day is it?”

“Farmday.”

“Or early Endweek.”

He nodded. “That won’t be a problem,” he said.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Anything else?”

I shook my head.

“Boss?”

“There’s nothing else I’m willing to ask Morrolan for.”

“If you say so.”

“Vlad,” said Sethra.

“Yes?”

“Are you going to survive this?”

I hesitated, and decided she deserved an honest answer. “I need to be out and about to set this thing up, and there are a lot of Jhereg after me. For the most part, the ones who know enough about me to be a threat aren’t the ones who are willing to take any shot that presents itself; and the ones who are willing to take a shot, I can catch by surprise. But I don’t know how long this state of affairs will hold. I need a day or two. I think I have a pretty good chance.”

“You know, Vlad,” said Sethra, “one of us could hang around with you. Sort of help keep you alive.”

“There are things I’m doing that I couldn’t do if you or Morrolan were there.”

“All right. Is it really better than running, Vlad?”

“Obviously, I think it is, Sethra.”

“All right.”

Morrolan shifted uncomfortably, but didn’t speak.

I told him, “Yeah, I know. I’m being stubborn, and I’m being stupid.”

“You’re being an Easterner,” said Sethra.

“A Dragaeran wouldn’t do that?”

“A Dzurlord would,” said Morrolan. “Or a Dragonlord.”

I said, “If you’re saying I’m failing to behave like a Teckla, that isn’t a good way to change my actions.”

“I’m not sure I want to change your actions,” said Sethra.

“So, you like the idea of trying to end this?”

“If there’s a reasonable chance of it working.”

I didn’t ask her to define “reasonable.”

She chewed her lip. After a moment I said, “Well? What is it?”

“I wish I could help more,” she said.

I stood up and walked to the far end of the room, then came back. On a shelf to my right was a display of ceramic goblets of many colors, from many cultures, all of them imprinted with a symbol I’d never seen before. No doubt it was important and significant for something. I studied them for a little while. I noticed that I was drinking out of one of them now-a sort of deep purple mug, slightly tall and thin, with an elaborate handle.

I drank some more wine and turned around. Sethra and Morrolan were having some quiet conversation that didn’t concern me. I yawned. It hit me around then how very, very long it had been since I’d slept in a place where I was both comfortable and safe at the same time. It had been a long while. And I was more tired than I had any business being.

Aloud I said, “About that room-”

“Of course,” she said. Then, “Tukko, show Lord Taltos to a room, please.”

He didn’t look at me; just turned and led the way. He shuffled rather than walked, and didn’t appear to be hurrying; but I never had to wait for him. We walked down several short hallways, and eventually came to a door. He opened it and grunted at me.

I said, “I’ve never quite figured it out. Do you prefer to be called Chaz, or Tukko?”

In a voice like gravel, he said, “Depends who you’re talking to.”

“I mean, you.”

“They’re both me.”

“I don’t get it,” I said.

“I know,” he said, and turned back the way he came. I stepped out of his way, but a little too slowly, and his shoulder brushed mine. Lady Teldra twitched in her sheath-I mean, really twitched; it wasn’t like she was trying to leap free, it was more like the whole sheath jumped and twisted against my leg. At the same time, Rocza leapt from my shoulder, flew a few feet behind me, then came back. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that her head was moving and swaying furiously.

Tukko took a step back, his beady eyes wider than I’d ever seen them before. Rocza settled down on my shoulder with a halfhearted hiss.

“Who are you?” I said.

“Rest well, Lord Taltos,” he said, saying my name as if it were vaguely distasteful. I watched him as he shuffled his way down the hall.

“Boss?”

“I have no idea. What was up with Rocza?”

“I don’t know. It isn’t something she can communicate about.”

“What can you get? It may be important.”

“Just that she felt like something hit her.”

“Physically?”

“No.”

I went into the room. Last time I stayed there, I was dead; or rather, had been recently. I looked around. The water pitcher was a blue and white mosaic, and the jhereg in the painting was still holding its own against the dzur. I have to assume I got undressed and climbed into the bed, but I don’t remember anything about it.

I woke up and the bed was soft and warm. Very soft, very warm. I didn’t know what time it was. I didn’t care. With a happy sigh, I went back to sleep.

The second time I woke up I felt just as good-you need to go for years sleeping on the ground, or in flophouses, or on a pile of bedding in the back of someone’s office, to appreciate just how good a bed can feel. If I’d stayed there another five minutes, I might have stayed there forever, so I got up.

The triumph of willpower: let none say I am weak.

Sometime during the night, someone had crept in and filled the basin with water, and put an enchantment on it to keep it hot. And brought a chamber pot. There was also soap-a very unusual, soft, pleasant soap-and a towel. Life was as close to perfect as I could imagine it being just then.

“It was Tukko.”

“What?”

“Who came in with the water and the soap.”

“I’d have been happier not knowing he was in my room while I was asleep.”

“Sorry, Boss.”

I got dressed, and spent some time making sure various knives, darts, and shuriken were where they were supposed to be, by which time Loiosh had breakfast on his mind. So did I, for that matter.

I opened the door, and there was a note pinned to the wall just opposite it. Vlad, it read, there’s breakfast set out in the small dining room. Sethra. P.S. Turn left, then take the first right, and it’s the first door on the right. S.