Steven Brust: Hawk

Sethra Lavode had once found me in the wilderness by tracking Loiosh, but she was Sethra Lavode; could anyone else do that? I could ask her, but that would entail its own risks. I went through the list: Sorcery required a link to the Orb, and the amulet I wore, a combination of gold and black Phoenix Stone, ought to prevent that. There was necromancy, but that was just a specialized use of sorcery. Elder sorcery? I was no expert, but I’d never heard of anyone doing anything as subtle as a location spell with it. Psychic skills? Witchcraft? The other part of my amulet should prevent those from working.

So, perhaps it had been Loiosh someone found a way to locate. But in that case-

“Loiosh?”

“Maybe, Boss, if it happened while I was sleeping. But I’m pretty sure I’d notice someone casting a spell on me or Rocza.”

“Sethra managed without you knowing.”

“She’s Sethra.”

“I’m going to have to ask her, aren’t I?”

I didn’t like it that they’d taken a shot at Loiosh. I didn’t like that at all.

There was a mild breeze, a bit chilly, and carrying the scent of pine needles. I had sheathed Lady Teldra, but I still had the park and the nearby streets to myself. It was sort of eerie, being alone in a place that was usually crowded. For a while, it was like time stopped, held its breath waiting for something to break. Loiosh and Rocza perched on my shoulders; they, too, were unmoving. The place had cleared because I’d drawn Lady Teldra-I held something so terrifying that it could clear a park and the surrounding streets.

So why was I so bloody scared?

I suppose it might have something to do with the fact that they’d come so close to killing me that I’d had to cut my own throat as the only alternative to dying.

There was a bronze plaque on the ground not far from me, naming the place as Kodai Park; who Kodai was I have no idea. Be nice to have a park named after you. I hope whatever he did was worth it. I hadn’t realized that it really was a park-I thought it was just a place no one had built on. Nice that there are parks, don’t you think? I heard sounds from some distance away-cries, maybe; violence perhaps. But they weren’t coming any closer so I ignored them.

I don’t know how long I stood there-maybe a quarter of an hour, maybe more-but eventually foot traffic started up again, and a few people walked through the park. Soon someone would find the body, and either scream or ignore it; and maybe inform the Phoenix Guards, who might or might not bother to look at it.

“Boss?”

“Yeah, we should move.”

“And soon.”

“The question is, where to?”

“Well, Boss. Out of the park might be a good start.”

“I need some sort of destination.”

“Just pick-wait. Something…”

“Loiosh?”

“Something’s coming toward us.”

“Some thing , Loiosh?” Well, I decided. This can’t be good. I put my hand on Lady Teldra’s hilt, wondering if the effort to draw her would make me fall over.

Loiosh said, “It’s … oh.”

I saw it. A dog-the big, loping kind, coming up to me, tail wagging. I’d seen that dog before, fairly recently, so I waited. It sniffed at my feet, then my hand, then wagged its tail some more.

“Hello, Awtlá,” I said aloud. It came out in a whisper, and ragged, like there was something wrong with my throat. I almost cleared my throat, but realized in time that doing so was probably not my best move. I tried speaking again. “If I knew how you found me, would I know how the Jhereg found me?” It didn’t hurt to talk, I just sounded bad.

Awtlá seemed very happy to see me. My feelings were more mixed. It was a very, very bad sign that I could be found. But Awtlá was one of the familiars of a warlock-of the Warlock-who as far as I knew was friendly. More significantly, I was in absolutely no condition to either defend myself or run away. So I decided to wait for further developments. Loiosh flapped his wings and hissed at Awtlá, who jumped up on his back legs to either eat him or lick him; I backed away because having a dog on my chest would make me fall over.

The next thing that ought to happen was the appearance of a cat. I looked around.

“There, Boss. By that hedge.”

Yeah, I could just see it. It wasn’t approaching me; it seemed to be giving itself a careful bath.

Then he himself appeared. I couldn’t see him all that well in the gloom, but well enough to recognize him. He looked me over. I nodded to him.

“Hello, Lord Taltos,” he said.

“How did you find me?”

“You really need to stop wasting so much time with small talk,” he said.

I waited.

He shrugged. “You were found by the will of the Empress.”

I licked my lips. “You aren’t making that up, are you?”

“No. She used the Orb.”

“And, what, it was just coincidence that the Jhereg found me on the same day?”

“No. She became aware that you’d been attacked.”

“She was right about that.”

“She wasn’t certain you’d survive.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

“The Jhereg found you?”

“Kinda,” I said.

“There were more looking for you,” he told me.

“Were?”

He said, “Have you noticed we look alike?”

“Human, dark hair, mustache, yeah I’ve noticed.”

“That would explain it.”

“You met some Jhereg?”

“Three. Not far from here. They met Awtlá and Sireng. One had a Morganti weapon.”

If you’ve been paying attention, that was where I realized that the guy had gone off to get friends. “Yeah, Morganti,” I said. “A lot of those around lately. They should be illegal.”

“They are illegal.”

“Oh, right. Nothing personal, but I’m glad they found you instead of me. I’m not in any shape to-”

“I can see that.”

I nodded. “But wouldn’t they have been embarrassed to find out they’d destroyed the wrong soul?”

The Warlock nodded. “Yeah, that would have been bad. Glad I was able to save them from that.”

“So you don’t know how they found me?”

“No. You have a lot of blood on you.”

“Your powers of observation-”

“How much of it is yours?”

“A lot of it.”

“I see. How are you?”

“Glad to still be on my feet, what with one thing and another. But, overall, I’d say pretty poor.”

He was silent for a moment, then his two familiars began to move. They started walking in large circles around the park. I watched them for a few moments, and, yeah, there was a wolf and a dzur where a dog and a cat had been. I really wished I knew how they did that.

He said, “You know I can’t heal you while you wear that amulet.”

“Yeah.”

“I could give you some basic emergency care.”

“Lady Teldra has handled that already, thanks.”

“Lady-? Oh. Yes, of course. You know about the limitations on that, right?”

“Pretend I don’t for a minute and tell me.”

“A device like that can-”

“Device like this?”

He shrugged. “Any energy-magic conversion device.”

“Ener … Um. Okay.”

“It can only do so much until it receives more energy.”

“Receives more energy,” I repeated. “By which you mean-kills someone, destroying his soul?”

“Yes,” he said.

“That doesn’t make sense. When I carried Spellbreaker-”

“Were you wearing that amulet then?”

“Um.”

“If she can draw energy from the Orb, she doesn’t need to feed.”

“So, if I can find a safe place to take the amulet off, she’ll be all right again?”