I whistled a tune I’d picked up somewhere on the road and they all pretended not to be annoyed.
Eventually Trev returned with the lieutenant: I had no doubt she was an officer even before I saw the gold braid around her sleeve and polish on her boots. She had a way of walking into a room as if she expected everyone to salute. And they all did, too. I didn’t, but I might have if I hadn’t forgotten how to hold my hand and if I didn’t mind smacking myself in the chest.
The lieutenant sat down behind the desk and said, “Stand easy,” and everyone unstiffened. “Sergeant?”
“Found him skulking around and watching the castle, sir.”
She nodded and looked at me. Meanwhile, I’d turned my chair to face the desk. I pushed it onto its back legs, let it return, and said, “Skulking?”
She ignored me. “Who do you work for?”
“I’m not working for anyone,” I said. “Did you want to hire me?”
Her brows came together and she tried the Hard Stare. What with one thing and another, the Hard Stare doesn’t so much work on me. I smiled and waited.
“You’re spying for Klaver?”
“Who’s Klaver?”
She glanced at the sergeant. “Why wasn’t he disarmed?”
“My call, lieutenant. There didn’t seem to be a need. He came along quietly enough.”
The lieutenant nodded. She looked at me as if considering whether to disarm me now. If she tried, things would get interesting really fast. No doubt they thought there were enough of them to disarm me, but they were wrong. They could, perhaps, kill me, but they couldn’t disarm me. I hoped they wouldn’t try.
For a minute it seemed like she was about to give the order, and I did my very best to be ready for action without looking like I was ready for action. The time stretched, and then it reached that indefinable but unmistakable point where the time for action is past. She shrugged and said, “All right. Tell me this: If you aren’t working for Klaver, why are you here?”
“I was taking a walk. It’s a nice day for a walk.”
“Where are you from?”
“Adrilankha. It’s a coastal city—”
“I know where Adrilankha is. It is two thousand miles from here. Are you saying you walked all the way?”
“There have been many nice days for a walk.”
The guy who’d been staring at me said, “Sir.”
The lieutenant glanced at him and nodded. He cleared his throat and said, “I’ve visited kin in Adrilankha. The accent is right.”
Accent? I don’t have an accent. They had accents.
The lieutenant nodded and said, “Any other observations?”
“His cloak. I’ve seen Jhereg wear cloaks like that.”
She turned to me. “Are you a Jhereg? Are they letting Easterners into the Jhereg now?”
“I used to be.” This was sort of true, and if I’d said, I’m going to be it would have required too much explanation; I’m going to have used to be was, well, no.
“Used to be?”
“The Jhereg and I had a disagreement. That’s why I decided to take a walk.”
“What sort of disagreement?”
“Over how much information on Jhereg activities the Empire ought to have.”
She studied me, I guess deciding whether she believed me, and whether it was worth the effort it would take to find out the truth. I studied her back. I wasn’t lying all that much.
She said, “Will you give me your word not to try to escape?”
Unspoken was, if not, I’m going to take your weapons away and keep you here by force. I said, “I will. For sixty hours. That’s assuming you don’t do anything unpleasant to me. I react badly sometimes. But yes, if I’m not harmed, sixty hours.”
The sergeant coughed significantly. We both looked at her, and the lieutenant said, “Go on.”
“Sir,” she said. “He’s an Easterner. And he’s a Jhereg.”
“Yes,” said the lieutenant. “And I’ve chosen to take him at his word.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Sixty hours,” she said to me. “Agreed. You’ll be free within certain limits; I’ll have one of the servants show you those limits. Meanwhile, I’ll speak to my lord about what to do with you. He abhors violence, and would himself be inclined to simply let you go, which is why it falls on me to protect his interests.”
“His interests, my lady? What interests are those?”
“Perhaps you truly don’t know,” she said. She shrugged. “In any case, I won’t be answering your questions. You’ll be answering mine.”
“That’s not a conversation,” I explained patiently. “That’s an interrogation. If you interrogate me, I might become annoyed and decide not to say anything. If we have a conversation, why, then, I’ll happily participate.”
She took it well; I got the impression it amused her, I guess because she laughed and said, “Are all Easterners this funny?”
“Only the Jhereg ones.”
“I’ll tell you what, Easterner Jhereg: Just to show how friendly I am, I’ll tell you this much: He is working on certain discoveries that others would like to take credit for, if possible, or to at least learn of the state of his research.”
“Could you be a little more vague?”
“Does it matter?”
“I’m curious.”
“For someone claiming not to be a spy, you’re very inquisitive.”
I shrugged. “Maybe a spy would pretend not to be? I don’t know.”
“Neither do I. But I’ll find out.”
“Oh, good. While you’re finding out, what are these interests of his? No, don’t tell me. He’s trying to solve the age-old problem of creating a place that exists across different worlds.”
I watched her closely and saw it hit. “You are not,” she said, “doing a very good job of convincing me you’re not a spy.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I’ll try to do better.”
“Wait here.”
She collected her people with looks and led them out of the room, leaving the door open. I turned the chair again. If it was a test to see if I’d try to escape, I passed, but that’s because I had no interest in leaving. If it was a test to see if I’d refrain from looking through the desk drawers, I failed.
“Keep a watch, Loiosh.”
“On it, Boss.”
I got up, went around to the front, and checked for obvious traps on the desk drawers. I didn’t see any, nor any locks. I opened the one on the upper right and had just enough time to see a stack of identical papers labeled “Requisition” when Loiosh said, “Someone’s coming.”
I returned to the chair just as Gormin walked into the room. I managed to cover my reaction by stretching and coughing, then stood up and gave him a head bob.
It seemed strange that he didn’t seem to recognize me. Yes, I understand he couldn’t, that to him we hadn’t met; but it still seemed strange. I said, “How do you do, I am Vlad of Szurke. Szurke is an Eastern County under the seal of the Empire.” I dug out my ring and showed it to him, and his eyes widened appropriately, and he bowed. My thinking was that the better terms I was on with this guy, the more information I could get about the place.
“Sir,” he said. “If you wish to accompany me, I will show you where you may take your ease.”