by Steven Brust
“Yes, Loiosh?”
“I hate to interrupt—”
“Like hell you do.”
“But it’s time to contact Daymar.”
“Already? Okay, thanks.”
“Well, I suppose you’re welcome.”
I reached out, thinking of Daymar, concentrating, remembering the “feel” of his mind.
“Yes?” he said. He was one of few people whose voice I could actually hear when we were in contact. In the other cases it was because I knew them well enough for my imagination to supply the voice. With Daymar it was simply the strength of the contact.
“Would you mind showing up?” I asked him. “We’d like to get started on this spell.”
“Fine. Just let me . . . Okay, I’ve got a fix on you. I’ll be right there.”
“Give me a minute first, so I can turn off some protections and alarms. I don’t want to have forty-eleven things go off when you teleport in.”
I ordered our teleport protections taken down for a few seconds. Daymar appeared in front of me—floating, cross-legged, about three feet off the floor. I rolled my eyes; Cawti shook her head sadly. Loiosh hissed. Daymar shrugged, and stretched his legs down; stood up.
“You left off the thunderclap and the lightning flash,” I told him.
“Should I try again?”
“Never mind.”
Daymar stood roughly seven feet, three inches tall. He had the sharp, well-chiseled features of the House of the Hawk, although they were somewhat gentler, softer, than those of most Hawklords I’ve met. He was incredibly thin, looking almost transparent. It seemed that his eyes rarely focused, giving him the appearance of looking past whatever he was observing, or at something deep inside it. We had been friends since the time I had almost killed him for mind-probing one of my people. He’d done it out of curiosity, and I think he never understood why I objected.
“So,” Daymar asked, “who is this you want located?”
“A Jhereg. With luck, I should have what you wanted for the trace. Will this do?”
I handed him a small crystal I’d taken from the chest. He inspected it carefully, although I’m damned if I know what he was looking for. He nodded and gave it back to me.
“I’ve seen better,” he remarked, “but it will do.”
I set it carefully down on the right side of the brazier. I opened the envelope I’d gotten from Kiera and removed about half of the dozen or so strands of hair. These I set on top of the envelope on the left side of the brazier; the others I would save in case I had to try the spell again.
It was interesting, I reflected, how much a witchcraft spell resembles an assassination, as opposed to either of them being similar to sorcery. To use sorcery, all you do is reach out through your link to the Imperial Orb, grab some power, shape it, and throw it. With witchcraft, however, you have to plan carefully and precisely so that you don’t end up searching around for some implement you need, right at the moment of using it.
The room began to get smoky with the lingering scent of incense. I took my position in front of the brazier; Cawti automatically stood to my right, and I motioned Daymar to stand at my left, and back. I let my mind drift and linked up mentally with Cawti. It was not necessary for there to be physical contact between us for this to happen, which is one reason why I like to work with her. One of the clear advantages witchcraft enjoys over sorcery is that more than one witch can participate in a single spell. I felt my power diminish and increase at the same time; which is strange to say and even stranger to experience.
I laid a few leaves on the coals, which obliged by making the proper hissing sounds. They were large, broad leaves from the Heaken tree, which only grows out East. They had been prepared by being soaked in purified water for a number of hours, and by diverse enchantments. A large gout of steam-smoke rose up, and Cawti began chanting, low and almost inaudible. As the leaves began to blacken and burn, my left hand found the envelope and the hairs. I rolled them around on my fingertips for a moment. I felt things start to happen—the very first sign of a witchcraft spell starting to have any kind of effect is when certain senses begin to feel sharper. In this case, each hair felt distinct and unique to my fingertips, and I could almost make out tiny details on each one. I dropped them onto the burning leaves, as Cawti’s chanting became more intense, and I could almost pick out the words.
At that moment, a sudden rush of power flooded my mind. I felt giddy, and I would certainly have lost my end of the spell if I had actually begun it. A thought came into being, and I heard Daymar’s pseudo-voice say, “Mind if I help?”
I didn’t answer, trying to cope with more psychic energy than I’d ever had at my disposal before. I had a brief urge to answer, “No!” and hurl the energy back at him as hard as I could, but it wouldn’t have done more than hurt his feelings. I observed my own anger at this unasked-for-interference as if it were in a stranger.
Any spell, no matter how trivial it really is, involves some degree of danger. After all, what you’re really doing is building up a force of energy from your own mind and manipulating it as if it were something external. There have been witches whose minds have been destroyed by mishandling this power. Daymar, of course, couldn’t know this. He was just being his usual helpful, meddlesome self.
I gritted my teeth and tried to use my anger to control the forces we had generated, to direct them into the spell. Somewhere, I felt Loiosh fighting to hold on to his control and take up what I couldn’t handle. Loiosh and I were so deeply linked that anything that happened to me would happen to him. The link broadened, more and more power flooded through it, and I knew that, between the two of us, we’d either be able to handle it, or our minds would be burned out. I would have been as scared as a teckla if my anger hadn’t blocked it—and the rage I felt was sustained, perhaps, by my knowledge of the fear underlying it.
It hung in the balance, and time stretched to both horizons. I heard Cawti, as if from a great distance, chanting steadily, strongly, although she must have felt the backwash of forces as much as I. She was helping, too. I had to direct the energy into the spell, or it would find release some other way. I remember thinking, at that moment, “Daymar, if you’ve hurt my familiar’s mind, you are one dead Dragaeran.”
Loiosh was straining. I could feel him, right at his limit, trying to absorb power, control it, channel it. This is why witches have familiars. I think he saved me.
I felt control had come, and fought to hang on to it long enough to throw it into the spell. I wanted to rush through the next part, but resisted the temptation. You do not rush through any phase of a witchcraft spell.
The hairs were burning; they merged and combined into a part of the steam and smoke and they should still be tied to their owner. I fought to identify exactly which isolated puff of smoke held the essence of those burning hairs and therefore was an unbreakable bond to my target.
I lifted my arms until my hands were at the outermost perimeter of the grayish-white cloud. I felt the fourway pull of energy—me to Daymar to Loiosh to Cawti and back. I let it flow out through my hands, until the smoke stopped rising—the first visible sign that the spell was having an effect. I held it there for an instant and slowly brought my hands closer together. The smoke became more dense in front of me, and I flung the energy I held at and through it. . . .
There is a cry of “charge” and five thousand Dragons come storming at the place the Eastern army is entrenched. . . . Making love to Cawti that first time—the moment of entry, even more than the moment of release; I wonder if she plans to kill me before we’re finished, and I don’t really care. . . . The Dzur hero, coming alone to Dzur mountain, sees Sethra Lavode stand up before him, Iceflame alive in her hand. . . . A small girl-child with big brown eyes looks at me and smiles. . . . The energy bolt, visible as a black wave, streaks toward me, and I swing Spellbreaker at it, wondering whether it will work. . . . Aliera stands up before the shadow of Kieron the Conqueror, there in the midst of the Halls of
Judgment, in the Paths of the Dead, beyond Deathsgate Falls. . . .
And with it all, at that moment, I held in my mind everything I knew about Mellar, and all of my anger at Daymar, and above it all, on top of everything, my desire, my will, my hope. I flung it at the small cloud of steam-smoke rising from the brazier; I reached through it, beyond it, within it, toward the one who was tied to it.
Cawti chanted strongly, with no break in her voice, in words I still couldn’t quite make out. Loiosh, within me, part of my being, was searching and hunting. And Daymar, away from us, and yet a part of us too, stood out as a beacon of light, which I grabbed, and shaped, and pushed through.
I felt a response. Slowly, very slowly, an image formed in the smoke. I forced energy into it as it began to grow distinct. I forced myself to ignore the face itself, which was only a distraction at this point. And, with agonizing slowness, I . . . lowered . . . my . . . right . . . hand . . . and . . . began . . . dropping . . . control . . . of . . . the . . . spell. . . .
Piece by minute, fractional piece, Loiosh picked up the threads of control, accepted them, handled them. Exhaustion was my enemy then, and I fought it back. The jhereg had taken the power, and was handling it all, by the green scales of Barlen!
I allowed myself to look at the image for the first time, as my right hand found the small crystal. The face was middle-aged and showed features reminiscent of the House of the Dzur. I carefully raised the crystal to eye level, dropped the last threads of control over the spell, and held my breath.
The image was steady; I had trained Loiosh well. Cawti was no longer chanting. She had done her part and was now just supplying power for the last stage of the spell. I studied the image through the crystal, closing my left eye. It was, of course, distorted, but that didn’t matter; the image appeared through it enough to be identified.
A moment of intense concentration; I reached for the energy Cawti and Daymar were offering and burned the face into the container before my eye. My right eye was blinded for a moment, and I felt slightly dizzy as I bore down on it, trying to use up all of the excess power we had built up.
I heard Cawti sigh and relax. I sagged against the back wall, and Loiosh sagged against my neck. I heard Daymar sigh. There was now a milky haze within the crystal. I knew, without trying it, that by an act of will the haze could be cleared and Mellar’s face would appear in it. More important, there was now a connection between Mellar, wherever he might be, and the crystal. The chances of his ever detecting this link were so small as to approach nonexistent. I nodded my satisfaction to Cawti, as we stood there for a few minutes catching our collective breath.
After a time, I blew out the candles, and Cawti lit the lamps along the wall. I opened the vent to let the smoke out, along with the smell of the incense, which now seemed cloying and sweet. The room brightened, and I looked around. Daymar had a distant look on his face, and Cawti seemed flushed and tired. I wanted to order wine from someone upstairs, but even the energy required for psionic contact seemed too much.
“Well,” I announced to the room in general, “I guess he didn’t have any protections against witchcraft.”
Daymar said, “That was very interesting, Vlad. Thanks for letting me come along.”
I suddenly realized that he had no idea that he’d almost destroyed me with his “help.” I tried to think of some way to tell him, but gave up. I’d just remember it in the future, if he was ever around when I did more witchcraft. I held out the crystal to him; he accepted it. He studied it carefully for a few seconds, then nodded slowly.
“Well,” I asked, “can you pin down where he is from that?”
“I think so. I’ll try, anyway. How soon do you need it?”
“As soon as you can get it to me.”
“Okay,” he said. Then, casually, “By the way, why are you looking for him, anyway?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Oh, just curious.”
That figured. “I’d rather not say, if you don’t mind,” I told him.
“Have it your way,” he said, miffed. “Going to kill him, eh?”
“Daymar—”
“Sorry. I’ll let you know when I’ve found him. It shouldn’t take more than a day or so.”
“Good. I’ll see you then. Or,” I added as an afterthought, “you can just give it to Kragar.”
“Fine,” he said, nodding, and vanished.
I forced my legs to work and pushed away from the wall. I killed the lamps and helped Cawti out the door; locked it.
“We’d better get some food,” I said.
“Sounds good. Then a bath, then about twenty years of sleep.”
“I wish I could take the time for the last two, but I’m going to have to get back to work.”
“Okay,” she said cheerfully, “I’ll sleep for you, too.”
“Damned helpful of you.”
Leaning on each other, we took the stairs, one at a time. I felt Loiosh, still lying against the side of my neck, sleeping.
6
“True heroics must be carefully planned—and strenuously avoided.”
CAWTI AND I SHARED a lunch at one of the restaurants that I had an interest in. We ate slowly and allowed our strength to return. The sense of physical exhaustion that accompanies witchcraft is usually very short-lived; the psionic drain is longer. By halfway through the meal I felt comfortable again and well rested. On the other hand, I still felt that it would be something of an effort even to achieve psionic contact. I hoped no one would need to reach me during lunch.
We ate the meal in silence, enjoying each other’s company, feeling no need to talk. As we were finishing, Cawti said, “So, you get work, while I stay home and wither away from boredom.”
“You don’t look withered to me,” I said, checking. “And I don’t remember your asking me for help with that little matter last month.”
“Hmmmmph,” she said. “I didn’t need any help with that, but this looks like something big. I recognized the target. I hope you’re getting a reasonable price for him.”
I told her what I was getting for him.
She raised her eyebrows. “Nice! Who wants him?”
I looked around the restaurant, which was almost deserted. I didn’t like taking chances, but Cawti deserved an answer. “The whole bloody Jhereg wants him, or will if and when they find out.”
“What did he do?” she asked. “He didn’t start talking, did he?”
I shuddered. “No, not that, thank Verra. He ran off with nine million gold in council operating funds.”
She looked stunned and was silent for a moment, as she realized that I wasn’t kidding. “When did this happen?”
“Three days ago, now.” I thought for a second, then, “I was approached by the Demon, personally.”
“Whew! Battle of the giant jhereg,” she said. “Are you sure you aren’t getting involved in more than you can handle?”
“No,” I answered, cheerfully.
“My husband, the optimist,” she remarked. “I suppose you’ve already accepted.”
“That’s right. Would I have gone to all of that trouble to locate him if I hadn’t?”
“I suppose not. I was just hoping.”
Loiosh woke up with a start, looked around, and jumped down from my shoulder. He began working on the remains of my tsalmoth ribs.
“Do you have any idea why you got the job?” she asked, suddenly worried. I could see her mind making the same jumps as mine had.
“Yes, and it makes sense.” I explained the Demon’s reasoning to her and she seemed satisfied.
“What do you think about subcontracting this one?”
“Nope,” I said, “I’m too greedy. If I subcontract it, I won’t be able to build you that castle.”
She chuckled a little.
“Why?” I continued. “Do you and Norathar want to do it?”
“Not likely,” she answered drily. “It sounds too dangerous. And she’s retired in any case. Besides,”
she added, rather nastily, “you couldn’t afford us.”
I laughed and lifted my glass to her. Loiosh moved over to her plate and began working on it. “I guess you’re right,” I admitted, “I’ll just have to stumble along on my own.”
She grinned for a moment, then turned serious. “Actually, Vlad, it is something of an honor to be given a job like this.”
I nodded. “I guess it is, to a degree. But the Demon is convinced that Mellar is out East somewhere; he figures that I can operate better than a Dragaeran out there. Since you went into pseudo-retirement, there aren’t many humans who do ‘work.’”
Cawti looked thoughtful for a moment. “What makes him think that Mellar is in the East?”
I explained his thinking on the matter, and Cawti nodded. “That makes sense, in a way. But, as you yourself said, he’d stand out in the East like a lightning bolt. I can’t believe that Mellar is so naive that he’d think the House wouldn’t go after him.”
I thought this over. “You may be right. I do have a few friends in the East I can check with. In fact, I was planning on trying to get hold of them if Daymar can’t find out where he is. I don’t really see what else we can do but check out the Demon’s theory, at this point.”
“There isn’t anything, I suppose,” she said. “But it makes me a little nervous. Do you have any idea how long Mellar’s been planning this move? If there was some way to figure that, it would give us an idea of how hard he’s going to be to track down.”
“I’m not sure. It seems to me that it doesn’t make sense unless it was a sudden, spur of the moment kind of thing, but Kragar has an idea that he’s been planning it all along, from the minute he joined the Jhereg, in fact.”
“If Kragar is right, he must have something planned for this,” she said. “In fact, if it was that long, he should have realized that someone would, or at least, could try to trace him using witchcraft. If that were the case, he would have some way to set up a block against it.”
“On the other hand,” she continued, “if he did plan it for that long and somehow couldn’t block witchcraft, or didn’t think of it, it may mean the Demon underestimated his defenses.”