The Book of Taltos (15 page)

Or perhaps I was going to find out during this journey. Which thought reminded me that I ought to be preparing. Morrolan had said the journey there should only take a few days, as we would teleport to a point fairly close to Deathgate Falls. Water would be available as we walked, as would food. The weather was unpredictable, but my cloak was fairly warm when pulled around me, fairly cool when thrown back, and waterproof.

“Any thoughts about what I should bring along?”

“An enchanted dagger, boss. Just in case.”

“I always carry one. What else?”

“That chain thing.”

“Hmmm. Yeah. Good idea.”

“Witch supplies?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I’m asking you.”

“No, I mean, are you going to bring supplies for spells?”

“Oh. I guess so.”

So I got these things together, threw in some eddiberries in case I needed to sleep, some kelsch leaves in case I needed to stay awake, then reached out for contact with Morrolan. It took quite a while since I didn’t know him terribly well, but at last we were in touch.

“I’ll be ready in an hour,”
I told him.

“That will be fine,”
he said.
“Where should we meet?”

I thought about this, then told him,
“There’s this tavern called Ferenk’s in South Adrilankha.”

E
VERY TIME
I
VISIT
a shoemaker I’m given to wonder how anyone’s shoes can come out well. That is, I’ve never seen a shoemaker’s place that wasn’t as dark as Verra’s Hell, nor a shoemaker who didn’t squint as if he were half blind.

The remains of the clothing on this particular shoemaker claimed him for the House of the Chreotha, as did his longish face and stubby fingers. The amount of grime under his nails would have been sufficient for a garden. The hair on his head was thin and grey; his eyebrows were thick and dark. The room smelled heavily of leather and various oils and I can’t say what it looked like save that it was dark and gloomy.

The Chreotha gave me a silent grunt (I can’t describe it any better that that) and indicated a spot of gloom that turned out to contain a chair made of pieces of leather stretched across a wooden frame. I sat down in it carefully, but it didn’t seem about to collapse, so I relaxed. It was a bit small for a Dragaeran, which was pleasant since Dragaerans are taller than humans and it’s annoying to sit in a chair designed for someone larger.

The shoemaker shuffled out of the room, presumably to let Nielar know
I was there. Nielar was the guy who had hired me, after an unpleasant introduction involving a game of shereba that ran in the back of his building. Kiera had, I had gathered, intervened on my behalf, so I was showing up to work for him. I was also supposed to be meeting a partner.

“You must be Vlad Taltos,” he said.

I jumped and almost drew the dagger from my sleeve.

“Mama?”

“It’s all right, Loiosh.”

He was sitting right across from me, and I’d somehow missed him in the dim light. He had a bit of a smirk on his face, probably from seeing me jump, but I resolved not to hate him right away. “Yes,” I said. “I believe your name is Kragar?”

“I believe so, also. Since we both believe it, we might as well assume it’s true.”

“Ummm . . . right.”

He watched me, still with the same sardonic expression. I wondered if he was trying to make me mad enough to attack him, to see if I could control myself. If so, I resented being tested. If not, he was just a jerk.

He said, “There’s a guy who owes Nielar some money. Not all that much; forty imperials. But he’s being stubborn. If we can get it, we split four imperials.” I kept my face blank, while being amazed that my co-worker didn’t think forty imperials was much money. This, I decided, might bode well for my future.

He continued, “Shall we go?” As he said this, he handed me what turned out to be a smooth, round stick, maybe an inch and a half in diameter and two feet long. I wrapped my hand around it. It was heavy enough to hurt someone. He continued, “Nielar said you already know how to use this.”

“I guess so,” I said, hefting the thing. “It is rather like a chair leg.”

“What?”

“Never mind.” I smirked back at him, feeling a bit cocky all of a sudden.

“Let’s go.”

“Right.”

As we headed out the door I said, “You’ll do the talking, right?”

“No,” he said. “You will.”

“
H
OW LONG WILL YOU
be gone, Vlad?”

“I don’t know, Kragar. You’re just going to have to take care of things as best you can. If I’m lucky, I’ll be back in three or four days. If I’m not, I won’t be back at all.”

He chewed on his lip, a gesture I think he picked up from me. “I hope you’re getting something for this.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Me, too.”

“Well, good luck.”

“Thanks.”

Loiosh and I made our way to Ferenk’s. The host recognized me at once and managed to keep a scowl off his face. When Morrolan came in, however, I could see that he drew his lips back and almost hissed. I smiled and said, “Two, please. We want dead bodies and seaweed. I’m sure you still know how to pour them.”

He did, and I was pleased that Morrolan liked Fenarian peach brandy, but a little disappointed that he already knew about it, and even called it by its Fenarian name. However, he hadn’t known that Ferenk’s existed. I think he enjoyed being the only Dragaeran in the place, too. I remembered meeting Kiera there (by chance? Ha!) and wondered how the regulars would take to having Dragaerans drop by, and what sort of reputation I’d acquire at the place. At any rate, Morrolan enjoyed the experience more than Ferenk did.

Tough.

We walked out the door after a couple of glasses each. Then Morrolan stopped. I stood next to him. He closed his eyes and held himself still, then nodded to me. I braced myself, and South Adrilankha vanished. I expected to feel nauseous, and I was.

I hate that.

T
HE TARGET LIVED ABOUT
half a mile away. To kill time as we walked, I asked Kragar to tell me about him.

“I don’t know much, Vlad. He’s an Orca, and he’s owed Nielar the money for quite a while.”

“An Orca? That’s nice to hear.”

“Why?”

“Nothing,” I said. He glanced at me quickly but didn’t comment. “Is he big?”

Kragar shrugged. “What’s the difference? Hit him hard enough and he’ll go down.”

“Is that what we want to do?” I asked, remembering Kiera’s advice. “Start swinging?” I discovered I was feeling nervous. When I’d taken to beating up the Dragaerans who’d been beating me up, it always happened suddenly. I’d never actually set out to get one. It makes a difference.

Kragar said, “Up to you.”

I stopped. “What is this? You’ve done this before; I haven’t. Why am I making all the decisions?”

“That was my deal when I agreed to work for Nielar—that I never have to give an order.”

“Huh? Why?”

“None of your business.”

I stared at him. Then I noticed that the House of the Dragon was so clearly marked on his face I couldn’t understand how I’d missed it before. There was almost certainly a story there.

As we resumed our walk, I pondered Kragar. He was almost exactly seven feet tall, had medium straight brown hair, brown eyes, and, well, really nothing else to distinguish him. Questions buzzed around my head, without attending answers. Where had he come from? How had he found himself in the Jhereg?

He touched my shoulder and pointed to a building. It bore the insignia of a wolf howling and seemed to be a pretty nice place from the outside. The inside was also in good repair. We walked through the main room, earning some scowls from patrons who didn’t like Easterners, Jhereg, or both. We went up the stairs. As we climbed the three flights and turned to the left, I was still wondering about Kragar, and I continued to wonder until we had clapped outside the door and it had opened.

The Orca looked at me and blinked. He said, “Yeah, whiskers?”

Oh. Here I was. I’d been so distracted thinking about Kragar that I hadn’t considered how to approach the Orca. Well, since I didn’t know what to
say, I hit him in the stomach with the stick. He said something like “Oooph” and buckled over. I think I might have cracked a couple of ribs; my aim wasn’t all that good. I wondered if he was the right guy.

In any case, the top of his head was right below me. I almost brought the club down, but I remembered Kiera’s words and didn’t. Instead I put my foot against him and pushed. He fell over backward and it occurred to me how easy it had been to take the guy when he wasn’t expecting an attack.

He rolled over onto his stomach, coughing. I’d gotten him pretty good, but Orca are tough. I put my foot on his back. Kragar came up next to me and put a foot on the guy’s neck. I removed my foot and walked around, then knelt down in front of him. He seemed startled and craned his neck, looking around. I guess he hadn’t realized there were two of us. Then he glared at me.

On impulse I reached into my cloak, pulled out my jhereg, and held him in front of the guy. I said, “Hungry, Loiosh?”

“Mama?”

“It’s okay.”

Loiosh flicked a tongue out toward the Orca, whose eyes were now wide with fear. I said to him, “You owe people money.”

“Let me up,” he croaked. “I’ll give it to you.”

“No. I don’t want it. I want you to pay it. If you don’t, we’ll come back. You have twenty-four hours. Do you understand?”

He managed to nod.

“Good.” I stood up and put Loiosh away. I headed out to the stairs, Kragar behind me.

Once we’d left, Kragar said, “Why didn’t you take the money?”

I said, “Huh? I don’t know. I guess it would have felt like robbing him.”

Kragar laughed. Well, I suppose on reflection it was funny. I was trembling a bit. If Kragar had commented on it I would have smashed his face in, but he didn’t.

I had settled down by the time we were back where we’d started. The shoemaker wasn’t around when we returned, but Nielar was. He studied me, ignoring Kragar, and said, “Well?”

I said, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Does the guy have dark hair that he wears plastered straight back, kind of a wide face, big shoulders, a short neck, and a little white scar across his nose?”

“I’ve never noticed the scar, but, yeah, that sounds right.”

“Then we talked to the right guy.”

“That’s good. What did you talk about?”

“We asked him if he wouldn’t mind paying what he owes.”

“What did he say?”

“He seemed to consider the matter carefully.”

Nielar nodded slowly. “Okay. Where’s Kragar?”

“Right here,” said Kragar, sounding amused.

“Oh. What do you think?”

“He’ll pay. We gave him a day.” He paused, then, “Vlad does good work.”

Nielar studied me for a moment. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll be in touch with you guys.”

I nodded and walked out of the shop. I wanted to thank Kragar, but I couldn’t find him. I shrugged and went home to feed Loiosh and wait.

I got home feeling a bit exhausted, but good. I was pretty pleased with life for a change. I fed Loiosh some cow’s milk and fell asleep on the couch with him on my stomach. Perhaps I was smiling.