The Return of the Black Company

by Glen Cook

  “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.

  44

  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.

  45

  I tumbled out of the wagon. After a couple of steps I fell to my knees.

  “Whoa, there!” One-Eye said. “What’s up?”

  “Spent too long out, maybe. Weak.” Hungry and thirsty. I took water from him. It had been sweetened but included nasty additives as well. He must be making something that would turn alcoholic. “Where’s the Old Man?”

  “I don’t know. I see Thai Dei, though.” By way of suggesting caution.

  I shifted languages. “Lady isn’t playing with them over there. She had troops climb the scaffolding. They made it to the top. There’s a mob of them inside. They’ve just found out on the inside. And some of the Prince’s men are in the ruins of Kiaulune. They were sneaking up to help Lady but they got bogged down. There’re actually people hiding out there now. Some of Mogaba’s bunch. They’re putting up a fight.”

  I had passed over the ruins coming back and had been surprised to see the fighting. The presence of fighters there needed examination. It had not been long since the ruins were occupied by only a handful of survivors incapable of helping Longshadow with his construction project.

  Mogaba had to be sneaking men in a few at a time.

  “I think Croaker went off with one of the patrols looking for Mogaba. What do you need him for?”

  “I don’t think he knows what’s happening. I think Lady did this on her own.” Which had been fine when she was in charge of the frontier but not now, when she commanded only a quarter of the army. “I have no idea what his plans are but I’ll bet he don’t want them taken away from him like this.”

  One-Eye grunted. He considered Thai Dei and Mother Gota, who was a dozen yards farther away, closing in, bent under a huge load of firewood. Give her credit. She carried her share of the work. One-Eye’s own bodyguard, JoJ
o, was nowhere to be seen, which was the usual state of affairs. They were two of a kind.

  One-Eye said, “I’ll jump in the wagon and find out. You get your strength back.” He went up with a frown, tossing one concerned glance back before he disappeared.

  I helped Mother Gota with the firewood. So did Thai Dei. We got it sorted and broken and in out of the wet in minutes. Mother Gota actually thanked me for helping.

  She had moments when she could manage courtesy toward an outsider who had not been able to help his bad choice of parents. Those were rare. They seemed to come only when she was feeling particularly good.

  I remained courteous myself. In fact, now that I knew what they had done to me and Sarie, I found myself becoming more formal and courteous. I hoped my manners did not make them suspicious. I smirked when I thought about Sleepy. Then I worried about the kid. I had no business burdening him with a personal mission like that.

  I started pacing, wondering if I ought to confess to One-Eye or the Old Man.

  One-Eye descended from his wagon. He looked like he had seen a ghost. Or something equally unexpected and unpleasant.

  I headed his way. “What’s up?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t have time to find out.” He sort of sighed his words.

  “Tell me.”

  “I found Croaker.”

  “All right. So where is he? So what’s the problem?”

  “He’s out there talking to the keeper of the crows.”

  “Catcher? He went out to meet Soulcatcher?”

  “I didn’t track him back. I don’t know if that was his plan. But that’s where he’s at. That’s what he’s doing.”

  “Did he look like he was a prisoner again?” I did not wait for an answer. I piled into the wagon.

  Silly me, I did not ask One-Eye where Croaker was so I ended up having to track him from his quarters to his meeting with the madwoman.

  He did go specifically to meet her. That I determined by taking Smoke in so close that I could hear Croaker’s twin crows squawk instructions. The trouble I did have was after I trailed him through the wilds to his rendezvous inside a snowbound, rocky ravine that was almost invisible beneath overhanging pines.