The Book of Jhereg Read Online Free PDF Page A

helped make the House profitable again. As a matter of fact, Vlad,” he said, looking up, “it seems that it was his idea to allow Easterners to buy titles in the Jhereg.”
    “Now that’s interesting,” I said. “So I have him to thank for my father being able to squander the profits from forty years of work in order to be spat upon as a Jhereg, in addition to being spat upon as an Easterner. I’ll have to find some way to thank him for that.”
    “I might point out,” said Kragar, “that if your father hadn’t bought that title, you wouldn’t have had the chance to join the business end of the House.”
    “Maybe. But go on.”
    “There isn’t much more to tell. He didn’t exactly make it to the top; it would be more accurate to say that he made it somewhere, and then declared the top to be where he was. You have to remember that things were pretty much a mess back then.
    “And of course, he was tough enough, and good enough to make it stick. As far as I can tell, he hasn’t had any serious threats to his power since he got there. He has a habit of spotting potential challengers while they’re still weak, and getting rid of them. In fact—do you remember that fellow, Leonyar, we took out last year?”
    I nodded.
    “Well, I think that may have come indirectly from the Demon. We’ll never know for sure, of course, but as I said: he likes to get rid of potential problems early.”
    “Yeah. Do you think he could see
me
as a ‘potential problem’?”
    Kragar thought that over. “I suppose he might, but I don’t quite see why. You’ve been staying out of trouble, and as I said before, you haven’t really been moving very fast since the first couple of years. The only time there’s been any problem was the business with Laris last year, and I think everyone knows that he forced it on you.”
    “I hope so. Does the Demon do ‘work’?”
    Kragar shrugged. “We can’t say for sure, but it looks like he does. We know that he used to. As I said, he took out those two council members personally, back when he was getting started.”
    “Great. So in addition to whatever he could have set up, he might be planning to do the job himself.”
    “I suppose he could.”
    “But I still can’t figure out—look, Kragar, with someone like the Demon, something like this wouldn’t happen by accident, would it?”
    “Something like—?”
    “Like carefully arranging a meeting in just such a way as to arouse my suspicions.”
    “No, I don’t think he—What is it?”
    I guess he caught the look on my face, which must have been simply precious. I shook my head. “That’s it, of course.”
    “What,” he asked, “is what?”
    “Kragar, arrange for three bodyguards for me, okay?”
    “Bodyguards? But—”
    “Make them busboys or something. You won’t have any trouble; I own half interest in the place. Which, I might add, I’m sure the Demon is aware of.”
    “Don’t you think he’ll catch on?”
    “Of
course
he’ll catch on. That’s the point. He knows that I’m going to be nervous about meeting him, so he deliberately set up the meeting with an irregularity to make me suspicious, so I’ll have an excuse to have protection there. He’s going out of his way to say, ‘Go ahead and do what you have to, to feel safe, I won’t be offended.’”
    I shook my head again. I was starting to get dizzy. “I hope I don’t ever have to go up against the son-of-a-bitch. He’s devious.”
    “
You’re
devious, boss,” said Kragar. “I sometimes think you know Dragaerans better than other Dragaerans do.”
    “I do,” I said flatly. “And that’s because I’m not one.”
    He nodded. “Okay, three bodyguards. Our own people, or free-lance?”
    “Make one of them our own, and hire the other two. There isn’t any need to rub his nose in it, in case he recognizes our people.”
    “Right.”
    “You know, Kragar,” I said thoughtfully, “I’m not real happy about this. He must know me well enough