“What I’m telling you is that sometimes it does.”
“Um. That would be when the Iorich are near the top of the Cycle?”
She nodded.
“Okay. And what happens the rest of the time?”
“What passes for justice is the result of machinations among the nobles.”
“That sounded like it should have made sense.”
She chuckled and Tukko appeared with a small glass of something clear. She threw it down like a soldier and nodded. “I know what you mean.”
“Maybe you could—”
“The Empire perpetuates itself. It protects the nobles who support it, and the machinery of state it needs to keep itself going. Anyone who threatens those things gets ground up.”
“Except during an Iorich reign?”
She nodded.
“The Iorich reign must be an interesting time.”
“Follows the Jhereg, you know.”
“Oh, right. So they have plenty to keep themselves busy.”
She nodded.
“So then,” I said. “What did Aliera do that threatened the Empire?”
“Nothing,” she said.
“Nothing?”
“Wrong place at the wrong time, if you want to call it that. Or, she was convenient. Or something.”
“Sethra, are you drunk?”
“A little.”
Okay. Well. This was a new one for me. I wasn’t exactly sure how to deal with it. The most powerful sorceress in the world: sloshed. Aren’t there laws against that sort of thing?
“Sethra, are you saying that to defend Aliera is to attack the Empire?”
“I thought that was obvious.”
Maybe I should get drunk, too.
“And that’s why none of Aliera’s friends will step in?”
“She’s pretty much forbidden it.”
“Morrolan must be about ready to burst.”
“He’s not doing well.”
I nodded. “So that’s where I come in. But, okay, I still don’t see why the Empress chose Aliera to do this to.”
“Who would you suggest?”
“Sethra, there must be hundreds, thousands of people who are violating some law that can be used to distract attention from whatever the Empress wants people not to notice.”
“Not really,” she said. She drew her finger through a spot in the air in front of her, and a small slash of white light remained. “Aliera is widely known, even among the Teckla, as witness the fact that you heard about it from wherever you were.” She made another slash next to the first. “She is widely known to be a friend of the Empress.” She made a third slash—I need to learn how to do that. “It’s common knowledge that the Empire turns a blind eye to her activities. Who else can all that be said of?”
I felt myself scowling. “Yeah, all right. So it’s on me. How do I do it?”
“I understand the advocate you found is very good. Rely on him.”
“He is?”
“Within his specialty.”
“That’s good to know. He’s got me—you know what he’s got me doing.”
“Yes. It seems wise.”
“I’m going to have to speak to Norathar.”
“Oh,” she said. Then, “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“All right,” she said after a moment. “I’ll arrange it.”
“Thank you.”
I drank some more wine without tasting it. We sat there until the comfortable silence became uncomfortable. Then I said, “Sethra, who else are you?”
“Hmmm?”
“I mean, you must have other, ah, identities, besides—”
“Oh. No one you’ve ever met. Or heard of, I imagine.”
“It must be difficult.”
“Sometimes. Sometimes it’s the only fun I ever have.”
I nodded. I wanted to ask her about some of the other people she was, but it was pretty obvious she didn’t want to talk about it, so I finished my wine and fell silent.
A little later she said, “Norathar has agreed to see you.”
“When?”
“Now, if it’s convenient.”
“Convenient,” I said. “Heh. All right. Later, I’d like. . .”
She frowned. “What?”
“Nothing. I’m going to see Norathar. After that, I think I’d like some food.”
She looked away. “Valabar’s is watched constantly.”
“So I’d assumed. I was thinking about somewhere safer. Like, say, the Punctured Lung.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know it,” she said.
“Sorry, Jhereg slang. The Punctured Jug.”
“Ah. Yes, by Clover Ring.”
“It’s Jhereg owned, so it’s safe. Niscan used to eat there when half the city was walking around with embalming oil for him.”
She nodded. “As long as it’s safe. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Kind of you to say.” I stood up and nodded.
“I’ll do the teleport,” she said.
How do you ask the Enchantress of Dzur Mountain if she’s too drunk to manage a teleport safely? Answer: You don’t.
“Thanks,” I told her.
Iorich
INTERLUDE: MEMORY
It came back sharp and clear, all the edges distinct, the colors vivid, even the sounds echoing in my ears. I had stood there, looking at where she lived then, and unable to speak. I had just finished proving I wasn’t a hero. Kragar came along that time, to provide moral support or something, but had waited a bit down the street so I could meet the boy by myself first.
She invited me in.
“Where is—?”
“It’s his nap time.”
“Oh.”
“He’ll be up again in a bit.”
We sat and talked about nothing for a while. Then there was a sound in the next room like a cat whose tail has been stepped on, and my heart did a thing.
“I’ll be right back,” said Cawti.
Across from me was psiprint of Noish-pa, looking haughty and forbidding, which shows you how false psiprints can be. It was a long two or three minutes before she returned.
A toddler toddled behind her. He wore short pants and a gray frock, and his dark hair was neatly brushed. His eyes were huge and reminded me of Cawti’s. She said, “Vlad, this is your father.”
The boy stared at me for a moment, then turned and pressed himself against Cawti’s legs. She gave me an apologetic smile. “He’s bashful around strangers,” she said. I nodded. “Just ignore him,” she said. “He’ll come around.”
Ignore him. Yeah. “All right,” I said.
“Come on, Vlad. Shall we find your turtle?”
He nodded into her knees. She took his hand and led him over to a long, reddish wooden box under the window. I knew that box; it had once held weapons. Now, it seems, it held a cloth turtle stuffed with I know not what.
I expected him to hug it, but he didn’t; he walked into a corner, sat down, and began studying it. Cawti sat on the edge of a short couch I didn’t recognize and picked up her glass. We watched him.
“What’s he doing?” I asked in a low tone.
“Figuring out how it’s put together,” she said.
“Oh. Is it that difficult?”
“It’s a sort of puzzle. The cloth folds over in certain ways to make a turtle, and if you unfold it right you get something else. The first one was a lyorn, the second a dayocat. I don’t know what this one is. I guess we’ll find out.”
I smiled. “He solved the first two?”
“Quick.”
I smiled more. “Where did you find the toy?”
“A little girl makes them, and brings them around. I don’t know why, but she seems harmless.”
“A little girl? Does she have a name?”
“Devera.”
I nodded.
“Do you know her?” she asked.
“Um. Yes and no. But you’re right; she wouldn’t hurt him.”