by Steven Brust
They exchanged nods.
“Wait here,” I said to no one in particular. I walked out into the hall, and the bodyguard I had wounded was still moaning and holding his stomach, although he had removed the knife. There was another one next to him who was holding his right leg. I could see wounds on both legs and both arms and a shoulder. They were small wounds, but probably deep. I was pleased that my grandfather was still as good as I remembered. I walked past them carefully and out into the street. There was now a solid line of armed Easterners and an equally solid line of Phoenix Guards. There were no Jhereg bodyguards there anymore, however.
I walked through the Guards until I found their commander. “Lord Khaavren?” I said.
He looked at me and his face tightened. He nodded once.
I said, “There will be no trouble. It was a mistake. These Easterners are going to leave now. I just want to tell you that.”
He stared at me for a moment, then looked away as if I were so much carrion. I turned and went into the apothecary. I found the sorceress and said, “Okay, you can lift it. And if you want to earn some more, Herth will be coming out onto the street soon, and I think he’d appreciate a teleport back home.”
“Thanks,” she said. “It’s been a pleasure.”
I nodded and walked back toward Kelly’s flat. As I did so, Herth emerged with several wounded bodyguards, including one who had to be helped along. Herth didn’t even look at me. I went past him, and I saw the sorceress approach and speak to him.
When I went back inside, my grandfather was nowhere to be seen and neither was Cawti. Loiosh said, “They’ve gone back into Kelly’s study.”
“Good.”
“Why did you send me instead of reaching him psionically?”
“My grandfather doesn’t approve of it, except for emergencies.”
“Wasn’t this an emergency?”
“Yeah. Well, I also wanted you out of the way so I could go ahead and do something stupid.”
“I see. Well, did you?”
“Yeah. I even got away with it.”
“Oh. Does that mean everything’s all right now?”
I looked back toward the study where my grandfather was talking with Cawti. “Probably not,” I said. “But it’s out of my hands. I thought I’d probably be dead after this, and I wanted someone here who could take care of Cawti.”
“But what about Herth?”
“He promised to leave me alone in front of witnesses. That will keep him honest for a few weeks, anyway.”
“And after that?”
“We’ll just have to see.”
Chapter 17
Pocket Handkerchief: clean and press
The next day I received word that the troops had been withdrawn from South Adrilankha. Cawti didn’t show up. But I hadn’t really expected her to.
To take my mind off things, I took a walk around my neighborhood. I was beginning to enjoy the feeling that I was in no more danger than I’d been before this nonsense started. It might not last, but I’d enjoy it while I could. I even walked a bit outside of my area, just because walking felt so good. I hit a couple of inns that I don’t usually visit and that was fine. I was careful not to get drunk, even though it probably wouldn’t have mattered.
I passed by the oracle I’d been to so long before and thought about going in, but I didn’t. It did make me wonder, though, what I ought to do with all of that money. It was clear that I wasn’t going to be building Cawti a castle. Even if she came back to me, I doubted she’d want one. And the idea of buying a higher title in the Jhereg seemed ludicrous. That left—
Which is when the solution hit me.
My first reaction was to laugh, but I couldn’t afford to laugh at any idea just then, and besides, I’d look foolish standing in the middle of the street laughing.
The more I thought about it, though, the more sense it made. From Herth’s perspective, that is. I mean, as Kelly had said, the man was almost washed up; this let him get out alive and removed any need on his part to kill me.
From my end it was even easier than that. It would entail many administrative problems, of course, but I could use a few administrative problems. Hmmm. I finished the walk without incident.
Two days later I was sitting in my office, taking care of the details of getting things operating again and a few other matters. Melestav came in.
“Yeah?”
“A messenger just arrived from Herth, boss.”
“Oh, yeah? What did he have to say?”
“He said, ‘Yes.’ He said you’d know what it was about. He’s waiting for a reply.”
“Well I’ll be damned,” I said. “Yeah. I know what it’s about.”
“Any instructions?”
“Yeah. Go into the treasury and pull out fifty thousand Imperials.”
“Fifty thousand!”
“That’s right.”
“But—all right. Then what?”
“Give it to the messenger. Arrange for an escort. Make sure it gets to Herth.”
“All right, boss. Whatever you say.”
“Then come back in here; we have a lot of work to do. And send Kragar in.”
“Okay.”
“I’m already here.”
“Huh? Oh.”
“What just happened?”
“What we wanted to. We have the prostitution, which we’ll have to close down or clean up, the strong-arm stuff, which we’ll kill, and the gambling, cleaners, and small stuff, which we can leave alone.”
“You mean it worked?”
“Yeah. We just bought South Adrilankha.”
I got home late that night and found Cawti asleep on the couch. I looked down at her. Her dark, dark hair was in disarray over her thin, proud face. Her cheekbones stood out in the light of the single lamp, and her fine brows were drawn together as she slept, as if she was puzzled by something a dream was telling her.
She was still beautiful, inside and out. It hurt to look at her. I shook her gently. She opened her eyes, smiled wanly and sat up.
“Hello, Vlad.”
I sat down next to her, but not too close. “Hello,” I said.
She blinked sleep out of her eyes. After a moment she said, “I had a long talk with Noish-pa. I guess that was what you wanted, wasn’t it?”
“I knew I couldn’t talk to you. I hoped he could find the way to say things I couldn’t.”
She nodded.
I said, “Do you want to tell me about it?”
“I’m not sure. What I said to you, a long time ago now, about how unhappy you are and why, that’s all true, I think.”
“Yeah.”
“And I think what I’m doing, working with Kelly, is right, and I’m going to keep doing it.”
“Yeah.”
“But it isn’t the whole answer to every question, either. Once I decided that I’d do this, I thought it would solve everything, and I treated you unfairly. I’m sorry. The rest of life doesn’t stop because of my activities. I’m working with Kelly because that’s my duty, but it doesn’t end there. I also have a duty toward you.”
I looked down. When she didn’t go on, I said, “I don’t want you coming back to me because you feel it’s your duty.”
She sighed. “I see what you mean. No, that isn’t how I meant it. The problem is that you were right, I should have spoken to you about it. But I couldn’t bring myself to risk—to risk what we have. Do you see what I mean?”
I stared at her. Do you know, that had never occurred to me? I mean, I knew I felt frightened and insecure; but I never thought that she could feel that way, too. I said, “I love you.”
She made a gesture with her arm and I moved over to her and put my arm around and held her. After a while I said, “Are you moving back in?”
She said, “Should I? We still have a lot to work out.”
I thought about my latest purchase and chuckled. “You don’t know the half of it.”
She said, “Hmm?”
She stared. “You bought South Adrilankha? From Herth?”
“Yeah.”
She shook her head. “Yes, I guess we do have things to talk about.”
“Cawti, it saved my life. Doesn’t that—?”
“Not now.”
I didn’t say anything. A moment later she said, “I’m committed now; to Kelly, to the Easterners, to the Teckla. I still don’t know how you feel about that.”
“Neither do I,” I said. “I don’t know if it would be easier or harder to work it out with you living here again. All I know is that I miss you, that it hurts to go to sleep without you.”
She nodded. Then she said, “I’ll come back then, if you want me to, and we’ll try to work it out.”
I said, “I want you to.”
We didn’t celebrate then, or anything, but we held each other, and for me that was a celebration, and the tears I shed onto her shoulder felt as clean and good as the laugh of a condemned man, unexpectedly freed.
Which, in a way, described me quite well, just then.
END
Table of Contents
Prologue