"Dammit, Boss, I'm a jhereg, not a bloodhound."
"Sorry.”
"I can see a box of torches, but, you know, there's the whole opposable thumb problem. Not to mention lighting them. I—wait. Something just . . . okay, there's a doorway at the far end. Just a curtain over it. People moving.”
"Careful, careful.”
"No worries, Boss. There's a place right above it where I can perch and listen, if there's anything to listen to."
A little later I said, "Anything going on, Loiosh?"
"Voices, Boss. Can't make out what they're saying."
"Anything from the tones?"
"It sounds just like conversation, Boss. At least six or seven voices and they're, well, gabbing.”
"They won't be for much longer. Stay with it."
"Boss, what—"
"Just wait. I need to be sure.”
"All right, I’ll . . . they're quiet now."
"Yeah.”
"Okay, now I'm hearing... Boss! It's a Coven!"
"Had to be."
"And Orbahn—"
"Yeah. And Orbahn."
"I didn't."
"Does that mean he—"
"No, he isn't behind all of this. No one is behind all of this. There are too many different interests working for any one person to be behind all of this. I know most of them, and so do you. The only question is how they fit together. We just got a piece of that."
"Okay, Boss. Whatever you say. What do I do now?"
"It's almost suppertime. Come on back and share it with me."
"What if they've started letting you eat good food?"
"Then you won't get quite so much.”
15
Boraan: Gracious! Could there be two different plots at work here? Lefitt: Impossible. Boraan: You're certain? Lefitt: Quite certain. I can see four at the least.
—Miersen, Six Parts Water Day Two, Act III, Scene 2
He won, I lost.
Supper was the same lamb stew as before, but it included everything this time, and I was allowed an entire glass of wine. I enjoyed it very much.
"Boss, how did you know Orbahn was going to a Coven? And that there was a Coven? And—"
"Not now, Loiosh."
"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?"
"Parts of it, yes. Other parts, not so much."
"I didn't mean that, I meant showing off how clever you are."
"If I were clever, Loiosh, I wouldn't be in this position."
"You couldn't have known—"
"Of course I could. I'm an idiot not to have seen it."
"How, Boss?"
"Just exactly what was a tag doing on the street at that time of day, when all the workmen were at the mill? She was there to see me, to find me, which means someone had set her on me. I should have figured it out and followed her and been ready when they made the move on me. But then, at that point, I had no idea what any of it meant. There's just one question left about her. Hmmm."
"What's that, Boss?"
I didn't respond; I was thinking about Tereza, trying to figure exactly how she fit into this.
"Another thing, Boss. If you didn't know then, when did you figure it out?"
"The questions they asked me," I said. "Now let me concentrate on this."
This whole thing should be a lesson to me, and it would have been if I'd known what the lesson was. Come to think of it, I still don't know.
"I don't see what you're hesitating about, Boss. You know you want me to find her and see where she goes and who she talks to."
"Uh, yeah.”
"See you soon," he said, and flew out the window, startling poor Meehayi, who happened to be there seeing to it I didn't stab myself in the mouth with my fork.
Meehayi said, "Where is he going?"
"I'm tired of lamb. He's going to bring me back a cow."
He shook his head. "No one raises cattle nearby. He'd have to go-"
"I was kidding, Meehayi."
"I know," he said.
I sighed. If I kept underestimating people, I'd never make it out of this bed. "Meehayi, do you know a family called Saabo?"
"Huh? Sure. A town this size, you know everyone."
"Tell me about them."
"What do you want to know?"
"For starters, how big is it?"
"Four. Er, six, I mean. Three boys, one girl. The oldest is Yanosh. He's a year younger than me."
"Does he farm?"
"Oh, no, no. They work in the mill. All of them."
"All of them?"
"Except the baby, Chilla. She's only four."
"How old is the youngest who works in the mill?"
"That would be Foolop. He's nine."
"Nine."
He nodded.
"And the father?"
He frowned. "I don't know. Forty? Forty-five?"
"No, I mean, what is his name?"
"Oh. Venchel. I don't know his wife's name, everyone calls her Sis. Vlad?"
"Hmmm?"
"You aren't going to get them, get them, involved in this, are you?"
I studied him. "Just what do you know about what 'this' is?"
The blood rushed to his face and his mouth opened and closed. If he was planning to conceal something, he could give it up right away. I've known Dzurlords who could dissemble better than this guy.
I waited him out. He finally said, "I guess I know what everybody knows. I hear what they say."
"Uh huh," I said. "Let's hear it."
"Well, you wanted to see your—to see the Mersses, and they're dead. And you talked to Zollie, and he's dead."
"And why did I come to town, Meehayi? What are 'they' saying about that?"
"No one seems to know."
"But there are theories. There are always theories."
"That you came to kill His Lordship. That's one."
"Heh. If I had, he'd be dead. What else?"
"That you are a spirit of the Evil Baron, returned for revenge."
"Oh, I like that. Whose opinion is that?"
He looked uncomfortable. "It was Inchay who said it," "The host at the Pointy Hat?"
"The what?" :
"The inn."
"Oh, why do you call it the Pointy Hat?"
"I don't know. What do you call it?"
"Inchay's."
"I see."
"Anyway, yeah, him."
"He thinks I'm going to kill Count Saekeresh. Well. Yeah, that answers a lot of nagging questions. And asks a few more. And what's your opinion?"
"I don't know. But—" He shrugged. "His Lordship likes you, and wants to protect you. So I guess maybe you're working with him against the Guild?"
"Yeah, he loves me," I said. "He'll do anything for me."
He frowned at that.
I said, trying to sound casual, "I understand about the Guild and Sae—and His Lordship. But how does the Coven fit into?"
"I don't know," he said. "I've never even been certain that, you know, there was a Coven."
I nodded.
"Is there?" he said.
"I think so," I told him.
"How do you know?"
"I'll tell you what, Meehayi. I like you. On the off chance that we're both alive when this is all over, I'll explain it all to you."