“Business?”
“I suppose. But I didn’t pick up any details.”
“Were you able to tell if she was trying to kill me?”
“Who?”
I stared at him.
“I mean,” he said. “Do you mean Crithnak, or her sister?”
“Her sister.”
“Sorry, I wasn’t able to tell. It wasn’t going through her mind that way. I can only pick up what she’s—”
“All right. I wonder—”
“Hmmm?”
“Well, yesterday, someone came after me. Appeared out of nowhere. I killed her, but it wasn’t Morganti.”
He tilted his head at me. “I don’t suppose you can make a mistake about something like that?”
“You mean, make a mistake about it being Morganti?”
“Yes.”
“Uh, not likely.”
He glanced at the hilt of Lady Teldra protruding from my belt. “You didn’t use, uh, that, then?”
“Actually, I did. But she—that is, the weapon—never came within fifty feet of the sorceress who attacked me.”
“So?”
There was a wealth of information contained in that “So?”and most of it consisted of things I didn’t want to know. “You mean, Lady Teldra could have destroyed her soul from a distance?”
“Certainly, if the right combination of circumstances existed.”
“Even if I didn’t tell her to?”
“Did you tell her not to?”
I glared at him. “Okay, what constitutes the right combination of circumstances?”
“Hmmm. Good question.”
“Thanks. I was proud of it.”
He frowned at me. “Vlad, are you angry?”
“No, I’m overwhelmed with joy and love for all humanity, but I’m working very hard to conceal it.”
“That was sarcasm, right?”
“Right.”
“Okay. Are you angry with me?”
I sighed. “Yes, but I shouldn’t be. I should be just angry in general. I’ll work on that. In the meantime—”
He nodded. “To answer your question as best I can, it has to do with the exact nature of the weapon, and with, well ... I presume this sorceress cast a spell at you?”
I tasted my own fear again as I remembered standing in that alley, holding Lady Teldra and staring at the sorceress as she—“Yes,” I said.
“Then it has to do with the nature of the spell. If it was one that opened a channel through the etherium, and there was nothing preventing reverse influx, then it would be possib—”
“You understand, Daymar, that I have no idea what you just said?”
He blinked. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t.”
“What’s the short version?”
“There’s no way to tell for sure, but it is possible that your weapon was able to take her soul because of the spell she cast at you.
“Well.” I swallowed. “That’s wonderful.”
Daymar slowly rose, until he was floating, cross-legged, a foot or so off the ground again.
“Feeling better?” I asked.
He nodded.
I let out a long, slow breath. “Okay. Where was I?”
“You were just using a Morganti weapon on a sorceress.”
“Yeah, I guess I was.”
“Well, Boss, you could explain that you didn’t really mean it.”
“Now isn’t the time, Loiosh.”
“Sorry.”
“What you said about asking her not to ...”
“Yes?”
“How do I do that?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know. I’m told it can be done, but—”
“Okay. So this ... what was her name?”
“Crithnak.”
“Yeah. This Crithnak wants to kill me because I killed her sister.”
“Because you destroyed her soul.”
I shuddered. “Okay. And she tried to locate me?”
“Yes. It was very difficult to block.”
“How was she doing it?”
“Pretty much, pure psychic energy.”
“Oh. I thought there wasn’t anyone as good as you at that.”
“That’s what I thought too.”
“Did it hurt your feelings?”
“A little.”
I sighed. “Okay, now what?”
“Hmmm?”
“Sorry, was mostly talking to myself. Uh, thanks for all your help.”
“Of course.”
“May I buy you a drink?”
He shook his head. “I think I’ll be heading back home.”
I nodded. “Where do you live, anyway?”
“Hmmm? Loiosh knows.”
“Yes, you told him, but he’s never told me.”
Daymar laughed, which didn’t happen often. Then he vanished, leaving me to contemplate many things.
I drew Lady Teldra and studied the elegant lines of the slim, dark blade. “Did you really do that?” I asked her. She didn’t answer. I put her back in the sheath. Loiosh nuzzled my neck. She had destroyed someone’s soul.
No, I had destroyed someone’s soul. It wasn’t the first time, but the other times I’d been paid a whole lot of money, and had reason to believe it was justified, at least by the standards of the Jhereg.
This was different.
What would Cawti say? What would Aliera say?
Why did I care what Aliera would say?
“Take some time, Boss.”
“Hmmm?”
“Take some time. Get over it.”
“I’m not sure it’s that easy.”
“I know. Take some time anyway.”
It seemed like good advice. I lay down on the bed with the intention of taking some time, but after about a minute I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I got up. Inactivity isn’t one of my favorite things.
I paced around the room for a bit, but the room wasn’t nearly big enough to pace in effectively.
“We going out, Boss?”
“Yeah. I need to walk.”
They went out the window, I went out the door.
Walking around while people were trying to kill me and my head was filled with things other than how to avoid them probably wasn’t all that smart, but it’s something I’ve done before. This time, at any rate, I knew I’d be hard to find, and I had Loiosh and Rocza flying around and keeping an eye on me.
In any case, I got away with it; I spent a couple of hours tromping aimlessly around South Adrilankha without anyone trying to kill me, or, indeed, taking any notice of me.
At one point, I found myself back again at the place where my grandfather had lived for so many years, but I didn’t stop. I thought about picking up some food, then realized I wasn’t hungry. I tried to remember when I last ate, and, after working it out, decided it was probably a bad sign and I should eat something anyway.
I picked up some food at one of the stands and ate a bit while I walked. I tossed the rest into an alley for Loiosh and Rocza, who enjoyed it more than I did. I remember an old woman walking past me, wearing an off-white knitted scarf over her head, and thick, heavy shoes. Three or four children went running past me. Old people and children; you didn’t seem to see either one in most of Adrilankha; in the Easterners’ quarter, it seemed like they were the only ones around.
I walked past the shops of those who were wealthy by the standards of South Adrilankha, and the carts and booths of those who were not. I stopped occasionally, pretending to be interested in something, then moved on.
I wondered if I was the only guy in history to destroy someone’s soul without even being aware of it. That would be a first, wouldn’t it? I suddenly thought of Napper, whom I had watched fall to a Morganti weapon in the middle of a battle. I’d known him, and even liked him, and he hadn’t deserved to die that way. And neither had this sorceress of the Left Hand whom I had killed, and destroyed, and to whom I had forever denied Deathgate and rebirth.
“You’ll pay for that.”
It took me a moment to realize that the voice was real, and not in my head. I focused on the fellow talking to me, and remembered I was still Sandor.
“I beg your pardon?”