Yendi by Steven Brust

stay here and clean up the blood."
    It is sad but true that there are a strictly limited number of times when waking up with the thought, "Hey, I'm alive!" is really astonishing. I hadn't quite hit the limit yet, so I had the obligatory reaction, followed by, "Dear Verra, I hurt." My side, where the broadsword had taken me, felt hot and feverish, and the area around my kidney, where my lover had put her dagger into me, itched, burned, and ached. I moaned. Then I became aware of the sound of voices, outside the room and perhaps a bit down the hall.
    My arm was around Cawti's shoulder, her head on my chest. I enjoyed the sensation, but I was curious about the voices. Moving as carefully as I could, I succeeded in not waking her up. I dressed carefully, making sure nothing clinked.
    Meanwhile, the voices had been growing gradually louder. As soon as I felt dangerous again I opened the door, and identified Aliera's voice, although I still couldn't distinguish the words. The dark stone walls of the hallway greeted me; the air was cold and dank, the hallway high and wide. I thought back to my first visit to Dzur Mountain and shuddered. I turned toward the voices. I identified the other voice as Morrolan's. As I approached, he was speaking.
    "... you say may be true, but that hardly makes it any of our affair."
    "Any of our affair? Whose is it then? I--there! You see? You've woken up one of my patients."
    "It is just as well," countered Morrolan, nodding to me. "You have exhausted all of my patience."
    I was in a long room, dimly lit and filled with books. There were several chairs nearby, all done in black leather, but they were empty. Morrolan and Aliera stood facing each other. Morrolan's arms were crossed on his chest; Aliera's hands were on her hips. As she turned to me, I saw that her eyes, normally green, had turned blue. This is as much of a danger sign as the stiffening of a dragon's neck tentacles. I found a chair and sat down, to ease the pain a bit. This looked like it was going to be a good one. Aliera snorted at his comment and turned back. "Ha! It's your own fault if you can't see the obvious. What's the matter, isn't it subtle enough for you?"
    "If there was anything to see," he parried, "I would doubtless have seen it long before you."
    Aliera pressed the attack. "If you had the sense of honor of a teckla. you'd see it as clearly as I do."
    "And had you the eyesight of a teckla, you would be able to see what does and does not concern us."
    This forced Aliera into a parry. "How could it not concern us? A Dragon is a Dragon. Only this one happens to be a Jhereg. I want to find out why, and so should you." Morrolan gestured toward me with his head. "Have you met Vlad's assistant, Kragar?
    He's as much of a Dragon--"
    She snorted again. "That snake? He was thrown out of the House, as you well know."
    "Perhaps so was--"
    "If so," she stop thrust, "we'll find out, and then why."
    "Why don't you simply ask her?"
    "She'd never tell me, you know that. She won't even admit that she is a Dragon, much less--"
    Morrolan snorted and tried a fancy maneuver, saying, "You know quite well that your only interest in this is to find someone else to be heir."
    "So what? What have my motives to do with--"
    "Aliera!" said Morrolan suddenly. "Perhaps we should ask Sethra." She stopped and cocked her head to the side. "Ye-e-ess. An excellent idea. Why don't we? Perhaps she can talk some sense into your head." He sidestepped that. "Let's go see her, then." He turned to me. "We'll be back shortly."
    "Fine," I said. "I'll stay here and clean up the blood."
    "What?"
    "Never mind."
    They vanished. I stood up painfully and made my way back to the Dag--to Cawti's room. Cawti. I let the name roll around in my head. CAW-ti. Cawwww-tiii. Cawti. A good, Eastern name. I started to open the door, stopped, and clapped softly.
    "Who is it?" came from inside.
    "Your victim," I said.
    "Which one?"
    "Funny, funny."
    "Come in," she said. "At your own risk."
    I