Issola by Steven Brust Page A

and, I suppose, I had continued to scowl.
    "You have an idea, don't you?" said Aliera.
    I grunted. "I don't know how much fun it will be for you."
    "Do it," she said.
    "It might be painful."
    "Do it," said Morrolan.
    "It might be dangerous."
    "Do it," said Aliera.
    "You may not survive."
    "Do it," said Morrolan.
    "It might mean the end of civilization as we know it."
    Aliera gave me a disgusted look.
    I shrugged. "Just wondering how far you'd go."
    "Do it," he repeated.
    I was convinced. I couldn't remember the last time I'd heard Morrolan and Aliera agree on anything; how could I fail to go along?
    "If they agree, Boss, it must mean it's a bad idea."
    "Probably true."
    I pulled off my jerkin. The room was suddenly chilly. Morgan and Aliera looked away from my bare chest, which seemed a bit funny. I took a knife from my belt, and began cutting strips of leather from what had been a shirt only seconds before, but now merely a supply of fabric. Funny how quickly things can change, isn't it?
    "What are you doing, Vlad?" asked Aliera.
    I didn't answer. Not answering Aliera when she asks questions like that is one of the pleasures that I had missed since I'd been away.
    When I had four strips cut off, I worked them around Aliera's and Morrolan's wrists, between manacle and skin. Aliera was easy; Morrolan had thicker wrists and it took me a while, but I managed. I probably hurt him a little while I was doing it, but, of course, he wouldn't give me the satisfaction of letting me know if I had. When I was done, there turned out to be enough of a jerkin left to do some good, so I put the remainder back on; it made my stomach seem even colder than it had been.
    I sat down cross-legged in front of and between Morrolan and Aliera. I really wanted this to work. Not only was it necessary to accomplish my mission and save the world or whatever the hell I was trying to save, and very possibly the only way for me to get out of this alive, but, more important, if I managed to rescue Aliera and Morrolan it would be something I would never let them forget; the pleasure would be almost too sweet. On the other hand, if I accidentally amputated both of their hands, I'd feel bad. And that was, in fact, a possibility, even though the Goddess hadn't seemed to doubt that I could pull it off; hence the addition of the strips of leather; for one thing, they were symbolically important as barriers, and symbols are very important in witchcraft. And for another, well, maybe, if all else failed, the leather would give their wrists some protection from what I was about to do to them.
    "Morrolan," I said, "give me your right hand. Aliera, your left." They did so, clanking. Crazily, it entered my head to wonder what my friend Aibynn, who was a musician, would have said about the note the chains gave off - I mention this as an example of how one's mind works at such moments. Or maybe as an example of how whacked my friend Aibynn is, I don't know.
    Teldra said, "Is there anything useful I can do?"
    "No, but thanks for asking. Just stay out of my line of vision so you don't distract me." She obligingly backed up a couple of steps.
    "Okay, Loiosh. Help me out."
    "Sure you know what you're doing, Boss?"
    "Of course not. Now help me out."
    "Okay."
    I started to get light-headed again, and reminded myself to take shallow breaths; that actually had seemed to help, now that I thought about it. Getting dizzy in the middle of this spell would not be in any of our best interest.
    "I'll keep track of your breathing, Boss."
    "Good. Let's start, then."
    Connecting to them came easily; I knew them well by now "Energy" is a term that I can't define, at least as I'm using it now: it is uncomfortably vague, and can be twisted into all sorts of bizarre meanings. I've heard it used by sorcerers in a very precise, no-nonsense way, as something they could measure and portion out in precise increments; they even have a word for an increment, though I can't recall it at the moment. I've