She Is the Darkness: Book Two of Glittering Stone: A Novel of the Black Company (29 page)

This time when I returned to flesh I was wiped out completely. I had just enough
strength to grab some sugar water. I consumed my resources a lot faster,

apparently, when I had to fight Smoke all the time.

Croaker was talking to somebody on the other side of the curtain. I did not
recognize the voice so I did not include myself in the discussion.

The subject seemed to be a rapid deterioration in our fortunes due to a sudden
increase in the number of shadows getting past the troops below the Shadowgate.

Shadows were turning up everywhere now, though not yet in disastrous numbers.

The man reporting to Croaker was a courier who had come all the way around
Overlook from the Old Division. Mission completed now, he did not want to go
back out into the night even when Croaker offered him one of One-Eye’s amulets.

“You’re perfectly safe now,” Croaker told him. “The shadows won’t know you’re
around.”

“I don’t trust—”

“Don’t test my temper, soldier. I’ll call the guards.”

Smoke groaned. It was a for real, out-loud, full-throated kind of groan.

Croaker started to snarl at the messenger again. The ground shook as though
somebody had dropped a seven-ton boulder next door. Dirt rained down. Some got
into my food. Some went down the back of my neck. I was too tired to care much,

or even to wonder what was happening. Croaker pulled the hangings aside. “What
was that?”

“The old fart made a noise.”

“He didn’t make the earth shake, did he?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know about that. I do know Lady wants to take one more
crack at Overlook.” I explained the situation there. “Wouldn’t it be something
if we could just round them all up? If we ended up getting the best of everybody
because they couldn’t stop feuding among themselves?”

“We’ve been doing that for the last five years. More or less. I don’t like the
idea of her going in there again. She ought to hunker down till morning. A place
like Overlook could turn into a death trap if the shadows infest it.”

I said, “We’d really better worry about Longshadow’s health. If the well-being
of the Shadowgate depends on his well-being.”

“Uhm?”

“A lot of the insane stuff he did the last several years he did because
Soulcatcher and Kina were manipulating him. But he was paranoid about the
shadows twenty years before any of us showed up in these parts. He’s convinced
they’re out to get him. What if he’s right? What if they do get him? I don’t
know what happens to a man when the shadows come, except that he dies horribly.

If one of them kills Longshadow, will that break open the Shadowgate? Would that
be why they want to get him so bad?”

“I don’t know. I’d have to ask One-Eye.”

“Where is that little shit? He should have been hanging around here instead of
playing tonk.”

“Tonk?”

“A while ago he was bitching because he wanted to get back to his burrow. He’d
suckered somebody into coming over to play.”

“He was bullshitting you, then, Murgen. There’s nobody in this army stupid
enough to play cards with him anymore. Maybe he was going to get drunk. Why
don’t you run over there and—”

“I’m wiped. That’s one reason I wanted to see One-Eye. I don’t have anything
left to give.”

Croaker sighed. He started to settle his winged Widowmaker helmet onto his head.

“What should he look for?”

“He’ll want to keep track of Lady and what’s happening in Longshadow’s chamber.

He’ll have to fight Smoke every step to do it, though. The little shit is really
turning into his old chickenshit self. He don’t want to get near this or that or
. . . Never mind. Tell him if he sees something Lady ought to know about, he can
sort of warn her by getting his point of view down right in front of her and
screaming. She won’t pick up anything word for word but she’ll understand that
there’s something she needs to know. Then she’ll pick up the gist of it.”

Croaker frowned. He was really worried about Lady going back into Overlook. He
asked, “Can you make it back to your place?”

The sugar water had given me strength enough to attack some hard rolls and
fragments of a scrawny chicken that had not been able to outrun the headquarters
cooks. “Yeah. Now. I wish we’d brought more cattle. I’d cut somebody’s throat
for a good hunk of rare beef.”

“One-Eye is supposed to have woven a network of spells around here to make the
area proof against shadows. But I want you to take this amulet, too. Just in
case.”

It is never wise to count on One-Eye one hundred percent. Sometimes he gets
sloppy. Sometimes he forgets. Sometimes he is too lazy.

Croaker said, “Bring the standard when you come back. Then I can give that
amulet to somebody else.”

“Still want me to go past One-Eye’s hole? I’m better now.”

“I’ll handle it. Get some rest. If you’ve turned into the religious sort while I
wasn’t looking, beg your gods to get us through the rest of the night.”

Fortunately, there was not a lot of night left. The shadows would have to go
into hiding before long. The tables would turn. Soldiers would spend the
daylight hours hunting them.

During our conversation we had heard several remote screams. “Yeah.” As I was
about to leave I observed, “Shouldn’t most of the stupid ones, the ones who
didn’t want to do the work or to inconvenience themselves, be dead by now?”

“I expect so. I imagine the shadows are learning from their successes, though.

And their failures.”

Shaking, I went out into the night.

Clouds masked the stars. I could see nothing but the occasional flight of a
fireball and the glow atop Overlook’s remaining lighted towers.

I listened for crows and owls and bats, for rats and mice. I heard none of
those. There was no noise anywhere that was not of human origin. Shadows found
nonhuman life nearly as tasty as human. And a whole lot less difficult about
being hunted.

A breeze had begun to blow. I sniffed the air, considered the overcast. Looked
like we were going to get some rain.

I descended into my own dugout. Inside I found Thai Dei huddled beside the fire,

pallid for a Nyueng Bao, obviously frightened. Weird. I had trouble picturing
him being scared of anything.

I told him, “We’ll be fine here. This candle will keep out any shadows that get
through the spells One-Eye spread around outside.” I did not mention the
standard. He did not need to know. I tossed him the amulet Croaker had given me.

“For insurance. You wear that, you can go anywhere safely.”

“I’ll go nowhere till the sun is high in the sky.”

“I like your attitude. Shows good sense. I’m exhausted. I need to get some rest
before I collapse.” I looked around.

“Where’s your mother?”

Thai Dei shook his head. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t know where to start looking
if I could summon the courage to rid myself of the cold water that has replaced
my bones.”

“She isn’t out there with Uncle Doj, is she?” Concerned, tired, I spoke without
thinking.

Thai Dei was not so frightened and worried that he missed my slip. “Uncle Doj?”

Why pretend? “Oh, I know he’s prowling around out there. I saw him the other
night. Him and Mother Gota were prancing through the ruins of Kiaulune. Doing
who knows what the hell why. Or maybe hell knows what the who. What’s he up to?

I’m sure he wasn’t looking for plunder Mogaba’s and the Prince’s men missed.”

Thai Dei just looked at me. Maybe a hint of a smile tried to break through. It
did not last. “Will that candle last all night?”

Evidently he could become mildly talkative if he was scared and worried.

“It’ll last a lot of nights. I’m going to crap out. If it makes you more
comfortable, put on the amulet and sit next to the candle. Just don’t move it.

It has to block the doorway.”

Thai Dei grunted. He had the amulet on his wrist already and was back at full
worry.

I said, “We’ll look for your mother first thing.” Now that there was a chance
she was dead I was concerned. Result of a whole lot of boyhood teaching that
insisted that even the most hated member of your family was immeasurably
precious. And there was some truth to that. Who will watch your back if not
family?

It is the same here in the Company. The most loathsome, most despicable of my
brothers has to be of more value to me than any outsider. On one level we are a
big, ugly family.

There are, of course, rare exceptions, bullies and assholes so bad they have
just got to be fragged. That has not happened in a long time.

I would look for my mother-in-law even though I had wished her away at least a
hundred thousand times.

I was not yet all the way horizontal when sleep overcame me.

I dreamt. Of course. Awake or asleep I spent most of my life in dreamlands.

I was in the place of bones. Some great force troubled the plain. The bones
themselves drifted on tides and currents. Scattered skeletons pulled themselves
together, rose up and wandered aimlessly for seconds or minutes before falling
apart again. Skulls turned to stare wherever I floated. Crows cawed drunkenly
from perches in the few enwintered trees, afraid to fly because their
equilibrium was all off and every straight flight nevertheless warped groundward
where the stricken bird flopped and struggled amongst the bones like a moth
caught in a spider’s web. Dark clouds scurried across what had always been
iron-grey skies. The wind was icy. Gusts made the bones rattle.

The smell of Kina was strong but I did not see her.

There was something behind me, though. I just could not turn fast enough to find
out what.

Turning did inform me that I had some control, which I exercised immediately by
wishing myself out of that place. Naturally, the move failed to be an
improvement.

I went to the caverns of ice and old men. Those ancients made no sound but they
were bickering. Something was in the wind. The smell of Kina was strong there,

too, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Some of those old boys had their eyes open. They watched me as I passed.

Again I had the feeling that there was something behind me but saw nothing when
I looked back.

I did have control. I followed the tunnel, eventually reached the place where
the Books of the Dead rested upon their lecterns. The first, which the Daughter
of Night had been transcribing, was now open to a page near the beginning.

The stink of Kina was particularly strong there.

I had no business in that place. There was nothing I wanted there.

Except out.

I tried to recall how I had gotten away last time. By just wanting to do it
badly enough, I guess.

Darkness came.

It reminded me of something Narayan Singh said one time:

“Darkness always comes.”

It seemed I was in the darkness a long time. Fear began to build. I reflected on
just how right Narayan had to be.

Though it might wear a thousand different names in a thousand different times,

and might come from a thousand different directions, darkness always comes.

When the light came back I found myself way up high above everything again. So
high up, I was above the clouds that had been moving in as I headed for bed,

leaving me at the mercy of those unfamiliar stars.

I picked out the ghoulish dagger constellation in the north, took a guess at the
direction I had followed before, put on all the speed I could and dived into the
clouds. In moments I was down where treetops whisked right under where my love
handles would have hung had I had any belly at all. I thought I could learn to
enjoy this if I could just get rid of the feeling that something was close
behind me and gaining.

There were no lights down there this time. The whole world smelled of fear, as
though every rock and animal and tree sensed something dire about to happen. I
located a village. The entire population was wide awake, despite the hour. They
huddled in frightened clumps, babies clutched tightly, livestock gathered into
their homes with them. They did not talk much. The children whimpered.

How could they know what was happening at Overlook? Was there some prophecy or
something that said tonight was the night the Shadowgate would go down? Had
there been signs and portents unseen by me? Did they know anything at all? Maybe
their terror had nothing to do with Shadowmasters or the Black Company.

I streaked onward. Far, far ahead the occasional spark flipped into the sky.

Those had to be the home fires burning.

The quarrel with the shadows was not over.

It was a long night.

The Shadowgate had not collapsed. Not yet. Longshadow was still alive.

I recalled having no problems getting close to any she is the darkness when I
did not have Smoke along. I headed for the flickering remnant of Longshadow’s
crystal chamber.

Soulcatcher was on her feet and in nasty form, carping at Howler. The screaming
wizard hardly knew where he was. “Come on, you worthless ball of rags!” Catcher
raged in a fishwife’s voice. “We’ve got to get out of here before my beloved
sister realizes the lovely chance she’s missing!”

Her darling sister was on her way already, thanks to me. I was surprised she was
taking so long. She seemed to have grown cautious in the last hour. Of course,

she did have to slither through a long tunnel, then wander around a dark
fortress, then make a long climb, all the while making sure no little shadows
jumped on her back.

Howler let out a groggy, interrogative sort of cry. He was not yet clear on
where he was or how he had gotten there. He concentrated on getting his feet
back under him.

Catcher had to keep her back clean, too. She cast some little spell that sent a
worm of light slithering into all the dark places in that tossed salad of a
chamber. It rooted out several tiny shadows. They evaded the light easily.

Soulcatcher cursed. “Damned thing isn’t fast enough!” The shadows darted at
Longshadow, who was in far worse shape than Howler. He was, however, more in
touch with what was happening around him. He whispered a cantrip before the
darknesses reached his shell. The little shadows spun and went after the
invaders.

This battle would not end while he was alive, apparently. He was a stubborn
shit.

Soulcatcher cuffed Howler around the ears. The fishwife’s shrill insisted, “Come
on! This place is going to be your death if we don’t get“ She sensed imminent
danger. Lady was not far away now. “It’s her.” New voice. Baffled, frightened,

childlike. “How does she dare? She can’t have any real powers anymore. It
doesn’t work that way.”

Lady was in the stairwell now. She did not seem afraid of a confrontation with
her little sister at all.

She carried a bundle of short bamboo poles.

So did the dozen men behind her. They would be able to launch a small blizzard
of fireballs. Those at the rear of the party backed up the steps. They kept
poles ready to discharge at anything coming up behind them. The smell of fear
grew stronger than the lingering perfume of Kina.

Soulcatcher thumped Howler a few more times, trying to get him to come alert. He
remained too groggy to be much use.

She turned to the doorway. With some small but well-chosen spell she sealed it,

then resumed trying to get Howler into shape for a flying escape.

The small shadows had gone into hiding again.

The door began to glow. Its surface rippled colorfully, according to the hue of
the fireballs hitting its far side.

Soulcatcher produced a knife and slit Howler’s clothing. I did not understand
till she found what she was looking for. That proved to be a piece of silk, four
feet by six when she spread it, and a little bundle of sticks. The silk
rectangle became almost rigid when she spoke a certain word. It floated up off
the floor like it was floating on the surface of a gently rippling pool.

Soulcatcher broke the bundle of sticks and assembled them into a framework on
which she stretched the silk. She muttered as she worked. The whole thing seemed
much too fragile but in a minute she grabbed the Daughter of Night and clambered
aboard. The carpet sagged but held their weight.

Sputtering, jerking like he was having a seizure, Howler staggered toward his
stolen emergency conveyance. I wondered if this was his final secret or if he
still had more flying tricks up his sleeves. I bet it was something like that
piece of silk that got him out of dying, back when they thought he had crashed
at high speed into the side of the Tower at Charm.

Soulcatcher did something incredibly violent. Most of the tower top vanished
inside a globe of white light. The flare was so brilliant it betrayed every
shadow slithering through the night but temporarily blinded half the men trying
to exterminate them.

When the light faded a third of the tower’s crystal roof no longer existed.

Soulcatcher snagged Howler by the hair, dragged him onto the carpet, said some
word that started the tiny thing moving.

It began to sink almost immediately. It barely cleared the turret. Then it went
down, down, toward the unfriendly folks and unfriendlier shadows hunting one
another amongst the rocks below. Catcher did not want to go down there but the
carpet was overloaded. It was designed to help the runt get out of a tight spot,

not him and all his friends and neighbors.

The smell of Kina grew stronger again. The whirlwind of rage was coming back for
one more try.

The goddess did not want her daughter carried off.

The brat’s eyes were closed inside her egg. That had proven to be flexible and
slick when Soulcatcher was slinging it around. The kid’s face bore that serene
expression she got when she was communing with Kina.

Lady and her cohorts burst into the chamber where Longshadow and Narayan Singh
still groaned and twitched. Fireballs routed the small shadows instantly.

Seconds later a stream of fireballs reached down for Catcher and her companions.

None hit home but they did alert our troops that something was on the fly.

Anything that flew would not be friendly.

Kina’s interest and anger heightened fast. A hurricane screamed in the
ghostworld. Her stench leaked over into the real world. Men heaved up their last
meals. The sky darkened more than the night and clouds insisted.

The earth shook.

The throne shudders and slips a thousandth of an inch. The tortured figure
groans. Its blind eyes flutter.

One crow cackles.

The bird fails to recall that it dares not rest. Its claws touch down atop the
sleeper’s head. Before its wings finish folding it begins to scream. Small
shadows have found it. They squabble over its life force joyfully.

The earth shivers. There is no silence anymore. Stone is broken. It continues to
break. The light in the abyss is brighter. Pastel, gossamer mists rise like the
questing tentacles of a sea anemone.

There is color. There is life, of a sort. There is light.

There is death. The crow shrieks out its pained outrage.

And dies.

Death will find a way. Darkness will find a way inside. Darkness always comes.