Brust,Steven - Vlad Taltos 02 - Yendi

Yendi

Book 2 in the Vlad Taltos series

By Steven Brust

Yendi

1

"Stay out of sight, in case they get rude."

Kragar says that life is like an onion, but he doesn't mean the same thing by it that I

do.

He talks about peeling it, and how you can go deeper and deeper, until finally you get

to the center and nothing is there. I suppose there's truth in that, but in the years when

my father ran a restaurant, I never peeled an onion, I chopped them; Kragar's analogy

doesn't do much for me.

When I say that life is like an onion, I mean this: if you don't do anything with it, it

goes rotten. So far, that's no different from other vegetables. But when an onion goes

bad, it can do it from either the inside, or the outside. So sometimes you get one that

looks good, but the core is rotten. Other times, you can see a bad spot on it, but if you

cut that out, the rest is fine. Tastes sharp, but that's what you paid for, isn't it?

Dzurlords like to fancy themselves as pantry chefs who go around cutting the rotten

parts out of onions. Trouble is, they generally can't tell the good from the bad.

Dragonlords are good at finding bad spots, but when they find one they like to throw

out the whole barrelful. A Hawklord will find a bad spot every time. He'll watch you

cook the thing, and eat it, and he'll nod sagaciously when you spit it out again. If you

ask why he didn't tell you about it, he'll look startled and say, "You didn't ask."

I could go on, but what's the point? In the House Jhereg, we don't care teckla

droppings about bad spots. We're just here to sell onions.

But sometimes someone will pay me to remove a bad spot. This had earned me thirty-

two hundred gold Imperials that day, and to let the tension drain out I visited the more

or less permanent party at the keep of the Lord Morrolan. I was sort of on his staff, as

a security consultant, which gave me a standing invitation.

Lady Teldra let me in as I recovered from the teleport and I made my way to the

banquet hall. I studied the mass of humanity (I use the term loosely) from the

doorway, looking for familiar faces, and soon spotted the tall form of Morrolan

himself.

Guests who didn't know me watched as I moved toward him; some made remarks

intended for me to overhear. I always attract attention at Morrolan's parties--because

I'm the only Jhereg there; because I'm the only "Easterner" (read: "human") there; or

because I walk in with my jhereg familiar, Loiosh, riding on my shoulder.

"Nice party," I told Morrolan.

"Where are the trays of dead teckla, then?" said Loiosh psionically.

"Thank you, Vlad. It pleases me that you are here."

Morrolan always talks like that. I think he can't help it.

We wandered over to a table where one of his servants was pouring out small

draughts of various wines, commenting on them as he did. I got a glass of red

Darloscha and sipped it. Nice and dry, but it would have been better chilled.

Dragaerans don't understand wine.

"Good evening Vlad; Morrolan."

I turned and bowed low to Aliera e'Kieron, Morrolan's cousin and Dragon Heir to the

Throne. Morrolan bowed and squeezed her hand. I smiled. "Good evening, Aliera.

Any duels, yet?"

"Why yes," she said. "Did you hear?"

"As a matter of fact, no; I was being facetious. You really do have a duel lined up?"

"Yes, for tomorrow. Some teckla of a Dzurlord noticed how I walk and made

remarks."

I shook my head and tsked. "What's his name?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I'll find out tomorrow. Morrolan, have you seen

Sethra?"

"No. I assume she is at Dzur Mountain. Perhaps she will show up later. Is it

important?"

"Not really. I think I've isolated a new e'Mondaar recessive. It'll wait."

"I am interested," said Morrolan. "Would you be pleased to tell me of it?"

"I'm not sure what it is yet..." said Aliera. The two of them walked off. Well,

Morrolan walked. Aliera, who was the shortest Dragaeran I've ever met, levitated, her

long, silver-blue dress running along the ground to hide the fact. Aliera had golden

hair and green eyes--usually. Although she wasn't carrying it now, she also had a

sword that was longer than she was. She had taken the sword from the hand of Kieron

the Conquerer, the head of her line, in the Paths of the Dead. There's a story in there,

too, but never mind.

Anyway, they walked away, and I drew on my link with the Imperial Orb, did a small

sorcery spell, and chilled the wine. I sipped it again. Much better.

"The problem for tonight, Loiosh, is: how am I going to get laid?"

"Boss, sometimes you disgust me."

"Tell me about it."

"Aside from that, if you own four brothels--"

"I've decided I don't like visiting brothels."

"Eh? Why not?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

"All right. Put it this way: sex with Dragaerans feels more than half like bestiality,

anyway. With whores, it feels like paying the... whatever."

"Go on, boss. Finish the sentence. Now I'm curious."

"Oh, shut up."

"What is it about killing someone that makes you so horny, anyway?"

"Got me."

"You need a wife."

"Go to Deathsgate."

"We did that once, remember?"

"Yeah. And I remember how you felt about the giant jhereg there."

"Don't start on that, boss."

"Then shut up about my sex life."

"You brought it up."

There was nothing to say to that, so I let it drop. I sipped my wine again, and felt that

peculiar, nagging sensation of there's-something-I-ought-to-be-thinking-about that

heralds someone trying to reach me psionically. I quickly found a quiet corner and

opened up my mind for contact.

"How's the party, boss?"

"Not bad, Kragar. What's up that can't wait for morning?"

"Your bootblack is here. He's going to be made Issola Heir to the Throne tomorrow,

so he's finishing up his calls."

"Funny. What is it really?"

"A question. Did you open up a new gambling joint in Malak Circle?"

"Of course not. You'd have heard about it long ago."

"That's what I thought. Then there's a problem."

"I see. Some punk thinking we won't notice? Or is somebody trying to muscle in?"

"It looks professional, Vlad. He's got protection there."

"How many?"

"Three. And I know one of them. He's done 'work.'"

"Oh."

"What do you think?"

"Kragar, you know how a chamberpot gets when it isn't emptied for a few days?"

"Yeah?"

"And you know how, when you finally do empty it, there's all that stuff stuck on the

bottom?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, that stuff on the bottom is how I feel about this."

"Gotcha."

"I'll be right over."

I found Morrolan in a comer with Aliera and a tall Dragaeran who had the facial

features of the House of the Athyra and was dressed all in forest green. She looked

down at me, figuratively and literally. It's frustrating being both a Jhereg and an

Easterner--people sneer at you for both reasons.

"Vlad," said Morrolan, "this is the Sorceress in Green. Sorceress, this is Baronet

Vladimir Taltos."

She nodded, almost imperceptibly. I bowed with a deep flourish, dragging the back of

my hand over the floor, bringing it up over my head, and saying, "Gentle lady, I am

every bit as charmed to meet you as you are to meet me."

She sniffed and looked away.

Aliera's eyes were twinkling.

Morrolan looked troubled, then shrugged.

"Sorceress in Green," I said. "I've never met an Athyra who wasn't a sorcerer, and the

green I can see, so I can't say the title tells me--"

"That will be sufficient, Vlad," said Morrolan. "And she isn't--"

"Sorry. I wanted to tell you that something's come up. I'm afraid I'll have to leave." I

turned to the Sorceress. "I'm sorry to do this to you, my dear, but try not to let it ruin

your evening."

She looked back at me and smiled sweetly. "How would you," she said, "like to be a

newt?"

Loiosh hissed.

"I asked you to desist, Vlad," said Morrolan sharply.

I dropped it. "I'll be leaving, then," I said, bowing my head.

"Very well. If there's anything I can do, let me know."

I nodded. Unfortunately for him, I remembered the remark.

Do you know what the single biggest difference between a Dragaeran and an

Easterner is? It isn't that they are so much taller and stronger than we are; I'm living

proof that size and strength aren't that important. It isn't that they live two or three

thousand years compared to our fifty or sixty; in the crowd I hang around with, no

one expects to die of old age anyway. It isn't even that they have a natural link with

the Imperial Orb that allows them to use sorcery; Easterners (such as my late,

unlamented father) can buy titles in the House of the Jhereg, or swear fealty to some

noble, move out to the countryside and become a Teckla--thereby becoming citizens

and getting the link.

No, the biggest difference that I've found is this: a Dragaeran can teleport without

feeling sick to his stomach afterwards.

I arrived in the street outside my office about ready to throw up. I took a few deep

breaths and waited while my gut settled down. I had had one of Morrolan's sorcerers

do the actual spell. I can do it myself, but I'm not very good; a rough landing makes

things even worse.

My offices at this time were on Copper Lane, in back of a small gambling operation,

which was in back of a psychedelic herb shop. My offices consisted of three rooms.

One was a screening room, where Melestav, my receptionist-bodyguard, sat. To his

right was Kragar's office and the files, and behind Melestav was my actual office.

Kragar had a small desk and one hard wooden chair--there wasn't room for anything

else. The screening room had four chairs that were almost comfortable. My desk was

a bit bigger than Kragar's, smaller than Melestav's, and had a well-padded swivel

chair facing the door. Next to the door were two comfortable chairs, one of which

would be occupied by Kragar when he showed up.

I told Melestav to let Kragar know I was in and sat down at my desk to wait.

"Uh, boss?"

"Oh." I sighed as I realized that, once again, Kragar had sneaked in without my seeing

him. He claims that he doesn't do it on purpose--that he's just naturally sneaky.

"What have you found out, Kragar?"

"Nothing I didn't tell you before."

"Okay. Let's go blow some money."

"Both of us?"

"No. You stay out of sight, in case they get rude."

"Okay."

As we went out I ran a hand through my hair. This let me rub my arm against the right

side of my cloak, so I could make sure that various pieces of hardware were in place.

With my left hand I adjusted the collar, letting me check a few more on that side.

Out on the street, I gave a quick look around, then walked the block and a half up to

Malak Circle. Copper Lane is what is called a one-and-a-half-cart street, which makes

it wider than many. The buildings are packed tightly together, and most of them have

windows only on the upper stories. Malak Circle is a turnaround, with a fountain that

hasn't worked as long as I can remember. Copper Lane ends there. Lower Kieron

Road enters from the left as you approach from Copper Lane, and leaves again,

slightly wider, ahead, and to the right.

"Okay, Kragar," I said, "where--" I stopped. "Kragar?"

"Right in front of you, boss."

"Oh. Where is it?"

"First door to the left of the Fountain Tavern. Inside, up the stairs, and to the right."

"Okay. Stay alert."

"Check."

"Loiosh, try to find a window you can look in. If not, just stay in touch."

"Right, boss." He flew off.

I went in, up a narrow stairway with no handrail, and came to the top. I took a deep

breath, checked my weapons once more, and clapped.

The door opened at once. The guy who stood there was dressed in black and gray for

House Jhereg, and had a broadsword strapped to his side. He was damn near seven

and a half feet tall and broader than is usual for a Dragaeran. He loooked down at me

and said, "Sorry, Whiskers. Humans only," and shut the door. Dragaerans often seem

confused about who the "humans" are.

Being called "Whiskers" didn't bother me--I'd deliberately grown a mustache because

Dragaerans can't. But to be shut out of a game that shouldn't even be here without my

permission displeased me immensely.

I quickly checked the door and found that it was bound with sorcery. I gave a flick of

my right wrist and Spell-breaker, two feet of thin gold chain, came into my hand. I

lashed out at the door and felt the spell fail. I put the chain away as the door was flung

open again.

The guy's eyes narrowed and he started moving toward me. I smiled at him. "I'd like

to speak to the proprietor, if I may."

"I see," he said, "that you're going to need help getting down the stairs." He moved

toward me again.

I shook my head. "It's sad that you can't cooperate with a simple request, dead man."

He moved in, and my right sleeve dagger was in my hand. Then I was past him,

ducking under his arms. Six inches of steel were buried, at an upward angle, between

his fourth and fifth ribs, twisted to notch on the sternum. I stepped into the room as I

heard vague moaning and coughing noises from behind me, followed by the sound of

a falling body. Contrary to popular myth, the guy would probably remain alive for

over an hour. But contrary to another popular myth, he would be in shock and so

wouldn't be able to do anything to keep himself alive.

The room was small, with only one window. There were three tables of s'yang stones

in action, one with five players, the other two with four. Most of the players seemed

to be Teckla, a couple of Jhereg, and there was one Tsalmoth. There were two other

Jhereg there, just as Kragar had told me, who seemed to be working for the place.

They were both moving at me quickly, one was drawing his sword. Oh me, oh my.

I put a table between myself and one of them, then kicked it over toward him. At that

moment, the window broke and Loiosh flew straight at the other. I could forget about

that guy for a few minutes, anyway.

The one I'd kicked the table at, scattering coins and stones and customers, stumbled a

bit. I drew my rapier and cut his wrist as his arm was flailing around in front of me.

He dropped the blade, and I stepped in and kicked him between the legs. He moaned

and doubled over. I brought the pommel of my blade down on his head and he

dropped.

I moved to the other one. "Enough, Loiosh. Let him alone, and watch my back."

"Right, boss."

The guy tried to get his blade out as I approached and Loiosh left him, but mine was

already out. I touched his throat with the point and smiled. "I'd like to speak to the

manager," I said.

He stopped moving. He looked at me coldly, with no trace of fear in his eyes. "He's

not here."

"Tell me who he is and you'll live," I said. "Don't, and you'll die."

He remained silent. I moved the point of my blade up until it was opposite his left

eye. The threat was clear: if his brain was destroyed, he wouldn't be in any condition

to be revivified. There was still no sign of fear, but he said, "Laris."

"Thank you," I told him. "Lie down on the floor."

He did so. I turned to the customers. "This place is closed," I said. They began

heading for the door.

At that moment, there was a woosh of displaced air, and five more Jhereg were in the

room, swords drawn. Oops. Without a word being spoken, Loiosh was on my

shoulder.

"Kragar, take off."

"Right."

I drew recklessly on my link and tried to teleport, but failed. I sometimes wish

teleport blocks could be outlawed. I lunged at one of them, scattered a handful of

sharp pointy things with my left hand, and jumped through the already broken

window. I heard cursing sounds behind me.

I tried a quick levitation spell, which must have worked a little bit since landing didn't

hurt. I kept moving, in case they had sharp pointy things, too. I tried the teleport

again, and it worked.

I found myself on my back, right outside the door to the shop containing my offices. I

threw up.

I climbed to my feet, dusted off my cloak, and went inside. The proprietor was

looking at me curiously.

"There's a mess on the street outside," I told him. "Clean it up."

"Laris, eh boss?" said Kragar a bit later. "One of our next-door neighbors. He controls

about ten square blocks. He only has a couple of operations that face our territory, so

far."

I put my feet up on my desk. "More than twice as much area as I have," I mused.

"It looked like he was expecting trouble, didn't it?"

I nodded. "So, is he just testing us, or is he really trying to move in on me?"

Kragar shrugged. "Hard to say for sure, but I think he wants to move in."

"Okay," I said, sounding a lot calmer than I felt. "Can we talk him out of it, or is it

war?"

"Are we up to a war?"

"Of course not," I snapped. "I've only had my own area for half a year. We should

have been expecting something like this. Damn."

He nodded.

I took a deep breath. "Okay, how many enforcers do we have on our payroll?"

"Six, not counting the ones who are permanently assigned to someplace."

"How are our finances?"

"Excellent."

"Then that's something, anyway. Suggestions?"

He looked uncomfortable. "I don't know, Vlad. Would it do any good to talk to him?"

"How should I know? We don't know enough about him."

"So that," he said, "ought to be our first step. Find out everything we can."

"If he gives us time," I said.

Kragar nodded.

"We have another problem, boss."

"What's that, Loiosh?"

"I'll bet you're really horny, now."

"Oh, shut up."

2

"I'm going to want protection."

When I entered the organization, some three years before, I was working for a guy

named Nielar as what we call a "muscle." He controlled a small gambling operation

on North Garshos Street. He paid his dues to Welok the Blade.

Welok was a sort of mid-level boss. His area went from Potter's Market Street in the

north to Millennial in the south, and from Prance in the west to One-Claw in the east.

All of these areas were pretty tentative and, when I went to work for Nielar, the

northern edge, along Potter's, was very tentative. The first time I "worked," and the

third, were to further the Blade's desire to make this border more certain. His northern

neighbor was a peaceable kind of guy named Rolaan, who was trying to negotiate

with Welok because he wanted Potter's but didn't want a war. Rolaan became more

peaceable after he fell from his third-floor office one day. His lieutenant, Feet Charno,

was even more peaceable, so the problem was resolved nicely. I've always suspected

Feet of arranging Rolaan's death, because otherwise I can't account for Welok's

leaving Charno alone, but I never found out for sure.

That was three years ago. About then I stopped working for Nielar, and went to work

for the Blade himself. The Blade's boss was Toronnan, who ran things from the docks

in the east to the "Little Deathsgate" area in the west, and from the river in the south

to Issola Street in the north.

About a year and a half after Rolaan took the trip to Deathsgate Falls, Welok had a

dispute with someone in the Left Hand of the Jhereg. I think the someone was

working in the same territory as Welok (our interests don't usually overlap), but I

don't know exactly what the problem was. One day Welok just vanished, and his spot

was filled by one of his lieutenants--a guy named Tagichatn, whose name I still can't

pronounce right.

I'd been working as a troubleshooter for the Blade, but this new guy didn't think much

of Easterners. My first day, I walked into his office, a little place on Copper Lane

between Garshos and Malak Circle. I explained what I'd been doing for Welok, and

asked him if he wanted to be called "lord," or "boss," or if I should try to figure out

how to say his name. He said, "Call me God-boss," and we were off.

Inside of a week I loathed him. Inside of a month, another ex-lieutenant of Welok's

broke away and started running his own territory right in the middle of Tagichatn's.

This was Laris.

Two months of "God-boss" was all I could take. Many of us who worked for him

noticed that he made no move against Laris. This was taken as a sign of weakness.

Eventually, someone either inside or outside of Tagichatn's organization would make

use of this. I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't decided to commit

suicide--by stabbing himself in the left eye.

He died late one night. That same night I made contact with Kragar, who'd worked

with me for Nielar, and off and on for Welok. Recently, Kragar had been working as a

bouncer in a tavern on Pier Street. I said, "I just inherited a piece of property. How

would you like to help me hold it?"

He said, "Is it dangerous?"

I said, "Damn right it's dangerous."

He said, "No thanks, Vlad."

I said, "You start at fifty gold a week. If we're still around after two weeks, you get

seventy-five plus ten percent of what I make."

He said, "One hundred after two weeks, plus fifteen percent of the gross."

"Seventy-five. Fifteen percent of the net."

"Ninety. Fifteen percent of the net before you split with upstairs."

"Seventy-five. Ten percent before I split."

"Done."

The next morning Tagichatn's secretary came in and found Kragar and me set up in

the offices. I said, "You can work for me if you want. Say yes, and you get a ten

percent raise. Say no, and you walk out of here alive. Say yes and try to cross me, and

I'll feed you to the orcas."

He said no. I said, "See you."

Then I went to an enforcer named Melestav who also hated our ex-boss and who I'd

worked with a couple of times. I'd heard he did "work," and I knew he was careful. I

said, "The boss wants you to be his personal secretary and bodyguard."

"The boss is nuts."

"I'm the boss."

"I'm in."

I got a map of the city and drew a box around where the dead man's territory had

been. Then I drew another box inside the first one. For some reason, in this area of

Ad-rilankha bosses tended to mark the areas by half-streets. That is, instead of saying,

"I have Dayland and you have Nebbit," they'd say, "I have up to the west side of

Dayland, you have from the east side of Dayland." So the box I drew went from

halfway down Pier Street, where Laris's territory ended, to Dayland, Dayland to

Glendon, Glendon to Undauntra; Undauntra to Solom; Solom to Lower Kieron Road;

and Lower Kieron Road to Pier Street.

I had Melestav get in touch with the other lieutenant and the two button-men who'd

worked directly for Tagichatn, and had them meet me a block from Toronnan's

Brust, Steven - Vlad Taltos 02 - Yendi

相关推荐

开通VIP享超值会员特权

作者详情

相关内容

热门标签

举报选择: