He looked decidedly pleased and said, “If you would be so good as to follow me to the sitting room, I will inform His Lordship of your presence. May I get you wine?”
“That’d be great,” I said, following him to another room I knew well.
I sat in a chair that was too big for me and drank a decent red wine that was slightly chilled, just the way I like it. That implied a great deal, which I set aside for later ruminating.
I expected him to return in five minutes or so to bring me to Morrolan, but in just about two minutes, he himself appeared: Morrolan e’Drien, Lord of Castle Black, bearer of Blackwand, and, well, stuff like that. I recognized his footsteps—walking quickly—before the door opened, and I stood up.
“Vlad,” he said. “It’s been a while. A couple of years, anyway.” He gave Loiosh a quick smile; Loiosh fluffed himself on my shoulder and dipped his head in a sort of greeting. Morrolan said, “You heard about Aliera, then?”
I nodded. “I’ve been to the Iorich Wing, got my name added to the list—”
“List?”
“Friends of the defendant.”
“What does that do?”
“Lets you see her, if she agrees.”
“Oh, that’s why. . . all right. Let’s go up to the library.”
I followed him up the wide stairway, got reacquainted with the paintings, then down the hall, past the pair of huge tomes chained to pedestals (an expression of Morrolan’s sense of humor that I may explain some day) to another double door. Morrolan sure seems to like double doors a lot, for a skinny guy.
He shut the doors behind me, and we sat down in chairs that were like old friends, facing each other at an oblique angle, little tables by our right hands.
“It’s good to see you again, Vlad.” He poured himself something purplish-red from a cut-glass decanter. I still had my wine. “How have you been?”
“Same as always. Still kicking, still running.”
“Sounds unpleasant.”
“You get used to it.”
“Any stories worth telling?”
I shook my head. “Tell me about Aliera.” That’s me: straight to business.
“Right,” he said. He frowned into his wine. “I don’t know exactly. She was engaged in some experiments, and the Phoenix Guard appeared, asking to see her. I showed them down to—”
“Wait. This was here?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“They arrested her here?”
He nodded. “She lives here, you know.”
“Uh, okay, go on.”
“That’s about all I know. They came in, got her, took her away.”
“You let them?”
He cocked his head at me. “You expected me to launch a rebellion against the Empire?”
I considered that. “Yes,” I said.
“I chose not to.”
I dropped it. “What have you learned since?”
“Very little. I couldn’t find out anything. They wouldn’t let me in to see her.”
“You need to go to the Iorich Wing and declare yourself a friend, then you can get some information, and if she approves it, you can get more, and you’ll be permitted to see her.”
“All right, I’ll do that.”
“Any idea why she refused an advocate?”
“None.”
“Well, you’re pretty damned helpful.”
He smirked. “It’s good to see you again, Vlad.”
“Mind if I ask what you have done?”
“I’ve spoken with Norathar and Sethra.”
“Oh,” I said. Yes, the Dragon Heir and the Enchantress of Dzur Mountain would be good people to start with. “Uh, have they been keeping you informed?”
“As much as you’d expect.”
“So: no.”
“Right.”
“She was arrested, ah, what was it? About two weeks ago?”
“A little more.”
I nodded. “Okay, we need to find her an advocate.”
“How do you know so much about this stuff, Vlad?”
I looked at him.
“Oh,” he said. “All right, but didn’t she refuse an advocate?”
“There may be a way to get one in to try to talk some sense into her.”
“How?”
“I’ve no idea. But advocates are clever bastards. I’d have been Starred otherwise.”
“Money isn’t a problem,” he said.
“No,” I agreed. “It isn’t.”
He nodded. “Are you hungry?”
I realized I was, and said so.
“Let’s go to the pantries and see what we can find.”
We found some sausages in the style of some Eastern kingdom: oily and biting, tasting of rosemary. With it was crusty bread in long, thin loaves and a wonderfully sharp cheese. There was also a jug of red wine that was probably too young but still had some body. We ate standing up in Morrolan’s pantry, passing the jug back and forth.
“Vlad, do you know what happens if she’s convicted?”
“My understanding—which isn’t perfect—is that either they execute her, or the Empress has to commute the sentence, which will raise havoc among the Houses.”
Morrolan nodded.
We walked back to the library, brushing crumbs off ourselves. “What are you going to do?” he asked me.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But it will probably involve killing someone.”
He chuckled. “It usually does.”
“Would Sethra know anything about this by now?”
“Only if she’s seen Aliera. I doubt she has.”
“Maybe I should go and see her.”
“Maybe.”
“Or else go straight to finding the advocate.”
He nodded and glanced at my hip. “How is Lady Teldra?”
I resisted the impulse to touch her. “I’m not sure how to answer that,” I said.
“Has there been . . . contact?”
I considered. “Not as such. Feelings, sometimes, perhaps.”
He nodded.
I said, “I know you two go back hundreds of years. I wish—”
“So do I.”
“She was more than just seneschal to you, wasn’t she?”
His jaw tightened a little. “I’m not sure how you mean that.”
“Sorry. None of my—”
“Once she stood guard over my body for nearly a week, keeping it alive, while my mind and my soul traveled to Deathgate Falls and fought a battle over the Paths of the Dead. Keeping it alive was neither easy nor pleasant, under the circumstances.”
“Um. Sounds like there’s a story there.”
He shrugged. “Ask the Empress; I’ve already said too much.”
“I won’t press it, then.”
“Where are you going next?”
“I guess I’d better try to find Aliera an advocate, unless you want to.”
“I’m willing, if you’ll tell me how.”
“I know what to look for, more or less. It’s easier if I just do it.”
“Unless,” he pointed out, “you get killed trying.”
“Yeah, that would slow it down. But if I stay in the Imperial Palace, I should be safe. And if I stay close to it, I’ll stay close to safe.”
“You know best.”
I wanted to note the time and date he’d said that. “They already know I’m in town, because I took the amulet off to get here. So they’ll know I’m in the Palace.” I shrugged. “Let them gnash their teeth. I know how to slip away when I need to.”
“Boss, you lie like an Issola.”
“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“All right,” said Morrolan. “I don’t know the Iorich Wing. Where should I set you down?”
“Anywhere in the Palace they permit it that isn’t the Dragon Wing or Jhereg Wing.”
He nodded. “Ready?”
I removed the amulet, put it in its pouch, sealed the pouch, and nodded.