“You going after him?”
“Yep.”
“How?”
“The usual.”
“Vlad, the usual doesn’t involve protection by the Left Hand.”
“They aren’t protecting him, Kragar. They’re just helping him take South Adrilankha.”
“How do you know that?”
I frowned.
Crap.
“Damn you, Kragar.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Before you said that, I thought I had a plan.”
“Uh huh. Like the guy who found his walls were hollow when he saw a chipmunk making a home in them, and said, ‘Damn that chipmunk, I thought I had a nice place until he came along.”
“Yeah. Just like that. I thought I had a plan.”
“Damn good one, too. What exactly is the problem you just discovered?”
“I’m in disguise.”
“So?”
“So the fellow I just tried to smoke out won’t be able to find me.”
“Can you explain that?”
“I’m not sure.”
“All right. So, what’s your next plan?”
“There’s a house in South Adrilankha, on Stranger’s Road. The Left Hand runs their operations from it. I’ve been thinking of walking in there and just seeing how many throats I can cut before they take me down.”
“Hmmm. Been feeling frustrated, have we?”
“A little.”
“How about a backup plan, in case you come to your senses before trying that one.”
“You have something in mind?”
“Nope. Plans are your department. Blowing them up is mine.”
“Okay. Glad to know we have the division of labor figured
He nodded.
Except for him sitting on my side of the desk, it felt a lot like old times. I’d have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t been so busy trying to figure a way out of the mess I’d gotten myself into.
After a few minutes of contemplation, I said, “Things are already in motion. I have to take out Terion. Once his mistress gets shined, then the Left Hand will be after me in addition to everyone else.” I sighed. “It’s sad. “They all want me dead.”
“That’s true.”
“And yet, I’m such a great guy.”
“You are. Everyone says so. Can you tell me why you got involved in this in the first place?”
“Cawti,” I said.
“Oh.”
There were things Kragar and I didn’t talk about it, and Cawti was most of them. He cleared his throat into the moderately uncomfortable silence, and said, “Okay. So, you need a new plan.”
“Actually, maybe just a couple of small modifications to the old one.”
“All right. I can accept that. What do you have in mind?”
“You’ve sold me on one thing: I have to ask you for help.”
He smiled. He looked pleased. Sometimes I wondered about him.
“You want me to find out who on the Council has just gotten upset that his scheme in South Adrilankha has just been broken up.”
“Yes. Can you do it without anyone finding out that you’re working for me?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
I cursed under my breath.
“Anything else?” said Kragar.
“Maybe one other thing.”
“Hmmm?”
“Can you find Terion?”
“I imagine so. It might take a little time.”
“Okay. Just make sure no one knows you’re looking.”
“Just how do you imagine I’ll be able to do that?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never known how you do anything you do. But just be sure.”
He shrugged.
“Dammit, Kragar, don’t you get it? Don’t you have any idea just how big this is? If they know you’re helping me, they will kill you.
“Well—”
“They will kill you, Kragar. I don’t know how they’ll find you, but they’ll manage, and they’ll kill you. I will not wander around with that on my conscience. If you can’t figure a way to find him without it being known that you’re looking, then don’t find him.”
“And you’ll do what, then?”
“I’ll think of something.”
“Right.”
“That isn’t an answer,” I said. “I want your agreement.”
“I don’t work for you anymore,” he said, smirking. “You can’t give me orders.”
I found a use for several of the more creative curses I’d learned from some Orca I’d briefly traveled with. Kragar waited. I said, “I suppose threatening to kill you would be counterproductive.”
He nodded. “And carrying out the threat would be entirely out of line.”
“Yeah.” I drummed my fingers on the arm of my chair.
I leaned back. “Okay. Let’s go back to the beginning and take another look at it.”
He nodded and waited.
“What happens if I kill Terion?”
“He doesn’t get the Council seat. There are rules about dead people—”
“Yeah, yeah. What else?”
“I don’t know who does get it. Probably the Demon. Maybe not.
“What about South Adrilankha?”
“What about it?”
“Who takes it?”
“Without Terion getting the Left Hand involved, then I guess they get out of it. Probably goes as a prize to whoever gets the seat. Or else maybe he gives it to someone else who supported him.”
“Yeah, either of those are reasonable. What else?”
“Well, they can’t try to kill you any more than they already are, so no change there.”
“True enough.”
He frowned. “If you really want my help in figuring this out, you’ll have to give me a better idea of what’s going on.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“You keep saying things like, ‘things are in motion,’ but you don’t say what things.”
I nodded.
“So, you want to tell me?”
“Not especially.”
“Vlad—”
“Okay.” I took a deep breath. “The Left Hand seems to be—”
“Seems to be?”
“Kragar, I’m giving you my best guesses. If you’re going to demand certainty, we need to give it up now.”
“All right.”
“The Left Hand seems to be backing Terion in his bid for the Council, because his mistress is one of them. They—the Left Hand—are trying to take over the action in South Adrilankha, figuring that will tip things in Terion’s favor. With me so far?”
“Uh huh.”
“Okay. Now things get fun.”
“Oh, good. I’ve been waiting for the fun.”
“Well, what happens when you send your forces against a particular part of the enemy’s lines?”
“Vlad, have you been hanging out with Sethra?”
“Okay, sorry. Anyway, because Terion has gotten involved in South Adrilankha. It’s become a battleground.”
“Yes, you mentioned one other was involved. The one I’m supposed to find out about.”
“How do I find you, once I know?”
“Ugh. Good question. There’s a shoemaker named Jakoub. Leave a note with him.”
“You sure he won’t read it?”
“You’re funny.”
“I know. So, you were saying South Adrilankha has become a battlefield; so, while you’re smoking out this guy—”
“Right. And, at the same time, I’ve just given Mario the commission—”
“To kill Terion’s mistress.”
“Yep.”
“So, you figure, you’ll find out who is running that operation in South Adrilankha, and kill Terion, and mess up the Left Hand when Mario kills that sorceress ... uh, and then what?”
“That’s the problem. I’m no longer sure.”
“What if you do all of that, and leave Terion alive?”
“What does that do?”
“Gives you bargaining power.”
“How ... oh, right. Anyone else who’s interested.”
“You have something to give them.”
“That could do it,” I said.
“And it removes the problem of exactly how you get to him before someone gets to you.”
“Yeah, that was a problem I hadn’t solved yet.”
“So we go with it?”
“I admit there’s a lot to be said for it.”
“But?”
“But I’d really like to kill Terion. He’s a bastard.”
“No shortage of those.”