She Is the Darkness: Book Two of Glittering Stone: A Novel of the Black Company (31 page)

I was a terrible mess when prisoners from the Prince’s division hauled me out of
the ground. Otto and Hagop, who belonged with the Old Division and whom I had
not seen since Charandaprash, came to stare down at me. “Looks like one a them
mole-rat things they got down here,” Otto said.

“Only filthier. It wasn’t raining, Ott, I’d say get a bucket a water and throw
it on him.”

“Comics,” I muttered. “You just gave away why you signed on. Your only way to
get out of town ahead of an audience turned ugly.”

“His disposition’s improved since the last time we saw him,” Hagop observed. “He
don’t let these little setbacks bother him anymore.”

“How you guys been keeping? We don’t get a lot of personal news over here.”

Hagop frowned. Otto said, “A nick here, a ding there. Nothing serious.”

Practically ever since I met them one or both had been recovering from some kind
of wound. It was what they were known for. They were icons, practically. Otto
and Hagop could not be killed, only injured, and as long as they stayed alive
the Black Company would survive.

Hagop said, “We was sent over with a bunch of stuff for the Old Man and some
stuff for you to put in the Annals. Names.”

“Oh.” Croaker and I always tried to record the names of our fallen brethren the
best we could. A lot of guys counted on it. Once they were gone it would be the
only evidence that they had ever lived. It was immortality of a sort.

“Lot a names,” Hagop persisted. “Hundreds. Last night was not a good night for
the Old Division.”

“You going to be able?” Otto asked. “Is everything buried down there in the
mud?”

“It is. But I was more careful with the Annals and that stuff than I was with
me. I kept them in a room with logs for the walls and floor and ceiling, with
drainage and everything. Just in case. I figured the Shadowmaster would be the
problem, though. Hundreds of names? Really? Any I know?”

“They’re just all on a list.”

“I’ll have to add them on at the back of the volume I’m doing now.” If there
were hundreds they would be recent enlistees, their names likely unknown to me.

They would be recorded on a payroll somewhere but that had nothing to do with
me.

Thai Dei materialized. I had not noted his absence till he did. He said, “My
mother was all right.” He did not sound real sure about that, though.

“Uhm?”

“They found her in the wizard’s hole when they dug him out. Which was why they
were so long getting to you. Your Captain knew you were all right. He did not
know if the wizard was dead or alive.”

He meant One-Eye, I realized. Well, of course, if the quake had been bad enough
to overcome the fine craftsmanship Thai Dei and I put into our place, then
One-Eye’s place could not be anything but a rainwater pool by now.

“She was in One-Eye’s dugout?”

Embarrassed, whispering because there were other Nyueng Bao around, Thai Dei
admitted, “They were both dead drunk. Passed out in their own vomit. Didn’t even
know the roof had fallen in till the rescuers pulled them out.”

“I’m sorry,” I told him. “But I’m just going to have to laugh.” It came on me
hard. It was more than just picturing those two getting plotzed together. It was
the release of all the stress from last night.

Otto and Hagop stared at the slopes to the south, restraining their own
amusement.

I suffered another laugh seizure. I realized that, before lunch, word would be
all over what was left of the army. Undoubtedly it would suffer severe
exaggaration and would evolve into some prurient epic before it reached our most
remote outpost.

The slope that had been the home of the headquarters group had turned into
thirty acres of pockmarks. Hardly a dugout had survived. Prisoners were digging
in a dozen different places.

I spotted one familiar face, then another, directing rescue teams. “So. She
didn’t stay mad at them.”

“What?” Thai Dei asked.

“Nothing. Just thinking out loud.” Speak of the devil. There she came out of the
Old Man’s bunker. Which had survived unscathed. Croaker was right behind her.

Neither looked rested.

But they sure looked pleased with themselves.

I grumbled inarticulately, deep in my throat. My wife was half a world away.

Croaker ambled over. “Time for your annual bath, Murgen.”

“If I just stand here in the rain long enough . . . ”

Lady stared a hole through me. She wanted to interrogate me. But not now, not
here, not in front of so many people who did not need to hear my answers because
half of them did not themselves know where their loyalties lay.

I asked, “How bad did we get hurt last night?”

Croaker shuddered. Maybe some cold rainwater got inside his collar. “I don’t
know yet. Lady has almost two thousand people she still can’t account for.”

“They keep turning up, though,” she said, joining us. “I imagine we’ll find most
of them eventually.” Probably dead.

I said, “Otto and Hagop say we lost a big chunk of the Old Division.”

Croaker nodded. “They brought a list. It’s way longer than I hoped. We still
don’t have anything useful from the other divisions. The New Division is still
disorganized and the Prince’s fell apart completely. Did you have something you
wanted to say in private? You have that look.”

“Yes.” Smoke rose from the crude chimney of Croaker’s shelter. Warm sounded
good. I would make up something to tell him if I had to.

I joined him in the warmth with no remorse and little sympathy for the guys I
had left out in the rain.

Lady followed us inside. She wore a smug but hungry look.

Lady had one of Croaker’s rough maps spread before the fire.

“Can you pinpoint where he went down?” She meant the Howler. “Maybe we can still
catch him if he was hurt bad.”

“What’s that?” the Old Man asked when I mumbled.

“Uh . . . I said, you never stop tempting trouble, do you?” Lady did not turn me
into a toad. Nor even one of Otto’s ugly little mole-rats. She was in a good
mood this morning, as opposed to last night.

Smoke groaned. He startled me, though it was his second groan since I had come
into Croaker’s shelter. I glanced that way. The curtain was open. Longshadow and
Narayan Singh had been stacked in the alcove with the stricken wizard. I could
not imagine Lady and the Old Man fooling around with that crew piled up only a
few feet away, but it was obvious that they had taken complete advantage of
their opportunity.

I was mildly surprised Lady would turn her prisoners over even to her old man.

Longshadow represented a great opportunity to gain power. And Singh . . . Lady
owed Singh a lot. But so did the Captain.

Maybe they would make a family project out of Narayan.

She asked fewer questions than I expected, mainly about Smoke’s limitations. I
did not mention that I was developing an ability to travel without the comatose
wizard. She did not ask. Croaker, though, noted that I knew about Howler even
though I had been in my own bunker during the Taken’s run of bad luck.

“I’ll send Blade,” she decided. “He’s levelheaded. He can get a job done without
getting himself or Howler killed.”

I wanted to ask how Blade and Swan had slithered back into her favor but
management decisions were none of my business. I had had Lady explain that to me
already, emphatically, regarding another matter.

She left to offer Blade his opportunity.

While she was away Croaker asked, “Where’s the standard?”

“Buried in my dugout.”

“Uhm. How about the Annals and stuff?”

“They’re in there, too. But they should be all right for now. If we have another
quake, or a lot more rain, though . . . I don’t know.”

“We’ll go after that as soon as we’ve got our people dug out.”

“How come she brought Singh and the Shadowmaster here?”

He understood. “Because I’m the physician. And they’re both about half a
heartbeat short of dying. Maybe if she’d had somebody of her own handy, whom she
trusted . . . ” He let it trail off. He would never trust his woman completely,

where ambition might enter the equation.

“She’s probably less risk than you think. I think I figured it out last night.”

“What?”

“Her relationship to Kina. How it works and why it exists. I think I got it.”

“You have time to think when you’re out playing spook?”

“Some.”

“So tell me about my sweetie and Kina.”

“Begin with the premise that she’s pretty damned bright.”

“Oh. Yeah.” He smiled at some private thought.

“Not to mention pretty strong-willed.”

“You going to waste my time with understatements? Or are you going to get on
with it?”

“Onward. I think that, a long time ago, before we ever got to Gea-Xle, when she
first showed unexpected signs of regaining some power, she understood that some
force down here meant to use her. And she let it happen. And that lulled that
force into thinking that it had claimed a slave when in fact what it really got
was a parasite.”

Several possible responses stirred behind Croaker’s eyes. But he said only, “Go
on.”

“That’s pretty much it. While the goddess was using her, Lady was limpeting
herself to Kina so she could suck off power she could use herself. I think she’s
burrowed in so deep Kina can’t get rid of her without crippling herself. I think
Lady may even have some control over what the goddess does. Kina got real upset
last night. The Daughter of Night was being threatened directly. But when she
tried to help the kid, even though she managed to get really destructive, her
efforts never quite hit their mark.”

“And you think Lady . . . ?”

“Yes. He’s right.” Lady stepped into the weak light. No telling how long she had
been behind us, listening. She was the darkness when it came to moving quietly.

“That doesn’t leave this place. So long as they think I’m the real thing the end
results will be the same as if I were.”

I discovered some interesting mold formations developing on the wall in front of
me. I gave them my devoted attention.

Croaker said, “If you’re like some kind of leech or something, how come Kina
hasn’t tried to get rid of you?”

“Most of Kina is asleep. The part that isn’t is interested only in bringing on
the Year of the Skulls. And she’s pretty stupid besides. She didn’t understand
what I’d done till recently. She may ponder it for years before she decides to
do something about it.”

I said, “She does seem to look at time in a different way.”

Lady continued, “I’m concerned that my beloved sister may have solved the
puzzle, too. Or will now that she has the girl. The girl knows.”

I said, “Catcher’s hiding out in the same place she has ever since she got
here.” The Old Man knew where that was.

Croaker said, “I’d love to take a crack. But we’ve only got ten hours to get
ready for another night.”

I understood. But boy would it have been nice to get Catcher tucked safely into
the past.

Twenty minutes of speculation did nothing to unravel Catcher’s ultimate motives.

Not even Lady could guess what Catcher really wanted or what she might do next.

“She was that way when she was four years old,” Lady said. “Hell. She was born
unpredictable.”

I must have looked too interested. The story stopped there.

I did not overlook the fact that neither Croaker nor Lady ever referred to their
child in any way that might suggest that she was anything but an unnatural
monster entirely unconnected to them.

I watched Wheezer direct the winkling out of a small shadow that had worked its
way up close to the perimeter of One-Eye’s safe zone before going into hiding
from the light. Lady had modified One-Eye’s amulets so that they could be used
to detect shadows. Our guys were rooting them out with great enthusiasm
particularly considering that most of those guys were exhausted. I said, “I
can’t believe that old boy isn’t dead yet.”

On cue Wheezer tried to hawk up a lung. He was ancient when he joined the
Company years ago and was dying of consumption even then. The only thing good
that could be said about his situation was that he somehow managed to stay
alive.

Thai Dei grunted. He did not care about Wheezer. Although he was supposedly
helping excavate our bunker he spent more attention on his mother, who snored
ferociously in the shelter of a tent that had belonged to somebody who had not
survived the night. His face was stone. His eyes were ice. If another Nyueng Bao
came anywhere near him his hackles rose. He was just waiting for somebody to say
something, anything, that he could interpret as an insult so he could spend his
embarrassment in a good fight.

When they dug Gota and One-Eye out not only were they passed out drunk, they
were on the same pallet wearing less than their usual apparel.

So that was his tonk game, eh?

I worked hard not to crack a smile. Thai Dei might decide I was truly family
after all and take it out on me.

I hoped he would not confront One-Eye. One-Eye would have a murderous hangover
when he woke up. One-Eye with a hangover is not somebody to annoy.

Croaker was sorely exercised, I knew. The little wizard had rendered himself
useless at a time when his talents were needed desperately.

Everywhere you looked people were scurrying to rebuild and to get ready for
another night with a leaky Shadowgate. Lady and the Old Man hoped Longshadow
would help improve that situation but no good news had been reported yet. They
were having trouble getting him out of his shell.

They had no time to concentrate. Messengers came and went continuously,

interrupting constantly.

“Another dozen shovels full and I think we can get it open,” I told Thai Dei. I
had conscripted a door somebody else had stolen from the ruins. I had used it to
close off the little workroom I had managed to complete just in time for the
earthquake.

One of Croaker’s guards appeared. “The Captain wishes to see you,

Standardbearer.”

“Wonderful. I’ll be right back, Thai Dei.” I clambered up out of the muddy hole
and headed for Croaker’s dugout. I ducked inside. The crowd had thinned out.

Amazing. “What you need, boss?” He and Lady had Longshadow stretched out on a
table made out of another stolen door. The Shadowmaster was too long for it. His
feet hung off.

Lady had managed to eliminate the sorcerer’s protective shell.

“Fellow just came in from Blade’s bunch, Murgen. They’ve found Howler. He’s
still buried in the snow. They don’t know if he’s unconscious or dead.”

“He’s been there long enough he should’ve froze to death.” But he was one of the
Taken. They did not die easily. Especially not Howler. I glanced at Lady.

She told me, “I can’t tell from here.”

Croaker said, “They also caught Cordy Mather and his gang. They asked what to do
about them.” He was poking and squeezing Longshadow’s limbs, looking for broken
bones, I guess. He told Lady, “This man hasn’t eaten right for a long time.”

“Maybe he was worried about poison.” She stared down at the Shadowmaster’s mask.

She started to reach.

“You sure you’ve cancelled all of his spells?” the Old Man asked.

“You can’t ever be sure with somebody you don’t know. Murgen. Did you ever see
him with this off?”

The messenger from Blade pricked up his ears. He was collecting stories to share
with the guys.

“No. How would I manage that? I never saw him before right now.”

She took the hint.

Croaker said, “What I want, Murgen, is for you to round up some men, including
One-Eye—even if you have to carry him—and go help Blade.” And maybe keep an eye
on him, eh, chief? Him and Mather being such good buddies? “Be careful with
Howler but bring him in if you can.”

I grunted unhappily. Lady took hold of Longshadow’s mask.

The Old Man asked me, “You found out anything more about the planting season
around here?”

I gave him a baffled look. That was an odd shift of subject. But he did that.

His mind sometimes ran a dozen directions at once.

He continued, “We’ve got to get crops planted if we mean to stay here. That or
pull a Mogaba and start eating each other.”

Lady pulled the Shadowmaster’s mask away.

Longshadow arced as though stabbed. His eyes opened. But he could do nothing
else. He had been constrained and silenced by a master.

I asked, “Why don’t we move into his place? There’re supplies in there. Some.

And Overlook is sure a whole hell of a lot drier inside than here. I don’t
recognize him.” The Shadowmaster’s face was gaunt and oriental but pale as lard.

There were just a few teeth in his open mouth, supporting Croaker’s assessment
of his diet. He looked like a guy who had suffered repeated bouts with rickets
or scurvy or something like that.

“Neither do I,” Lady said. She sounded badly disappointed. I do believe she
really expected him to be one of the Taken, or at least someone she had
encountered in the past.

I asked, “Is this a problem?”

“I was hoping for a break. Something to make life easier.”

“You picked the wrong husband. Boss, can I get out there and back before dark?”

The messenger nodded. “Easy. It’s only four miles. There’s road most of the way
and it’s still in good shape.”

Smoke groaned again. There was a taint of fear there this time. Lady frowned his
way. He was a problem she wished she had time to explore.

“Get a move on,” Croaker told me. “It’ll get dark eventually.”

Darkness always comes. “I love walking in the rain.” I beckoned the messenger,

went back outside. A walk in the rain would not be that awful. I could not get
any more wet.

I told Thai Dei, “The Captain wants us to go collect some prisoners.”