Free The Book of Jhereg by Steven Brust

going for eight out of ten. You’ve been getting uppity lately. What’s up? Do you have some ‘work’ for me?
”
    “
No such luck. Drop on by and I’ll tell you about it
.”
    “
Right away?
”
    “
As soon as it’s convenient
.”
    “
Okay. I’ll be over shortly
.”
    “
Fine. Meet me in the lab
.”
    “
Oh
,” she said, understanding, and the link was broken.
    I left word with my receptionist that I wasn’t going to be taking any messages for the next two hours and walked down a few flights of stairs. Loiosh rode complacently on my left shoulder, looking around as if he were conducting an inspection. I came to a small room in the basement and unlocked the door.
    In this building, locks are next to useless as a means of actually keeping people out of places, but they are effective as a way of saying “Private.”
    It was a smallish room, with a low table in the exact center and several mounted lamps along the wall. I kindled these. In a corner of the room was asmall chest. The middle of the table held a brazier, with a few unburned coals in it. I dumped these out and got more from the chest.
    I focused, briefly, on one of the candles and was rewarded by a flame. I used it to light the others, then put out the lamps.
    I checked the time and found that I still had a little while before I could contact Daymar. I checked the placement of the candles and watched the flickering shadows for a moment.
    Removing a few more items from the chest, including a piece of incense, I set them on the table next to the brazier, placing the incense among the coals. Next, I took a candle and held the flame next to a coal. A moment of concentration, and the fire spread evenly and quickly. The smell of incense began to introduce itself to the various nooks and corners of the room.
    Soon Cawti arrived and greeted me with a sunshine smile. She was an Easterner, a small, pretty woman with dzur-black hair and fluid, graceful movements. If she’d been a Dragaeran, she might have been born into the House of the Issola, and taught them all something about “courtliness.” And something about “surprise,” as well.
    Her hands were small, but strong, and could produce knives out of nowhere. Her eyes burned—sometimes with the impish delight of a mischievous child, sometimes with the cold passion of a professional killer, sometimes with the rage of a Dragonlord going into battle.
    Cawti was one of the deadliest assassins I had ever met. She and her partner, then a defrocked Dragonlord, had made one of the most sought-after teams of killers in the Jhereg, going under the somewhat melodramatic names of “The Sword and the Dagger.” I had deemed it a high honor when an enemy of mine had considered me worth the expense of hiring the team to take me out. I’d been quite surprised when I woke up afterwards and found that they hadn’t managed to make it permanent. For that, thank Kragar’s alertness, Morrolan’s speed and fighting ability, and Aliera’s rather exceptional skill in healing and revivification.
    Some couples fall in love and end up trying to kill each other. We’d done it the other way around.
    Cawti was also a competent witch, though not quite as skilled as I. I explained to her what was going to be needed, then we made small talk.
    “
Boss!
”
    “
Yes, Loiosh?
”
    “
I hate to interrupt
—”
    “
Like hell you do
.”
    “
But it’s time to contact Daymar
.”
    “
Already? Okay, thanks
.”
    “
Well, I suppose you’re welcome
.”
    I reached out, thinking of Daymar, concentrating, remembering the “feel” of his mind.
    “
Yes?
” he said. He was one of few people whose voice I could actually hear when we were in contact. In the other cases it was because I knew them wellenough for my imagination to supply the voice. With Daymar it was simply the strength of the contact.
    “
Would you mind showing up?
” I asked him. “
We’d like to get started on this spell
.”
    “
Fine. Just let me . . . Okay,