Issola Read Free Page A

saber whip around the bell of your weapon and leave a welt on your arm?"
    "Why, no, I can't say I have."
    "Then you wouldn't understand."
    She laughed. You never know if an Issola is laughing to be polite. I resolved not to try to be funny around her.
    "How long do you think that will last, Boss?"
    We finished our coffee at about the same time and called for more, which was brought with a cheer and alacrity that showed the hostess had fallen under Teldra's spell. No surprise there.
    I said, "So Kiera told you how to find me, Sethra did the locating, and Morrolan let you go into his tower and use one of his Magical Mystical Powerful Transcendental Wizard Windows to get here. What I'd like to know—"
    "Not exactly," said Teldra.
    "Oh?"
    "Morrolan didn't exactly let me use the window."
    "Go on."
    "Morrolan . . . that is, I didn't ask him."
    "You didn't ask him."
    "I couldn't. I didn't - that is, I don't know where he is."
    "I see. I begin to see. I think I begin to see."
    "Perhaps I should begin at the beginning."
    "Arbitrary. But still, not a bad choice."
    "Almost a minute, Boss. Good work."
    "Shut up, Loiosh."
    "Well, to begin with, then, the world was made when the Gods created a ball of amorphia to hang—"
    "Maybe we should let Loiosh make the jokes."
    "But you're the only one who can hear him."
    "Believe me, Teldra, that's a blessing for you."
    She smiled. She had dimples. I tried to remember how many Dragaerans I'd met who had dimples. Plenty of humans did, but I didn't recall seeing many on Dragaerans.
    "Early in the morning, four days ago," she said, "I received a message from Her Majesty, the Empress, asking Morrolan to extend his hospitality to a certain Lady Marquana, House of the Athyra, who would be in the area on Imperial business."
    "What sort of Imperial business?"
    "Does it matter?"
    "Probably not, but asking questions makes me feel smarter."
    She dimpled again. "In point of fact, Vlad, I don't know."
    I shrugged. She continued, "I went to find Morrolan, and he wasn't in the library. I attempted psychic contact, and failed to reach him."
    "Is that unusual?"
    "Unprecedented."
    "Really? He's never been busy?"
    "If so, he has told me in advance. The only time I have been unable to reach him is when he has been, well, off the world."
    "Off the world?"
    She studied me. "You know something of those windows."
    "Ah. Yes. And this didn't happen often?"
    "Twice before, and both times he told me ahead of time he would be out of touch, and left instructions about what to do in case of trouble."
    "What were those instructions, Teldra?"
    "To reach Sethra Lavode."
    "Not Aliera?"
    "This was before Aliera had, uh, re-emerged. I agree that, now, Aliera would be the obvious person to speak with first."
    "And so did you speak with Aliera?"
    Teldra tilted her head and smiled suddenly. "Why do you remind me so much of an Imperial Inquisitor?"
    "Damn," I said. "I was aiming for Third Floor Relic."
    "Who?"
    "Ah ha."
    "Ah ha?"
    "I've just proven that you're not Sethra Lavode. Did you speak with Aliera?"
    "She's gone too," said Teldra.
    "My goodness," I suggested. "Four days, you say?"
    "Yes."
    "No message, no word, no communication?"
    "No message, no word, no communication."
    "I see." I tried to wrap my head around the idea that something might have happened to Morrolan and Aliera. It was hard. They'd always struck me as, for all practical purposes, indestructible. But Teldra had sought me out in the wilderness, and that meant, however unimaginable it might be, something serious had happened. I forced my mind back to business. "So when did you make contact with Sethra?"
    "As best I remember, Your Equitableness, it was—"
    " 'Your Equitableness'? Are the Justicers really addressed that way, Teldra?"
    "I thought you'd know."
    "I never had an advocate, so I've never heard the forms used."
    "Oh. I believe that's the term."
    "It sounds silly, doesn't it? Want more coffee?"
    "Yes, please, Your Equitableness. If you don't mind my asking, why