Yendi (19 page)

"I have trouble--"

"Okay, just a minute then." I yelled past her. "Melestav! Get Kragar in here."

"Okay, boss."

Cawti looked an inquiry at me, but I held up a finger as a signal to wait. Kragar came into the room. He stopped, glanced at Cawti, and looked at me.

"This lady," I informed him, "is the Dagger of the Jhereg." As I said it, I looked a question at her.

"Might as well," she said. "It doesn't much matter anymore."

"Okay," I said. "She is also known as Cawti. Cawti, this is Kragar, my lieutenant."

"Is that what I am?" he mused. "I've wondered."

"Sit down." He sat. "Okay, Kragar. You're Laris."

"I'm Laris. I'm Laris? You just said I was your lieutenant."

"Shut up. You're Laris. You get word that I'm sitting in a restaurant. What do you do?"

"Uh... I send an assassin over."

"'An' assassin? Not four?"

"Four? Why would I send four? Laris wants to kill you, not give you Imperial Honors. With four assassins, you have three eyewitnesses to the thing. He'd get one good guy. There are plenty of 'workers' who wouldn't have any trouble finalizing you if they knew you were sitting in a restaurant. If he couldn't find someone good, he might go with two. But
not four.
"

I nodded and looked at Cawti. "The way you and Norathar work keeps you out of contact with a large part of the Jhereg. But Kragar's right."

"Is that what happened, boss?" Kragar asked, looking puzzled.

"Later," I told him. "Now, let's suppose that you didn't have anyone around who could do it, or any two. For some reason, anyway, you want to use four of them. What do you tell them to do?"

He thought for a moment.

"Do I know where you're sitting, and what the layout of the place is?"

"Whoever told you I was there told you that stuff, too, or else you get back in touch with him and ask."

"Okay. Then I tell them that stuff, and say, 'go in there and do him.' What more is there to say?"

"You wouldn't have them wait outside?"

He shook his head, looking more puzzled than ever. "Why give you a chance to be up and moving? If you're sitting down--"

"Yes," said Cawti suddenly. "When I stepped outside, they were just standing there, waiting. That's been bothering me, but I didn't realize it until now. You're right." I nodded. "Which means that either Laris, or his button-man, is a complete incompetent, or--that's all for now, Kragar."

"Uh... good. Well, I hope I helped." He shook his head and left.

"Or," I continued to Cawti, "he wasn't really trying to kill me after all."

"If he was trying to fool you," she said, "couldn't he have done a better job of it? After all, you figured it out. If you're going to use success or failure to prove intention--"

"If we follow that reasoning, then I'm
supposed
to figure out that he's only bluffing, right? Come on, lover. We aren't Yendi."

"Okay," she said. "But you still haven't said
why
he'd only want to bluff you."

"That," I admitted, "is a tricky one."

She snorted.

I held my hand up. "I only said it's tricky--not that I'm not trickier. The obvious reason for him not to kill me is that he wants me alive."

"Right," she said. "Brilliant."

"Now, what reason could he have for wanting me alive?"

"Well, I know of at least one good reason, but I don't think you're his type." I blew her a kiss and hacked my way onward. "Now, there are several possible reasons why he might want me alive. If any--"

"Name one."

"I'll come back to that. If any of them is true, then he might be hoping to scare me into making a deal. We might be hearing from him any time, asking me if I'll accept terms. If I do hear from him, what I say will depend on if I can figure out what he's after, so I know how
badly
he wants to keep me alive. Got it?"

She shook her head. "Are you
sure
you aren't part Yendi? Never mind. Go on."

"Okay. Now, as for reasons why he might want me alive, the first thing that comes to mind is: he might not like something that will happen when I die. Okay, now, what happens when I die?"

"I kill him," said Cawti.

"One possib--What did you say?"

"I kill him."

I swallowed.

"Well," she said angrily, her nostrils flaring, "what did you think I'd do? Kiss him?"

"I--Thank you. I didn't realize..."

"Go on."

"Could he know that?"

She looked puzzled. "I don't think so."

Which suddenly made me wonder about something. "
Loiosh, could someone have--?
"

"
No, boss. Don't worry about it.
"

"
Are you sure? Love spells--
"

"
I'm sure, boss.
"

"
Okay. Thanks.
"

I shook my head. "Okay, what I was
going
to say is, some of my friends--that is, my other friends--might come down on him. Not Aliera--she's the Dragon Heir, and the Dragon Council would have a lyorn if she started battling Jhereg--but Morrolan might go after Laris, and maybe Sethra would. Laris might be worried about that. But if so, why did he start the war? Maybe he only found out about my friends after it was too late to back out."

"That's quite a chain of supposition, Vladimir."

"I know, but this whole thing is a big chain of supposition. Anyway, another possibility is that he started the war knowing all this, but had some other reason for starting the war anyway, and hopes to get something without having to kill me."

"What reason?"

"What's the war about?"

"Territory."

"Right. Suppose that there is some particular area he wants. Maybe there's something buried around here, something important." She didn't look convinced. I continued.

"You saw the front of this place? They staged a raid on it. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but maybe my office is sitting right on top of something they want."

"Oh, come on. This is so farfetched I can't believe it."

"All right," I said, backing up a bit. "I'm not saying that I've hit dead center, I'm just trying to show you that there are possibilities."

She grimaced. "You aren't going to convince me," she said. "This whole thing is based on assuming that Norathar and I are part of the hoax. Maybe I can't prove to you that we aren't, but I know we're not, so I'm not going to be convinced." I sighed. "I don't really believe you are, either."

"Well, then, where does that leave your theory?"

I thought about it for a while. Then, "
Kragar."

"Yeah, Vlad?"

"Remember that tavern keeper who tipped us off?"

"Sure."

"You said that he heard it being arranged--do you know if he heard someone actually
talking to the assassins?"

"Yes, he did. He said the button-man addressed them by name. That's how I knew who
we were up against."

"I see. When you went to see him, you said he was, how did you put it? 'Surprised and
caught off guard.' Now, can you take a guess about whether he was more afraid of you,
or afraid of being seen with you?"

"That's pretty subtle, Vlad."

"So are you, Kragar. Try.
"

There was a pause. "
My first reaction was that he was afraid of me personally, but I
don't see--
"

"
Thanks.
"

I turned back to Cawti. "Would you mind telling me where this thing was set up?"

"Huh?"

"You've admitted that you were hired to assassinate me. All I want to know is where it was arranged."

She looked at me for a long moment. "Why? What does this have to do with--"

"If my suspicions are confirmed, I'll tell you. If not, I'll tell you anyway. Now, where was it arranged?"

"A restaurant in Laris's area. You know I can't be more specific--"

"Which floor?"

"Huh?"

"Which floor?"

This earned me a quizzical look. "The main floor."

"Right," I said. "And a restaurant, not a tavern. Okay. And you didn't discuss it with him personally, did you?"

"Certainly not."

"So you don't even know who the job came from?"

"Well... not technically, I suppose. But I assumed--" She stopped, and her eyes grew wide. "Then who--?"

"Later," I said. "We'll get to that. It isn't what you think--I think. Give me a moment." She nodded.

"
Kragar.
"

"
Yes, Vlad?
"

"
Our friend the tavern keeper--I would like him to become dead.
"

"
But boss, he--
"

"
Shut up. Finalize him.
"

"
Whatever you say, Vlad.
"

"
That's right. Whatever I say.
" I thought for a moment. "
Have Shoen do it--he's reliable.
"

"
Okay.
"

That's the trouble with not having any button-men: you have to do all the dirty work yourself.

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"Lord Morrolan, I must insist."

I leaned back in my chair. "The next question," I said, "is why they--Cawti? What is it?" She was staring at me through slitted eyes.

"He set us up," she said. "Or someone did."

"Hmmm. You're right. I was so involved in my problem that I didn't see it from your end."

"You said I was wrong before, when it occurred to me that someone else had done it. Why?"

"We got the information from one of Laris's people. That means that he must have had a hand in it."

"You're right. So it was him."

"But
why,
Cawti? Why does he want me to think he's after me?"

"I'll ask you another one," she said. "Why use
us?
"

"Well," I said, "it was certainly convincing."

"I suppose. When I tell Norathar about this--" she stopped, and a strange look came over her face.

"What is it?"

"I can't tell Norathar about this, Vladimir. She's the Dragon Heir now, or soon will be. If she gets involved in Jhereg activities at this point, she'll lose her position. I can't do that to her. I wish I hadn't told her about the earlier attempt on you."

"Mmmm," I said.

"So it's you and me. We'll find that bastard, and--"

"How? He's vanished. He's protected against sorcery traces and even blocked against witchcraft. I know; I've tested."

"We'll find a way, Vladimir. Somehow."

"But why? What is he after?"

She shrugged, took out a dagger, and started flipping it. My breath caught for a moment, watching her. It was as if she were a female version of me--"Okay," I continued, "what are the anomalies? First, hiring a team of assassins with the kind of reputation you and Norathar have, just to pull off a bluff. Second, doing it in such a way that you two find out and are still alive. He must have known that you wouldn't be pleased about this, and--"

"No," said Cawti. "The only reason I'm alive is that Norathar refused to speak to Aliera unless she revivified me. And the only reason Norathar is alive is that Aliera was convinced she was a Dragonlord and wanted to hear her story." She chuckled.

"Norathar wouldn't talk to her anyway."

"I see," I said softly. "I hadn't known that. Well then, if this
was
his plan, he could have pretty much counted on you two being--That's it, then."

"What?"

"Just a minute. Is it? No, that doesn't make sense, either. Why...?"

"What is it, Vladimir?"

"Well, what if the
point
was to kill you and Norathar? But that doesn't make sense." She thought about it for a minute. "I agree; it doesn't. There are other ways to have killed us. And why continue the bluff after it failed?"

"I agree, but... could Laris know about Norathar's background?"

"I don't see how. I suppose it's possible, but why would he care?"

"I don't know. But look: the part of this that could most reasonably be a slip is that you and Norathar are still alive. So the only thing that
should
have been accomplished, so far, is the deaths of you two. Now of the two of you, it makes the most sense that someone would want Norathar killed, and it probably has to do with her background. What if we assume that's the case and go from there. What does that get us?"

"It still doesn't explain the war on you. Why not just kill her? Or, if he wants to be devious, give us the job of killing you and hire someone else to finalize us there?" I nodded. "There's more to this than I can see," I admitted. "I know just the person we're going to want to talk to about it."

"Who?"

"What Dragonlord do you know of with the most interest right now in who the heir is?

Who could have set this whole thing up, just to have Norathar dead, then revivified, then made the Dragon Heir? And maybe make attempts on my life just to make things look good? Who is it who most wants to find a new heir to the throne?" She nodded. "Aliera."

"I'm going to arrange a teleport," I said.

Cawti and I leaned on each other for support. We stood in the courtyard of Castle Black, which floated above a small village about 175 miles northeast of Adrilankha. The tip of Dzur Mountain could be seen to the east, which was a more pleasant view than looking down provided.

"I'm sick," I remarked conversationally.

Cawti nodded.

"
The couple that heaves together, cleaves together.
"

"
Shut up, Loiosh.
"

Cawti chuckled. I glanced at her sharply.

"
Loiosh, did you say that to her, too?
"

"
Shouldn't I have?
"

"
You shouldn't have said it at all. But that isn't what I meant. It's just.. .interesting.
" By then our stomachs had settled down a bit; we approached the doors. They opened, displaying a wide hallway and Lady Teldra. She bestowed compliments upon us, during which we learned that Aliera was with Morrolan in the library. I told her we could find our own way. We went up the stairs, not stopping, as I usually did, to look at the artwork, and clapped at the door to the library.