Yendi Read Online Free Page A

Tell him I'd like to get together with him."
    "He's going to want to know where."
    "Right. Find out if there's a good restaurant that he owns, and make it there. Say, noon tomorrow."
    "Check."
    "And send a couple of enforcers in here. I'm going to want protection."
    "Right."
    "Get going."
    He got.
    " Hey, boss. What's this about 'protection'? "
    " What about it? "
    " You got me, don'tcha? What'd ya need those other clowns for? "
    " Peace of mind. Go to sleep. "
    One of the enforcers who'd been with me from the time when I took over the area was called N'aal the Healer. He got the name first, the story goes, when he was sent to collect on a late payment from a Chreotha noble. He and his partner went to the guy's flat and clapped at the door. They asked for the money, and the guy snorted and said,
    "For what?"
    N'aal came up with a hammer. "I'm a healer," he said. "I see you got a whole head. I can heal that for you." The Chreotha got the message, and N'aal got the gold. His partner spread the story around and the name stuck.
    Anyway, N'aal the Healer walked in about two hours after I'd told Kragar to send the messenger. I inquired as to his business.
    "Kragar had me deliver a message," he said.
    "Oh. Did you get an answer?"
    "Yeah. I saw one of Laris's people and delivered it. Word came back that it was fine with him."
    "Good. Now, if Kragar would just show up, I could find out where--"
    "I'm right here, boss."
    "Eh? Oh. Jerk. Get lost, N'aal."
    "Where am I?" he said, as he headed out the door. Kragar flipped it shut with his foot and stretched out.
    "Where is it set up for?" I asked him.
    "A place called 'The Terrace.' Good place. You won't get out for less than a gold apiece."
    "I can stand it," I said.
    " They make a mean pepper sausage, boss. "
    " Now, how would you know that? "
    " I hit their garbage dump once in a while. "
    Ask a stupid question--"Okay," I continued to Kragar, "Did you arrange protection for me?" He nodded. "Two. Varg and Temek."
    "They'll do."
    "Also, I'll be there. Just sort of being quiet and hanging around. I doubt he'll even notice me." He smirked.
    "Fair enough. Any advice?"
    He shook his head. "I'm as new at this as you are."
    "Okay. I'll do my best. Any other business?"
    "No. Everything's running smooth, as usual."
    "May it stay that way," I said, rapping my knuckles on the desk. He looked at me, puzzled.
    "An Eastern custom," I explained. "It's supposed to bring good luck." He still looked puzzled, but didn't say anything.
    I took out a dagger and started flipping it.
    Varg was of a nastier school than I. He was one of those people who just reek of danger--the kind who would kill you as soon as look at you. He was Kragar's size, which is just a bit short, and had eyes that slanted upward, indicating that there was Dzur blood somewhere in his ancestry. His hair was shorter than most, dark, and worn slicked back. When you spoke with him, he held himself perfectly motionless, making no extraneous gestures of any kind, and he'd stare at you with those narrow, bright blue eyes. His face was without emotion, except when he was beating someone up. Then his face would twist into a Jhereg sneer that was among the best I'd ever seen, and he projected enough hate to make an army of Teckla run the other way. He had absolutely no sense of humor.
    Temek was tall and so thin you could hardly see him if you came at him sideways. He had deep, brown eyes--friendly eyes. He was a weapons master. He could use an axe, a stick, a dagger, a throwing knife, any kind of sword, shuriken, darts, poisons of all types, rope, or even a Verra-be-damned piece of paper. Also, he was a pretty good sorcerer for a Jhereg outside of the Bitch Patrol--the Left Hand. He was the only enforcer I had that I knew, with one hundred percent certainty, had done
    "work"--because Kragar had given him the job at my orders. A month before this business with Laris started, a certain Dzurlord had borrowed a large sum from someone who worked for