Yendi by Yendi

Author:Yendi [Yendi]
Format: epub
Published: 2011-03-30T13:34:48.808672+00:00

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10

"I dislike killing my guests."

It is possible to break meals down into types. There is the formal dinner, with elegant settings, carefully selected wines, and orchestrated conversation. Then there are Jhereg business meetings, where you ignore the food half the time, because to miss a remark, or even a glance, can be deadly. There is the quiet, informal get-together with a Certain Person, where neither food nor conversation is as important as being there. We also have the grab-something-and-run, where the idea is to get food inside of you, without taking time for either conversation or enjoyment. Next, we have the "good dinner," where the food is the whole reason for being there, and conversation is merely to help wash it down.

And there is one other type of dinner: sitting around a fine, elegant table, deep under Dzur Mountain, with an undead hostess, a pair of Dragonlords, and a team of Jhereg assassins, one of whom was once a Dragon herself, the other of whom is an Easterner.

The conversation at a dinner of this type is unpredictable.

For most of the meal, Morrolan entertained us with a few notes on sorcery that aren't usually included in tomes, and probably shouldn't be. I enjoyed this--mostly because I was sitting next to Cawti (by chance? With Aliera around? Ha!) and we generally concentrated on rubbing our legs together under the table. Loiosh made a few remarks about this that I won't dignify by repeating.

Then, while I was distracted, the conversation changed. Suddenly, Aliera was engaging the lady known as the Sword of the Jhereg in a bantering exchange comparing Dragon customs to Jhereg customs, and I was instantly alert. Aliera didn't do anything by accident.

"You see," Aliera was saying, "we only kill people who deserve it. You kill anyone you're paid to kill."

Norathar pretended surprise. "But you're paid too, aren't you? It's merely a different coin. A Jhereg assassin would be paid in gold, or so I assume--I've never actually met one. A Dragon, on the other hand, is paid by satisfying his bloodlust."

I chuckled a little. Score one for our team. Aliera also smiled and raised her glass. I looked at her closely. Yes, I decided, she wasn't doing any idle Jhereg-baiting. She was searching for something.

"So tell me," Aliera asked, "which do you consider the better coin to be paid in?"

"Well, I've never bought anything with bloodlust, but--"

"It can be done."

"Indeed? What can you buy, pray tell?"

"Empires," said Aliera e'Kieron. "Empires."

Norathar e'Lanya raised her eyebrow. "Empires, my lady? What would I do with one?"

Aliera shrugged. "I'm sure you could think of something."

I glanced around the room. Sethra, at the head of the table and to my right, was watching Aliera intently. Morrolan, to her right, was doing the same. Norathar was next to him, and she was also studying Aliera, who was at the other end of the table. Cawti, next to her and to my left, was looking at Norathar. I wondered what was going on behind her mask.

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