Twenty-Two -
Steven Brust's 'Dragaera' series, Vlad and a certain line
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"All too well," I gritted out, bending my wrist painfully to bring the second lockpick to bear on the shackle around my left wrist. What I actually told Loiosh was "That's not important right now. Has Kragar showed up yet?"

"I don't see him--" Loiosh's mental voice abruptly cut off, then returned a moment later, sounding a bit sheepish. "--he's here, boss. I didn't--"

"--see him arrive," I finished for my familiar, my sweaty fingers slipping on the lockpick and nearly fouling the whole thing up. "Give him the signal to get started. By the time he's got the door open I should be out of my shackles." And not in quite such an embarrassing position, I added to myself, as the shackle fell off my left wrist to thump silently into the carpet.

Things never work out like we expect them to, however, and I was still struggling with the right shackle and swearing when the door popped off its hinges and Loiosh flew in. He nearly flew straight into the bed's footboard after a single glance at me, which I took as a bad sign.

"Shut up, Loiosh," I thought, preemptively. Out loud I said "Kragar! Where the hell are you?"

"Right here," someone said from far too close to my right elbow, and if I'd had any of my weapons on me at the moment Kragar would have needed revivification. He didn't seem to realize how close he'd come to dying, instead studying the shackles around my ankles with something like clinical interest. "Classical star-fish," he added. "I guess you've got to expect that sort of attention to detail from a guy like Morrolan."

"Shut up and help me, Kragar. We have to 'rescue' me before Morrolan shows up, or the whole plan goes to Deathsgate and then Morrolan will slap me in one of these things for real." The right shackle popped loose and for a moment I just let my exhausted arms dangle, fingers not even within three feet of the floor. "Why am I upside down, anyway?" I asked, sounding more peevish than I'd like.

"Interferes with your link to the Orb," Kragar said cheerfully, working on the hasp of the lock around my right ankle, which was right around nose height on him.

"Huh." I hadn't tried to call on the Orb, since my using sorcery in any capacity would have tipped Tashi off to the whole thing right there. "I'll take your word for it. Okay, fine, that's why I'm upside down. Answer me this, then: Why do Morrolan's lesser dungeons look like a high-end Jhereg brothel?"

"Morrolan," Kragar said, shrugging as if that was some sort of answer. Then my right foot fell free and I suddenly had other things to think about.