“Panic, bank runs, and—”
“Trade goes overboard in a big way.”
I nodded. “That’s what I didn’t see right away. This isn’t a few slimebags in the Empire lining their pockets, this is the Empire doing what it’s supposed to do—protecting trade.”
He shook his head. “And all of this starting off just because somebody knocked a big-time scam artist in the head.”
“A big-time, extremely wealthy scam artist.”
“Yes. Only one thing.”
“Yes, Vlad?”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Well, this sort of mess isn’t good for anyone, right?”
“Right.”
“So if all this was set off by Fyres’s death, why was he killed?”
I stared off into space for a moment, then I said, “You know, Vlad, that is a very, very good question.”
“Yeah, I thought so. So what’s the answer?”
“I don’t know.”
“And here’s another question: with Stony dead, is the Jhereg still onto me? I mean, are they still breathing down my neck, or do I have a little time to find the answer to the first question?”
I nodded. “That one I think I can find the answer to.”
“I’d appreciate it. What about the other one?”
“We’ll see,” I said. “I’ll be back.”
“I’ll wait here,” he said.
I left the cottage and was instantly in Northport; a quicker teleport than was my custom, but I realized after I performed it that there was a feeling of urgency within me that was still growing.
So I deliberately teleported to a place more than a mile away and made myself walk the rest of the distance so I could calm down. I strolled casually—at least, I did my best to stroll casually—through the narrow, winding streets, where the second-floor balconies almost touched each other and the roofs all but hid the sky, until I arrived at a place I knew. This time Dor was in.
He looked up when I came in, and he seemed afraid. That made me sad. The last thing I want is to inspire fear. I said, “What’s wrong, Dor?”
His brow furrowed, and he said, “You don’t know?”
“No, I don’t, unless it’s about Stony’s death. But I had nothing to do with that.”
“That Easterner did.”
“Perhaps.”
“No perhaps about it. We were able to revivify Raafla, and he told us.”
“I imagine Stony hasn’t been saying much.”
He glared at me. “That isn’t funny. I liked him.”
Liked.
Past tense.
“What do you mean?” I said. “Hasn’t he been revivified?”
“You know damned well—”
“Dor, I know very little ‘damned well’; even less than I’d thought. What are you telling me?”
“He wasn’t revivifiable.”
“He wasn’t? What happened?”
He stared. “You really don’t know?”
“Please tell me, Dor. What happened?”
“The kind of spells assassins always use, that’s what.”
If Vlad had ever used those sorts of spells, I sure didn’t know about it. And he hadn’t said anything ....
“You’d better tell me all about it,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because I’m curious, and because I need to know.”
“If you’re looking for your friend,” he said bitterly, “he’ll be long gone by now.”
“Tell me, please,” I said.
He did so.
His story shook me up enough that I had trouble believing it, so after leaving him there, I used some of my other contacts in Northport to verify it. The details aren’t important, but the story stayed the same. I was convinced, and also confused, but I’d at least answered Vlad’s second question, about whether the Jhereg thought he was still in town.
About Vlad’s first question, why was Fyres killed, I still had no clue, but I returned at once to tell Vlad what I’d learned. When I arrived at the blue cottage, and had said hello to Buddy, I found Vlad sitting near the hearth having a one-sided conversation with Savn.
Vlad looked at me, blinked, and stood up. We moved over to the table in the kitchen and I sat down. Vlad brought me some klava. “The honey is almost gone,” he said. “And we haven’t been stung too badly.”
“Yet,” I said.
He raised his eyebrows.
I said, “Well, Vlad, it goes like this.”
He poured himself a cup, sweetened it, and said, “Not here.”
“All right,” I said.
Vlad and I stepped outside. Loiosh rode on his shoulder and seemed better, but I hadn’t seen him flying yet. Vlad leaned against a tree and said, “Uh-huh?”
“The first item is that, while everyone knows you shined Stony, no one has any idea of the circumstances. They figure he somehow found you and wanted to be there personally for the kill, and you were too quick, or too tough, or too nasty for him. Which means, I suppose, that next time they’ll be even more careful.”
“Next time,” said Vlad, smiling wryly. “I can hardly wait.”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure they told you the truth? I mean, we’re known to be friends, and—”
“Vlad, I didn’t come right out and ask, you know. Trust me.”
“All right.”
“There’s more. Everyone is pretty sure you’ve left town.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s what any of them would do.”
“So, for the moment, I’m safe.”
“Yes. Until you do something stupid.”
“Right. So I’m safe for another five minutes, anyway. All right. Anything else?”
“Yes,” I said. “One more thing: there’s also some speculation that you had it in for Stony personally, and no one knows why.”
He shrugged. “They’re wrong. So what?” Then he looked at me again and said, “All right, let’s have it. Why do they think so?”
“Because otherwise why, in the middle of a fight, would you have taken the time to put the spells on him that make him unrevivifiable?”
“Huh? Oh.”
“Right.”
“Well, now, isn’t that interesting.”
“I thought so.”
“I take it you didn’t disabuse them of the notion?”
“How could I?”
“Good point. Not that it matters; they don’t like me, anyway. What about his associates?”
“All four were extremely dead, as were three of Von-nith’s personal guards who, as they suppose, got in your way. And so was her servant.”
“Shards! All unrevivifiable?”
“Not all, but there’s another interesting point.”
“Go on.”
“Stony was unrevivifiable, and so were all three of the Orca guardsmen, but the Jhereg weren’t, and there were another three of Vonnith’s private guards who weren’t even touched.”
“Did they see what happened?”
“No. It was all inside. Some of the guards were summoned in, and then ...” I let the sentence trail off with a shrug.
“My word,” said Vlad. “What a bloodbath! Jhereg don’t kill like that, Kiera, at least not since prehistory. Only Dragons kill like that, and Dzur, I suppose.”
“You’re right,” I said. “Dragons and Dzur. And also Orca, if there’s a profit in it.”
“Good point,” he said. “Orca. Yes.”
“What are you thinking now?” I said.
“Thinking? I’m not thinking; I’m being angry. I’ll get over it.”
“Vlad—”
“I’ve been hanging around Orca quite a bit lately. Usually, when I get to know people I begin to be more sympathetic with them. You’d have thought that, now that I’ve gotten a chance to know these Orca, I’d have a little more understanding of them. But I don’t. I hate them, Kiera. I hated them when I was a kid, and I hate them now, and I think I always will hate them.”
I started to defend them, then shrugged and said, “So you don’t invite Shortisle to dinner. We still need to—what is it?”
“Shortisle to dinner,” said Vlad. “That’s what’s odd about it—to dinner.”
“Huh?”
“Those notes you stole from Fyres. Here, just a minute.”