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. Also, by possessing a Great Weapon, you have a connection, if you will, tosomething that goes beyond this world.Does that make any sense? I m not sure.You mean, another world in the sense that the Necromancer means it? Do you understand how the Necromancer means it? Well, no. I mean something that you might term  fate.  I hate that word, I said. I ll try to find another, if you like.It refers  I hate the whole concept behind it, so another word won t help.It implies that I m not free to do as Iwish. It isn t that simple, said Sethra. Nothing ever is. I sighed. I really just want to know what I can expect from Lady Teldra.What shemight do, what I can try with her that I couldn t before, what chances it might be reasonable to take withher that I wouldn t have taken before. Oh? Are there chances you wouldn t have taken before? Funny, Sethra.She shrugged. As for your weapon, well, there are stories and legends, but I don t actually knowanything. Leaving me pretty much where I was before. I m afraid so.Although  Yes? I ve never heard anything that would account for the strange behavior you referred to. Wonderful.Well, would you care to let me in on the stories and legends? Are you sure you want to know? The things I ve heard all have to do with destiny. Wonderful.Yeah, I guess I d like to know anyway. Very well.The weapon is supposed to destroy Verra.I nodded.What with one thing and another, that didn t surprise me. Hmmm.Sethra, could the Jenoine know about that? Certainly, Vlad. Okay, that would explain a couple of things.Anyway, what else? There is also something I heard years ago, all wrapped in metaphor, that implies Godslayer is designedto, uh, cut out the diseased flesh in the world. Okay, well, that s clear enough.Any idea what it means? Not really.I sighed. Okay, mind if I change the subject? Go ahead. Do you know anything about the Left Hand of the Jhereg?  I thought you wanted to change the subject. Eh? Never mind; it was a joke. She considered. I ve had a few encounters with the Left Hand over theyears. What can you tell me? They re very secretive, as you probably know. Yes. They do have magic no one else has.I know that the Athyra in particular are always attempting toinsinuate someone into their organization, just to discover how some of their spells operate. Attempting? They haven t had much success, so far. So far is a long time, Sethra. Well, yes.From what I ve picked up, those in the Jhereg -that is, the Left Hand rarely even telleach other how to perform some of the more obscure and difficult magics. I think I might have seen one of those. Oh? You know how much I know of sorcery, so I could be wrong, but the one who attacked me, when sheappeared, well, it didn t look like any teleport I ve seen before. Interesting.What was different about it?I described what I d seen, and what I hadn t seen, as best I could.Sethra looked thoughtful. I don t know what that could be.I wish I did. If you ask nicely, maybe she ll teach you. I ll keep that in mind.Would you like to sleep here tonight? Please, and thank you.And, yeah, I m pretty tired.It s been quite a day.She nodded. Tukko will show you to your room.Tukko appeared and led me to a room where once I had awoken after death; he left a candle burningand shut the door.I laid myself down in a very soft bed the kind that wraps you up like a blan-ket.Notmy favorite sort of bed, but I appreciated the feeling just then. The only decoration in the room was a painting, which showed a battle between a jhereg and a dzur, inwhich they both looked pretty banged up.I d never seen a jhereg like that in real life; it was smaller thanthe giant ones that hover near Deathgate Falls, but much larger than any of those that scavenge in thejungles and forests and even sometimes in Adrilankha.Maybe the nameless artist had never seen a realone.I couldn t say about the dzur, I d never seen one close up.Nor was I in any special hurry to; theywere larger than the tiassa, black, wingless, and, by all reports, very fast.And they had claws and teethand were reputed to fear nothing.Things that fear nothing scare me.When I d studied the painting before, I had been pulling for the jhereg to win.Now I wasn t sure.Nowmaybe I was for the dzur.I blew out the candle, and let a good night s sleep clear my mind the way a good shamy will clear thetongue.4Mushroom-Barley SoupThere were several different soups that could have appeared at this point, of which I passionatelyenjoyed all except the beet soup.Today was one of my favorites; I smelled the mushroom-barley beforeMihi arrived with it.The bowls were wide, white, and there was wonderful steam coming out of them.Valabar s mushroom-barley soup is something I can almost build.At least, I can come closer toachieving the right effect than I can with most of their menu.First, I quarter a whole chicken.Then I throw the carcass into a pot with onion, garlic, celery,salt, pepper, and a bit of saffron.I clean the stock and dust it with powdered saffron.I cook thebarley in the same pot (which took me a bit to figure out) , and throw in some chopped garlic andshallots that I ve sauteed in rendered goose fat un-til they re clear, and wood mushrooms, nefethamushrooms, or long mushrooms, whatever looked good at the market that day.Then I just cook ituntil it reduces.That s almost like Valabar s.I ve never quite identified the differ-ence.I mean, I ve found someof it.I tried sea-salt instead of mined salt, and got closer.Then I used white pepper instead ofblack pepper, and that helped too.I had to play with the amount of saffron, and I think I finallygot it about right.But there s still something that isn t quite the same.It might be how they sautethe onions: a subtle differ-ence in time there can change a lot.It was a bit of an annoyance, but not enough to prevent me from en-joying what was in front ofme [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]