The Book of Jhereg (71 page)

Kelly spoke first. “So,” he said, “You are Herth.” He was squinting so hard I couldn’t see his eyes. His voice was clear and strong.

Herth nodded. “You must be Kelly. Shall we go inside and talk?”

“No,” said Kelly flatly. “Anything you have to say to me, the whole world can hear, and the whole world can hear my answer, as well.”

Herth shrugged. “All right. You can see the kind of situation you’re in, I think.”

“I can see it more clearly than either you or that friend of yours who cuts your face before granting your wishes.”

That stopped him for a moment, then he said, “Well, I’m giving you a chance to live. If you remove—”

“The Phoenix Guard will not attack us.”

Herth paused, then chuckled. The lieutenant, hearing this, looked amused.

Then I noticed Natalia, Paresh, and two Easterners I didn’t know. They were walking along the line of Phoenix Guards, handing each of them, even the Dragons, a piece of paper. The Dragons glanced at it and threw it away, the Teckla started talking to each other, and reading it aloud for those who couldn’t read.

Herth paused to watch this drama, looking vaguely troubled. The lieutenant matched his expression, except she seemed a bit angry. Then she said, “All right, that will be enough—”

“What’s the problem, then?” asked Kelly in a loud voice. “What are you afraid they’ll do if they read that?”

The lieutenant swung and stared at him, and they held that way for a moment. I caught a glimpse of the paper that someone had dropped and the breeze brought near me. It began, “BROTHERS—CONSCRIPTS” in large print. Underneath, before the breeze carried it away again, I read, “You, conscripted Teckla, are being incited against us, Easterners and Teckla. This plan is being put into operation by our common enemies, the oppressors, the privileged few—generals, bankers, landlords—”

The lieutenant turned away from Herth and grabbed one of the leaflets and read it. It was fairly long, so it took her awhile. As she read, she turned pale and I saw her jaw clench. She glanced over at her command, many of whom had broken formation and were clearly discussing the leaflet, some waving it about as if agitated.

At this moment Kelly began speaking, over Herth’s head, as it were. He said, “Brothers! Conscripted Teckla! Your masters—the generals, the captains, the aristocrats—are preparing to throw you against us, who are organizing to fight them, to defend our right to a decent life—to walk the streets without fear. We say join us, for our cause is just. But if you don’t, we warn you, don’t let them send you against us, for the steel of our weapons is as cold as the steel of yours.”

As he began to speak, Herth frowned and backed away. The whole time he was speaking, the lieutenant kept making motions toward him, as if she’d shut him up, then back toward her troops, as if to order them forward. When he stopped speaking at last, there was silence in the street.

I nodded. Whatever else I thought about Kelly, he’d handled this situation in a way I hadn’t expected him to, and it seemed to be working. At least, the lieutenant didn’t seem to quite know what to do.

Herth finally spoke. “Do you expect that to accomplish anything?” he asked. It seemed rather weak to me. To Kelly too, I guess, because he didn’t answer. Herth said, “If you’re done with your public speaking, and hope to avoid arrest or slaughter, I suggest that you and I try to make arrangements for—”

“You and I have nothing whatever to arrange. We want you and yours out of our neighborhoods entirely, and we won’t rest until that is done. There is no basis for discussion between us.”

Herth looked down at Kelly and I could imagine, although I couldn’t see it, the cold smile on Herth’s face. “Have it as you will then, Whiskers,” he said. “No one can say I didn’t try.”

He turned and walked back toward the lieutenant.

Then I was distracted because someone else showed up. I didn’t notice him at first because I was watching Kelly and Herth, but he must have been making his way along the street the entire time, past the Phoenix Guards and the Easterners, and right up to the door to Kelly’s flat.

“Cawti!” came the voice as from nowhere. It was a voice I knew, though I can hardly think of one I less expected to hear at that moment.

I looked at Cawti. She, as amazed as I, was staring at the old, bald, frail Easterner who stood next to her. “We must speak,” said my grandfather. I couldn’t believe it. His voice, in the continuing silence that followed the confrontation between Herth and Kelly, carried all the way over to my side of the street. But was he going to start throwing our family business around? Now? In public? What was he up to?

“Noish-pa,” she said. “Not now. Can’t you see—?”

“I see much,” he said. “Yes, now.” He was leaning on a cane. I knew that cane. The top could be unscrewed to reveal—a sword? Heavens, no. He carried a rapier at his hip. The cane held four vials of Fenarian peach brandy. Ambrus was curled up on his shoulder and seemed no more upset by any of this than he was. Herth didn’t know what to make of him, and a quick glance told me that the lieutenant was as puzzled as I was. She was biting her lip.

“We must go off the street so we can talk,” said my grandfather.

Cawti didn’t know what to say.

I began cursing anew under my breath. Now there was no question: I was going to have to do something. I couldn’t let my grandfather be caught in the middle of this.

Then my attention was drawn back to the lieutenant, who shook herself and stood up straighter. Her troops seemed to still be in a state of some confusion, talking in animated tones about the flyer and Kelly’s speech. The lieutenant
turned toward the mob of Easterners and said in a loud voice, “Clear away, all of you.” No one moved. She drew her blade, a strange one that curved the wrong way, like a scythe. Kelly locked eyes with Herth. Cawti’s gaze shifted among the lieutenant, my grandfather, Kelly and Herth. I let a dagger fall into my hand, wondering what I could do with it.

The lieutenant hesitated, studied her troops, then called out, “Weapons at ready.” There was some sound of steel being drawn as the Dragons did so, and a few of the Teckla. The Easterners gripped their weapons and moved forward, forming a solid wall. A few more of the Guard drew weapons. I spared Kelly a glance and he was looking at my grandfather, who was looking at him. They exchanged nods, as of old acquaintances. Interesting.

My grandfather drew his rapier. He said to Cawti, “This is no place for you.”

“Padraic Kelly,” called the lieutenant in a piercing voice, “I arrest you in the name of the Empress. Come with me at once.”

“No,” said Kelly. “Tell the Empress that unless she agrees to a full investigation into the murders of our comrades, by tomorrow there will be no clear road into or out of the city, and by the following day the docks will be closed. And if she attacks us now, the Empire will fall by morning.”

The lieutenant called, “Forward!” and the Phoenix Guard took a step toward the Easterners and I knew what I could use the dagger for. This was because in a single instant Kelly, my grandfather, and even Cawti were swept out of my mind. Everyone’s attention was focused on the advancing Guards and the Easterners. Everyone’s, that is, except mine. My attention was focused on Herth’s back, about forty feet away from me.

Now he was mine. Even his bodyguards were all but ignoring him. Now I could take him and be away, cleanly. It was as if my entire life were about to be fulfilled in one thrust of an eight-inch stiletto.

Out of habit from the last four days, I gave myself a last caution before I moved away from the wall. Then I took a step toward Herth, holding the knife low against my body.

Then Loiosh screamed in my mind and there was suddenly a knife coming at my throat. It was attached to a Dragaeran who wore the colors of House Jhereg.

The assassin had finally made his move.

T
HE FACT THAT I
was ready for him did nothing to prevent the cold sweat that broke out all over me when I saw him. For one thing, he was ready for me, too, and he had the jump. All thought of Herth was instantly gone, replaced by thoughts of survival.

Sometimes, in this kind of situation, time slows down. Other times it speeds up, and I’m only aware of what I’m doing after I’ve done it. This was one of the former. I had time to see the knife come toward my throat, and to decide on a countering move, make it, and sit back wondering if it would work. While disarming myself is never my favorite thing to do in a fight, it was my only option. I flipped my knife at him, jumped the other way, and hit the ground rolling. I kept moving as I came up in case he decided to throw some pointy things at me, too. As it happened, he did, and one of them—a knife, I think—came close enough to make the hair on my neck stand up. But I avoided everything else long enough to draw my rapier. As I did so, I told Loiosh, “
I can handle this; take care of Cawti
.”

“
Right, boss
.” And I heard him flap-flap away.

That was actually one of the biggest lies I’ve ever told, but I was very much aware that mayhem was going to be breaking out around me when the Easterners clashed with the Phoenix Guards, and I didn’t want to be distracted by worrying about Cawti.

Around then, as I came to a guard position, I realized that Herth’s bodyguards had shots at my back, and that there were more than seventy Phoenix Guards there, any of whom might look over this way in between cutting down Easterners. I licked my lips, felt scared, and concentrated on the man before me—a professional killer who had accepted money to kill me.

I took my first good look at the assassin. A nondescript sort of guy with maybe a trace of the Dzur in the slant of his eyes and the point of chin. He had long straight hair with a neat widow’s peak.
Points all over the bastard
, I thought. His eyes were clear and light brown and his glance strayed over me, studying. If things weren’t going as he planned (which, I guarantee, they weren’t) it didn’t show in his expression.

He’d drawn a sword by this time. He was standing full forward with a heavy rapier in his right hand and a long fighting knife in his left. I presented only
my side, as my grandfather had taught me. I closed with him before he could throw anything else at me, stopping when we were point-to-point—that is, just at the distance from each other where the points of our blades could barely touch. From here, the concentration he’d need for a good windup with that knife would give me time to get in at least one good cut or thrust, which would settle the issue if I was lucky.

I wondered if he were a sorcerer. I glanced at his knife but didn’t see anything to indicate that it was a magical weapon. Not that there had to be anything to see. My hands were sweaty. I remembered that my grandfather had recommended light gloves for fencing, for just that reason. I resolved to get some if I lived through this.

He made a tentative pass, either recognizing or knowing that I fought strangely and trying to get a feel for my style. He wasn’t as fast as I’d feared, so I placed a light cut on his right hand to teach him to keep his distance.

It was frightening to be having this kind of fight with Phoenix Guards in the area, but they were all involved in the slaughter of Easterners and were thus too busy to notice us—

No, they weren’t.

I realized quite suddenly that five or six seconds had passed and there were no sounds of battle.

He didn’t realize it yet and tried rushing me then. He did a fine job of it, too. There was no warning that he was about to go, and the timing of his slash, at an angle from my right to left, was very good. I avoided the attack, letting his blade slide up mine, screeching, until I could deflect it. I noted his speed. He had a certain grace, too; the kind that came with long training. And he was utterly passionless. From looking at his face, I couldn’t tell if he was confident, worried, gleeful, or what.

I made a halfhearted riposte, trying to figure out how to get out of this situation. I mean, I would have loved to finalize him, but not with the Phoenix Guard looking on, and it wasn’t at all clear that I could manage to in any case. He blocked my riposte with his dagger. I decided that he probably wasn’t a sorcerer, since sorcerers like to use enchanted daggers for spell-casting, and no one likes to parry with enchanted cutlery.

He kept coming up on the ball of his right foot and tensing his left leg. I resolved not to let it distract me. I kept my attention on his eyes. No matter how you’re fighting, sword, spell, or empty-handed, your opponent’s eyes are your first indication of when he’ll move.

There was a second or two of inaction, during which I would have loved to have launched an attack but didn’t dare. Then, I guess, he realized that there were no sounds of battle from around us. Without warning he bounded back a couple of steps, a couple more, then turned and walked briskly away, disappearing around the corner of a building.

I stood there breathing heavily for just a moment, then I suddenly thought of Herth again. If he’d been in sight I probably would have shined him, Phoenix
Guard or no. But when I turned around I didn’t see him. Loiosh landed on my shoulder.

The two lines, Kelly’s group and the Phoenix Guards, faced each other about ten feet apart. Most of the Guards seemed very unhappy about the situation. Kelly’s people seemed solid and determined; a human wall with knives and sticks bristling from it like thorns from a vine.

I was alone in the middle of the street, about sixty feet to the side of the Phoenix Guards, some of whom were looking at me. Most of them, however, watched their lieutenant. She was holding her peculiar blade over her head, parallel to the ground in a gesture that suggested “hold,” or perhaps, “sit,” “stay,” or “heel.”

Cawti stood next to my grandfather and they were staring at me. I sheathed my sword so I wouldn’t be as interesting. The Easterners were still watching the Guards, most of whom were watching their lieutenant. She, at least, hadn’t seen me. I moved to a slightly more open part of the street so the assassin couldn’t come back at me without giving me time to react. Then the lieutenant spoke in a voice that carried quite well, although it seemed that she wasn’t shouting. She said, “I have received communication from the Empress. All troops back off to the other side of the street and stand ready.”