The Book of Jhereg (38 page)

“I don’t know.”

He shook his head. “We’re learning too slow. He’s staying ahead of us. We can’t keep this up.”

“By Barlen’s scales, I know it! But what should we do?”

He looked away. He didn’t have any better idea than I did.

“
Don’t sweat it, boss
,” said Loiosh. “
You’ll think of something
.”

I was pleased someone was feeling optimistic.

H
ERE’S A DISMAL THOUGHT
for you: it seems that every friend I have almost killed me once. Morrolan, for example. I’d hardly been running my area for three weeks when he decided to hire me for a job. Now, I don’t work for people outside of the organization. I mean, why should I? Are they going to back me up if I get caught? Can I count on them to pay my legal fees, bribe or threaten witnesses, and, above all, keep their mouths shut? Not a chance.

But Morrolan wanted me for something, and he found such a unique way of hiring me that I was filled with admiration. I expressed my admiration in such glowing terms that he nearly took my head off with Blackwand, the infantry battalion disguised as a Morganti sword.

But these things pass. Eventually, Morrolan and I became good friends. Good enough, in fact, that he, a Dragonlord, had given me a loan to carry on a Jhereg war. But were we good enough friends that he’d do so twice in three days?

Probably not.

It’s been my experience that, just when things look bleakest, they continue to look bleak.

“
I guess this is my day for dismal thoughts, Loiosh
.”

“
Check, boss
.”

I teleported from my apartment to a spot just outside of the office building, and went inside without waiting for my stomach to settle. Wyrn was already standing in the street waiting for me, and Miraf’n was by the door.

“How did it go?” I asked.

“Done,” said Wyrn.

“Okay. After this, you two might want to make yourselves scarce for a couple of days.”

Miraf’n nodded; Wyrn shrugged. The three of us went into the shop, and past it into the suite of offices.

“Good morning, Melestav. Is Kragar in yet?”

“I didn’t see him. But you know Kragar.”

“Yeah. Kragar!”

I went into my office and found that there were no messages waiting for me. That meant no new disasters, anyway.

“Uh, boss?”

“Wha—? Good morning, Kragar. Nothing new, I see.”

“Right.”

“Anything from Temek?”

“Narvane is back working with him. That’s all.”

“Okay. I—”

“
Boss!
”

“
Temek! We were just discussing you. You have something?
”

“
Not exactly. But listen: I was doing some snooping around Potter’s Market and Stipple Road, and stopped in this little klava hole to listen to the gossip, and this old Teckla comes up to me, some guy I’d never seen before, right? And he says, ‘Tell your boss that Kiera has something for him. She’ll meet him in the back room of the Blue Flame in one hour. Tell him that.’

“
He got up and walked out. I followed him, not ten steps behind, but he was gone when I stepped outside. Anyway that’s it. I think it may be a setup, boss, but
—”

“
When did it happen?
”

“
About two minutes ago. I looked for the guy, then got in touch with you
.”

“
Okay. Thanks. Get back to work
.”

I folded my hands and thought about it.

“What was it, Vlad?”

I related the conversation to him. He said, “Kiera? Do you think he meant Kiera the Thief?”

I nodded.

“It must be a setup, Vlad. Why would—”

“Kiera and I have been friends for a long time, Kragar.”

He looked startled. “I didn’t know that.”

“Good. Then chances are, Laris doesn’t. And that means this is probably straight.”

“I’d be careful, Vlad.”

“I intend to be. Can you get some people over there, right now, to look it over? And have a teleport block set to keep everyone out?”

“Sure. Where did you say?”

“The Blue Flame. It’s on—”

“I know. Hmmm. You ‘worked’ there about a year and a half ago, didn’t you?”

“How the hell did you hear about that?”

He gave me an inscrutable smile. “There’s something else,” he said.

“Yeah?”

“The owner is into us for a hundred and fifty. I’ll bet he’s going to be real cooperative, if we approach him right.”

“I wonder if Kiera knew that?”

“Could be, boss. She, as they say, gets around.”

“Yeah. Okay. We’ve got about fifty minutes. Get to work.”

He left. I chewed on my thumb for a moment.

“
Well, Loiosh, what do you think?
”

“
I think it’s straight, boss
.”

“
Why?
”

“
Just a feeling
.”

“
Hmmm. Well, since it’s your job to have feelings, I guess I’ll go with it. But if you’re wrong, and they kill me, I’m going to be very disappointed in you
.”

“
I’ll bear that in mind
.”

* * *

Miraf’n stepped outside first, followed by Loiosh, then by Wyrn. I came next, with Varg and Glowbug after me. Loiosh flew in high circles, gradually moving ahead of us.

“
All clear, boss
.”

“
Good
.”

All of this to walk one short block.

When we reached the Blue Flame, which was stuck between a pair of warehouses as if it were trying to hide, Glowbug went in first. He came back, nodded, and Loiosh and Varg went in, with me following. The lighting in the Flame was too dim for my taste, but I could still see well enough. There were four booths against the walls on either side, two tables of four in the middle, and three deuces in between. At a far booth, facing me, was a Jhereg named Shoen, whom Kragar had hired.

Shoen was one of those free-lance types who can do just about anything, and do it well. He was small, maybe six feet six inches, and compact. His hair was slicked back, like Varg’s. He ran muscle, hustled a little loan business, did some “cleaning,” sometimes ran shareba games—at one time or another he’d done damn near everything. For a while, he even worked as an organization contact in the Imperial Palace. He certainly did “work”—in fact, he was one of the more dependable assassins I knew of. If he weren’t so addicted to gambling, or if he were a better gambler, he’d have made enough to retire on years ago. I was very pleased that we had him on our side.

Sitting alone at a deuce on the other side was a young kid (maybe three hundred) named Chimov. He had been in the organization for less than ten years, but had already “worked” at least twice. This is considered good. (I did better, but I’m an Easterner.) His hair was black, straight, and cut neatly at ear level. His face had a sharpness reminiscent of the House of the Hawk. He didn’t talk much, which the Jhereg considers very good for someone his age.

All in all, I felt quite well protected as I sauntered into the back room. Wyrn, Miraf’n, and Loiosh checked it out in front of me. The room had one large, long table, ten chairs, and was empty.

I said, “Okay, you two, take off.”

Wyrn nodded.

Miraf’n looked doubtful. “You sure, boss?”

“Yes.”

They left. I sat down in one of the chairs and waited. The only door into the
room was closed, there were no windows, and there was a teleport block around the building. I wondered how Kiera would get in.

Two minutes later I was still wondering, but it was academic.

“Good morning, Vlad.”

“Damn,” I said. “I would have seen you coming in, but I blinked.”

She chuckled, gave me a courtesy, and kissed me warmly. She sat down at my right. Loiosh landed on her shoulder and licked her ear. Kiera scratched under his chin.

“So, what did you want to see me about?”

She reached into her cloak and removed a small pouch. She deftly opened it and gestured. I held out my hand, and a single blue-white crystal fell into it. It was perhaps a third of an inch in diameter. I turned and held it up to a lamp.

“Very nice,” I said. “Topaz?”

“Diamond,” she said.

I spun back to see if she were joking. She wasn’t. I studied it again.

“Natural?”

“Yes.”

“Including the color?”

“Yes.”

“And the size?”

“Yes.”

“Guaranteed?”

“Yes.”

“I see.” I spent another five minutes or so studying the thing. I’m not a lapidary, but I know something about gems. I could detect no flaws.

“I assume you’ve appraised her. What’s she worth?”

“Open market? Maybe thirty-five thousand if you look around for a buyer. Twenty-eight or thirty on quick sale. A cleaner would give at least fifteen—if he’d touch the deal at all.”

I nodded. “I’ll give you twenty-six.”

She shook her head. I was startled. Kiera and I never bargained. If she offered me something, I gave her the best price I could, and that was that.

But she said, “I’m not selling it. It’s yours.” Then, “Close your mouth, Vlad; you’re creating a draft.”

“Kiera, I . . .”

“You’re welcome.”

“But
why?
”

“What a question! I’ve just handed you a fortune, and you want to know why?”

“
Yeah. Shut up, boss
.” Loiosh licked her ear.

“You’re welcome, too,” she said.

It suddenly occurred to me, looking at the stone, that I’d seen either her, or her cousins, before. I looked at Kiera. “Where did you get this?” I asked.

“Why in the world would you want to know that?”

“Tell me, please.”

She shrugged. “I had occasion to visit Dzur Mountain recently.”

I sighed. That’s what I’d thought. I shook my head and held the stone out to her. “I can’t. Sethra’s a friend of mine.”

Then Kiera sighed. “Vlad, I swear by the Demon Goddess that you are harder to help than Mario is to sneak up on.” I started to speak, but she held up her hand. “Your loyalty to your friend does you credit, but give me—and her—some credit, too. She can’t help support a Jhereg war anymore than Morrolan can. That didn’t stop Morrolan, did it?”

“How did you—?”

She cut me off. “Sethra knows what became of this stone, though she’d never admit it. All right?”

I was struck speechless once more. Before I could talk, Kiera handed me the pouch. I mechanically put the stone into the pouch, the pouch into my cloak. Kiera leaned over and kissed me. “For an assassin,” she said, “you’re a real sweetheart.” Then she was gone.

* * *

Later that day, Temek reported in with a list of five establishments owned by Laris. I arranged for some wizards to appear in two of them as customers to begin infiltration.
Wizard
, by the way, can mean either a particular kind of very powerful sorcerer, or, in the Jhereg, someone who does any one specific job very well. If you wonder how to tell which is meant—well, so do I.

Anyway, four of the wizards started penetrating two of Laris’s businesses, while Kragar made arrangements for the other places. We hit the first one that evening. Nine toughs, mostly from the House of the Orca and hired for two gold per, descended on the place. Laris had two enforcers there, each of whom got one of our people before he was overpowered. The invaders used knives and clubs on the customers. There were no fatalities, but no one would be wanting to visit that place for a while.

Meanwhile, I hired more of these types to protect my own businesses from similar treatment.

Two days later we hit another one, with excellent results. That evening, Temek reported that Laris had dropped out of sight and was apparently running things from some hidden location.

The next morning Narvane, following up a rumor, found Temek’s body in an alley behind the first place we’d hit. He was unrevivifiable.

* * *

Three days after that, Varg reported that he’d been approached by one of Laris’s people to cooperate in an attempt to get me. Two days later, Shoen found the individual who’d approached Varg, alone. The guy was coming back from his mistress’s flat. Shoen finalized him. A week after that, two of the wizards who were infiltrating one of Laris’s establishments were blown to pieces in the middle of dinner in a small klava hole, by a spell thrown from the next table.

A week later we pulled another raid on one of Laris’s places. This time we
hired twenty-five toughs to help us. Laris had built up his defenses, so six of my people took the trip, but they did the job.

Sometime in there, Laris must have lost his temper. He had to have paid through the nose, but he found a sorcerer who could break through my sorcery protection spells. A week after my raid, my cleaner’s shop went up in flames, along with the cleaner and most of his merchandise. I doubled the protection everywhere else. Two days later, Narvane and Chimov were caught on their way to escort H’noc in to me with his payment. Chimov was quick and lucky, so he was revivifiable; Narvane was not so quick but much luckier, and managed to teleport to a healer. The assassins escaped.

Eight days later, two things happened on the same evening, at nearly the same moment.

First, a wizard sneaked into a building housing a brothel run by Laris, carefully spread more than forty gallons of kerosene, and lit it. The place burned to the ground. The fires were set in front on the second story and in back on the first; no one was even scorched.

Second, Varg came to see me about something important. Melestav informed me; I told him to send Varg in. As Varg opened the door, Melestav noticed something—he still doesn’t know what—and yelled for him to stop. He didn’t, so Melestav put a dagger into his back and Varg fell at my feet. We checked, and found that it wasn’t Varg at all. I gave Melestav a bonus, then went into my office, shut the door, and shook.

Two days later, Laris’s people staged a full-scale raid on my office, complete with burning out the shop. We held them off without losing anyone permanently, but the cost was heavy.

Narvane, who’d taken over from Temek, found one more source of Laris’s income. Four days after the raid on me, we hit it—beat up some customers, hurt some of his protection people, and set fire to the place.