by Steven Brust
Morrolan came bursting into the room, Aliera following by a second or two. Morrolan’s blade was at his side, but Aliera was holding eight feet of glistening black steel. They looked at me.
“What is it, Vlad?” asked Morrolan.
“The Lady Norathar wants to go out Jhereg-hunting.”
“So?”
“So the Dragon Council has—”
“This isn’t any of your business, Lord Taltos,” said Norathar coldly, her hand on the hilt of her blade.
“—accepted her as a Dragon, but—”
Norathar drew her blade. Loiosh hissed and gathered himself on my shoulder. I had a brief glimpse of Cawti, a look of anguish on her face, but then Morrolan’s longsword, Blackwand, was in his hand. He gestured with it toward Norathar, and her blade swung and buried itself deeply into a wooden beam against the wall of the library. She looked at Morrolan, wonderment in her eyes.
“My lady,” he said, “at Castle Black, I do not allow the killing of my guests except under conditions where they can be revivified. Further, you, as a Dragonlord, should not have to be reminded of treatment of guests.”
After a moment, Norathar bowed. “Very well,” she said. She wrenched her sword out of the beam and sheathed it with the plain efficiency of a Jhereg, instead of the flash of a Dragonlord. “I’ll be leaving then. Let’s go, sister.”
“Aliera, stop them!”
As I finished “speaking,” Morrolan turned to Aliera. “What did you just do?”
“I put a teleport block around Castle Black,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind.”
Norathar’s eyes widened, then narrowed to slits. “Lord Morrolan,” she said slowly, “I must insist—”
“Oh, for the love of Verra,” I said. “Can you at least give me thirty seconds to finish my sentence?”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
She stared at me, but Dragonlords have been trying to stare me down since I was nineteen.
I said, “The Dragon Council wants to observe her for a while, before officially making her the heir. If she goes running off after Jhereg, that’ll do it. I felt you two should know, and at least have the chance to talk her out of it before she does something that commits her. That’s all. Now, the rest of you argue about it. I’m leaving before someone takes my head off.”
I didn’t quite run out of the library. I went down to the entryway and found a small sitting room. I helped myself to a glass of cheap wine and quaffed it, thinking dark thoughts.
* * *
The bottle was half empty when someone clapped at the door. I ignored it. It was repeated, and I ignored it again. Then the door opened. My scowl died when I saw that it was Cawti. She sat down.
“How did you find me?”
“Loiosh.”
“Oh. What happened?”
“Norathar has agreed to wait two days before doing anything, same as Aliera.”
“Great.”
“Vladimir?”
“Yes?”
“Why did you do it?”
“Do what? Stop her?”
“Yes. Don’t you want someone to take Laris out?”
“She isn’t going to have any better luck finding him than I will. The same goes for you and for Aliera.”
“But, still, with more of us looking . . .” She let the sentence die, and I didn’t pick it up again. After a minute or so, I remembered my manners and poured her some cheap wine, too. She sipped it, delicately, thumb and forefinger around the stem, little finger off in space somewhere, just like at Court. And she kept her eyes fixed on me the whole time.
“Why, Vladimir?” she repeated.
“I don’t know. Why ruin her chances for nothing?”
“Who is she to you?”
“Your partner.”
“Oh.”
She set the glass down and stood up. She walked over to my chair and looked down at me for a moment. Then she dropped to one knee, took my right hand in hers, kissed it, and rubbed her cheek against it. I opened my mouth to make some smart remark about was I supposed to pat her head, or what, but Loiosh brought his head around and smacked me in the larynx so I couldn’t speak.
Then, still holding my hand, Cawti looked up at me and said, “Vladimir, it would make me the happiest of women if you would consent to be my husband.”
About three hundred years later I said, “What?”
“I want to marry you,” she said.
I stared at her. Finally I burst out with “Why?”
She stared back at me. “Because I love you.”
I shook my head. “I love you, too, Cawti. You know that. But you can’t want to marry me.”
“Why?”
“Because, damn it, I’m going to be dead in a few days!”
“You said Laris was bluffing.”
“Maybe he is, but he won’t be if I keep coming after him. And whatever game he’s playing, he has to make it real sooner or later.”
“He won’t get you,” she said calmly, and I almost believed her.
I kept staring at her. Finally I said, “All right, I’ll tell you what. When this business with Laris is over, if I’m alive, and you still want to, I mean, well, um, of course I will. I, oh, Deathsgate, Cawti. I don’t know what to say.”
“Thank you, lord.”
“By the Lords of Judgment, get off the floor! You’re making me feel like—I don’t know what.”
She calmly got up off her knees and stood before me. Then she broke into a grin, jumped, and landed on my lap. The chair went over backward and we ended up on the floor in a tangle of limbs and clothes. Loiosh barely escaped in time.
* * *
Two hours and three bottles of wine later, we staggered back up to the library. Morrolan was alone there. I was just sober enough not to want him to know how drunk we were, so, somewhat regretfully, I did a quick sobering spell.
He looked us over, raised an eyebrow, and said, “Come in.”
“Thank you,” I said. I turned to Cawti, and noticed that she’d given herself the same treatment. A shame.
“Will you two be staying this evening?”
Cawti looked at me. I nodded. “I still need to check over that list of Baritt’s descendants. Which reminds me, did you find out who might have recommended the Athyra?”
“One of my people is compiling the list. It should be ready by this evening some time.”
“Good. I asked Aliera to find out about the Lyorn. Do you know if she did?”
“She is speaking to Norathar at the moment; I think they’re attempting to determine how to locate this Laris person.”
“Oh. Well, tomorrow, maybe.”
“Yes. I’m having my dinner brought to me in the small dining room. I believe Aliera, Sethra, and Lady Norathar will be joining me. Would the two of you care to also?”
I looked at Cawti. “We’d be delighted,” she said.
“Excellent. And, afterwards, you can join the party in the main dining room and continue your investigation.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “Maybe I can even avoid having any words with your Athyra friend.”
“Athyra friend? I don’t believe there have been any Athyra nobles present for some time.”
“You know who I mean: the Sorceress in Chartreuse, or whatever.”
Morrolan smiled. “The Sorceress in Green. I’ll admit she looks like one, though.”
Something went off in the back of my head. “She isn’t?” I asked. “What is she then?”
“House of the Yendi,” said Morrolan.
15
“I imagine he’s being well paid.”
“WHAT IS IT, VLAD? Why are you staring at me?”
“I can’t believe what I just heard. A Yendi? Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. What is it?”
“Morrolan, how many Yendi does it take to sharpen a sword?”
He looked at me through slitted eyes. “Tell me,” he said.
“Three. One to sharpen the sword,
and one to confuse the issue.”
“I see.” He chuckled a bit. “Not bad. What has that to do with our situation?”
“I don’t know exactly, but—wherever you find a Yendi, you find a plot. A devious plot. Twisted, confusing, just the kind of thing we’re facing. I don’t know what it’s about, but she—the Sorceress in Green—has been hanging around all of us since things started. She’s been near you, near me, near Aliera, and indirectly near Norathar and Cawti and Sethra. All of us. This can’t be an accident.
“And if that weren’t enough, she looks like an Athyra. We’re sitting here trying to find an Athyra who doesn’t exist, and now we find a Yendi who resembles one and who’s been around the whole time. And you don’t think she has something to do with all this?”
“I see what you mean,” he said. “I think I shall speak to her, and—”
“No!”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Don’t speak to her. Don’t let her know, yet. The only advantage we have is that she doesn’t know we’re suspicious. We don’t dare lose that until we know what she’s after.”
“Hmmm. It is axiomatic that no one but a Yendi can unravel a Yendi’s scheme.”
“Maybe. But to paraphrase Lord Lairon e’N’vaar, maybe I use different axioms.”
He thought about it for a while, then said, “All right, Vlad. What’s your plan?”
“I don’t have one yet. First, I want to think over what we know and see if I can make some sense of it.”
“All right.”
“Cawti, why don’t you find Norathar and Aliera?”
She nodded. Morrolan said, “You might need help,” and the two of them went off.
I sat pondering for about half an hour, until the four of them returned, along with Sethra.
“Well,” said Aliera, “what have you figured out?”
“Nothing,” I said. “On the other hand, I haven’t given up, either.”
“Great,” said Norathar.
“Sit down,” I suggested. They all pulled up chairs around me. I felt like I was back in the office, with my enforcers sitting around waiting for orders.
“Vladimir?”
“Yes, Cawti?”
“Morrolan told Aliera about the Sorceress in Green. I didn’t think to warn him not to.”
“Damn. All right. So either the Sorceress is warned, or Aliera isn’t involved. I’m beginning to doubt that Aliera is behind this in any case. We’ll see.”
I said, “First of all, Lady Norathar, can—”
“You can drop the ‘Lady,’ Vlad.”
I was startled. “Thank you,” I said. I saw Cawti flash her a smile, and I understood. “All right, Norathar, are you sure you can’t tell us how you found out what Laris did?”
“Yes,” she said.
“All right. But think about it. If it was the Sorceress in Green—”
“It wasn’t.”
“Whoever it is, that person might be working with the Sorceress in Green, or perhaps is being used by her. I wish you could tell us who it is.”
“Sorry. But I don’t think it would help.”
Cawti said, “Do you really think the Sorceress in Green is behind it?”
“Let’s just say it’s a real good guess. We won’t know for sure who’s behind it until we know what they’re after.”
Cawti nodded.
I continued. “Let’s try to put the events in order. First, just before the Interregnum, someone decides that he doesn’t want Lord K’laiyer to take the Orb. Maybe this someone is the Sorceress in Green, or the Sorceress in Green is working for him, okay?”
There were nods from around the room.
“Okay, the first thing he—or she—does is make it look like Norathar is a bastard. Of course, when confronted with this, K’laiyer fights, and, naturally, when fighting Sethra, loses. During the battle, they make sure K’laiyer ends up dead. This makes Adron the heir. So far, so good. Either that is what they wanted, or they didn’t have time to deal with him. Because then we have Adron’s Disaster, and two-hundred-some years of Interregnum. Still, nothing happens. Afterwards, Morrolan is the heir. Still nothing happens.”
I looked at them again. They were watching me closely. I continued. “For over two hundred and forty years after the Interregnum, nothing. So whoever is behind it, if he is still around, doesn’t object to Morrolan. But then, three years or so ago, Aliera shows up. Within a year Baritt, who is probably one of the conspirators, is assassinated. Two years after that, Norathar is set up, killed, revivified, and is suddenly going to be the heir. That’s where we are as I see it.”
Either Aliera hadn’t caught any implication against her, or she was a fine actress. She seemed deep in thought, but not otherwise affected by what I’d been saying. Norathar said, “Vlad, is there any chance that the Sorceress in Green could have known Aliera well enough to know that we’d be brought back?”
I said, “Uh . . . you mean, then, that even that was part of her plan? I don’t know.” I turned to Aliera.
She chewed her lip for a moment, then shrugged. “Anything is possible with a Yendi,” she said.
“Not that,” said Morrolan. We turned to him. “You are forgetting that I was there, too. If you are supposing that she set it up so that Aliera would kill, then revivify, Norathar, then she must have known that I would be with Aliera. I will not believe that she could predict exactly where we would have been standing when we teleported, and if I had happened to be closer to Norathar than Aliera was, I’d have attacked, and I’d have used Blackwand.”
Norathar paled as he said this. I swallowed and felt a little queasy myself. If Norathar had been killed by Blackwand, nothing and no one could have revivified her, nor would she have been reborn, as Dragaerans believe happens to anyone who isn’t brought to the Paths of the Dead, and some who are. I wondered if Aliera could have arranged that. Or was Morrolan in on it too?
“You’re getting paranoid, boss.”
“Occupational hazard, Loiosh.”
I cleared my throat and said, “I think we can safely assume that Norathar was expected to die permanently.”
The others agreed.
“Now,” I said, “let us turn to Laris. He may be well hidden, and well protected, but he is certainly losing money and taking big chances by not killing me. Why?”
“I imagine,” said Cawti, “that he’s being well paid.”
“He’d have to be paid a lot to take that big a risk.”
Cawti shrugged. “Perhaps he owes her a favor, or something.”
“A big favor. Besides, I’m guessing that he killed Baritt as repayment of . . . wait a minute.”
They all looked at me. Finally, Morrolan said, “Yes, Vlad?”
I turned to Cawti. “What do you know of Laris’s history?”
“A fair bit. When I was studying you, I came across references to him from time to time, back when you both worked for Welok the Blade. And of course, I hear things now and then.”
“Did you hear that he ran the war for Welok against the Hook?”
She and Norathar nodded.
“I was involved,” said Norathar.
“Why did Welok let him run the war? And how did he win? He didn’t have any experience at the time.”
Cawti and Norathar studied me. “The Sorceress in Green?” asked Norathar.
I said, “It sure looks like he had something on Welok, or else knew how to get around him. What if our friend the sorceress maneuvered for him, and helped him with the war?”
Cawti said, “You think she’s running the war against you, too?”
“Maybe. I met Laris, and he impressed me. I don’t think he’s a dupe, but I could be wrong. On the other hand, it’s possible that the sorceress has something on him and can make him do what she wants. Especially if she can arrange for him to win in the end anyway, or tells him she can.”
“If she has something on him,” said Norathar, “why doesn’t he just kill her?”
As a J
hereg, she was still a Dragon.
“Any of a number of reasons,” I replied. “He might not know who she is. The hold might not disappear with her death. Maybe he can’t reach her. I don’t know.”
“Any idea what that hold might be?” asked Cawti.
I frowned. “Could be anything. My first guess is that he’s the one who finalized Baritt, and the sorceress has proof—easy enough if she had him do it, say as a favor in exchange for her help against the Hook.”
“I can see it,” said Cawti. Norathar concurred.
“This speculation is quite entertaining,” said Morrolan, “but I fail to see where it helps.”
“We’re trying to understand what they’re doing,” I said. “Every detail we get helps put it together.”
“Maybe,” he said. “But I should like to hear your opinion on why the Sorceress in Green would do all this.”
“Do what?” I asked.
“I’m not certain precisely what she’s doing—”
“Exactly.”
He nodded, slowly. “All right. I see.”
I turned to Sethra, who hadn’t said a word the entire time. “Have you any ideas, or guesses?”
“Not exactly,” she said slowly. “But I’m beginning to suspect that the answer lies mostly before the Interregnum, the first time this conspiracy acted. What were they after, exactly?”
“Yes,” I said slowly. “We should at least look into it.” I glanced at Norathar; she looked like her teeth hurt. Well, I could hardly blame her.
“The motive for that one,” said Cawti, “seems clear at least: it was an attempt to gain the Orb.”
I shook my head. “I’ve been told that no Dragon wants the Orb.”
“What about Adron?” she asked, looking at Aliera.
Aliera smiled. “A point,” she said. “But my father didn’t really want the Orb, he was forced to make a try for it out of a sense of duty.”
I stared at her. “Wait a minute. Did your father know the Sorceress in Green?”
Aliera looked startled. “I . . . believe they were acquainted, yes. But if you’re thinking that my father was the one behind the whole thing—”
“I wouldn’t say I think so; I’m just checking into it.”