Hawk (Vlad) Read Online Free PDF Page A

its tail some more.
    “Hello, Awtlá,” I said aloud. It came out in a whisper, and ragged, like there was something wrong with my throat. I almost cleared my throat, but realized in time that doing so was probably not my best move. I tried speaking again. “If I knew how you found me, would I know how the Jhereg found me?” It didn’t hurt to talk, I just sounded bad.
    Awtlá seemed very happy to see me. My feelings were more mixed. It was a very, very bad sign that I could be found. But Awtlá was one of the familiars of a warlock—of the Warlock—who as far as I knew was friendly. More significantly, I was in absolutely no condition to either defend myself or run away. So I decided to wait for further developments. Loiosh flapped his wings and hissed at Awtlá, who jumped up on his back legs to either eat him or lick him; I backed away because having a dog on my chest would make me fall over.
    The next thing that ought to happen was the appearance of a cat. I looked around.
    “There, Boss. By that hedge.”
    Yeah, I could just see it. It wasn’t approaching me; it seemed to be giving itself a careful bath.
    Then he himself appeared. I couldn’t see him all that well in the gloom, but well enough to recognize him. He looked me over. I nodded to him.
    “Hello, Lord Taltos,” he said.
    “How did you find me?”
    “You really need to stop wasting so much time with small talk,” he said.
    I waited.
    He shrugged. “You were found by the will of the Empress.”
    I licked my lips. “You aren’t making that up, are you?”
    “No. She used the Orb.”
    “And, what, it was just coincidence that the Jhereg found me on the same day?”
    “No. She became aware that you’d been attacked.”
    “She was right about that.”
    “She wasn’t certain you’d survive.”
    “Yeah, me neither.”
    “The Jhereg found you?”
    “Kinda,” I said.
    “There were more looking for you,” he told me.
    “Were?”
    He said, “Have you noticed we look alike?”
    “Human, dark hair, mustache, yeah I’ve noticed.”
    “That would explain it.”
    “You met some Jhereg?”
    “Three. Not far from here. They met Awtlá and Sireng. One had a Morganti weapon.”
    If you’ve been paying attention, that was where I realized that the guy had gone off to get friends. “Yeah, Morganti,” I said. “A lot of those around lately. They should be illegal.”
    “They are illegal.”
    “Oh, right. Nothing personal, but I’m glad they found you instead of me. I’m not in any shape to—”
    “I can see that.”
    I nodded. “But wouldn’t they have been embarrassed to find out they’d destroyed the wrong soul?”
    The Warlock nodded. “Yeah, that would have been bad. Glad I was able to save them from that.”
    “So you don’t know how they found me?”
    “No. You have a lot of blood on you.”
    “Your powers of observation—”
    “How much of it is yours?”
    “A lot of it.”
    “I see. How are you?”
    “Glad to still be on my feet, what with one thing and another. But, overall, I’d say pretty poor.”
    He was silent for a moment, then his two familiars began to move. They started walking in large circles around the park. I watched them for a few moments, and, yeah, there was a wolf and a dzur where a dog and a cat had been. I really wished I knew how they did that.
    He said, “You know I can’t heal you while you wear that amulet.”
    “Yeah.”
    “I could give you some basic emergency care.”
    “Lady Teldra has handled that already, thanks.”
    “Lady—? Oh. Yes, of course. You know about the limitations on that, right?”
    “Pretend I don’t for a minute and tell me.”
    “A device like that can—”
    “Device like this?”
    He shrugged. “Any energy-magic conversion device.”
    “Ener … Um. Okay.”
    “It can only do so much until it receives more energy.”
    “Receives more energy,” I repeated. “By which you mean—kills someone, destroying his soul?”
    “Yes,” he said.
    “That