start in the past and the present comes up and bites you. And it’s what happens when you hang around with Dragonlords. I’d always thought of Dragons, above all, as simple and straightforward—if something gets in your way, you draw and charge and keep hacking until either it’s gone or you are. This is another thing I was wrong about. Watching Sethra put together her campaign, arranging for supplies to be where they were needed, anticipating movements and preparing possible countermarches, guiding her intelligence services—well, okay, war is
more complex than I’d thought, so I suppose recounting it has to be complex as well.
“What in blazes could Sethra the Younger want of me, other than my life, which I’m not prepared to part with!”
“Couldn’t say, Boss. But you know you’re going to go find out, so why not admit it?”
There wasn’t much answer to that, so I went ahead and made the arrangements, responding through proper channels, and arrived at Castle Black, where she is staying. We met in one of Morrolan’s sitting rooms. She is odd; her features remind me quite a bit of Sethra Lavode’s but all done in pastels, and Sethra the Younger was without the terrifying sense of agelessness and power; nevertheless, she has her own aura—a ruthlessness and lust for power that one might expect in a Jhereg.
She tried not to be obvious about how much she disliked me, but casual conversation was beyond her.
“The sword,” she began abruptly.
“What sword?” I asked.
“You know damned well—” She stopped, swallowed, and began again. “The sword that was recovered at the Wall of Baritt’s Tomb.”
I admired the way she put that. “Was recovered.” Whatever it was she wanted, it wasn’t enough to make her admit … oh, skip it.
“What about it?” I said.
“I have it,” she said.
“I know,” I told her. “I didn’t realize it at the time because I didn’t know you. But I figured out who you were later. It’s funny you should bring this up just now—”
“If you please, Lord Taltos,” she said, as if addressing me by title made her lips hurt.
“Yes?”
She looked at Loiosh, riding complacently on my shoulder, then looked away. I heard Loiosh chuckling within my mind.
I thought about baiting her some more, just because this conversation
was so obviously distasteful to her, but I refrained, mostly because I was curious. “All right,” I said. “What does this have to do with me?”
“I want you to act as intermediary for me with the Lady Aliera.”
“You want me … wait a minute.” I couldn’t decide which question to ask first. I settled on, “Why me?”
“Aliera doesn’t care for me much.”
“Well, come to that, neither do I. So?”
“Negotiations should be handled by a third party.”
“Then why not Morrolan? Or Sethra?”
“As for Sethra Lavode, I believe she is still sufficiently vexed with me that I cannot ask her for a favor. And Aliera’s relationship with Morrolan is such that she will automatically react with hostility to anything he suggests.”
That much was true. But—“What makes you think I have any interest in doing you a service?”
She looked startled. “Oh, I’m not asking you for a service.”
“You’re not?”
“No, no. I intend to pay you.”
I carefully controlled my reaction. “I see. Well, what is this negotiation about?”
“The sword, of course.”
“Excuse me?”
“I want to offer her the sword we recovered from Fornia in exchange for Kieron’s greatsword.”
That threw me. I sat there for a minute, trying to figure out what it all meant, and then, to kill time as much as because I was curious, I said, “So far as I know, the sword we recovered from Fornia has nothing special about it. At least, insofar as any Morganti weapon has nothing special about it. Why do you think she’d be interested?”
“You know as well as I that there is more to the sword than that. If I don’t know precisely what, that
more complex than I’d thought, so I suppose recounting it has to be complex as well.
“What in blazes could Sethra the Younger want of me, other than my life, which I’m not prepared to part with!”
“Couldn’t say, Boss. But you know you’re going to go find out, so why not admit it?”
There wasn’t much answer to that, so I went ahead and made the arrangements, responding through proper channels, and arrived at Castle Black, where she is staying. We met in one of Morrolan’s sitting rooms. She is odd; her features remind me quite a bit of Sethra Lavode’s but all done in pastels, and Sethra the Younger was without the terrifying sense of agelessness and power; nevertheless, she has her own aura—a ruthlessness and lust for power that one might expect in a Jhereg.
She tried not to be obvious about how much she disliked me, but casual conversation was beyond her.
“The sword,” she began abruptly.
“What sword?” I asked.
“You know damned well—” She stopped, swallowed, and began again. “The sword that was recovered at the Wall of Baritt’s Tomb.”
I admired the way she put that. “Was recovered.” Whatever it was she wanted, it wasn’t enough to make her admit … oh, skip it.
“What about it?” I said.
“I have it,” she said.
“I know,” I told her. “I didn’t realize it at the time because I didn’t know you. But I figured out who you were later. It’s funny you should bring this up just now—”
“If you please, Lord Taltos,” she said, as if addressing me by title made her lips hurt.
“Yes?”
She looked at Loiosh, riding complacently on my shoulder, then looked away. I heard Loiosh chuckling within my mind.
I thought about baiting her some more, just because this conversation
was so obviously distasteful to her, but I refrained, mostly because I was curious. “All right,” I said. “What does this have to do with me?”
“I want you to act as intermediary for me with the Lady Aliera.”
“You want me … wait a minute.” I couldn’t decide which question to ask first. I settled on, “Why me?”
“Aliera doesn’t care for me much.”
“Well, come to that, neither do I. So?”
“Negotiations should be handled by a third party.”
“Then why not Morrolan? Or Sethra?”
“As for Sethra Lavode, I believe she is still sufficiently vexed with me that I cannot ask her for a favor. And Aliera’s relationship with Morrolan is such that she will automatically react with hostility to anything he suggests.”
That much was true. But—“What makes you think I have any interest in doing you a service?”
She looked startled. “Oh, I’m not asking you for a service.”
“You’re not?”
“No, no. I intend to pay you.”
I carefully controlled my reaction. “I see. Well, what is this negotiation about?”
“The sword, of course.”
“Excuse me?”
“I want to offer her the sword we recovered from Fornia in exchange for Kieron’s greatsword.”
That threw me. I sat there for a minute, trying to figure out what it all meant, and then, to kill time as much as because I was curious, I said, “So far as I know, the sword we recovered from Fornia has nothing special about it. At least, insofar as any Morganti weapon has nothing special about it. Why do you think she’d be interested?”
“You know as well as I that there is more to the sword than that. If I don’t know precisely what, that
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