Steven Brust - Hawk

“You said if it works.”

“Yeah.”

“What if it doesn’t.”

I didn’t answer.

“Oh,” she said.

“Like I said, I think I have a good shot.”

“And you need the ensorcelled euphonium?”

I nodded.

“For something mysterious and arcane.”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you couldn’t perform magic with that amulet on.”

“I’m taking it off.”

“Is that safe?”

“No. But I’ve reason to think I’ll be able to get away with it.”

“I hate it when you’re mysterious. It means you don’t want to tell me the details because I’ll know how idiotic it is.”

I tried to keep my face inscrutable. I didn’t do well. She studied me carefully, then said, “All right.”

“Have you heard from the Teckla boy?”

“Last month. He’s still improving. He’s able to do his chores, and some of his lessons, and he even talks a little around the dinner table sometimes.”

“Good.”

“Maybe, if this works, we could visit him.”

“Because I’m so well-loved around Smallcliff?”

She smiled. “We’ll see.”

I cast my mind back to that time in that little village. It’s strange. I know I was almost killed. I know that it took everything I had, plus a lot of luck, to get out of that mess. But somehow, looking back, I couldn’t understand how I could have even been worried about it. It’s like everything then was so easy, so simple. Someone wanted me dead, I had to fight him. I did. I lived. Simple. I know that isn’t true; it’s the sort of trick your mind plays on you in retrospect. But it sure seemed like it.

“Vlad? What is it?”

“Yes. If we can manage it, after I’ve had some time to catch up with my son, I’d very much enjoy going back to Smallcliff.”

She smiled. “It’s a plan then.”

“Boss?”

“Yeah?”

“You told her you were going to remove the amulet.”

“Yeah.”

“You told Daymar you weren’t.”

“Yeah.”

“Which time were you lying?”

“Maybe both.”

“I hate it when you try to sound mysterious,” he said.

“That’s not the only reason I do it, you know.”

“I’m reassured.”

By now, Sara knew me well enough to recognize the signs of a conversation with Loiosh she wasn’t privy to. She smirked a little, then turned serious and said, “What can I do to help?”

“The euphonium is a great help.”

“Do you know how to use it?”

“Um. I thought it did that by itself.”

“Mostly. But the more you can play it, the more-”

“I can’t play at all, Sara.”

“I can show you how to hold it, at least. That will help.”

I nodded. “Good. Everything I can do that will-yeah, you know.”

She nodded. “Open it up.”

I managed that part. It was shiny and made of brass and looked like a thick tube twisted around and around itself, with knobs here and there. It was the sort of thing that looked like there couldn’t possibly be a comfortable way to hold it. It wasn’t as heavy as it looked.

“Pick it up,” she said. “Hold it in your lap. Let me-”

She stood up, walked behind my chair, and adjusted it in my lap.

“That’s rather distracting,” I said.

“Work on concentration.”

“Um, yeah.”

“No, more like this. Your mouth goes there. And your right hand there. No, turn your wrist more, like that. Try pressing down on the valves.”

“That isn’t comfortable.”

“It isn’t supposed to be.”

“And it is very distracting.”

“Think about the discomfort. This arm holds the instrument in place, and your fingers rest there.”

“Is my missing finger going to be a problem?”

“It’s usually just used for support, so just put the next one through that loop. Yes, that’s right. How did you lose it, anyway?”

“A dzur wanted my hand for a snack and mostly missed.”

“All right. Now, make your mouth do this.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes. When you want to play, you don’t just blow into it.…”

The following half an hour was bizarrely irritating and pleasant, but by the end of it, I was making sounds come out of the thing without the help of spells.

They weren’t terribly good sounds, mind you; nothing I’d be inclined to call music. But Sara was very kind about it, and even told me that the weird ache I was feeling below my ears meant I was doing it right. That was sort of a disturbing thought. We spent a little more time on it, so I could at least sometimes hit the right “valves” as she called them. She said that would help with the spell.

“Not bad,” she said.

“You’re a good teacher.”

I thought about trying to kiss her right then, or at least asking her if I could; but things were complicated. For one thing, we were different species and I wasn’t sure how she felt about that-I wasn’t even entirely sure how I felt about that. For another, I wasn’t over Cawti, and she knew it. And for another, I might be dead in a day or two. Plenty of time to decide about that sort of thing if there was plenty of time; not very nice if there wasn’t.

Or, I don’t know; maybe I was just worried about being embarrassed if she said no. I put the instrument back in its case, which required a lesson in itself, but let’s not dwell on that.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” she asked, breaking what was about to become an awkward silence.

I shook my head. “No, this is good.”

“You’ll get hold of me, once this is over?”

“First thing,” I said.

“Thank you,” she said, and stood up. “I should be going.”

I nodded.

“Vlad-” she said, then shook her head and didn’t finish.

“Yeah,” I said. “You’re about to say good luck.”

She gave a sort of smile. “Yes. Good luck.”

She gave me a kiss on the top of my head and walked out of the office.

“Boss.”

“Yeah, I’m over it.”

“I don’t believe you, but all right.”

“Heh.”

“Okay, now what?”

“Now we get a message to the Demon and have him set a time for tomorrow.”

“Then we’re ready?”

“Not really, but we’re going to do it anyway.”

“Tomorrow!”

“Yeah, that’ll be a busy day.”

“We should eat something.”

“I need sleep more than food. But we have to go out again. Dammit. A long walk this time.”

“Important, I take it?”

“Well, everything depends on it, if that’s what you mean.”

“In that case, we really should have food first.”

“Oh, all right. Food first.”

“You know, Boss, I’m not used to doing all these things that make me happy. Getting out from under the Organization, killing Terion, and now food.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you get used to it.”

“This is my surprised wing-flap.”

Deragar was willing to get some food for the mere price of a share in the meal. He retrieved some baked felua in coriander-plum sauce from a place called Jarad’s, because I’d been in a mood for flying things for a while. Loiosh commented on it in terms I don’t feel like telling you about. The food was good, even though Jarad’s was far enough away that it wasn’t quite as hot as it should have been. Deragar also picked up a bottle of Descani, which reminded me of the evening all that time back that, in some sense, had started this. More important, however, was that it was a good wine and treated the felua well. I wondered if Deragar knew more about wine than most Dragaerans, or had just gotten lucky. There was no polite way to ask him, however, so I didn’t.