The Return of the Black Company

by Glen Cook

  I did not get close enough to hear what was said. It was a miracle that I got Smoke as close as I did, to assure myself that the Old Man did indeed have a date with Soulcatcher.

  The crows were thick there and they sensed me hovering. They became so agitated that Catcher came out to find out what was going on.

  I got out of there.

  I wondered if Croaker would suspect anything.

  I came back out. Thoughtful One-Eye had a bucket of warm tea ready along with some fresh bread from a nearby regimental bakery that was just getting started. I asked, “You get close enough to hear anything?”

  “Can’t push that little shit anywhere near her. He’s three-quarters dead but he’s still five-fourths chickenshit.”

  “I don’t feel like going after him. It’ll have to wait. In the meantime…”

  In the meantime things were happening in Overlook. Flickering lights illuminated the whole region. A dark cloud ribbed with fire boiled up and fell apart in the teeth of the wind. Horns and drums bickered. Fireballs by the thousand pelted the fortress wall.

  “In the meantime you might want to take a look at that so you can tell the Old Man whatever he needs to know when he gets here. Which he’s going to be when he realizes that something is happening.”

  Not unsound advice. If Croaker was going to make decisions he was going to need all the information he could get. “Keep my loving family away, eh?” I could not keep bitterness from creeping into my voice. One-Eye caught it but he did not ask.

  I swallowed one last mouthful of warm bread, settled, grasped Smoke and took him out. The process had become so easy I could practically do it in my sleep. I hardly had to think about where I wanted to go. As long as that was not one of the places Smoke did not like to visit.

  * * *

  Overlook was the proverbial overturned ant’s nest. People were running everywhere. It did not look like anyone knew where they were going. Almost everybody was interested only in not being where they had started. Occasionally Taglians came face to face with the Shadowmaster’s men and fear took its inevitable course.

  Some of the invaders had sense enough to stay up on the wall and use their bamboo poles to make life miserable for folks inside Overlook. One lieutenant screamed his head off at the men outside and below, telling them he wanted more poles up here now! His snipers were having great fun tearing the place up. Overlook’s defenders did not dare show themselves.

  Some of our men had Narayan Singh and the Daughter of Night cornered in a tower. They pasted it with a blizzard of fireballs. The tower held up only because it was layered with scores of protective spells. It was one of Longshadow’s favorite hideouts.

  The Howler was on the run. Taglians whooped after him, spraying fireballs around so liberally that the little wizard had no time to counterattack. He screamed as he ran.

  More and more men, all lugging bundles of bamboo, got into the fortress.

  It could not possibly be this easy. Could it?

  Where was Longshadow? He was not taking part.

  The Shadowmaster remained in his own high tower, staring south toward the grey plateau, apparently unaware that hell had come calling. How could the man be that preoccupied?

  No. He was not that preoccupied. He did know.

  Scaffolding all the way around Overlook burst into flames. It was a ferocious fire spell. Flames devoured everything consumable in seconds. Scores fell to their deaths.

  Before that even happened Lady’s men had begun lowering rope and slat ladders obviously created specifically for scaling Overlook’s walls. They were long enough for the climb and each dozen feet they boasted a frame box meant to hold them away from the wall so the climb would be easier for the soldiers.

  Longshadow could not see those from his vantage. It would be a while before he understood that his stroke had gained him very little.

  Now he was shut up inside without hope of completing his fortress because he could acquire materials for scaffolding only on the outside.

  Whatever else, Lady had accomplished that much. She had taken away the one weapon that might have given him an incontestable victory. He could not unleash a flood of shadows to cleanse the earth of his enemies because he could not protect himself from the darkness.

  Lady’s soldiers continued entering Overlook, slowly, under the impression they were headed toward victory because the only resistance they encountered initially was that of gravity. Their comrades already held the top of the fortress’s north wall for the two hundred yards between two crystal-topped towers. Both towers were slagged and blackened, the crystal dead from fireball bombardment.

  To my puzzlement Lady had teams outside the wall still hammering away with their bamboo poles.

  I had no hope of figuring anything out. Lady had brought this mess on with less warning than the Old Man did his surprises.

  Would we have two of them playing this game now?

  Actually, I suppose, Lady had been playing all along. I just did not pay attention because she was never in the primary role.

  The Prince’s men remained bogged down with the unexpected mob of partisans in Kiaulune. But now he was routing his men around the skirmishing. It looked like there would be plenty more soldiers to follow Lady’s mob up the rope ladders.

  The fighting inside Overlook was crueler than I thought it could be. The garrison were all veterans who had been with Longshadow a long time. They might not love him but they were dedicated and determined and convinced that the Black Company would show them no mercy whatsoever. They fought like it. In territory they knew well and their enemies knew not at all. With the help of several clutches of those little old brown men called skrinsa shadowweavers.

  Shadows did lurk in the fortress. The shadowweavers knew where they were hidden and how to send them slithering after invaders.

  The bamboo poles helped. But not enough to save everybody. The inside of the fortress was all winding hallways and dark rooms and there was no way to know that a shadow was around till it attacked.

  I could locate the little old men but I could not tell anyone where they were so they could be erased from the equation.

  The deeper the soldiers pushed the worse it got.

  Longshadow was not doing much. He had taken that one shot, then nothing. And the Howler … What had become of him?

  Howler had eluded the soldiers trying to kill him. He was sneaking around, trying to join forces with the Shadowmaster. Longshadow went on to suffer one of his fits.

  It was a big one, so bad he collapsed, thrashed around, tore his clothing, lost his mask, nearly swallowed his tongue. Floor and face alike became soaked with spittle. How had this guy survived to become one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world if he had seizures whenever he was under stress?

  Again, though, I could tell no one that he was down and it was a perfect time to kick him in the head.

  The protective spells shielding the tower where Singh and the Daughter of Night had gone to ground were particularly strong. The Taglians trying to reach them knew who they were, though. And they were dedicated to their commander. And to the huge reward she had offered for Narayan.

  Lady said Singh was worth his weight in rubies if he was delivered alive.

  She never offered anything for her daughter.

  The sky darkened suddenly. Never have I seen so many crows. It seemed the sun would go out.

  46

  I raced to find Croaker and Soulcatcher. Smoke was so far off balance I actually got close to Lady’s mad sister. She was dancing around in a rage, talking to herself in different voices, cursing Lady for having too much initiative, cursing her crows for not getting to the battle and back with information fast enough to suit her. “It’s not time!” she raged. “There’s no conjunction yet! This can’t happen now!”

  I hustled off to find Croaker when Smoke began to strain away from the woman. We soared upward, terrifying the crows, leaving a discernible wake through their swarm. I hoped Soulcatcher was not a
lert enough to catch it.

  There had been times when she had seemed aware of my presence. Though that had been on occasions when I was loose from my own place in time, mostly.

  Croaker was easy to spot. He was headed for camp at a gallop, trailing a comet tail of crows. His giant black stallion seemed almost to fly.

  I rose higher still, to see if there were developments elsewhere in need of noting.

  Smoke seemed to enjoy rising up where the eagles soar. We went higher than ever before, until the surface of the earth was so far below that I could not make out such trivial details as men and animals, till only the most vast works of man stood out from the snowy background. The Dandha Presh gleamed like a row of teeth in the north. In the west a pile of dark clouds promised more hard weather for later. In the south the plain of grey stone sparkled as though strewn with newly minted coins. The plain as a whole faded away into grey nothingness, yet at the extremity of vision something loomed within the grey.

  All Overlook’s north face seemed to be on fire.

  I swooped down there to discover that Howler and Longshadow had gotten together and launched a counterattack against the troops holding the top of the wall. Then Lady had come to the aid of her people. Every man who could work a bamboo pole was doing so, often apparently not aiming at anything.

  Amidst all the other lights the air shimmered with fragments of something that recalled the northern lights we had seen ages ago when the Company was way up at the Barrowland. None of these shards was bigger than a platter. They flew around like a swarm of gnats. The air was filled with a sound like sharp steel in rapid motion. The shimmers slashed everything but Longshadow’s most densely spell-protected stone.

  Lady was up near the edge of the emergency housing that had been erected for Shadowlander refugees. Her usual gang of worshippers surrounded her, ready to repel any physical attack. She was doing whatever it was that was throwing those blades of light around up there, keeping the defenders under cover and Howler and Longshadow too busy to trouble her or any of her soldiers.

  The blades of light did not appear to be under Lady’s direct command but orbited a point she did control—most of the time.

  A tower collapsed into the interior of the fortress. A pillar of dust, reflecting colorfully, rose to be carried away by the wind bringing the storm from the west.

  The outside of the fortress, once so ivory, was a mess of stains. I figured the housekeeping staff would be real put out.

  The flying black speck that was the Old Man was almost back to his headquarters. I knew he would want to see me first. Reluctantly I left the great show for flesh.

  “What the hell is going on?” One-Eye demanded as I let myself down from the wagon. The show must have impressed him because he was all business. He had food and drink waiting.

  “Croaker’s almost here. I’ll tell you both.”

  Right on cue the Old Man popped over the nearest rise and hurtled toward us. His mount was still in motion when he left his saddle. He grunted as his boots hit the ground. “Tell me.” He understood that we were waiting.

  I told him everything I knew. Including the fact that he was sneaking around with his wife’s sister when the shitstorm hit. He stared over my shoulder toward Overlook the whole time. His expression was cold, stony. I offered the observation that Lady had in no way exceeded her authority within the general orders of the organization. That cold look turned my way.

  I had no trouble meeting it. A couple of brushes with Kina can do wonders for the trivial fears of the world.

  “You got something on your mind, Murgen?”

  “You don’t tell anybody what’s going on, you got to accept it when they go ahead and get on with the job.”

  I thought smoke was going to roll out of his ears.

  A skinny, mangy mongrel raced past and on the dead run clamped jaws on a startled crow. He got a wing.

  All the crows in the world descended on him before he could enjoy his dinner.

  “A parable,” One-Eye said. “Observe! Black crows. Black dog. The eternal struggle.”

  “Black philosopher,” Croaker grumbled.

  “Black Company.”

  Croaker said, “Let’s go have a chat with my esteemed paramour. Where is she, Murgen?”

  I told him.

  “Let’s go.” But he had to stop and pick up his Widowmaker costume. Which allowed me time to borrow Thai Dei’s grey mare and get a head start. Croaker frowned but did not ask when he caught up. Thai Dei insisted on coming along even though he had to jog now.

  He did not keep up.

  Neither did I, of course.

  If Lady and the Old Man indulged in a head-butting contest it was over before I got there. Maybe I could take Smoke back to look their meeting over. When I got there they were looking up at the tall white wall and deciding how best to exploit the situation.

  Lady was saying, “I fear our supply of bamboo poles is growing too small. It’s certain that Longshadow will send shadows against us at least once.” She spoke Taglian. She did not care who heard what she said. And plenty of ears were nearby including Blade, Willow Swan and the Nar generals Ochiba and Sindawe, none of whom enjoyed my complete trust. Crows were, as always, plentiful, too.

  They were turning the ruins of Kiaulune into a major rookery. Good eating there, I suppose, with the cold weather preserving the corpses of the Shadowmaster’s subjects.

  Almost everyone threw rocks at the birds. They had become adept at dodging. I suspected resignation would set in eventually and the only time we would enjoy any privacy would be when Lady used one of the spells she had developed for frightening the birds away.

  A ripple of astonished disturbance passed through the circling birds. No one else noticed. But I was alert for it because I had been wondering if One-Eye was going to watch.

  If anyone else figured this out … You can do nothing in this world without leaving some mark, somehow. If someone else knows what sort of trace you will leave …

  One of the crystal tower tops received so many fireballs that it began to ring. The sound started as a soft hum and rapidly swelled to a raging shriek. The tower top exploded in a cloud of smoke and dust and spinning shards that melted holes in the snow and earth wherever they fell. The event so startled everyone that it distracted even Lady for a moment.

  In that brief moment Longshadow counterattacked.

  The boots of an invisible giant a thousand feet tall began stomping and kicking the men atop Overlook’s wall and those trying to join them. In the moments it took Lady to overcome her surprise and respond, every ladder got stripped away and the bands holding the secured section of wall got scattered. Many fell to their deaths.

  Lady stopped the stomping but all efforts to reestablish a ladder link to the men up top failed. Longshadow was fully into the game.

  Croaker stayed and watched for the rest of the day. I stayed with him. Nothing much happened.

  * * *

  We walked back. Croaker said, “Overall, that may have been a net gain.”

  “We still have people inside. If we can preserve them.”

  “We shall make every effort.”

  His mind was racing. Something had happened outside whatever playscript he had written and he was trying to incorporate it as a positive. He had no attention left over for little questions like why I was using Thai Dei’s horse while my brother-in-law was hoofing it.

  Which reminded me that I needed to check up on Sleepy. The weather and the war had not gone the way I had expected here so his life might not have been comfortable lately, either.

  The wind rose dramatically during our walk. Pellets of ice came as precursors of the storm. “I’ve got a feeling this is going to be a bad one.”

  Croaker grunted. “Pity she didn’t pull it off this morning. We could be inside and warm.”

  “At least it ought to be about the last big one of the winter.”

  “That reminds me. How are we doing finding seed grain?”

&
nbsp; 47

  The storm lingered a long time. A couple times I almost became lost just getting from my shelter to One-Eye’s wagon or Croaker’s shelter. The blizzard brought air so cold we had to move Smoke into Croaker’s place to keep him from freezing. The soldiers suffered badly, though mostly through their own failure to provide themselves with adequate shelter. Captives had warned them that winter here would be much harsher than any they had ever known.

  Once again I got to know the joys of sharing quarters with Mother Gota.

  Thai Dei insisted she had to get in out of the weather and I have been developing a soft streak as I get older. I allowed it.

  She behaved uncharacteristically for Ky Gota. She kept her own counsel most of the time. She stayed out of the way. She helped Thai Dei dig out cold earth and carry it away so we would have more room. She did not say a disparaging word about all the time I spent writing. She worked hard, though I never had been able to criticize her on that account, ever.

  She made me nervous. She was almost human. Though she made very little effort to be pleasant or friendly.

  The Captain, though, was sharing space with One-Eye and Smoke for the duration. He was much less happy than I was. And I was not happy because I was getting almost no chance to travel with Smoke. When I did stumble over there they would not let me go ghostwalking long enough to do more than check something specific, which was always something on a list they had prepared but claimed not to have had time to check for themselves.

  Croaker did not ghostwalk much but he did not let the blizzard and its aftermath keep him from working on other stuff.

  Over there in Overlook, Longshadow and Howler were putting in hours as long as ours. And when he was not with his ally Howler, the Shadowmaster had his head together with Narayan.

  Singh seemed to have perked up now that he had an almost friend. The Daughter of Night seemed content to ignore everybody and live entirely within herself.

  Fighting continued inside the fortress. I almost had to envy our guys who were trapped in there. They were scared all the time but they were warm and most of the time they had enough to eat.