She Is the Darkness: Book Two of Glittering Stone: A Novel of the Black Company (44 page)

Sahra was sleeping restlessly. Tobo lay beside her, one little paw on her bare
breast, occasionally sucking at her nipple. I watched for a while. My tension
slipped away as I did.

What kind of lunatic was I? This was what I wanted and where I wanted to be but
in a few hours I was going to hoist my weary body up and climb the mountain
again. And I would keep climbing the mountain even though it might kill me.

Why?

I would. I knew I would. But I did not know what compelled me to do so.

I extended a ghostly hand to Tobo. For a moment it seemed I actually felt his
warmth. He stirred as though having a bad dream. I withdrew, tried to stroke
Sarie’s hair instead.

She smiled.

“Mur. I thought I felt you. It’s been so long.” She chattered softly. I basked
in it, wishing I could talk to her, too. She peeled Tobo off her breast and
stood up, bare to the waist, doing a little dance that reminded me just how long
it had been. She was recovering her figure already. She flashed me a mocking
smile, looking right at me. Maybe she was a witch. “Tobo is strong enough to
travel. The Water Dragon Festival is coming soon. I will leave then, in the
confusion. My preparations are all made.”

My wife, the smart, confident, competent woman. I wondered what I had done to
deserve so much, other than to tickle her grandmother’s fancy.

Sarie danced. I drooled. Tobo began to fuss. I think he sensed my presence
easier than Sarie did. I frightened him.

“If you were here . . . ” Sarie sighed, stared me in the invisible eye as she
offered me an even more lascivious look. “But you aren’t.” She shrugged. “But it
won’t be that long.” She cradled our son in her arms. He took a nipple
immediately, donning a look of smug satisfaction.

I know what you mean, kid.

Tobo’s eyes popped open. The one I could see stared right at me where I watched
over Sarie’s shoulder. He let go, took a deep breath, let out a whopper of a
howl. The kid had lungs.

A priest invited himself in almost instantly. “What’s going on?” he demanded.

“Why is the child screaming? Who were you whispering to?”

“Get out,” Sahra told him. “You have no right to come in here.”

The priest had trouble dragging his gaze away from her breasts. He began to
apologize with not entirely credible sincerity.

Sahra snapped, “The baby has gas tonight. He’s having trouble with his
digestion. I talk to him. That allows me a chance to have a sensible
conversation occasionally.”

That’s the girl. Get the poor kid dosed with shark’s-liver oil or some
nasty-tasting powder. That will teach him to yell when his old man comes around.

I drifted in and did my best to plant a kiss on the small of Sarie’s neck before
I left. I went away as happy as a man could be in my circumstances. I knew my
wife and child were well and still loved me. There are plenty of men in today’s
Company who do not have a clue about their families although, in truth, not many
care. Were they the sort who did care they would have left when the Taglian
loyalists were allowed to go home.

The rest of the swamp was a silent, dark place. Which was to be expected at that
time of night. I found my way to Taglios though there was no moon and the sky
was overcast.

It would not be long before the rainy season began.

I spent hours roaming the Palace and the more important temples but learned very
little. Without Smoke I was constrained by real time and it was too late for
anybody but the priests of the Night Gods to be stirring and scheming. And those
people were not plotting, they were preparing for some minor feast night.

Maybe, if I planned to do much useful ghostwalking, I would have to get to bed
early in the evening, while the world was still awake and conspiring. I found no
news anywhere unless you count the overwhelming evidence that persecution of
friends of the Company had spread throughout most of the territories our efforts
had brought under Taglian suzerainty. It did not seem a persecution as vicious
as had been ours of the Stranglers. Our friends were surviving it. Mostly they
were just losing their appointments. In a few cases where there were personality
conflicts some people ended up inside cells. Murder did not appear to be a tool
the Radisha cared to employ.

All my assumptions were based on spare, postmidnight evidence.

I could not find Mogaba. I could not find either of our prodigal wizards. No
surprise. I did not invest much effort in the hunt. I did put some into trying
to locale Croaker’s kid.

Wherever she was she would be alone. There might be an opportunity in that.

While I searched I also kept an eye out for some evidence of what had become of
the real Sleepy.

I had no luck with those quests, either. But I did stumble on evidence that my
blindness might not be entirely accidental.

I was drifting over a slope I knew to be in the mountains not many miles from
Catcher’s former cave. I was sure Catcher would not have gone far when she
moved, despite having Howler’s carpet at her disposal. I wandered into an area
of small, deep and dark canyons. I flitted up and down those, letting their
walls guide me, figuring the kid, or anyone else, would be detectable by the
heat or light of a fire. I doubted she could do without.

I found no fire. I did find my horse. I think. I whipped past the beast,

catching only a glimpse, an impression that it was confined inescapably, another
that it sensed my passage and tried to respond. But when I stopped and turned
back I could find nothing. In fact, it seemed that in just a moment that entire
corner of the world became a sensory desert.

I had run with Kina once already this trip. I might not be alone now, especially
if I was anywhere near the Daughter of Night.

I knew the general area. I would tell Croaker. He could send soldiers out if he
wanted.

Catcher would not be getting in our way.

My last action was to check on Uncle Doj where the Nyueng Bao bodyguards were
keeping vigil. He was unconscious but alive. I gathered that they were keeping
him drugged for his own good, giving him time to heal. Whatever his mission, he
did not need to complete it immediately.

I went home to my comfortable flesh and uncomfortable bed.

The guys let me sleep in like it was a holiday. The sun was already up when I
crawled out of my bunker, past the vacant eyed Sleepy doppelganger sprawled
beside the doorway.

Croaker arrived soon after I finished my breakfast mush. He had not slept in.

“You went in yesterday? How was it?”

“Just a few yards. Thai Dei, too. He insisted. We had ropes tied to our butts.

Sit down here and check out the view across the way.” I had my back to Sleepy. I
did not want my lips read. I made gestures like I was talking about something
else while I whispered my news.

Croaker chuckled. “Now isn’t that interesting. We’ll just play along for now. I
won’t even tell Lady. Though I got to tell you, everybody but you already
suspected.”

“Shit. That’s why you were such a bunch of assholes. You didn’t trust me not to
give it away. What’s the plan for today?”

“Try the road all the way to the top. I’ll go with you. Save the talk till we
get on the other side.”

“Good idea.” I let everything wait till later. “You eaten?”

He glanced at my battered tin bowl. “You live like kings over here, don’t you?”

“Absolutely. Only the best for the cream of the legion.”

“I’ll pass. This time.” He looked up the mountain and sighed. “One-Eye had the
right idea. I’m too old for this shit.”

“It’s not that bad.” It was not. When I call the slope a mountain I mean it
metaphorically. The road could be made usable by wagons with very little work
and the rim of the plateau could not have been more than a thousand feet higher
than the Shadowgate. And probably not that far.

“Let me know when you’re ready.” The Old Man massaged his right knee. He noticed
me noticing. “Little rheumatiz. But it only hurts when I walk on it.”

Buy a horse, I thought but did not say. “How old are you really?”

“You’re as young as you think you are,” he replied, his expression branding that
one a load of old manure. “Lady keeps me young.”

I wondered if there might not be a touch of truth in that one. She did a great
job of keeping herself slim, sleek and fresh.

“Grab the standard and let’s go.”

“You want to take a couple guys along? Just in case?”

“Your guy will follow us. Want him or not. Grab a couple others. Rudy and Bucket
will do.”

“You going to ride?” He had ridden over on his big stallion. “I always figured
you’d go whole hog when you went up there. The full Widowmaker rig and whatnot.”

“Next time. Let’s go.” He was nervous.

I hollered for Rudy and Bucket. They showed up quickly, like maybe they had been
lurking nearby, expecting a summons. Their Nyueng Bao shadows drifted along
behind them. The whole bunch were ready to travel.

I said, “Looks like it’ll be me holding up the parade.” I was pleased the guys
had shown some initiative.

I crawled back into my bunker, noting as I went that Thai Dei too was ready to
climb the mountain.

I needed only a moment to collect some jerky, roasted oats and a canteen. On my
way out I told Sleepy, “Don’t go away, pal. I’ll be back in time for supper.”

Gods and devils of the earth willing.

I grabbed the standard. We crossed over the boundary a man at a time. The
vibration seemed less dramatic this time. Thai Dei too seemed less touched. But
the others turned pale and became very jumpy. The chill was no less strong. I
shivered.

In a moment the road was clear before me, the polished jet thread wandering up
the slope. “You see the way?” I lowered the head of the standard till the iron
head touched that thread. I do not know why I did that.

A vibration went through me that was a dozen times stronger than that coming
through the Shadowgate. I gasped. I shuddered. Maybe I sputtered and foamed at
the mouth.

“What’s wrong with you?” Croaker demanded.

I pushed the standard into his hand. “You just do what I did.” I stepped away.

Looking up the slope I realized I was seeing it in a different way. I saw the
same old dirty, barren slope with its glistening black thread but also saw a
ghost of what it must have been like in an age long gone, when the road was new
and the slope, while nearly as barren, had not had such a godsforsaken look.

Human ghosts moved there, too, though they were even more insubstantial than the
road and slope and unfallen fortifications around us.

Croaker reacted exactly the way I had. But he must have had a clue or two more.

As soon as he regained control he passed the standard to Bucket and told him to
repeat the process.

The standard passed from Bucket to Rudy and from Rudy to Thai Dei. Thai Dei
thought about it for more than a minute before he went ahead. He did so only
when the Old Man told him, “You don’t follow through, you don’t go up the hill.”

Thai Dei did not want to do that either but had no choice. He was trapped by his
own character as well as, I suspected, the task Uncle Doj had laid upon him.

Once Thai Dei made his move the other Nyueng Bao followed. Croaker told them,

“It doesn’t mean you’re committed to the Company, boys.”

A moment later I observed, “Now that we’ve got that out of the way what say we
climb the mountain?” Good Standardbearer me, I took up the Lance and started
trudging.

It felt good to be headed home.

What?

I looked at the others. Nobody appeared to be having trouble keeping touch with
reality. Maybe it was another aspect of the dreaming and falling into
nightmares.

Thai Dei hung close to my back. He was not comfortable at all this morning. He
had his sword out and ready.

The black ribbon widened as it climbed the slope. It also seemed to take on
depth. Its surface, though flat, assumed an appearance of concavity. If you
touched it, it felt hard and cold yet seemed almost soft underfoot.

The slope steepened a bit. I huffed and puffed. Then the going became easier,

the road less timeworn. The horizon line stopped retreating as fast as I chased
it.

“Stop!” Croaker yelled.

I stopped. I looked back. The Old Man was a hundred yards behind me. Even Thai
Dei was having trouble keeping up.

I looked across the valley. Already I was high enough to look down on all
Overlook but the broken tooth that used to be Longshadow’s crystal-capped tower.

Men were at work inside the fortress, scurrying little dots. They were Lady’s
guys, many having been with her since the Company’s big disaster outside
Dejagore. I guess the Captain finally had something in mind for the old stone
shack.

Croaker was puffing badly when he caught up. “Man, I’m really out of shape.”

“You’re the one wants to take this walk. It’ll suck that belly right off you.”

He was not fat. Yet. But he had not been missing any meals lately. “You see the
road clearly?” Just to make sure I was not suffering some vision with my eyes
open. I am no longer ever quite sure of my place in reality, never unsuspicious
that there might not be an objective reality at all. Everything could be dreams
inside of dreams, the illusions of souls rolling forever in a Swegah where now
and then a few collided and joined in an almost common fantasy.

You notice, nobody ever sees things exactly the same?

“The black path? I don’t remember reading anything about that in the Annals.”

“We never read anything by anybody who ever actually saw any of this. We’ve
never read anything by anybody who was closer than two generations to this
place. By then the Company had a different set of concerns.”

Croaker grunted.

To make sure we held this illusion in common I polled everybody. Even the Nyueng
Bao agreed we were following a ribbon of blackness. They did not like that. They
were frightened by it but accepted it. The entire world, outside Man’s natural
swamp realm, was a frightening place.

“Everybody got their breath? Let’s trudge on.” I really wanted to get to that
plain. I tried to remember what it looked like at night, from up high and far
away, but the view had been pretty obscure. I wondered why I never tried to go
exploring. I wondered what Kina had to do with the plain. Could this be the
plain where she fought the great battle of her legend? I wondered if we would
find out why no Taglian would talk about the place, why, when it was mentioned,

most walked off shaking their heads and muttering, “Glittering stone.” I
wondered how that phrase could have found its way into a language as an idiom
for “madness.” Especially inasmuch as we were now certain that the Taglian
terror of the Company and the Year of the Skulls had been artificially induced.

There was not that much more to the slope but I was gasping for air, staring
down at the dark guide a step in front of me and pushing for that just one more
step when the footing suddenly stopped insisting that I keep climbing. I
stumbled, got my balance, overcame an urge to run ahead, halted while the others
caught up.

I examined the plain while I waited.

“Glittering stone” was apt. The jet path became a wide and perfectly preserved
road here and curved gently off into a region of tall, square pillars, each of
which glittered as though splattered with polished gold coins. To either side of
the road the plain consisted of dark grey basaltic stone cut smooth, showing
only the slightest evidence of aging. Nothing grew there. Nothing. Not even a
lichen. Not a fly or an ant. The place was unnaturally clean. No dust, no dirt,

no leaves.

The morning sun had set the pillars sparkling but clouds were moving in from the
west. We would have an overcast sky soon. Maybe rain before the evening.

“Hold up, Murgen!” Croaker yelled. “Goddamnit, if you don’t stop charging off
I’m going to nail your feet to the ground.”

I looked down. My feet were moving again. I stopped. I looked back. The others
were a hundred yards behind again, right at the rim. Except for Thai Dei. My
brother-in-law was an island in between, drawn by his obligation to me but held
back by his reluctance to follow the black road.

“Get your ass back here!” Croaker bellowed. “The fuck you think this is? Some
kind of race to the edge of the world?”

I went back. It was like walking against the wind. The vibration of the standard
seemed to change, to become almost plaintive. When I got there I told him,

“Captain, take this thing for a while. It’s going to carry me off.”

He felt it right away. But he was stronger than me, I guess. He planted the
damned thing and stared ahead. “You bring something to write on?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Something to write with, too?” He was reminding me of a time when I had done
everything right but remember to bring a pen.

“I’m all set, boss. Long as this wind don’t blow me away.”

“You still afraid?”

“Huh?”

“You said that before you were afraid all the time after you came back.”

I frowned. I felt no fear at all. Now. “Out there, I guess. I’m fine here.” I
looked back at the world. From where we stood you could see only the mountains
beyond the broad valley containing Overlook and the ruins of Kiaulune. Not only
did there seem to be a heat shimmer between us and them, there was a haze, too.

The world seemed very remote.

I mentioned that to Croaker.

“I don’t see it,” he said. “There’s always a haze over a forest in the summer.

Unless it’s just rained.”

I shrugged. These days I was not as uncomfortable with the fact that I was
different. I had suffered various incarnations of weirdness for too long. “You
going up the road?” It stretched so invitingly before us.

“Not today. What’s that?”

“What?” I saw nothing but the standing stones. They seemed to be arranged in no
special order, spaced well apart from one another.

“Past the stones.” He pointed. “Let your gaze follow the road. When you can’t
make it out anymore just lift your eye to the top of the stones. You’ll see it.

Your eyes are younger than mine.”

I saw something. Just a looming something.

“It looks like a fortress,” Thai Dei said. The Old Man and I had not been using
a secret language. His companions both grunted assent. Rudy and Bucket just
looked troubled.

“I’ll take your word for it,” I said. I recalled having seen what might have
been a light out there during one of my ghost-walks. “Reckon that’s Khatovar?”

“I couldn’t say from here. But if it’s a fortress and that’s all it is then it
stands a good chance of being a big-ass disappointment.”

Yeah. If you were counting skipping through the gates of paradise when you got
to the end of the road. I did not know anybody who was. Unless it was him.

“How far would you guess that is, Thai Dei?” Croaker asked.

The Nyueng Boa shrugged. “Many miles. Perhaps a walk of days.”

Ugh. That gave me a chance to consider what it might mean to spend the night on
the plain, inside the Shadowgate, in the land whence the Shadowmasters’ deadly
pets had come.

The Old Man said, “This is enough for today. We’ll go back and set up the major
probe.”

Thinking about shadows, I found, encouraged me to resist the call of the black
road.

I paused on the brink, took one last look at the glittering pillars before I
left the mountain.

It is immortality of a sort.

“What?”

“You say something?” Croaker asked. He was fifty feet ahead of me already.

“No. Just thinking out loud. I think.”