Sometime in there, Morrolan had drawn Blackwand—it tells you how messed up my senses were that I hadn’t noticed, still didn’t feel it; all I was really aware of was the sensation of motion, as if something had pulled me from the bottom of a hill and I start up up up rolling and spinning and being everywhere at once and no place at all happening at the same time and time again you’ve been through this before you realize that you’ll never forget everything you thought you knew about moving from one place to another flash of light flickering and still moving past and present and future filled with unknown dangers appearing from everywhere nowhere somewhere somehow what when where was I and how did I get here from there we are slowing down down down stop.
There were four of them; maybe two of them were the same ones we’d seen before, but I couldn’t tell them apart well enough to say. Two were standing, two sitting on what appeared to be an uncomfortable-looking couch. I’d been among humans, Dragaerans, Serioli, cat-centaurs, and gods. One way or another, they were people—but these were things. They looked like things, and I thought of them as things, and I really wanted to put them away like things.
The first bit of bad news was, the things didn’t seem startled by our presence. If we were counting on surprise, we could be in real trouble.
One of the sitting ones was holding something that appeared to be some sort of tube, with projections that fit nicely into its hand. If it was a weapon, we could be in real trouble.
It was clear that two of them, including the one with the tube, were looking at Verra. It was possible that their idea all along was to kill her, and now that we had brought her, the rest of us could simply be disposed of. If that was their thinking, we could be in real trouble.
I had no time, just then, to pay attention to surroundings—I think I noted that we were indoors, and that was about it. Things happened so quickly that I just had no time to note the sort of details that can save your life; we might be in the Jenoine equivalent of someone’s parlor, or of a sorcerer’s laboratory, or the weapon room of their Imperial Guard for all I knew. We might be surrounded by Jenoine food and drink, Jenoine books, or Jenoine death traps. If the latter, we might be in real trouble.
“I think we might be in real trouble, Boss.”
“It’s possible.”
“Let’s do it,” said Morrolan.
There was no time for any other remarks, so we all got to work. 12. Exercising Due Care for the Comfort and Safety of Others
It’s funny, but it didn’t occur to me until much later to think of it in terms of four of them and five of us. None of the ways things could have gone had much to do with numbers. Morrolan and Aliera were the first to move, Great Weapons flashing. The Goddess strode forward, right behind them, leaving Teldra and me standing there for just an instant before I cursed, put my hand on the Morganti dagger, started Spellbreaker swinging in slow circle, and tried to figure out something useful to do. Nothing came instantly to mind.
The two who were sitting remained sitting. One of the others turned its hands over as if asking why we might want to disturb it—Morrolan and Aliera began moving at this one. That left the other one for the Demon Goddess, while Teldra and I were, I guess, just along as witnesses.
It seemed like the opening of some sort of dance—Morrolan and Aliera moved toward either side of the one, who stepped forward as if to place itself between them—in the worst possible position except for letting them both stand behind it. There was a strange grace to its movements. Was it an especially athletic one of its kind? Were they all like that? How can you tell when you’re seeing something typical of a species, and when you’re seeing an interesting individual of that species? Why does my mind always wander like that when I’m frightened and don’t know what to do?
Verra, in the meantime, began to circle to her left with the other Jenoine, who obligingly circled to its left, as if it had no qualms about turning its back to me.
“Careful, Boss. The two sitting ones are watching you.”
I acknowledged the warning. But, still, I had a Morganti dagger; if the thing were willing to actually show me its back how could I resist? Offering a Jhereg your back is like offering a Dzur an insult or an Orca a free piece of merchandise: he’ll find it hard not to take it even if he has no use for it. I kept my hand on the hilt of my dagger, watched, and waited.
Two things happened, then, so close together they were almost simultaneous—one was the sudden realization on my part that the room was shrinking in all directions; in other words, the walls were collapsing inward, very quickly. The other was that Verra laughed. I know that I flinched, I don’t know if any of the others did, and then, just as quickly, the walls stopped collapsing.
“Illusion,” said Loiosh. “Never fooled me for an instant.”
“Yeah. Me, either.” I told him.
Spellbreaker was about a foot and a half long, with rather thick, heavy links; I kept it spinning slowly. Verra and the Jenoine facing her had both stopped. It was, unfortunately, just short of giving me the nice shot at its back I wanted. While both of their eyes faced forward, they were also wide-set—they had, then, better peripheral vision than humans or Dragaerans, and I needed to be aware of that when trying for a back shot.
We trained professionals notice stuff like that.
The Goddess and the Jenoine appeared to have locked gazes, I couldn’t tell if they were engaged in some sort of massive, mystical, magical struggle happening on a level beyond my comprehension, or if they were just having a good old-fashioned stare-down.
Teldra came up to my side; perhaps to share in whatever protection Spellbreaker might give, perhaps just to back me up if I was attacked.
I said “Any ideas, Teldra?” and out of the corner of my eye I saw her shake her head.
“Shallow breaths, Boss.”
“Check, Loiosh.”
My thoughts were still on the Morganti dagger at my side, but I didn’t draw it; wouldn’t know quite what to do with it. My instincts told me to wait and see what happened, that this was not yet my moment.
Then Aliera lunged suddenly with Pathfinder, and Morrolan struck with Blackwand in a downward slanting arc at the same time. Their timing was precise, their coordination perfect. It ought to have been a deadly combination, the more so as the Jenoine made no effort to avoid either attack. It worked perfectly, except for the part where the Great Weapons were supposed to stab or cut the Jenoine; that didn’t happen. Both weapons stopped what appeared to be a fraction of an inch away from their respective targets. Offhand, I didn’t know anything tough enough to withstand the direct attack of a Great Weapon. Nor, in fact, did I want to know any such thing, or even think about it too hard.
Then I realized that whatever had neatly stopped Pathfinder and Blackwand had stopped Aliera and Morrolan as well—they were standing utterly motionless, as if frozen by their weapons’ contact, or near contact, with the Jenoine. That was no good at all.
I get the shakes when I think back on that moment—Aliera e’Kieron and Morrolan e’Drien and Pathfinder and Blackwand held motionless by these things, while Verra, whether she was doing something or not, at least wasn’t casually destroying them the way she ought to be, and, on top of it all, there were those two just sitting there, not even getting involved, as if it weren’t worth their effort. That’s how I feel now. But at the time, all I felt was irritation, especially directed at those two sons of bitches who were sitting on their superhuman godlike asses.
I really wanted to do something to get their attention.