Steven Brust - Hawk

I kept thinking of stupid ways to die, as if, short of old age, there are any smart ways.

What would come next? I was also wondering where I’d miscalculated; why I was being attacked right when I figured I was all done with that. But I didn’t have a lot of attention to spare to working that out, and the implications of it being a sorcerous attack, or anything else. What would come next?

“Loiosh, see if you or Rocza can spot someone nearby who might be doing this.”

He didn’t reply, but they left my shoulders.

I drew Lady Teldra.

Lady, I don’t know what sort of sorcerous skill you have, but if you can manage to find out where that attack came from, it would be pretty damned helpful right now.

Nothing.

Wait. Was my attention being drawn in a direction, or was I imagining it?

“Loiosh, check off to the right, in the direction of those trees.”

Yes, I became convinced of it. The communication was strange, and not in language, but there was communication, and if I’d had time, I would have been pleased about that; maybe I’d even have smiled.

I started walking toward the spell. I tried to get a feel for how far it away it was, but I couldn’t get that. I kept walking, and I became aware that I was really, really angry. Angry enough to be stupid. Maybe angry at myself for whatever miscalculation I’d made so that after all of this, I was still a target. I don’t know. But I was angry, and if there was any way to do it, someone was going to be very sad.

“This way, Boss!”

I walked a little faster.

I came over a rise and there she was about fifty feet away from me and backing up. Radfall. She looked at Lady Teldra, and me, and abruptly vanished. Try to kill someone, and then disappear before facing the consequences? I mean, really, is that honorable?

She hadn’t teleported, though. I know what a teleport looks like, and it wasn’t that.

“Loiosh?”

“Yes, Boss. I have the scent. Should I-?”

“Not yet. Is she moving?”

“She just moved a few feet, and stopped. If you don’t want me to attack, I could always shit on her head.”

“Tempting, but let’s not call your presence to her attention just yet.”

“You never let me have any fun.”

What would she do? I looked around. There weren’t any heavy objects she could drop on my head, and there were no signs of a gathering storm that might produce a lightning strike that would miraculously hit me, and I was no longer standing next to the cliff. Boulders she could roll down on me? No, nothing nearby. What would her play be, now that she knew I had the amulet back on?

“She could surrender to us.”

“You’re not helping. I need to know where she is well enough to have Lady Teldra break the invisibility.”

“Can she do that? I mean, from a distance?”

“We’re about to find out.”

I wondered if the teleport block was still up. Probably. This would be a good time to have Morrolan come charging to the rescue, but even he can’t break through a good block without a lot of work, and I had no way to reach him.

Maybe the block, in fact, was why the sorceress was still there? Maybe she didn’t want to do anything to me, but had no way to leave? Or maybe she had a plan. Or maybe she was trying to come up with one, and I needed to do something now before she managed.

Maybe, maybe, maybe. You can die of maybe.

You’re way ahead of me, aren’t you? You’re sitting there, drinking your-whatever that is-trying not to smirk, and thinking, That poor idiot Vlad. How could he not see what was coming? Well let me tell you, smart guy, it’s a lot harder when you’re in the middle of it than it is just hearing about it, all right?

So, yeah, there I was, concentrating on the invisible sorceress, when the invisible assassin was coming up behind me. He was good; I didn’t see him, I didn’t hear him. Neither did Loiosh. Normally, something as simple as an invisibility spell wouldn’t have accomplished anything, you know? But remember how I said you have to take time to set something up to do it right? I still believe that, only, well, they made a fine job of it with what can’t have been more than twenty minutes of preparation.

Here’s how it worked: Radfall cast a spell at me, figuring it would probably have no effect, but would alert me. Then she did a simple invisibility spell and wandered around a bit, because that way I’d have Loiosh and Rocza looking for her, and that got them out of the way. But then there was Lady Teldra, right? Out, in my hand, and if there’s ever a time when you don’t want to fuck with me, it’s when I’m holding her, and I’m alert and ready.

And, yeah, while Loiosh, Lady Teldra, and I were all concentrating on finding the sorceress-concentrating enough that Lady Teldra was oblivious to an invisibility spell a lot closer-we missed what was, like, six feet away, in front of me to the left. Because that’s how far the guy was when I felt the Morganti weapon, and he suddenly appeared.

I reacted, and-

How do you conceal the presence of a Morganti weapon? Here’s one I never thought of: You have another one, even more powerful, in the area. I don’t mean Lady Teldra-she’s part of me, and I don’t get the reaction I do from others. No, I mean that the one that suddenly appeared in front of me masked the one from behind.

It was a beautiful set-up.

I didn’t suspect someone was behind me until much, much too late. In fact, my first clue was a grunt practically in my ear.

I turned, and saw the weapon, recognized what it was as the guy holding it stumbled onto his knees, wincing. He dropped the weapon. He remained still, on all fours, and I understood why he hadn’t managed to finish me: there was a knife sticking out of his back.

I turned back to the other one, but he was quite sensibly backing away.

And about thirty feet away was someone I didn’t recognize. A guy in Jhereg colors, looking like he’d just thrown something. Like, say, the knife that was sticking out of the back of the guy who’d almost put a Morganti blade into my back.

What the-?

Loiosh and Rocza were flying toward me at full speed, of course, but then Loiosh said, “ The sorceress is gone, Boss. Teleported.”

I didn’t answer him. My eyes were going back and forth between the guy who’d just thrown the knife, and the guy two feet away from me, on all fours, a Morganti dagger next to his hand, and a knife sticking out of his back.

That must have hurt.

I managed to keep my sympathy under control, while I studied the complete stranger who’d just saved my life. Then I took a step forward, putting my boot on the Morganti knife, just to be safe, and Lady Teldra made a second hole in the assassin’s back, and he was gone before he had time to scream. I told her to go ahead and feed, too, because I was just in that sort of mood.

I looked at my savior and said, “Let me guess. Kragar sent you?”

He shook his head.

“Kiera?”

He shook his head again.

“Well then, who-”

“That’d be me,” said the Demon, coming up behind him, flanked by a pair of bodyguards. “Looking out for my financial interests.”

“Good shot,” I told the guy.

“Thanks,” he said. “I practice.”

The Demon walked past him, and all three of them fell into a loose formation around him. They were all watching Lady Teldra. I wondered if they were going to ask me to sheath my weapon, or if they realized it would be wasted breath.

“I suppose,” said the Demon, “we should talk.”

“I guess so,” I said.