She Is the Darkness: Book Two of Glittering Stone: A Novel of the Black Company (18 page)

I spent a good many hours at it but I finally located Sleepy with some base-camp
elements from Big Bucket’s special forces battalion. Bucket’s gang was doing the
biggest part of the work of hunting Mogaba’s partisans. I told the kid, “Let’s
go for a walk. I need to talk to you.” I collected a handful of flat stones to
throw at crows if those squawking nightmares got too curious.

“This about what I hope it is?” The boy was excited. I could not remember having
been excited about becoming the standardbearer. But I had gotten the job by
default. There had been no one else able to do it. It had had to be handled.

“Partly. I got the final word from the Old Man. He says you’re all right with
him. He’s leaving the choice up to me. So you’re in, far as I’m concerned. But
he wants me to handle the standard myself till after we know one way or the
other how it’s going to go with Longshadow. We can start teaching you some stuff
right away. And see that you get out of some of the more unpleasant duties so
you’ll have time. Especially for working on your reading and writing.”

The boy beamed. I felt a little shitty. “But there’s one special job I need you
to do first.” I saw Big Bucket headed our way, probably to hand the kid one of
the very jobs I had just mentioned.

“What? I can handle it.”

Absolutely. Which was why Bucket would pick him out of the crowd.

“I’ve got a secret message that needs to get to Taglios. It’s critical. You can
take a few guys with you, just in case. Use guys who can ride hard. I’ll give
you authorization to use courier remounts.” I raised a hand to forestall
anything Bucket had to say. “This has to go through as fast as it can.”

Bucket had heard some of it. “You taking away my best man to carry a letter?”

“Yes. Because it has to get through.”

“This really serious?” Bucket asked.

“That’s why I have him out here where nobody can hear us.”

“Then I’d better go away.” For a fugitive thief Bucket made a very good soldier
. . .

“Probably.”

“Hate to lose you, kid.” Bucket shuffled off to dump whatever it was on somebody
else.

Sleepy said, “If you loan me your horse I won’t have to take anybody with me.

And I’ll get there and back a lot faster.”

He had a point. He had a marvelous point and it had not occurred to me. “Let me
think about this.”

There was an iffy side. The Old Man might want me to do something before Sleepy
got back. If I did not have my horse he would ask questions.

I was not planning to share my plan with the Captain. If I did he would forbid
it.

“I’ll be back in less than a month.”

With my horse he could manage that if he had a butt of iron. He was young and
hardy but I did not think anybody was that tough. Still . . . Nothing was likely
to happen around here for at least that long. It would take more than a month
for all the stragglers to come in, for our leaders to hash out some kind of
plan. It was not possible that Croaker had a plan worked out for Overlook the
way he had had for Charandaprash. I was not likely to get caught.

And once the kid had a week’s head start even Soulcatcher would not be able to
intercept him.

“All right. We’ll do it your way. One thing, though. The message has to be put
into the hands of a specific person. He might not be available right away. You
might have to wait for him.”

“I’ll do whatever the job calls for, Murgen.”

“All right. Come down to my . . . ” I could not do that. Thai Dei was sure to
overhear something. “No. First, I have to tell you who to find.” I glanced
around. Sleepy was one of the few veterans of Dejagore who had not acquired a
Nyueng Bao bodyguard, but the Nyueng Bao as a group did keep an eye on him.

“I’m listening.” The kid was eager to prove himself.

“His name is Banh Do Trang. He was a friend of my wife’s. He’s a trading factor
who goes back and forth between Taglios and the delta. He sells everything from
rice to crocodile skins. He’s old and slow but he’s the only way to get a
message into the swamp.”

“You have a whole family—”

“You might’ve noticed how little the Captain trusts those people.”

“Yes.”

“There’s good reason not to trust them. Any of them who’re here with us. In this
case, any of them but Banh Do Trang himself.”

“I understand. Where do I find this man?”

I gave him directions. “You can tell him who the message is from but only if he
asks. He should deliver it to Ky Sahra at the Vinh Gao Ghang temple of
Ghanghesha.”

“You want me to wait for an answer?”

“That won’t be necessary.” If the message got through I would get my answer
directly from Sarie. “I’m going to go write several copies of the message. You
do what you think is best to make sure one of them survives the whole journey.”

“I understand.”

Though he had not reacted to Sahra’s formal name I suspected that he understood
more than I was telling.

Later, I introduced Sleepy to my horse and made the stallion understand that it
was time to earn his oats. The animal was smart enough to be as disgruntled as
any soldier asked to get up and bust his butt.

The kid slipped away without anybody but Bucket knowing that he was going.

The Shadowmaster was in his crystal tower, immersed in some arcane experiment.

He was seeing no one. The stinking ragbag that contained the Howler was perched
atop some of the highest scaffolding surrounding Overlook. Work had resumed,

though at a snail’s pace. Longshadow would not quit just because an army was
nearby.

The sky was heavily overcast. A chill breeze whined through the scaffolding.

Unpleasant weather was headed our way.

“You sent for me?” Singh sounded offended. He was cold for certain.

“It was not a summons, friend Narayan,” Howler replied. The Deceiver’s approach
had been impressively discreet. Easy to see how he had become a master
Strangler. “An invitation only. Perhaps my messenger failed to relay my exact
words.”

A crow whipped past. Another settled nearby. It pecked at crumbs left scattered
where workmen had paused to eat. Singh ignored them. There had been crows
everywhere since the earthquake. Times were good for the black birds. Howler
said, “It occurred to me that you might be interested in what’s been happening
outside. I believe Lady has sent you a personal message.”

Singh stared down at the array of severed heads indicated by Howler. Undaunted
by the presence of workmen, Taglian cavalrymen had set up their trophies close
enough for their faces to be recognized.

Narayan counted heads. His skinny shoulders slumped. Howler’s stance became
subtly mocking. “I was right? It is a message?”

“A prophecy. She’s trying to foretell my future. She does these things.”

“I worked for her. And her husband before her. This is nothing.” Howler tried
and failed to stifle a shriek. “Seems to me Kina hasn’t taken good care of her
children lately.”

Singh did not argue.

“How will you bring on the Year of the Skulls now? How many of your freak
brothers are left?”

“You risk more than you know when you mock the Goddess.”

“I doubt it.” Howler controlled another rising scream. Like a man choking down a
persistent cough, he could manage for short times. “In any case, I don’t think
I’m going to stay around to find out. Longshadow is too damned crazy to do what
he has to do. I refuse to be dragged down with him.” He eyed Singh sidelong,

watching for a reaction.

Narayan smiled as though privy to a huge and ugly secret. “You fear Lady. You
cannot control your functions when you think of her.”

Me, Murgen, ectoplasmic spy, sat on the runt’s shoulder and wondered if these
two would be kind enough to take it a little further and give me something I
could use. Howler had something on his mind.

Singh started to leave. It was obvious that those heads out there did little to
sustain his faith. Unlike his spooky ward he did not enjoy visitations from his
goddess. Neither she nor the Daughter of Night had bothered providing
explanations for the countless disasters befalling his brethren.

Howler read his mood perfectly. “Makes you wonder about the divine order,

doesn’t it?” He screamed before Singh could respond.

He had lost control because he was startled.

I was startled, too.

Swarms of those colored balls from the bamboo poles hurtled toward Overlook.

They ripped into workmen and scaffolding and splashed against the wall. They
gnawed at men and material and even stained the ramparts wherever Longshadow’s
spells were not yet sufficiently dense. Workmen shrieked and fled. Some
scaffolding collapsed.

A band of Taglian horsemen appeared out of a ravine, chased the workmen toward
their makeshift housing. I raised my point of view as the horsemen withdrew
across the rocky ground. I spied Taglian infantrymen crawling forward
everywhere. Large numbers were stealing into the laborers’ housing complex from
its blind side. Many wore clothing similar to that worn by the locals.

What the hell?

These were Lady’s troops, I was sure. What was she up to? And why did the Old
Man keep it from me?

Or was he unaware, too?

The workmen turned back, chased by the soldiers they found in the housing
complex, their families fleeing with them, in a wild tangle of panic and
confusion.

I got a glimmering then.

They clambered up the surviving scaffolding and took shelter inside Overlook.

And a whole bunch of Lady’s men climbed right with them.

Fireballs continued to splash away against the walls and towers. Whole batteries
seemed particularly interested in the tower surmounted by Longshadow’s crystal
chamber. In some places bits of wall wisped or melted away. In most areas and
especially so everywhere Longshadow had the habit of going the protective spells
were already too well established for the fireballs even to cause
discolorations.

Howler did not understand exactly what was happening. From his angle of view he
could not see the nature of the attack. He just saw his associate’s subjects
running for their lives. “Forbidden,” he muttered. “Forbidden forbidden
forbidden. Longshadow is going to shit rocks. I hope he doesn’t get any ideas
about having me punishing these people.”

“You’re so mighty a sorcerer,” Narayan Singh said. “Why don’t you hit back?”

“That’s the point,” Howler said, seeing the possibility Lady wanted him to see.

“It’s a trap. Somewhere down there are whole battalions with those devices that
throw fireballs. They’re waiting for me or Longshadow to counterattack.”

I took a quick swoop across the countryside. Howler was right. There was a guy
behind every bush and rock with a bundle of bamboo poles. Few were contributing
to the continuous barrage. Yet.

And what was Lady doing?

When I returned Howler had gotten down out of sight. Narayan crouched. Neither
seemed anxious to move. Howler said, “I’m not staying much longer, Singh. If I
was you, right now I’d be doing some serious thinking about how I could wake up
an ally who’s completely lost his grip on reality. That or I’d think about
finding friends who could do me more good.”

I pricked up my ghostly ears. At the same time I turned slowly, using my ghostly
eyes. We had several hundred of our men inside Overlook now and neither Howler
nor Longshadow realized it.

I wondered if the Old Man knew. I think he would have hinted something so I
could watch for a particular reaction.

Narayan asked, “You have a suggestion?”

Howler fought through one of his shrieks. “Perhaps.”

Pretty lights filled the air around me. I almost let myself be distracted. But I
managed to hang in there, listening.

Singh asked, “What do you mean?”

“Longshadow is clever but he’s no major intellect. Back when the Shadowmasters
took control of the shadows they used to conquer their empire, before they
understood the darkness they were tapping, they messed up royally. They broke
some seals permanently instead of cracking them temporarily. You get in a hurry,

you screw up. To keep things from going completely rotten they had to have
somebody watching the Shadowgate all the time. Longshadow volunteered for the
job. The others thought that would keep Longshadow out of trouble because he
wouldn’t be able to travel. They already knew he was a lunatic. But he was more
cunning than they thought. He wove a skein of spells that keeps the Shadowgate
closed to everybody but him. His true name is part of the spell complex. That’s
probably the biggest risk he’s ever taken and one he’s regretted from the
instant he cemented it in place and discovered the price he’d paid for power.

The shadows know his name. Every one he lets wriggle through that gate so he can
use it wants to devour him. The price he pays is eternal vigilance. If he slips,

he dies.” Howler let loose a shriek pregnant with passion as well as pain.

Narayan Singh sensed the difference. “What is it?” he asked.

“It was a stupid thing he did. For power. If he dies and his name fades, the
clamping spells unravel and the Shadowgate opens. And that means the end of the
world.”

“Do they know that out there?” Singh asked, indicating the besieging army some
of whom continued to sneak up the scaffolding unnoticed because that was
considered impossible.

“Probably not. Though Lady might reason it out.”

Sneer. We knew it now.

Narayan pondered for a moment, then said, “If all that is true, then I think you
cannot leave Overlook. Without your aid, I fear, the Black Company will triumph.

Whatever he believes. In which case doom will find you wherever you run.”

Howler shrieked, angry, despairing, seeing the logic of Singh’s observation. “He
is not competent to lead yet we cannot wrest command from him.”

“That would do no good, would it? We are slaves of his strategy now. And that
requires completion of the fortress.”

Which no longer seemed likely. If many more of Lady’s soldiers got inside,

Longshadow’s skeleton garrison would not be able to overcome them.

Narayan continued, “Maybe the general will have an idea.”

Both sides knew Mogaba was alive and directing the partisans. I had had no luck
finding him. I had had an equal lack of success tracing Goblin. Smoke was a
handy tool but you had to have some reference points when you started. That or
an age to go back and forth in tiny jumps so people working hard not to be found
could be caught in each of their tricks.

“We’d have to find him.”

Good luck, guys.

“There are ways,” Narayan said. “The Daughter of Night has eyes that can see
from afar. And you are correct when you say that something has to be done.”

Howler agreed.

I agreed with everybody.

Taglian soldiers continued to reach the top of the wall. Most were surprised to
have made it. Few had any definite objective once they reached the top.

Again I wondered if the Old Man knew what was going on.

I started to drift away, thinking maybe it was time to see Croaker. The Daughter
of Night came to the top of the wall, galloped toward Howler and Singh as fast
as her short legs would carry her. Fireballs scarred Overlook’s wall. There
appeared to be a purpose to the way they fell but I could not discern it.

More and more soldiers climbed the scaffolding.

The child shrieked at Singh and Howler. Then Howler shrieked.

The news was out.