They were trying to determine the outcome. They wanted to be the ones to decide who held the top seat on the Council of the Jhereg.
Which, of course, begged the question why.
Because Triesco was Terion’s lover? Was that all there was to it? Could all of this nonsense have its source in nothing but a love affair?
Well, but then, that’s what had gotten me involved, hadn’t it? Well, yes, but I was an Easterner.
Which meant what, exactly?
I mentally scowled and put that thought away for a while, along with the additional and related question of why that sorceress had shown up and done, well, whatever it is she had tried to do to me.
I had been figuring that last to be connected to the Jhereg’s intense, burning desire to make an empty pair of boots out of me, even though it made no sense. It occurred to me now that it could be part of the power play within the Jhereg, only that made even less sense.
I returned to my room from the last meeting, scowling and muttering as I walked.
“Boss!”
I stopped, about forty feet from the entrance to the inn. “What is it?” I was in an inset doorway, my hand on the hilt of Lady Teldra, which was comforting in a couple of different ways. I wasn’t certain of exactly how I got there.
“Someone is in the room. I think. I’m outside, and I smell something.”
“Wonderful. Can you check it out without getting yourself fried?”
“I think so.”
“Don’t take chances. There’s nothing I need to go back there for.”
“Understood. I’ll just sort of peek in the window.”
Two minutes later I pushed the curtain aside, walked into the room, and said, “Hello, Kiera. How did you find me? Did you track Loiosh?”
She stood up and smiled. “I had a friend do it.”
Loiosh flew over from her shoulder to mine. “Sit down,” I said. “You gave me a start.”
“Yes. Sorry. There’s no way to reach you, you know.”
“I know. And I wish it weren’t so easy to find me.”
“It isn’t easy.”
“Still, if your friend can do it—”
“That doesn’t mean someone else can.”
“Maybe.”
“Well, first someone has to think of it, which isn’t as likely as you might think.”
“Actually, it’s a certainty. Someone tried not long ago.”
“Oh.”
“You seem surprised.”
“I am. It requires either a very close knowledge of Loiosh, or some object connected to him. And then it requires a skill in witchcraft. And that’s after even thinking about it, which surprises me to begin with.”
“I know, Kiera. It makes me nervous. Speaking of witchcraft, how is Morrolan?”
“I don’t know him that well.”
I felt myself flushing a little. “When you said witchcraft, I assumed—”
“You were right, but it was a favor for my friend Sethra, who then communicated the results to me.”
“Oh. I see.”
“I’m told that Morrolan is still in mourning for his friend Lady Teldra. He took her death hard.”
“Well, she didn’t die. Exactly.”
Kiera the Thief stole a quick glance at me and didn’t answer. I touched Lady Teldra. It’s all right, she seemed to say. Or else I imagined it. I might have imagined it. I might have imagined—
“The Demon Goddess has been messing with my head, Kiera. My memories, maybe my perceptions, possibly even my, I don’t know, my thinking.”
“Yes. I’m told she’ll do that, now and then, when she needs someone to do something.”
“Oh. Well, that’s all right, then.”
She laughed. “What, Vlad? You don’t accept that there are those who may know what’s best, and use you for the good of everyone?”
“Not hardly,” I said. “Do you?”
“Only when I have no choice.”
“And I have no choice. Yeah. That’s what I love about it.”
“I imagine.”
“Actually, I do have a choice.” I touched Lady Teldra again.
“I suspect, Vlad, that that may not be the best option.”
“For whom?”
While she tried to work out an answer to that, I said, “In any case, that isn’t what you came to see me about. What’s on your mind?”
“Blood, death, friendship, the Jhereg, the Left Hand.”
“Odd. Those are the same things I’ve been thinking about. Care to be more specific?”
“You keep forgetting you have friends, some of whom are willing to help you, and some of whom worry about you.”
“Which are which?”
“I’m almost tempted to answer that, just because I know you don’t want me to.”
“Okay, one for you. But, Kiera, the Jhereg is after me. They want it Morganti. I can’t—”
“I know.”
“—get other people involved in this.”
“What would you do if someone were threatening Morrolan with a Morganti weapon?”
“Laugh at the stupid son-of-a-bitch.”
“Vlad—”
“All right, all right. But—”
“Do you know that Kragar has sent a message to Aliera?” I blinked.
“My word. Has he indeed?”
“He wants to know how to reach you, so he can offer to help.”
“I didn’t think he had that much nerve.”
“He does.”
“I mean, the nerve to risk a snub from Aliera.”
“I knew what you meant.”
“He’s nuts.”
“Maybe.”
“Kiera, he is in the Jhereg. He wouldn’t last three minutes.”
“So am I, and I’m not worried.”
“You should be.”
She smiled.
“Yeah, well, all right. Maybe not.”
“To answer your question, I’m here to see if you need any help.”
I sighed. “I’m not sure. My biggest problem is trying to figure out what’s going on, why the Left Hand is here. And I already asked you about that.”
“Yes. Have you learned anything?”
“There is a sorceress named Crithnak who doesn’t like me very much.”
For just an instant a flicker crossed her face. Either my reading skills are way off, or she knew that name, but then remembered that she wasn’t supposed to know that name.
“What else?”
“Power struggle within the Jhereg.”
She frowned. “Are you sure? I knew that Curithne had died—”
“How?”
“How did I know? Or how did he die?”
“The latter.”
She shrugged. “He was an old man, Vlad. His heart failed.”
“Are you sure?”
“One can never be sure, but I’m pretty well convinced.”
“All right.”
“You hadn’t known about him?”
“No. I’ve been away.”
“Sorry. I should have mentioned something. In any case, I haven’t seen signs of a power struggle; it’s just there isn’t anyone yet who has taken his place. It isn’t like there’s a big hurry; business goes on.”
“It always does. But, yeah, there haven’t been any bodies turning up, but there are signs of various people, including my old friend the Demon, trying to get into position to take his place.”
She frowned. “Are you certain of that?”
“I wouldn’t say certain. I don’t have access to the sources I used to. But I guess I can say there are good indications.”
“I hadn’t known that. They must be keeping things pretty quiet.”
“Yes. No bodies. For a Jhereg power struggle, that counts as pretty quiet. Does it change things?”
“Well, yes. No. I think so.”
“What I can’t figure out is, what that has to do with the Left Hand.”
She sat back and considered.
I said, “Terion.”