Lady had been
preoccupied since our visit to Shivetya’s fortress. More than
usual. A couple of times I walked in on her while she was
practicing her sorcery. I did not ask. The answer was plain. Her
ability to steal Kina’s power had returned full strength just
when the Khadidas had come forward to take control of Goblin.
Lady had herself locked down, under rigid control. Being someone
who has crawled all over her for years, I knew she was battling
hope.
She was addicted to the power.
She had given it up, not entirely of her own volition, to
prevent that old horror, her first husband, the Dominator, from
resurrecting himself. Then she had gone away with me, knowing there
was no way she could survive, powerless, in the world she had
created. But she remembered being the Lady. And as years fled by
she missed that more and more. And, I think, she missed that most
when misfortune led her to a close encounter with a mirror.
A personable Dejagoran youngster we knew as Mihlos Sedona made
the rounds, summoning the insiders to join Tobo and the Captain.
The kid was only about sixteen but had charmed himself into a job
as Sleepy’s personal gopher. A smile and a winning
personality is worth more than genius and sour most any day.
I thought well of Sedona myself. He had remembered to invite me
to the party.
The camp was in turmoil. Sleepy had ordered preparations for
movement toward Taglios. Those with the necessary expertise were
producing parts for artillery pieces or siege engines to be
assembled once we reached the fighting zone. Those without
expertise were doing the donkey work. I wondered why Sleepy was
having the work done when we did not yet know if we would need the
equipment. I expect she just wanted everyone kept busy.
Can a bird sneer or smirk? The white crow observed from the arm
of an incomplete, mobile stone-thrower. In my eye it seemed to do
both. “Long flight for you, eh? You just get in?”
The bird jumped but did not fly away.
“Be good,” I told it. “I know who you are and
I know where you live.”
Crow laughter, a little strained. Soldiers who remembered when
crows were plentiful and dangerous paused to stare.
The crow winged it toward the cemetery.
I grumbled, “I do believe our old pal Shivetya is hedging
his bets.”
The day was chilly but the sky was clear. The Captain seemed to
think a meeting out in the fresh air would be good for everybody. I
slipped around behind her headquarters tent.
Tobo spoke first. “The Great General and his henchmen plan
to keep fighting, despite our advantages. Both Generals Singh think
it would be better to recognize the Prahbrindrah Drah and save
Taglios the damage from heavy fighting. But loyalty is a matter of
pride and honor for them, too. And the Great General isn’t
the Protector. They consider him their friend. As long as
he’s still standing I’m afraid they’re going to
stick with him.”
No surprise there. Not to mention that Ghopal Singh did not have
much choice. As director of the Greys he had no friends outside the
present establishment. He had committed himself to the
Protectorate, not to Taglios.
Aridatha, on the other hand, and despite his participation in
the recent fighting, could be considered apolitical and committed
to Taglios. The job he had done was the same job that would have
been demanded of him by anyone who happened to be in power.
That was the consensus. Maybe we were just making excuses.
Everybody who met Aridatha liked the guy and wished him good
fortune.
“Enough of that,” Sleepy snapped. “The
man’s a paragon. The sort we all want our daughters to marry.
Fine. Tobo, get on with it.”
“Last night the generals decided to destroy the Khadidas.
He and the Daughter of Night can’t read minds but they did
sense trouble. They broke out of their cells. Which means one of
them has more power than they’ve been showing. They’re
hiding somewhere in the abandoned part of the Palace. The Greys and
the Palace Guard haven’t found them yet. The Khadidas did
something that distorted reality around them. Even the hidden folk
lost them. They haven’t been able to find them again. Not
long after their disappearance somebody raided the kitchen. They
stole a lot of food. Then somebody broke into the offices of the
Inspector General of the Records and stole a shitload of paper and
ink.”
Murgen blurted, “They’re going to reconstruct the
Books of the Dead!” This was the first real emotion he had
shown since Sahra’s disappearance.
“Evidently,” Sleepy said. “Not something they
can accomplish quickly but something they’ll manage
eventually. If we don’t interfere. And we are going to
interfere. Tonight the whole bunch of you are going to fly to
Taglios. You’re going to pull the same stunt you did in
Jaicur. Using all the power you have available. I want you to
capture Ghopal Singh and the Great General. Capture the girl and
Goblin. Put Aridatha Singh in charge. Then hunker down. I’ll
start the army moving tomorrow. As soon as we’re past the
city gate I’ll send for the Prahbrindrah Drah.”
I tried to exchange glances with everyone, anyone around me.
Nobody seemed interested. They all seemed embarrassed. Or
something. Like maybe they thought Sleepy had turned simpleminded
but it was up to somebody else to point that out to her.
I would bet you saw a lot of that around Mogaba. And a whole lot
more around Soulcatcher before her forced retirement.
“It shall be done,” Sleepy’s proud new chief
of staff intoned. Though he spoke Taglian that formula hailed from
the Land of Unknown Shadows.
I miss One-Eye. One-Eye—or Goblin in his time—would have given
that officious little asshole a mystic hotfoot. On the spot. Or
maybe a case of fleas. The size of tumblebugs.
Those were the days. Except that those guys had not always
gotten it right. They had screwed up and gotten me a few times,
too.
There was a brief debate about whether or not to include the
older Voroshk in the raid. The implication being that Tobo might
not have what it took to keep an eye on so many people of dubious
loyalty. Arkana appeared to have become one of us, but we did not
yet know that. Arkana was the one who had advised Magadan to do
whatever it took . . . Our hold on the Howler
was weaker now, too. The little sorcerer had become almost
invisible since he no longer announced himself every few minutes.
The senior Voroshk, of course, were trustworthy only until they
figured out a way to mess us over. If that long. They did not seem
much smarter than Gromovol had been.
I said only, “Don’t get overconfident because
everything’s gone our way so far.” Not only Sleepy but
most of the others turned studiedly blank faces my way.
“There’re plenty of chances to stumble still ahead of
us.”
No doubt I would get an argument but I thought our path had run
fairly straight and smooth lately. We might be just hours from our
final accounting with the traitor Mogaba and only minutes longer
from collecting Booboo and extinguishing the hope of the Deceivers.
Events had had a ponderous inevitability almost since our first
scares in the Land of Unknown Shadows.
“What?” But the question had been directed at Tobo,
not me, by a startled Sleepy.
“We can’t leave till after midnight. Lady is going
to walk me through a raising of the dead. So we can find out what
happened to Mom.”
Sleepy wanted to argue but instantly understood that this was a
battle she could not win. Tobo would do this thing Tobo’s
way, with Murgen’s blessing. And it was not good to squabble
in front of the troops.
“Don’t take all night.”
Lady had been
preoccupied since our visit to Shivetya’s fortress. More than
usual. A couple of times I walked in on her while she was
practicing her sorcery. I did not ask. The answer was plain. Her
ability to steal Kina’s power had returned full strength just
when the Khadidas had come forward to take control of Goblin.
Lady had herself locked down, under rigid control. Being someone
who has crawled all over her for years, I knew she was battling
hope.
She was addicted to the power.
She had given it up, not entirely of her own volition, to
prevent that old horror, her first husband, the Dominator, from
resurrecting himself. Then she had gone away with me, knowing there
was no way she could survive, powerless, in the world she had
created. But she remembered being the Lady. And as years fled by
she missed that more and more. And, I think, she missed that most
when misfortune led her to a close encounter with a mirror.
A personable Dejagoran youngster we knew as Mihlos Sedona made
the rounds, summoning the insiders to join Tobo and the Captain.
The kid was only about sixteen but had charmed himself into a job
as Sleepy’s personal gopher. A smile and a winning
personality is worth more than genius and sour most any day.
I thought well of Sedona myself. He had remembered to invite me
to the party.
The camp was in turmoil. Sleepy had ordered preparations for
movement toward Taglios. Those with the necessary expertise were
producing parts for artillery pieces or siege engines to be
assembled once we reached the fighting zone. Those without
expertise were doing the donkey work. I wondered why Sleepy was
having the work done when we did not yet know if we would need the
equipment. I expect she just wanted everyone kept busy.
Can a bird sneer or smirk? The white crow observed from the arm
of an incomplete, mobile stone-thrower. In my eye it seemed to do
both. “Long flight for you, eh? You just get in?”
The bird jumped but did not fly away.
“Be good,” I told it. “I know who you are and
I know where you live.”
Crow laughter, a little strained. Soldiers who remembered when
crows were plentiful and dangerous paused to stare.
The crow winged it toward the cemetery.
I grumbled, “I do believe our old pal Shivetya is hedging
his bets.”
The day was chilly but the sky was clear. The Captain seemed to
think a meeting out in the fresh air would be good for everybody. I
slipped around behind her headquarters tent.
Tobo spoke first. “The Great General and his henchmen plan
to keep fighting, despite our advantages. Both Generals Singh think
it would be better to recognize the Prahbrindrah Drah and save
Taglios the damage from heavy fighting. But loyalty is a matter of
pride and honor for them, too. And the Great General isn’t
the Protector. They consider him their friend. As long as
he’s still standing I’m afraid they’re going to
stick with him.”
No surprise there. Not to mention that Ghopal Singh did not have
much choice. As director of the Greys he had no friends outside the
present establishment. He had committed himself to the
Protectorate, not to Taglios.
Aridatha, on the other hand, and despite his participation in
the recent fighting, could be considered apolitical and committed
to Taglios. The job he had done was the same job that would have
been demanded of him by anyone who happened to be in power.
That was the consensus. Maybe we were just making excuses.
Everybody who met Aridatha liked the guy and wished him good
fortune.
“Enough of that,” Sleepy snapped. “The
man’s a paragon. The sort we all want our daughters to marry.
Fine. Tobo, get on with it.”
“Last night the generals decided to destroy the Khadidas.
He and the Daughter of Night can’t read minds but they did
sense trouble. They broke out of their cells. Which means one of
them has more power than they’ve been showing. They’re
hiding somewhere in the abandoned part of the Palace. The Greys and
the Palace Guard haven’t found them yet. The Khadidas did
something that distorted reality around them. Even the hidden folk
lost them. They haven’t been able to find them again. Not
long after their disappearance somebody raided the kitchen. They
stole a lot of food. Then somebody broke into the offices of the
Inspector General of the Records and stole a shitload of paper and
ink.”
Murgen blurted, “They’re going to reconstruct the
Books of the Dead!” This was the first real emotion he had
shown since Sahra’s disappearance.
“Evidently,” Sleepy said. “Not something they
can accomplish quickly but something they’ll manage
eventually. If we don’t interfere. And we are going to
interfere. Tonight the whole bunch of you are going to fly to
Taglios. You’re going to pull the same stunt you did in
Jaicur. Using all the power you have available. I want you to
capture Ghopal Singh and the Great General. Capture the girl and
Goblin. Put Aridatha Singh in charge. Then hunker down. I’ll
start the army moving tomorrow. As soon as we’re past the
city gate I’ll send for the Prahbrindrah Drah.”
I tried to exchange glances with everyone, anyone around me.
Nobody seemed interested. They all seemed embarrassed. Or
something. Like maybe they thought Sleepy had turned simpleminded
but it was up to somebody else to point that out to her.
I would bet you saw a lot of that around Mogaba. And a whole lot
more around Soulcatcher before her forced retirement.
“It shall be done,” Sleepy’s proud new chief
of staff intoned. Though he spoke Taglian that formula hailed from
the Land of Unknown Shadows.
I miss One-Eye. One-Eye—or Goblin in his time—would have given
that officious little asshole a mystic hotfoot. On the spot. Or
maybe a case of fleas. The size of tumblebugs.
Those were the days. Except that those guys had not always
gotten it right. They had screwed up and gotten me a few times,
too.
There was a brief debate about whether or not to include the
older Voroshk in the raid. The implication being that Tobo might
not have what it took to keep an eye on so many people of dubious
loyalty. Arkana appeared to have become one of us, but we did not
yet know that. Arkana was the one who had advised Magadan to do
whatever it took . . . Our hold on the Howler
was weaker now, too. The little sorcerer had become almost
invisible since he no longer announced himself every few minutes.
The senior Voroshk, of course, were trustworthy only until they
figured out a way to mess us over. If that long. They did not seem
much smarter than Gromovol had been.
I said only, “Don’t get overconfident because
everything’s gone our way so far.” Not only Sleepy but
most of the others turned studiedly blank faces my way.
“There’re plenty of chances to stumble still ahead of
us.”
No doubt I would get an argument but I thought our path had run
fairly straight and smooth lately. We might be just hours from our
final accounting with the traitor Mogaba and only minutes longer
from collecting Booboo and extinguishing the hope of the Deceivers.
Events had had a ponderous inevitability almost since our first
scares in the Land of Unknown Shadows.
“What?” But the question had been directed at Tobo,
not me, by a startled Sleepy.
“We can’t leave till after midnight. Lady is going
to walk me through a raising of the dead. So we can find out what
happened to Mom.”
Sleepy wanted to argue but instantly understood that this was a
battle she could not win. Tobo would do this thing Tobo’s
way, with Murgen’s blessing. And it was not good to squabble
in front of the troops.
“Don’t take all night.”