“I usually operate in an area to the east of here.”
“Ah. I start to see.”
“No, no. Not that far east.”
“Oh, all right.” My anger receded quickly, because it hadn’t had time to work itself up, but I still missed half of his next statement. “Sorry, say that again?”
“I said they’re starting to tag the money.”
“Tag?”
“That’s what they call it. Sorcerously mark it.”
“So it can be identified as stolen?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. That doesn’t seem fair.”
“That’s how I feel about it.”
“How are they—”
“They’ve set up places where you can have your money tagged, so if it’s stolen, a sorcerer can identify it. I was lucky enough to learn about it before servicing a client who’d done that. Now that we know what to look for, we can tell, but it’s getting common enough that we’ve had to let some prime targets go.”
“You have my sympathy,” I said. “What happens when the proper owner tries to spend it?”
“The tagging is tied to him, so he just rubs it off.”
“What if he forgets?”
“A merchant gets in trouble, I suppose.”
“And it’s cheap to put on?”
“Very. They do it by volume, so with gold it costs next to nothing.”
“Sounds unfortunate.”
“Right. So … why am I coming to you?”
“I was just getting to that question.”
“I’m wondering if maybe there’s a way for me to get the money to you, and for you to return me money that hasn’t been tampered with. For a fee, of course.”
I shook my head. “Can’t do it. Not my kind of thing. But I could make a suggestion.”
“If your suggestion is the Left Hand, I tried that.”
“Oh. You’re well informed. Sorry it didn’t work. What happened?”
“They were willing to do it. For thirteen orbs for each imperial.”
“That’s what they wanted?”
“Yes.”
I shook my head. “It’s like highway robbery.”
“That’s very funny, Lord Taltos.”
“Why thank you, Lord Blue.”
Ibronka glared at me a little, then looked away as if I wasn’t worth her time.
“I liked it, Boss.”
“Thanks, Loiosh.”
He said, “So the Left Hand is out of the question. If you don’t want to get involved in this, do you have any suggestions for who might?”
“Let me think about that.”
“I’d be willing to pay for any idea that—”
“Let’s not worry too much about the paying part. Let me just try to think of something. Hey.”
“What?”
“Why am I doing the thinking? You’re the Tiassa.”
He rolled his eyes; I considered myself answered.
Did I know anyone who’d be interested in a deal like that? No one I’d want to give it to, at any rate. But it was an interesting exercise, trying to figure a way around it.
“Boss? Do you care?”
“Let’s say I’m intrigued.”
“If you say so.”
“Any idea who came up with this?”
“Some Imperial sorcerer. There were complaints about the safety of the roads, you know.”
“See how it is?” I said. “As soon as you get good at something, they move to cut you off. It’s as if they fear anyone being successful. I sympathize.”
“Uh huh.”
“The Tiassa isn’t doing his job, Loiosh. So if anyone’s going to come up with a brilliant idea, I guess it’ll have to be you.”
“I’ll get right on that, Boss.”
“How does it work, exactly?”
“It’s pretty straightforward. It takes a few seconds to do a bagful of coins, and an hour with each one to undo it.”
“Sort of cuts into your profits.”
“Exactly.”
“What if you spend it a long way from where you got it? Every merchant in the Empire isn’t checking.”
“I’ve been doing a bit of that. But more of them are starting to. The Empire is offering tax reductions to any merchant willing to check coins. They supply—”
“Oh.”
“Hmmm?”
“I heard something about that. Some device, and they’d give me a reduction on my taxes if I—”
“You’re a merchant?”
I looked innocent. “I am part owner of a perfectly respectable psychedelic herb shop, thank you very much.”
“Oh. I see.”
“I thought it was some sort of listening device they were trying to install.”
“It might be that, too,” he said.
“You don’t trust the Empire much, do you?”
“As much as you do. Less, because I probably know it better.”
“All right. So it won’t work much longer to just use the coins elsewhere. What do they do if you spend it somewhere that doesn’t have the means of detecting it?”
“What? I don’t understand.”
“What if you went to, say, my shop and bought an ounce of dreamgrass. I wouldn’t know the coin was tagged. So then I’d spend the coin somewhere, and—”
“Oh, I see. They treat it just like they do a coiner: ask you where you’d gotten the coin, and try to work back from there.”
“I was approached by the Empire about six weeks ago. How long has this been going on?”
“About that long, more or less.”
I nodded. “A new program. They’re always thinking, those Imperial law enforcement types. They never let up. It’s an honor to run rings around them.”
“That’s been my feeling, yes.”
“So it sounds like the only choice is to reduce the cost of removing the—what were they called?”
“Tags.”
“Right. Reduce the cost of removing the tags.”
“That’s better than my idea?”
“What was your idea?”
“I was going to write the Empire a letter saying please stop.”
“Heh,” I said. Then, “Woah. You are a Tiassa.”
“Meaning?”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Somehow, I doubt they’d be impressed by the letter.”
“I don’t think a letter is the best way, but the idea is sound.”
“What idea?”
“Convincing the Empire to stop tagging the coins.”
“Are you serious?”
“Why not?”
From the look on his face, he thought I was jesting; from the look on mine, I think, he eventually decided I wasn’t. His eyes narrowed and he looked even more cat-like, but I declined to scratch him behind the ears. He said, “How would you do that?”
“I’ve no idea.”
“Oh. Thought you might have something.”
“I think I might.”
“What?”
“The idea you just gave me. Convince the Empire to stop tagging the coins.”
“Which you have no idea how to do, and, therefore, no reason to believe it can be done.”
“You’ve stated our position exactly,” I said. “I’m proud of you.”
Ibronka stirred and said to Bluey, “Mind if I eviscerate him?”
“Just one?” he said. “And an Easterner?”
“I’m not thinking of a fight, more of pest control.”
“I’d rather you didn’t just yet, love.”