The Taglian Territories: The Blind Measures of
Despair
Narayan groaned
when the girl wakened him. He regained control quickly, however.
The Protector was out there somewhere, never closer than she had
been these past two days. The Daughter of Night’s valiant
efforts, using talents she did not understand, had been just enough
to prevent their capture. But it was a close thing every day. And
the game might not last much longer. He and the girl had nothing
left. If the Protector brought in some of the shadows she
controlled . . .
“What is it?” he breathed. He fought the pain that
was with him always nowadays.
“Something’s happened. Something big. I can feel it.
It’s . . . I don’t know. It’s
like my mother woke up, took a look around, then went back to
sleep.”
Narayan did not understand. He said so.
“It was her. I know. She touched me.” From confusion
the girl moved swiftly toward assurance and confidence. “She
wanted me to know that she’s still there. She wanted me to
hang on. She wanted me to know things will be getting better
soon.”
Narayan, who had known the girl’s birth mother well,
suspected the child took after her aunt, the Protector, far more.
The Protector was changeable. The Daughter of Night’s moods
could shift with a change in the breeze. He wished she were more
stable, like her mother. Although Lady could become obsessively
focused. For example, she was determined to even scores with him
and the Deceiver cult. She had been Kina’s tool but had no
love or respect whatsoever for the Goddess.
“Did you hear me, Narayan? She’s there! She’s
not going to lay low much longer.”
“I heard. And I really am as excited as you are. But there
are wonders and wonders. We still have to get away from the
Protector.” He indicated the sky to their west. Crows swarmed
not half a mile down the long, scrubby slope.
Soulcatcher had her obsessions, too. This chase had gone on
forever, successfully for neither party thereto. Did the Protector
have no other work to do? Who was managing Taglios and its
territories? Deviltry was sure to flourish in her absence.
From the beginning of the chase Narayan had been confident that
Soulcatcher would get bored and would turn to something else. She
always did.
But not this time. This time she was dogged.
Why?
No telling with the Protector. She might have had a vision of
the future. She might be unable to think of a more amusing hobby.
She was twisted inside. Her motives might not always make sense
even to her.
The crows began to fan out to the north of what must be
Soulcatcher’s position. They seemed to be interested in a
slice of pie arc. They drifted on the breeze, not working hard,
slowly moving away. Narayan and the Daughter of Night watched
without moving. Crows were sharp of eye. If the two most holy
Deceivers could see them, the crows could see the Deceivers in
turn—if the girl’s erratic talent failed for even a
moment.
A single bird glided to the southeast, rather drunkenly, Narayan
thought. Soon no black bird could be seen in any direction.
Narayan said, “Let’s move on now. While we can. You
know, I think that haze down south might be the Dandha Presh.
We’ll be in the mountains in another week. She won’t
have a hope of catching us there.”
He was whistling in the dark. And they both knew it.
The Daughter of Night led the way. She was far more mobile than
Narayan. Frequently she grew impatient with Narayan’s
inability to keep up. Sometimes she cursed him and hit him. He
suspected that she would desert him if she had any other resource.
But her horizons never did extend far beyond the boundaries of
their cult and she understood that the living saint had far more
influence with the Deceivers than did any ill-schooled female
messiah whose status as such was accepted only because it bore the
living saint’s chop of authenticity.
Narayan’s lagging actually saved them. The girl was
squatting in brush, looking back with ill-concealed irritation.
“There’s a clearing. It’s big. Not much cover.
Shall we wait until dark? Or should we work our way around?”
It was much too difficult for her to keep them invisible when they
were in the open.
Narayan sometimes wondered what she might have become had she
grown up with her birth mother. Lady would have turned her into a
dark terror by now, he was certain. Not for the first or even the
hundredth time he wished Kina had allowed him to sacrifice Lady the
day he had claimed the newly born Daughter of Night. His life since
would have been much easier had the woman died then. “Let me
look.”
Narayan crouched. Pain clawed his bad leg as though someone was
slashing him with a dull knife. He peered out at a stony waste
almost devoid of life—except for a stunted, twisted stump of a tree
smack in the middle. It stood just over five feet tall. There was a
familiar feeling to it. He had not seen it before but knew he
should recognize it. “Don’t move,” he told the
Daughter of Night. “Don’t even breathe fast.
There’s something not quite right out there.”
He froze. The girl froze. She never questioned him in these
things. He was right every time.
It came to him eventually. He whispered. “That’s the
Protector, that stump. Wrapped inside an illusion. She’s used
the trick before. I heard about it when I was a prisoner of the
Black Company. It was one of the devices she used when she was
stalking them and they kept telling each other to look out for it.
Look carefully at the root of that branch that twists around twice
and ends in a cluster of little twigs. See the crow hiding
there?”
“Yes.”
“Back away carefully. Slowly.
What? . . . Freeze!”
The girl froze. She remained unmoving for many minutes, until
Narayan began to relax. She murmured, “What was it?”
Neither the stump nor the crow had done anything alarming.
“There was something . . . ” But
he was no longer sure. It had been there in the corner of his eye
for an instant but not there when he looked directly. “Over
by that big red boulder.”
“Hush!” The girl stared in another direction.
“I think . . . There.
Something . . . I can’t see anything but
I can feel it. I think it’s watching the
tree . . . ” Grrr!
Both felt rather than heard the growl from behind them.
Such was their self-discipline, after years on the run, that
neither so much as flinched. Something large and dark and not quite
there trotted past. The living saint’s mouth opened wide but
no scream came forth. The girl drifted closer to him without making
any sudden movement.
What seemed like a series of large black cutouts of an
unfamiliar animal flickered across the open ground. It looked
nothing like a dog. It had too many limbs. But in its brief moment
beside the stump it lifted a hind leg and loosed a river.
And then, of course, it was not there anymore. But Soulcatcher
was, in her own form. And she was in a towering rage.
“Something has changed,” Narayan gasped through his
pain.
“Something more than Mother.”
Something more than the Mother of Night.
Something that, from that moment onward, left them feeling as
though they were being watched every moment—even when they could
see nothing around them anywhere.
The Taglian Territories: The Blind Measures of
Despair
Narayan groaned
when the girl wakened him. He regained control quickly, however.
The Protector was out there somewhere, never closer than she had
been these past two days. The Daughter of Night’s valiant
efforts, using talents she did not understand, had been just enough
to prevent their capture. But it was a close thing every day. And
the game might not last much longer. He and the girl had nothing
left. If the Protector brought in some of the shadows she
controlled . . .
“What is it?” he breathed. He fought the pain that
was with him always nowadays.
“Something’s happened. Something big. I can feel it.
It’s . . . I don’t know. It’s
like my mother woke up, took a look around, then went back to
sleep.”
Narayan did not understand. He said so.
“It was her. I know. She touched me.” From confusion
the girl moved swiftly toward assurance and confidence. “She
wanted me to know that she’s still there. She wanted me to
hang on. She wanted me to know things will be getting better
soon.”
Narayan, who had known the girl’s birth mother well,
suspected the child took after her aunt, the Protector, far more.
The Protector was changeable. The Daughter of Night’s moods
could shift with a change in the breeze. He wished she were more
stable, like her mother. Although Lady could become obsessively
focused. For example, she was determined to even scores with him
and the Deceiver cult. She had been Kina’s tool but had no
love or respect whatsoever for the Goddess.
“Did you hear me, Narayan? She’s there! She’s
not going to lay low much longer.”
“I heard. And I really am as excited as you are. But there
are wonders and wonders. We still have to get away from the
Protector.” He indicated the sky to their west. Crows swarmed
not half a mile down the long, scrubby slope.
Soulcatcher had her obsessions, too. This chase had gone on
forever, successfully for neither party thereto. Did the Protector
have no other work to do? Who was managing Taglios and its
territories? Deviltry was sure to flourish in her absence.
From the beginning of the chase Narayan had been confident that
Soulcatcher would get bored and would turn to something else. She
always did.
But not this time. This time she was dogged.
Why?
No telling with the Protector. She might have had a vision of
the future. She might be unable to think of a more amusing hobby.
She was twisted inside. Her motives might not always make sense
even to her.
The crows began to fan out to the north of what must be
Soulcatcher’s position. They seemed to be interested in a
slice of pie arc. They drifted on the breeze, not working hard,
slowly moving away. Narayan and the Daughter of Night watched
without moving. Crows were sharp of eye. If the two most holy
Deceivers could see them, the crows could see the Deceivers in
turn—if the girl’s erratic talent failed for even a
moment.
A single bird glided to the southeast, rather drunkenly, Narayan
thought. Soon no black bird could be seen in any direction.
Narayan said, “Let’s move on now. While we can. You
know, I think that haze down south might be the Dandha Presh.
We’ll be in the mountains in another week. She won’t
have a hope of catching us there.”
He was whistling in the dark. And they both knew it.
The Daughter of Night led the way. She was far more mobile than
Narayan. Frequently she grew impatient with Narayan’s
inability to keep up. Sometimes she cursed him and hit him. He
suspected that she would desert him if she had any other resource.
But her horizons never did extend far beyond the boundaries of
their cult and she understood that the living saint had far more
influence with the Deceivers than did any ill-schooled female
messiah whose status as such was accepted only because it bore the
living saint’s chop of authenticity.
Narayan’s lagging actually saved them. The girl was
squatting in brush, looking back with ill-concealed irritation.
“There’s a clearing. It’s big. Not much cover.
Shall we wait until dark? Or should we work our way around?”
It was much too difficult for her to keep them invisible when they
were in the open.
Narayan sometimes wondered what she might have become had she
grown up with her birth mother. Lady would have turned her into a
dark terror by now, he was certain. Not for the first or even the
hundredth time he wished Kina had allowed him to sacrifice Lady the
day he had claimed the newly born Daughter of Night. His life since
would have been much easier had the woman died then. “Let me
look.”
Narayan crouched. Pain clawed his bad leg as though someone was
slashing him with a dull knife. He peered out at a stony waste
almost devoid of life—except for a stunted, twisted stump of a tree
smack in the middle. It stood just over five feet tall. There was a
familiar feeling to it. He had not seen it before but knew he
should recognize it. “Don’t move,” he told the
Daughter of Night. “Don’t even breathe fast.
There’s something not quite right out there.”
He froze. The girl froze. She never questioned him in these
things. He was right every time.
It came to him eventually. He whispered. “That’s the
Protector, that stump. Wrapped inside an illusion. She’s used
the trick before. I heard about it when I was a prisoner of the
Black Company. It was one of the devices she used when she was
stalking them and they kept telling each other to look out for it.
Look carefully at the root of that branch that twists around twice
and ends in a cluster of little twigs. See the crow hiding
there?”
“Yes.”
“Back away carefully. Slowly.
What? . . . Freeze!”
The girl froze. She remained unmoving for many minutes, until
Narayan began to relax. She murmured, “What was it?”
Neither the stump nor the crow had done anything alarming.
“There was something . . . ” But
he was no longer sure. It had been there in the corner of his eye
for an instant but not there when he looked directly. “Over
by that big red boulder.”
“Hush!” The girl stared in another direction.
“I think . . . There.
Something . . . I can’t see anything but
I can feel it. I think it’s watching the
tree . . . ” Grrr!
Both felt rather than heard the growl from behind them.
Such was their self-discipline, after years on the run, that
neither so much as flinched. Something large and dark and not quite
there trotted past. The living saint’s mouth opened wide but
no scream came forth. The girl drifted closer to him without making
any sudden movement.
What seemed like a series of large black cutouts of an
unfamiliar animal flickered across the open ground. It looked
nothing like a dog. It had too many limbs. But in its brief moment
beside the stump it lifted a hind leg and loosed a river.
And then, of course, it was not there anymore. But Soulcatcher
was, in her own form. And she was in a towering rage.
“Something has changed,” Narayan gasped through his
pain.
“Something more than Mother.”
Something more than the Mother of Night.
Something that, from that moment onward, left them feeling as
though they were being watched every moment—even when they could
see nothing around them anywhere.