There was no nausea. There wasn't even any sensation of movement. We stood in a grove below a tree from which I'd fallen not many days before. I wanted to open a bottle of wine, more for Noish-pa's amulet having worked than the success of the teleport spell, but I had none handy in any case.
Morrolan said, "What's the plan, Vlad?"
Plan? I was supposed to have a plan? "Follow me," I said, and, "Loiosh, do you remember the way?"
"I think so, boss. Bear a little to the left."
We set off. It was oddly peaceful walking through the woods, I guess because of the lack of background psychic activity, the kind that's always there but you never notice. Soon I forgot that anyone was with me except Loiosh, whom I could feel as a cool hand on the brow of my thoughts, and way in the background, faint echoes of Rocza, who was just recovering from panic induced by the teleport. I realized for the first time how strange this must be for her, and how hard it was for her to appear calm in the face of these strange sorceries, for which none of her life had prepared her. Loiosh had chosen well. "Thanks, boss. "
"Think nothing of it, Loiosh. "
"Now, what is it you've been hiding from me all day?"
"wait and see."
We came to the place where I'd fought my first four pursuers, and I didn't take the time to see if there any signs of the struggle. Loiosh led me; I led Morrolan and Aliera, and in about an hour and a half we were beside the village. It was early evening. There was no in sight.
"Where is everybody, boss?"
"Probably on ships preparing to attack the Dragaeran navy."
"Oh."
"Let's eat," I said aloud, and we took out the food that had been packed for us by Morrolan's cook. I had dried winneasaurous and some good bread. I took my time eating, so it was nearly full dark by the time we were done.
"Now what?" said Morrolan.
I looked at their dim faces, Morrolan e'Drien and Aliera e'Kieron, watching me patiently and expectantly. I said, "Now I lead us to the place that passes for a palace and negotiate as appropriate, and get out."
"In other words," said Aliera, "we're just going to improvise."
"You got it."
"Good plan," said Morrolan dryly.
"Thanks. It's one of my best."
I led the way, with Morrolan and Aliera behind me. Quite a sight we must have looked as we walked up the wide shallow steps to the small, pillared building that housed the government of Greenaere.
We flung the door open in front of two sleepy-looking guards, neither of them in uniform, both holding the short, feathered spears I remembered too well. They stopped looking sleepy almost at once. The three of us could have put the two of them down without working up a sweat, but I held my arm up for them to wait.
The guards stared at us. We stared back. I said, "Take me to your—"
"Who are you?" croaked one of them at last.
"Unofficial envoys from the Dragaeran Empire We wish to open negotiations with—" "I know you," said the other. "You're the one who—" "Now, now," I said. "The past is past," and I smiled into his face. Behind me, I felt the troops prepare for battle. There is something reassuring about having Morrolan with Blackwand and Aliera with Pathfinder ready to jump to your defense. The guards looked very nervous-not without reason. "We would like to see the King," I said. There was no one else in sight down the narrow corridor; they really hadn't considered the possibility of an attack.
"I— I'll see if he, that is, I'll find out—" "Excellent. Do that."
He swallowed and backed up a couple of steps. I followed, Morrolan and Aliera behind me, forcing the other guard backward, too. "No, you wait here." "Not a chance," I said cheerfully. He stopped. "I can't let you past." "You can't stop us," I said reasonably. "I'll raise the alarm."
"Do so."
He turned and yelled, "Help! Invaders!" at the top of his lungs. For some reason, I still didn't want to cut them down, so I just led us past them. As we went by I patted the one who'd recognized me on the shoulder. They both looked rather pitiful, and the other one actually drew steel as we went by. Morrolan and Aliera drew as well then, and I heard the fellow make sounds of awe under his breath. Yes it still possible to feel a Morganti weapon here on the island, Phoenix Stone notwithstanding. I expected Morrolan was noting that to study when he got back.
"This way" I said and directed us into the throne room.
There were two more guards, a pale man with an odd white streak in his dark hair and a hook-nosed woman. They had apparently heard the warnings, because they stood with their spears out and pointed at us. To the right of the throne was an old woman with grey hair and deep eyes, and on the left were two men. One seemed quite old and rather unkempt. The other was the bushy-browed interrogator I knew so well. He was armed only with a knife at his belt, the old man was unarmed. The King, who looked like he couldn't be more than two or three hundred (in a human that would be eighteen or nineteen, I suppose), stared at us in a mixture of fear and amazement. I recognized him, too; he'd been walking next to the King I'd assassinated, just as I'd suspected then. How long ago was that? It felt like years.
I led us up to the throne, stopping just out of range of those spears, and said, "Your Majesty King Corcor'n, we wish you a pleasant evening. Um, excuse me, is 'Your Majesty' the proper form of address?"
He swallowed twice and said, "It will do."
I said, "My name is Vladimir Taltos. My friends are called Morrolan e'Drien and Aliera e'Kieron. We've come to discuss peace."
The two guards with the spears looked very unhappy and kept glancing at the two Great Weapons. Well, hardly surprising. I said, "Perhaps, my friends, we should sheathe our weapons." They did so.
The King said, in a raspy whisper, "How did you get here?"
"Sorcery, Your Majesty."
"But-"
"Oh, yes, I know. We've solved that problem."
"Impossible."
I shrugged. "In that case, we're not here, and you can safely ignore us. I should tell you, Your Majesty, that I came here in order to kill you and as many important advisors and chiefs as we could find. We changed our minds when we saw how poorly protected you were."
"Messengers have gone out," he said. "Troops will be arriving in moments."
"In that case," I said, "it would be well if we had our business concluded before they arrive. Otherwise, well, things could get ugly."
His mouth worked in anger and fear. The grey-haired woman leaned over to him and started to say something. I gave silent orders to Loiosh and Rocza. They left my shoulders and flew to the two guards. As puppets controlled by a single string, the guards winced, began to panic, caught themselves, and held still as the jhereg landed on their shoulders. I was very impressed with the guards; they trembled, but didn't move. I smiled.
The King said, "You assassinated—"
"Yes," I said. "I did. And you will never know the reason. But you have sunk several of our ships, killing hundreds of our citizens. How many lives is a King worth, Your Majesty? We are willing to call the score even if you are."
"He was my father."
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry," he said scornfully.
"Yes. I am. For reasons I can no more explain than I can explain why I did it. But what's done is done. Your father was given a good blood price, Your Majesty; the crews of—how many ships? Your Majesty, we want to end it. Can you—?"
At that moment there was the sound of tramping feet. I broke off my speech, but didn't turn around.
"How many, Loiosh?"
"About twenty, boss."
"Aliera, Morrolan, watch them."
"We're already doing it, Vlad," said Morrolan. I think it bothered him to appear to be taking orders from me. Tough. At that moment I heard Daymar's voice in the back of my mind. I let the contact occur and said, "All is well. Check back later." The contact faded.
There were, indeed, a good number of them, but we were between them and the King. Moreover, each of the two guards who stood between us had a poisonous jhereg on his shoulder. I said, "You must decide, Your Majesty. Unless, that is, you would like us to slaughter your troops for you first, and then continue the negotiations?"