There were fewer
than fifty soldiers to hold Nijha’s walls, most of them
injured already and all of them thoroughly terrified after having
endured a night overrun by the Unknown Shadows.
The defenders were accorded the honors of war and allowed to
march out without their weapons, taking their families and what
possessions they could carry. They were admonished to clear the
road whenever the Black Company passed.
If the Nijha stronghold had surrendered any faster Sleepy would
have worried that she was walking into a trap. As it was, she did
send Doj in first to make sure Soulcatcher had left her no special
little gifts.
She had not.
“Put Narayan somewhere where he can’t embarrass
me,” Sleepy ordered after the stronghold had been declared
secure. “I’ll decide what to do with him in a day or
two.” She would have preferred handing him over to Lady and
Croaker right away. “Battalion, regiment, and brigade
commanders and all senior staff are to assemble in the local
headquarters building in one hour.”
Sahra asked, “You think there’ll be room? I really
thought this place would be bigger.”
“So did I. Even though we knew it was a glorified remount
station. Gosh, I wish Tobo was here instead of down
there.”
“So do I.” Sahra hated having her whole family so
far away. She had become accustomed to having a real family again
during our years in Hsien. “I’ve been thinking.
Wouldn’t it be reasonable to keep Tobo and Murgen from going
to the same dangerous places?”
“Like the shadowgate?”
“Like that. Or anywhere else where one bad blow could take
them both away.”
Sleepy understood Sahra’s agony. Sahra had lost two
children and one husband to malignant fortune already. The husband
did not trouble her much. His removal had improved her life. But
rare is the mother who will not ache forever over the loss of her
little ones.
All part of the wondrous cruel experience of the siege of
Jaicur, or Dejagore, that has twisted so many members of the
Company and burdened them with vulnerabilities and obsessions that
will shape their minds and souls for as long as they survive.
“That’s a good idea,” Sleepy said.
“Although you can count on getting resistance from the men.
Can you imagine Runmust and Iqbal being willing to go anywhere
where they’re not elbow to elbow with each other?”
Sahra sighed. She shook her head slowly. “If the Gunni are
right about the Wheel of Life then I must have been something more
wicked than a Shadowmaster in a previous life. This one never stops
punishing me.”
“Let me tell you, it’s harder being Vehdna. You
don’t have other lives to blame it on. You just go crazy
trying to figure out why God is so angry with you in this
one.”
Sahra nodded. The moment had passed. She was in control again.
“You’d think I would’ve made my peace with this
life by now, wouldn’t you?”
Sleepy thought that she had, about as well as she could, but did
not say so. She did not want to push Sahra back onto the path of
self-examination. That could get tiresome fast.
“We have a major staff meeting. I want your help. I want
you to think in broader terms. I’m rethinking my strategy.
The distances are turning out to be too great for a headlong rush.
We’re getting weaker fast while our enemies are getting
stronger. I want your thoughts on different approaches.”
“I’ll be all right. I have to have these spells once
in a while just to get by.”
There were fewer
than fifty soldiers to hold Nijha’s walls, most of them
injured already and all of them thoroughly terrified after having
endured a night overrun by the Unknown Shadows.
The defenders were accorded the honors of war and allowed to
march out without their weapons, taking their families and what
possessions they could carry. They were admonished to clear the
road whenever the Black Company passed.
If the Nijha stronghold had surrendered any faster Sleepy would
have worried that she was walking into a trap. As it was, she did
send Doj in first to make sure Soulcatcher had left her no special
little gifts.
She had not.
“Put Narayan somewhere where he can’t embarrass
me,” Sleepy ordered after the stronghold had been declared
secure. “I’ll decide what to do with him in a day or
two.” She would have preferred handing him over to Lady and
Croaker right away. “Battalion, regiment, and brigade
commanders and all senior staff are to assemble in the local
headquarters building in one hour.”
Sahra asked, “You think there’ll be room? I really
thought this place would be bigger.”
“So did I. Even though we knew it was a glorified remount
station. Gosh, I wish Tobo was here instead of down
there.”
“So do I.” Sahra hated having her whole family so
far away. She had become accustomed to having a real family again
during our years in Hsien. “I’ve been thinking.
Wouldn’t it be reasonable to keep Tobo and Murgen from going
to the same dangerous places?”
“Like the shadowgate?”
“Like that. Or anywhere else where one bad blow could take
them both away.”
Sleepy understood Sahra’s agony. Sahra had lost two
children and one husband to malignant fortune already. The husband
did not trouble her much. His removal had improved her life. But
rare is the mother who will not ache forever over the loss of her
little ones.
All part of the wondrous cruel experience of the siege of
Jaicur, or Dejagore, that has twisted so many members of the
Company and burdened them with vulnerabilities and obsessions that
will shape their minds and souls for as long as they survive.
“That’s a good idea,” Sleepy said.
“Although you can count on getting resistance from the men.
Can you imagine Runmust and Iqbal being willing to go anywhere
where they’re not elbow to elbow with each other?”
Sahra sighed. She shook her head slowly. “If the Gunni are
right about the Wheel of Life then I must have been something more
wicked than a Shadowmaster in a previous life. This one never stops
punishing me.”
“Let me tell you, it’s harder being Vehdna. You
don’t have other lives to blame it on. You just go crazy
trying to figure out why God is so angry with you in this
one.”
Sahra nodded. The moment had passed. She was in control again.
“You’d think I would’ve made my peace with this
life by now, wouldn’t you?”
Sleepy thought that she had, about as well as she could, but did
not say so. She did not want to push Sahra back onto the path of
self-examination. That could get tiresome fast.
“We have a major staff meeting. I want your help. I want
you to think in broader terms. I’m rethinking my strategy.
The distances are turning out to be too great for a headlong rush.
We’re getting weaker fast while our enemies are getting
stronger. I want your thoughts on different approaches.”
“I’ll be all right. I have to have these spells once
in a while just to get by.”