Dzur by Steven Brust Read Free Book Online

needs...."
    "Not as much as in the past. Just a knife in each, about this size." I made one appear and showed it to him.
    "Can I keep it?"
    I set it on the counter.
    "Nothing else? Are you certain?"
    "Nothing else for the boots, but I also need a new sheath for my rapier. The last one you made for me was, uh, damaged."
    He came around the counter, bent over, and inspected it. "It's been horribly bent. And the tip's been cut off. What happened?"
    "It got stuck in me."
    He stared at me, I think wanting to ask how that had happened but not daring. I said, "It was an apprentice physicker, and I have no clear memory of just what he did or why, but I guess it worked."
    "Eh . . . yes, m'lord. The new sheath-"
    "Use the same design."
    "And all of the additions?"
    "May as well."
    "Very good, m'lord." He bowed very low.
    "How long will it take?"
    "Four days."
    I raised an eyebrow.
    "Day after tomorrow."
    I nodded. "Good. Now let's chat."
    "M'lord?"
    "Close up the shop, Jakoub. We have to talk."
    He turned just the least bit pale, though I had never, in our long acquaintance, either harmed or threatened him. I guess word gets out. I waited.
    He coughed, shuffled past me, and hung a ribbon across the door. Then he led the way into his back room, filled with leather, leather smells, oils, and oil smells.
    Jakoub had a full head of black hair, brushed back like a Dragaeran trying to show off a noble's point (which Jakoub didn't have). I've never been able to determine if it's a hairpiece, or his own hair that he dyes. He was missing a couple of lower teeth, which was made more noticeable by a protruding jaw. His eye-brows were wispy gray, in sharp contrast to his hair, and his ears were small. His fingers were short and always dirty. He pulled out the one stool and offered it to me. I sat down. He said,
    "My lord?"
    I nodded. "Who has been running things, Jakoub?"
    "My lord?"
    I gave him Patented Jhereg Look Number Six. He melted, more or less. "You mean, who collects for the game here?"
    I smiled at him. "That is exactly what I mean, Jakoub. Well?"
    "I deliver it to a nice young gentleman of your House. His name is Fayavik."
    "And who does he deliver it to?"
    "My lord? I wouldn't know-"
    He cut off as I leaned toward him just a little.
    Before I'd shown up to run things, Jakoub had had a piece of everything that happened around Six Corners, and had ears that extended even farther. His piece might be smaller now, but it was still there. And his ears would still be in place. I knew it, and he knew I knew it. He nodded a little. "All right," he said. "A few weeks ago, everything changed. More of you-that is, more Jhereg showed up, and-"
    "Men or women?"
    He frowned. "Men, m'lord."
    "All right."
    "And they started, well, just being around more. It made all of my friends nervous, so I started asking questions."
    "Uh huh."
    "It seems there was someone else in charge. Someone from the City." I nodded. "The City" was how people in South Adrilankha referred to the part of Adrilankha north of the river. Or, well, west of the river.
    "I've heard," he said, "that there is some group called the Strangers Group that gets the money."
    "Named for Stranger's Road, or some other reason?"
    "Stranger's Road. They work out of a private house there."
    "Whose house?"
    "I don't know."
    I gave him the narrowed-eyed quick glance, and he said, "I really don't. It used to belong to an old lady named Coletti, but she died last year, and I don't know who bought it."
    "Okay," I said.
    It's funny how my mind works: it at once jumped to who I could get to bribe the appropriate clerk to check ownership records, forgetting that, well, I didn't have any "who"s anymore. After being gone for years, I was only back for one day and I was thinking like a Jhereg again. This could be good or bad.
    All right, now I knew the place. What next? Check it out? Sure, why not?
    What could possibly happen?
    "You're starting to second-guess yourself, Boss. Careful."
    "Yeah. I'm not used to