“What about him?”
“Do you know him?”
“We’ve met. I don’t send him salutations on the new year. How does he fit into this?”
“He’s the only Council member I’ve heard of with a connection to the Left Hand.”
“He has a ... what is his connection?”
“Triesco.”
I could see the name register. “I see. Yes. That would do it. What’s the connection? Family?”
“His mistress.”
“Oh, grand. What do you know of her?”
“She’s a sorceress, born into the House of the Athyra, left it and became a Jhereg some years before the Interregnum.”
“Why?”
“For love.”
“Oh good grief,” said Kiera.
“Yeah.”
“This Triesco is, I take it, high up in the Left Hand?”
“I would imagine, but I know pretty much nothing of their structure. In any case, it’s another name to dig at.”
“Dig at?”
“I’ve been spending time at the Imperial Library, trying to figure out what’s—”
“That’s where you’ve been hiding? In the Imperial Library?”
“Well, not hiding exact—”
She threw her head back and laughed. “Vlad, you are priceless.”
“Uh, okay, what am I missing here?”
“Oh, nothing at all, I’m sure.”
“Kiera—”
“Aside from the idea of you just gallivanting across the Chain Bridge, or whichever one you use, twice a day—”
“I’m in disguise, you know.”
“—you can’t have failed to notice that Imperial Library pretty much stares at the Jhereg Wing of the Palace.”
I shrugged. “No one who matters ever uses that wing anyway. Stop grinning, Kiera.”
“I’ll try.”
“You—”
“I’m just admiring, Vlad. The Imperial Library, forsooth.”
I shrugged.
“I take it, at least, that it’s been productive?”
“I’d say so, yes. I mean, I learned about the power struggle in the Jhereg, and the connection between Terion and Triesco.”
“Good. So, what do you need?”
A list began to form in my head, but not one I was inclined to share with Kiera. “Mostly,” I said, “someone to kick ideas around with.”
“I can do that. Start kicking.”
She was in the chair, so I sat on the bed. “Okay, then. We know there is a power struggle within the Jhereg—the Right Hand—and we know that the Bitch Patrol is involved. We’re pretty sure that this Triesco is trying to see to it that Terion gets the head seat on the Council. So, the question is, how does the Left Hand being involved in South Adrilankha help Terion in his maneuvering?”
She shook her head. “I think you have it backward.”
“Oh?”
“South Adrilankha is the price Terion is paying for the support of the Left Hand.”
I frowned. “I hadn’t thought of that. Payment in advance?”
“That’s the usual method.”
“True. That’s going to create conflict in the Jhereg—I mean, the Right Hand—and in South Adrilankha. And I have no idea if it’ll do anything to the Left Hand.”
“No more do I.”
“But the conflict in South Adrilankha itself might create an opening for me. I can do things here that most Jhereg can’t.”
“What sort of things do you mean?”
“I don’t know yet; I don’t know enough about what’s going on. But something could open up. I need information sources.”
“For South Adrilankha, I can’t help with that.”
“I understand.”
I considered what she’d told me. “Okay, then the question becomes, exactly how is the Left Hand, or maybe just Triesco, helping Terion? And, secondly, what does this have to do with the sorceress attacking me? Oh.”
“Oh?”
“Well, I got a piece of that.”
“Yes. Now that I think of it, me too. The Jhereg wants you badly enough that Terion delivering your head will put him in a good position.”
“Yeah. Or else it was part of the deal to begin with. Either way, it means that sorceress was planning to kill me. Good. That makes me feel better.”
“It does?”
“Yeah, a little anyway.”
“Uh, you’ll have to explain that to me.”
“I haven’t told you what Daymar learned.”
“Daymar? Yes, I remember him. What did he learn?” I told her.
“Okay,” she said. “Yes. That makes sense. And the sorceress is called Crithnak?”
I nodded.
“I should see what I can learn about her.”
“I would certainly appreciate that. Then, I have to see how I can get her to attack me on ground of my choosing.”
Kiera frowned. “Get her to attack you?”
“Why, yes,” I said innocently. “Sethra Lavode once told me that defending is stronger than attacking.”
“Ah. I see.” Her face gave away nothing. “Well, I wouldn’t know, but I imagine that, first of all, she was speaking tactically, not strategically. And, second, that she would tell you that this depends on the particular tactics involved at the time. She might mention that there are times—such as when offensive battle spells have acquired an advantage over defensive battle spells—that the reverse is true.”
“Oh. You think she’d say that?”
“I’m just guessing, but yes.”
“I’ve never been clear on the difference between strategy and tactics anyway.”
“Haven’t you? Tell Sethra that. She’ll probably make you a general.”
“Because of what I don’t know?”
“Because you don’t have the preconceptions that tactics are always tactics, strategy is always strategy, and the one never turns into the other.”
“I didn’t realize they did turn into one another.”
“But you didn’t assume they don’t, which is a problem Dragons tend to have. Strategy only remains strategy, apart from tactics, in our heads. Once you get into battle, into war, they may turn into one another at any time. Dragons often have trouble with that. That’s why Dragons always try to recruit a few Dzur. Or, at any rate, that’s what I think Sethra would tell you.”
“At which point Sethra would have lost me entirely.”
“When a Dzur sees an opening, he’ll take it.”
“And Dragons don’t?”
“Some do. But too often they get an idea into their heads and just plow through with it, regardless of what the obstacles are, or if a better way has appeared.”
“I think of Dzur as just charging in, no matter what.”
“They do that, too, but in different ways. The Dzurlord will charge into a fight without thinking, because they do their thinking in the middle of the fight.”
“I’m not sure if you can call that thinking.”
“Maybe. Sethra would tell you it’s the purest form of thinking.”
“Well. Good thing Sethra isn’t here. I never win arguments with her.”
I considered Morrolan and Aliera and what Kiera had told me about preconceptions. After a moment, I decided to file it away for future thought. I said, “Dzur are more complex than they appear.”
“Yes.”
“But then, everyone is.”
“You’ve changed, Vlad.”
“Have I?”
“Yes. You talk different. You, I don’t know. You’re different.”
“Maybe. I suppose it was going back East. That was—”
“You went back East?”
“Yeah. Scouting for Sethra the Younger.”
She gave me a courtesy smile and said, “How was it?”
“It managed to be nothing like I expected. Which was odd, since I went in with no expectations.”
“What happened?”
I let my memory drift for a moment, then said, “I lost a finger, and gained ...”
“Hmmm?”
“Nothing. Another time.”
Kiera nodded. “One more thing.”
“Yes?”
“There’s another who wishes to know if you need his help.”
“Anoth—oh. Mario?”
She nodded.
“Not yet,” I said. “Perhaps soon, though.”
She stood up. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“You really shouldn’t risk—”