"I think so," Pharea said warily; something about the way she stood, the way her eyes moved, told Tabaea that she had already used the Black Dagger herself, had killed at least one cat, and perhaps other animals.
A movement on the dais attracted Tabaea's attention for an instant; the older witch had moved, had taken a step toward Pharea, and was staring at her.
"I don't think your friends know," Tabaea said. "You are working with the magicians, aren't you? They're all working together, now."
Pharea smiled crookedly. "We haven't always been as coordinated as we might be," she said. "But yes, we're all on the same side."
Behind Pharea, Arl was moving up slowly and quietly, clearly planning to grab her from behind; the tall witch was about to say something, and Tabaea did not want Pharea warned. She turned to the witch and demanded, "And who are you, anyway? I can see that you're a witch, but you didn't volunteer to help heal this killer you people sent. Who are you?"
Startled, the woman answered, "My name is Karanissa of the Mountains," she said.
"And you aren't helping Teneria; why not?"
"Because she doesn't need help," Karanissa said. "I would if she wanted me to; I was going to try it myself, but Teneria thought…"
She was interrupted by Arl's lunge-and his falling headlong on the marble floor, as Pharea dodged neatly and drew the Black Dagger. Before anyone else could react, the false servant grabbed Arl by the hair and stood over him with the knife to his throat.
"It's not that easy," Pharea said to Tabaea. "I've got the dagger, and I'm keeping it. And I'll use it to defend myself if I need to."
Tabaea frowned. "You think you can handle all my followers so easily?"
Pharea smiled grimly. "Why not?" she asked. "You handled the city guard. And they're on our side, too, by the way-Lord Torrut is still in command, and only a few dozen men deserted or went over to you."
Tabaea stared at Pharea, trying to decide if that was a bluff. Hadn't Lord Torrut fled with the others, sailed off to wherever they all went? "Who are you, anyway?" she demanded, stalling for time to think. "You're no magician, so far as I can see, and you don't look like a soldier."
The woman Tabaea called Pharea smiled an unpleasant smile. "I'm Lady Sarai," she said. "Minister of Investigation and Acting Minister of Justice to Ederd the Fourth, overlord of Ethshar."
"Ederd's not the overlord anymore," Tabaea replied angrily. "I'm empress!" She tried to hide how much she was shaken by the discovery that she was facing Lord Kalthon's daughter; for all her life until the last few sixnights, Tabaea had lived in terror of the Minister of Justice, and for the last few months of that time Lady Sarai had been feared, as well. Tabaea had tried to dismiss her as a harmless girl, but here was that harmless girl, in her own throne room, holding the Black Dagger.
"You're Tabaea the Thief," Sarai said. "Four years ago you stole a spell from Serem the Wise, but it came out wrong and made this dagger I'm holding. For a long time you didn't do anything with it-maybe you didn't know what it did-but then you killed Inza the Apprentice, and Serem the Wise, and Kelder of Quarter Street, and others. And when the guards came to arrest you for those murders, you declared yourself empress, and used the knife's magic to occupy the palace."
"I am the empress!" Tabaea insisted. "I rule the city-the old guards don't dare show their faces, and the overlord and his family all fled before me!"
"But that," Sarai said, holding up the dagger, "was when you had this."
"And I'll have it again! Give it back to me!"
Outrageously, mockingly, Sarai laughed. She dared to laugh at the empress of Ethshar!
Moving faster than humanly possible, Tabaea lunged for Sarai, intending to snatch the knife away from her.
Moving faster than humanly possible, Sarai dodged, flinging Arl aside, and spun to face Tabaea again, with the enchanted knife raised and ready.
"Think a minute, Tabaea," the noblewoman said. "We both have stolen lives and stolen talents-but I have the dagger. If you stab me, I lose a life-but if I stab you, you not only lose a life, I gain one. And maybe, you know, maybe this dagger will take more than one at a time. Maybe I only have to kill you once."
Tabaea, hearing this, started to turn, then stopped herself. No ordinary enemy would have seen the tiny little twitch, but Sarai saw it.
"And yes, you're right; I'm not a witch nor a warlock," the overlord's Minister of Investigation said. Then she pointed with the dagger to her companions, and added, "But they are, over there, and they're on my side."
Tabaea glanced at Arl-but there was no need for Sarai to say a word about the rat-faced little chancellor; he was crawling away from both women, heading for the stairs, obviously wanting only to be out of sight.
But Sarai hadn't cut his throat when she had the chance, when Tabaea had attacked; Lord Kalthon's daughter was apparently not as bloodthirsty as her father was said to be.
"Are you planning to kill me?" Tabaea demanded.
Sarai blinked, catlike and quick. "I suppose we ought to," she said. Tabaea thought she sounded almost startled, not at the question, but at her own reply. "After all, you're a murderer. But there were some exceptional circumstances here, and I think my father and I, acting in the overlord's behalf, would accept a plea for mercy and commute the sentence to exile from the city-if you surrender now and don't force us to do any more damage to depose you."
"You think," Tabaea said. "And what if I don't surrender, then? I've seen you move-you're fast, all right, and yes, you have the dagger, but I think I'm still faster and stronger. Your magicians and I cancel each other out. Are you ready to take me on and try to kill me, here and now?"
"Oh, no," Sarai said, smiling again. "I don't have to. All I have to do is get us all out of here alive, and I think I can manage that much. And after that, we'll let the wizards and the demonologists try out their spells on you-now that you don't have the Black Dagger. Or maybe we'll just wait."
"Wait for what?" Tabaea demanded, shaken by the woman's confidence and the threat of demons and wizardry. She could still counter witchcraft, since she had the talent and more raw vitality than any three normal witches; she could still counter warlockry because of the inherent limits on every warlock; but without the dagger she had no defense against other magicks.
"For the Seething Death to get you," Sarai replied, pointing to the pool of wizard-stuff. "True, it didn't get you immediately, but it will keep spreading until it does-unless we use the countercharm to stop it."
Disconcerted, Tabaea turned to stare at the puddle-and the instant she did, the two witches and the unhurt warlock dashed for the stairs. The assassin, still unconscious, sailed along behind them, unsupported through the air-his fellow warlock was doing that, Tabaea sensed.
She let them go. This was between Sarai and herself, now. Sarai seemed very sure of herself-but was she really? The sight of the fleeing witches reminded Tabaea of her own witchcraft-she had so many choices now, so many things she could do, that there were times when she forgot some of them. "That stuff is going to go on spreading?" she asked. "That's right," Sarai said-but Tabaea, witch-senses alert, knew that was a half truth. Sarai was hiding something. "Until it kills me? It's after me, specifically?"