Issola (7 page)

"Hey, Boss
,
do you think the Necromancer has been able to maintain contact?"

"I'd give whole worlds to know, Loiosh."

Aloud I said, "Why don't you guys tell me what happened?" They both started speaking at once, which I ought to have predicted; then they glared at each other. Finally, Aliera nodded toward Morrolan, who shrugged and said, "I don't know. I was in the library, and then I was here, being used to ornament this wall."

"I," said Aliera, "was in my bedchamber." She said this as if being snatched from the library ought to give Morrolan no cause for complaint.

"You have no idea how it happened?"

"None," said Aliera. "I was there, then I was here, manacled. I had no sensation of time passing, or that I had lost consciousness, although that proves nothing. On the other hand, Pathfinder has no sensation of time passing, and that, I believe, does prove something."

"Blackwand and I had the same experience," he said. "Which I hope means that they have the ability to transport us, instantly, off our world and into manacles chained to a wall; because if not, it means they have the ability to interfere with a Great Weapon, and then I should be worried."

I chewed that over, then asked Morrolan, "You had no indication that, I don't know, your security system had been breached?"

"No," he said.

"Is this something they've been able to do any time, and just decided to now? Or do they have something new?"

"I've been wondering the same thing," said Morrolan.

"This doesn't give us much to work with," I suggested. "And I don't suppose either of you have any suggestions about getting out of here?"

They didn't.

I studied the chains that held them, and was wondering what it would take to break them, and what to do once they were broken, when Aliera said, "If we could reach Sethra—" which is as far as she got before our hosts finally decided to grace us with their presence.

4

I was looking at Morrolan and Aliera, and saw their eyes suddenly focus on something over my shoulder, so I turned just as Loiosh gave a sort of agitated, undefined psychic squeal. I don't actually
know
that they appeared through the floor, but it seemed like it at the time; as if they sort of formed from the floor up. There were two of them. I said, "Are those—?"

"Yes," said Morrolan. "That's what they look like."

"Heh. They're ugly enough, anyway."

It is hard to say what my first impression of them was. I saw them emerge, and my memory supplies their image; I don't know exactly what I noticed first. They were big - bigger than Drains, I'd say more than nine feet tall, which I ought to have from the size of the ceilings, but that's the sort of thing I always figure out after the fact. But whereas Dragaerans are at least compared to humans, the Jenoine were broad, heavy, strong-looking, with thick arms, ending in hands with reasonable number of fingers and one thumb per hand, but from where I stood they didn't seem to have any wrists. Nor hair of any kind. It was hard to see their faces, either, but there seemed to be two large, round eyes, both facing forward, and a mouth of some sort. They were naked, and, as far I could tell, sexless. And I'll mention again, because it impressed me so much, that they were very big. I hated the idea of trying to fight them. I felt Loiosh draw himself up and do the jhereg dance - which is what I call when he tries to make himself look bigger. It is one of the things I don't make fun of him for, because I've caught myself doing the same thing in my own way, although just at the moment I'd have liked to make myself look smaller. Vanishing would have been even better.

"Don't draw a weapon," whispered someone, and it took me a moment to realize it was Teldra. I wasn't certain what good a weapon would do me, so I saw no reason to argue with he Besides, if she had some inkling of an idea about what to do, she was a long way ahead of me. The thought did flash through my mind, in light of what Sethra had told me, to grab, say Pathfinder from Aliera's side; but laying hands on another’s Great Weapon is as close to certain death as you can come without having Mario after you.

But the thought did make me realize that neither of the Jenoine appeared to be armed. It didn't take a genius to realize that if they didn't carry weapons, it was because they didn't think they'd need any. This was not a comforting thought either.

At some point in there, it hit me that I was now in the presence of the Jenoine, of those half-mythological creatures that were spoken of in whispers, and the subject of as much ignorant speculation as Sethra herself. I had never truly believed in them, and now, here they were, and here was I, and typically I had to worry about what to do about it, and I didn't have a clue.

Evidently, Lady Teldra did.

She took a step toward them, holding both hands in front of her, palms out, and emitted a series of sounds midway between a cat screeching and a hyena with hiccups.

"Be damned," murmured Morrolan.

I could see that, whatever else was happening, she had their attention. One of them moved a step closer to her, and, in deep, rasping voice, spoke in the same language. If I could read the expression on that one's face, I'd guess it was mildly startled - its eyes, at any rate, had widened a little. Do facial expressions translate among species? There was another question for later contemplation. I was getting quite a collection of them. Evidently, I had thought it a good idea at some point to put Spellbreaker away; it was once more wrapped snugly around my wrist. Amazing how light it felt that way, and how much heavier it got once I let it drop into my hand.

"Loiosh, why does my mind wander whenever I'm terrified?"

"It doesn't, Boss;
your mind wanders whenever you're frustrated
because you can't do anything."

"Oh."

"Or maybe it just always wanders and I don't notice it the rest of the
time."
Teldra spoke again, the Jenoine responded. I waited patiently, like a prisoner whose fate was being settled by a magistrate while he stood helpless. It was enough to bring on the headache. I feel very fortunate not to be subject to the headaches. There were many questions I should have liked to ask Morrolan and Aliera, but I was afraid it wouldn't be polite to carry on a conversation while Teldra was involved in screeching and coughing with the Jenoine, so I remained patient and tried to look tough and imperturbable - not for the Jenoine, who probably couldn't tell the difference, but for Morrolan and Aliera, who probably wouldn't care.

The conversation continued. I couldn't tell if Teldra was negotiating for our lives, laying down conditions to the Jenoine under which she wouldn't lay waste to their world, or asking if they knew any good recipes for klava. I was just wondering if I'd be willing to try their version of klava, when the two Jenoine and Lady Teldra abruptly vanished. No fading, as of a teleport, and none of the shimmering and twisting of form that accompanied necromantic transportation, so this was something else entirely, and what should be surprising about that? Whatever it was, it was fast and neat - there wasn't even the rush of displaced air that I'm used to, which indicates to me that natural laws were being suspended, and that didn't surprise me, either.

"They're gone," said Morrolan, which was too obvious even for me to make a crack about how obvious it was.

"Now," said Aliera, "might be a good time to get us out of these."

"Good idea," I said. "How do we do that?"

Morrolan ignored me. "If Teldra is involved in negotiations," he said to Aliera, "we may jeopardize them by—"

"If Teldra is involved in negotiations," said Aliera, "it is in order to give us time to get out of here."

"What makes you think so?"

"Don't be a fool."

"Here
we go,"
said Loiosh.

"Lady Teldra," I cut in, "did not leave our presence willingly." That stopped them, at least for a moment. "How do you know that?" snapped Aliera.

"She vanished suddenly, without saying a word about it. It was rude."

"Good point," said Morrolan.

Okay, Vlad, I told myself. Teldra has just been taken away by all-powerful, legendary demigods; Sethra and the Necromancer are so far away that the term "distance" is meaningless; and Morrolan and Aliera are chained to a wall by some no doubt magical substance impervious to everything. That leaves you to do something. Morrolan and Aliera were looking at me, as if they expected the same thing. Well, fine. I tried to figure out what I needed to know, before I could even start formulating a plan. There were so many things. I didn't know what powers and abilities the Jenoine had, or, except in the most general terms, what their goals might be. Of course, I knew a bit about what Morrolan and Aliera could do, and Teldra - now, Teldra was a nice little mystery herself. I should have insisted on an answer from Sethra about why she was along. What is it she knew, or what skill did she have that... Hmmmmmm.

"Morrolan, would you mind telling me, just because I'm curious, exactly what Lady Teldra does for you?"

"I don't understand, Vlad. You've seen her. She greets guests, she sees that they get where they are going within the Castle, and that I am informed about arrivals and departures. I thought you knew that."

"I did. I do. What else does she do?"

"Isn't that enough?"

"No."

He shrugged. "Well, that's what she does, enough or not."

I shook my head. "I'm missing something."

"He's an Easterner, Morrolan," said Aliera. I bit back a smart remark, because Aliera's observation seemed to elicit an "Oh" expression from Morrolan. He said, “That's true."

"Okay," I said. "What is obvious to you that isn't to me?"

"The gods," said Aliera.

"What about them?"

"We consider them guests as well," said Morrolan. "Permanent guests of our homes, at all times; I had forgotten that you don't think of them that way."

"I don't see the point."

"Teldra," said Aliera, "is, in your terms, Morrolan's High Priestess."

"Ah ha."

"Ah ha?" said Morrolan.

"That's what I was looking for."

"Why?" said Morrolan and Aliera together, and I felt Loiosh asking the same thing.

"I don't know exactly. But I knew there had to be some connection there, and some reason Sethra agreed to send her, and because I need to understand all of these connections if I'm going to do anything useful." Morrolan shrugged again. "Okay." he said. "Now you understand the profound truth that someone who knows how to be polite to a Dragonlord, a Teckla, or an Emperor might know how to be polite to a god as well.'

"Not to mention a Jenoine," 1 remarked.

"Yes, a Jenoine, too."

"And she speaks their language."

"Obviously."

"What has that to do with her duties as High Priestess, or whatever?"

"Nothing," he said. "But she knows many languages. Many Issola do. It's a custom, such as Dragons knowing how to fight and Jhereg knowing.how to offer a bribe." I let that go. He said "Is any of this important?"

"I don't know."

"Then, perhaps, you might turn your attention to doing something useful."

"Two problems, Morrolan. First, I'm stumped. Second, Aliera said, if Teldra is talking to them, we may not want irritate them during her negotiations."

"But as
you
said, Vlad, she didn't leave willingly."

"I know. But are you certain she can't talk them around? She's evidently used to dealing with beings who are far more powerful than she is; can you think of a better negotiator?"

He thought about that.

Loiosh said,
"I
don't know if we ever want to cross them, Boss. I'm scared of those things."

"They're worth.being scared of,"
I said.
"They'd kill without second thought."

"I
hate to say this, Boss, but so would you."

"Yeah, but I'm a nice guy."

"Try Spellbreaker," said Morrolan. I looked at him. "On the chains," he said. "Try Spellbreaker." I looked at Aliera, who shrugged.

"Can't hurt," I said.

"What are you worried about, Boss?"

"Looking
ridiculous
."

"It
was his idea."

I let Spellbreaker fall into my hand. It was only about a foot and a half long and the links were nearly an inch long. I took a step
forward, and struck the length of chain connecting Morrolan's
right wrist to the wall. The ringing sound was loud, though hearing the sound made me realize the room didn't echo much
as I would have thought it should. Nothing else happened. I felt ridiculous. I wrapped Spellbreaker up again. Morrolan shrugged; evidently he didn't feel ridiculous.

"If Spellbreaker
is still changing, Loiosh, there's something that is still happening, I mean, something magical, even though we're
no longer
at home."

"Seems reasonable, Boss."

"And why am I so heavy? It's like I
have to work to lift my arms."

"Yeah. Don't expect me to fly anywhere."

"So, okay, Sethra was wrong. There's sorcery here. Or, if not sorcery,
something else; something that can make us feel heavy,
and makes it so hard to breathe. I'd really like to avoid having to fight
here."

"Okay, Boss. But just for the record, where is it you haven't wanted to avoid fighting?"
That didn't deserve an answer, so I didn't give one. About then
,
I noticed something else, and cursed.

"What is it, Vlad?"

"I'm starting to get light-headed."

"Oh, that."

"What does 'oh, that' mean?"

Aliera said, "Try to take shallow breaths."

"Uh . . ."

"Try it. If you don't, you'll get dizzy."

"If you say so."

I tried to make my breaths shallow. At least it didn't make things any worse. I said, "Are they poisoning the air?"

"Not on purpose," said Morrolan.

"What does 'not on purpose' mean?"