Issola by Steven Brust Page B

ugly enough, anyway."
    It is hard to say what my first impression of them was. I saw them emerge, and my memory supplies their image; I don't know exactly what I noticed first. They were big - bigger than Drains, I'd say more than nine feet tall, which I ought to have from the size of the ceilings, but that's the sort of thing I always figure out after the fact. But whereas Dragaerans are at least compared to humans, the Jenoine were broad, heavy, strong-looking, with thick arms, ending in hands with reasonable number of fingers and one thumb per hand, but from where I stood they didn't seem to have any wrists. Nor hair of any kind. It was hard to see their faces, either, but there seemed to be two large, round eyes, both facing forward, and a mouth of some sort. They were naked, and, as far I could tell, sexless. And I'll mention again, because it impressed me so much, that they were very big. I hated the idea of trying to fight them. I felt Loiosh draw himself up and do the jhereg dance - which is what I call when he tries to make himself look bigger. It is one of the things I don't make fun of him for, because I've caught myself doing the same thing in my own way, although just at the moment I'd have liked to make myself look smaller. Vanishing would have been even better.
    "Don't draw a weapon," whispered someone, and it took me a moment to realize it was Teldra. I wasn't certain what good a weapon would do me, so I saw no reason to argue with he Besides, if she had some inkling of an idea about what to do, she was a long way ahead of me. The thought did flash through my mind, in light of what Sethra had told me, to grab, say Pathfinder from Aliera's side; but laying hands on another’s Great Weapon is as close to certain death as you can come without having Mario after you.
    But the thought did make me realize that neither of the Jenoine appeared to be armed. It didn't take a genius to realize that if they didn't carry weapons, it was because they didn't think they'd need any. This was not a comforting thought either.
    At some point in there, it hit me that I was now in the presence of the Jenoine, of those half-mythological creatures that were spoken of in whispers, and the subject of as much ignorant speculation as Sethra herself. I had never truly believed in them, and now, here they were, and here was I, and typically I had to worry about what to do about it, and I didn't have a clue.
    Evidently, Lady Teldra did.
    She took a step toward them, holding both hands in front of her, palms out, and emitted a series of sounds midway between a cat screeching and a hyena with hiccups.
    "Be damned," murmured Morrolan.
    I could see that, whatever else was happening, she had their attention. One of them moved a step closer to her, and, in deep, rasping voice, spoke in the same language. If I could read the expression on that one's face, I'd guess it was mildly startled - its eyes, at any rate, had widened a little. Do facial expressions translate among species? There was another question for later contemplation. I was getting quite a collection of them. Evidently, I had thought it a good idea at some point to put Spellbreaker away; it was once more wrapped snugly around my wrist. Amazing how light it felt that way, and how much heavier it got once I let it drop into my hand.
    "Loiosh, why does my mind wander whenever I'm terrified?"
    "It doesn't, Boss; your mind wanders whenever you're frustrated because you can't do anything."
    "Oh."
    "Or maybe it just always wanders and I don't notice it the rest of the time." Teldra spoke again, the Jenoine responded. I waited patiently, like a prisoner whose fate was being settled by a magistrate while he stood helpless. It was enough to bring on the headache. I feel very fortunate not to be subject to the headaches. There were many questions I should have liked to ask Morrolan and Aliera, but I was afraid it wouldn't be polite to carry on a conversation while Teldra was involved in