Yendi by Steven Brust Page B

something for me. "
    " Sure. What? "
    " Everything you can on the Sword of the Jhereg. "
    " Is this a joke? "
    " Do you think it's likely to be? "
    " Fine. I'll get back to you in a hundred years or so. Vlad, how am I-- "
    " She was once a Dragonlord; that should help. She was probably expelled. "
    " Wonderful. Should I try to bribe a Lyorn or a Dragon? "
    " The Lyorn would be safer, but the Dragon is more likely to help. "
    " I was being sarcastic. "
    " I know. I wasn't. "
    He sighed telepathically. " I'll see what I can do. Would you mind telling me what we're doing this for? "
    That was a tricky one. I didn't feel like telling him that his boss had become infatuated with his own executioner. " Oh, " I told him, " I'm sure you can figure it out if you really work at it. "
    Silence, then: " You want to find out if there was anything shady in her expulsion, so you can clear her and have her owe you a favor, and then turn her back on Laris. Right?
    Not bad. "
    Hmmmm. Not bad at all. " Clever, " I told him. It was clever. I'd have to give him a bonus, if it worked out. "Wow, get on it. " I broke the contact. I stretched out on the bed. After all of this, I really did need to sleep. I also needed to get my emotions under control. The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that my side and back didn't hurt so much. Also, I actually felt refreshed. I lay there for a few minutes, just breathing and enjoying it, then forced myself to get up. In addition to feeling refreshed, I also felt filthy from sleeping in my clothes. I stripped and found a tub of water in the corner, did a quick spell to heat it, and washed. As I did this, I managed to put Cawti out of my mind, at least for a little while, and concentrate on my real problem--Laris. The idea Kragar had had wasn't bad at all, but it depended on too many things that were outside of my control. Still, it was worth checking into. Also worth checking into was the question of why the Phoenix Guards had chosen that moment to leave. How could he have arranged that? Where had the orders come from?
    I snapped my fingers, getting soapy water in my eye. That question, at least, I could get answered. I concentrated on a certain Tsalmoth, who worked for Morrolan and reported directly to me--" Who is it? " said Fentor.
    " Vlad. "
    " Oh! Yes, milord? "
    " We need some information-- " I explained what I was after, and he agreed to check into it. I broke the contact and chatted with Loiosh while I finished up my bath. I looked disgustedly at my filthy clothes, shrugged, and started to put them on again.
    " Check the dressing table, boss. "
    " Eh? "
    But I did, then smiled. Aliera had been thorough. I donned the change of clothes happily, then stepped out into the hall with Loiosh riding on my right shoulder. It seemed as if I were beginning to get things done. Good. I wandered down to the library, found it empty, and took the stairs up to where the dining room and various sitting rooms were. The next thing, I decided, was to see if I could get more information from whoever it was that had tipped Kragar off about the assassination. The fact that we'd actually learned something from him was a very good sign. My biggest problem was still lack of information, and this could mean we were starting to solve it. I thought about getting in touch with Kragar again to ask him to work on that more, but decided against it. As they say: if you have someone stand for you, don't jog his sword arm while he does. I found Morrolan and Aliera in the first sitting room I came to, along with Sethra. Sethra Lavode: tall, pale, un-dead, and faintly vampiric. I'd heard her age placed at anything from ten to twenty thousand years, which is a significant portion of the age of the Empire itself. She dressed in and surrounded herself with black, the color of sorcery. She lived in Dzur Mountain; maybe she was Dzur Mountain, for there are no records of a time when she, or someone of her family, didn't live there. Dzur