"Let"s sit down," said Aibynn.
We did so.
He began to drum.
Lesson Seventeen.
DEALING WITH UPPER MANAGEMENT II.
1 STUDIED THE white hallway and said, "Either the Imperial Palace or-"
"It"s not the Imperial Palace," said Aliera.
Aibynn was still sitting down. He seemed rather drained and tired. He stopped drumming and smiled wanly.
"How," I said, "did this happen?"
"Ask him," said Aliera, indicating Aibynn.
"Well?" I said.
"Sometimes," he said, "when you drum, you . . . it"s hard to describe.
You reach places. Didn"t you feel it?"
"No," I said quickly, just as Aliera was saying "Yes."
"Boss-"
"Well, okay, maybe," I amended. "But why this place?"
"It was what you two were both thinking about." That was true; I"d been thinking how pleasant it would be to give Verra a piece of my mind, but why would Aliera have been thinking about it?
I said, "Why you?" at just the same moment she said it to me. I shrugged, turned to Aibynn, and said, "So all this time, you"ve really been nothing more than a drummer?"
For the first time, he seemed really surprised. "you mean you didn"t believe me?"
"Let"s just say I wondered."
Aliera stood up and said, "Let"s go."
She seemed to know her way, so I followed her. It was only a short walk, this time, until we reached the doors which were standing open.
There was no cat this time I thought I saw something or someone disappear behind the throne, but I wasn"t sure. In any case, the G.o.ddess was there.
She said, "h.e.l.lo, Aliera, Vlad."
"h.e.l.lo, Mother," said Aliera.
Mother?
"Who is your friend, and what brings you here?"
"His name is Aibynn," said Aliera. "He brought us here to save our lives."
Mother?
"I see. Shall I send you back, then, or is there something I can do for you?"
Mother?
"Send us back, Mother. We-"
"Excuse me," I said. "Do you mean that literally?"
"Mean what?" said Aliera.
"You"re calling her "Mother." "
"Oh, yes. Why? You didn"t know?"
"You never told me."
"You never asked."
Vlad."
"Of all the-never mind. G.o.ddess, if you"d be kind enough to send them back, I would have words with you that they don"t need to hear."
Aliera stared at me. "I don"t like your tone I started to snap at her, but the G.o.ddess said, "It"s all right, Aliera. He has some cause."
She looked unhappy, but said, "Very well."
"We can"t take long," said the Demon G.o.ddess, "or you"ll be late for your appointment."
"Appointment?"
"With the Empress."
"I have an appointment with the Empress?"
"Yes. Morrolan has the message waiting for you, but I may as well tell you myself."
I licked my lips. "In that case," I told Aibynn, "I"ll meet you outside the Imperial Wing of the Palace."
"All right," he said, still appearing exhausted.
The G.o.ddess said, "You interest me, drummer. Perhaps, sometime, you"d care to play for me."
"Sure."
I could have warned him that accepting work from the Demon G.o.ddess didn"t always work out the way one would like, but I thought it might be tactless. Aliera walked up and kissed Verra on the cheek.
Verra smiled maternally. It was very strange. Aliera stepped back and nodded; she and Aibynn vanished.
I was about to start in on the G.o.ddess when a small girl emerged from behind the throne. I caught myself and said, "h.e.l.lo, Devera."
" "Lo, Uncle Vlad."
"Why were you hiding?"
"I can"t let Mama see me yet."
"Why not?"
"It might upset things."
"Oh. So she"-I indicated the Demon G.o.ddess-"is your grandmother?"
Devera smiled and crawled up into her lap.
"Boss, is it just me, or is this really weird?"
"It"s both of us."
Verra said, "I"m sorry all of this had to happen."
"You b.l.o.o.d.y well should be."
"I did help save your life."
"Yeah. People have been doing that a lot. Thanks, I suppose."
"Is there something you want to say to me?" "Yes, G.o.ddess, there is.
You"ve gone a good way to ward messing up my life, and, what"s more, manipulated events such that, through my actions, hundreds of people have died. I don"t care what your motivations were; Idon"t, want to have anything more to do with you. Okay?"
Devera looked unhappy, but didn"t say anything. Verra said, "I understand, Vlad. But I won"t hold you to that. You don"t even know who you are yet. You"re beginning another life now. Wait until you know what sort of life it is before you make decisions like that."
I started to say something more, but Devera climbed down from her lap, came up to me, took my hand squeezed. "Don"t be mad, Uncle Vlad, she meant well."
"I-" I stopped and looked down at her. I shook my head.
"Come," said Verra, "they await you at the Imperial Palace."
"For what?"
"You"ll see. And I think we"ll meet again, Vlad Taltos, however you feel about it at the moment." The room swirled and went away before I could speak again.
Life, thy name is irony, or something like that.
"And by his own actions, at risk of his life . . ."The voice of the seneschal rolled like thunder through the court. My eyes were down, and my thoughts were filled with two conflicting desires: First, I wanted to turn around and see how Count Soffta was taking the whole thing. Second, I very badly wanted to throw my head back and laugh aloud. "... which would certainly have cost the lives of thousands of Imperial citizens ..."
Loiosh, of course, wasn"t helping any. He sat on my shoulder, looking around, nuzzling Rocza, and generally carrying on as if he were personally being honored, and saying things like, "Do they really take this stuff seriously, boss?"
"... all the lands around Lake Szurke, within the Duchy of Eastmans watch, for a distance ..."
They had even given me a pillow for my knee; a pillow with a stylized Jhereg in grey against a black background. In keeping my eyes to the ground I kept seeing pieces of embroidered wing and head, and this made it harder than ever to keep a straight face.
". . . all rights and privileges pertaining to this rank, to be granted to all descendants and heirs of his body, for as long as the Empire ..."
I wondered how Cawti would react, were she here. Probably not very well, knowing how she felt about the Empire. Perhaps what I missed most about the new Cawti was that she seemed to have lost her sense of humor. And for what? The words of the Demon G.o.ddess came back to me, and for a moment, bitterness overwhelmed irony.
"... crest with the Imperial Phoenix above of the symbol of House Jhereg ..." His voice almost faltered there, but didn"t. Had an Imperial t.i.tle ever before been granted a Jhereg? Certainly, none had ever been granted an Easterner. My sense of humor returned.
"... crest shall be entered into the Imperial Registry for all time, and may not be removed save by unanimous vote of the Council of Heirs and the Emperor ..."
Just what I needed. I bit my lip. I was becoming anxious for this to end, because when it was over, I"d meet my wife once more. Would I have to say something at the end of the ceremony? No, a deep bow would do.
"... shall be known as Count Szurke, and shall have the right of high and low justice upon his lands, and bear responsibility for . . ."
I wondered if this would make the Jhereg any slower to go after my head. Considering that I just implicated a Council member before the Empire, and then played a part in his murder, it wasn"t very likely.
How soon would they move? Soon. Very soon. If I was going to save my life, which I really should do after all the work Aliera and others had gone through to preserve it, I couldn"t waste any time.
"... stand now, before the Empress and the Heirs of the court, and receive ..."
I had that rarest of positions, an Imperial t.i.tle, which was worth exactly nothing. I wondered if the Empress saw the humor in it. The ceremony came to an end at last. As soon as was decent, I got out of there, intending to back to the lorich Wing. But as I was leaving the Imperial Wing, I found Aibynn, his drum at his feet, watching pa.s.sersby and tapping out rhythms with coins on the marble railing against the wide stairway that led down into the antechamber.
"Here in the Empire," I said, "we call that a banister."
"Where are you going?" he said.
"Now? To meet my wife. After that, well, I"d like a favor from you."
"What"s that?"
"The Phoenix Stone you carry; I want it."
He frowned, then said, "All right. It"s still at that castle. You can just take it."
"Are you sure you won"t need it?"
He shrugged.