The Nether Taglian Territories: Lady Made
Grumpy Noises
Lady was in a
towering rage. I could not recall ever having seen her so close to
losing control. “How the hell could they let that happen?
Somebody was supposed to stay in that little shit’s pocket
every second!”
No one bothered to respond. She did not want answers. Not
really. She wanted somebody to hurt.
Tobo was quietly busy talking to things that were there only
when you looked away. Big things, little things, human-looking
things and things that had escaped from madmen’s nightmares.
Goblin was going to be found. Goblin was going to be tracked and
harassed and hurt if at all possible, all the live-long day.
Insofar as this fragment of the Company was concerned Goblin was
going to be the main mission from this day forward. He was to be
hunted down and exorcised—or exterminated—before he could engineer
any more disasters on Kina’s behalf.
Though long out of practice and definitely out of the habit,
Lady hurled a deadly spell at an inoffensive scrub pine. The tree
began to wilt almost immediately.
“What the hell was that?” I demanded. “I
thought you couldn’t . . . ”
“Be quiet. Let me think.” So astonished was Lady
that she forgot to be angry about Goblin.
I was quiet. I gave her all the thinking room a girl could
want.
Was there a silver lining inside our latest black cloud?
My at-the-moment not very lucky wife called, “Tobo. Next
message you send north, ask if the little shit got away with one of
the gate keys. Or anything else unusual.”
Tobo made little gestures to the air, then replied, “I
checked on that already. He got away with nothing more than two
horses and one saddle. Not even a sausage. He’s probably
eating bugs. The only unusual thing mentioned is that nobody
noticed him. An eventuation almost certainly artificial in
origin.”
“Because?”
“Because he’s being damned hard to notice right now.
The Black Hounds shouldn’t be having trouble finding and
following him. But they are. He’s as elusive as a ghost. Each
time they do make contact it’s because he’s been
following the road, without deviating, and they can just wait for
him to show up.”
“Following the road where?”
“North. Toward the junction with the Rock Road.
Though because he isn’t talking his plans are
unclear.”
Tobo still had a sense of humor about what was going on.
I asked Lady, “How did you manage to murder that
tree?”
She mused, “A good question. Without a good answer. I
never felt any sharpened Kina presence.”
“You think it might have to do with Goblin? We know Kina
must’ve put a piece of herself into him or he wouldn’t
even be alive.”
“I would’ve sensed something before. I think. Tobo.
Did you feel anything weird about Goblin?”
“Of course.” The boy was curt. He was trying to
work. Old folks kept interrupting. “He wasn’t Uncle
Goblin anymore. But he wasn’t any more powerful than he was
before, either.”
I said, “Maybe it was something that didn’t come out
until he got the chance to kill Narayan.”
Debate on the why increasingly focused on the fact that crippled
old Narayan had been in no shape to run or do anything on behalf of
his Goddess and, if left in our hands, would have been compelled to
reveal whatever he knew eventually. And while most of us would view
his murder as a betrayal by his Goddess, what we knew of Deceiver
doctrine suggested that he might actually see it as a reward.
Having been strangled for the Goddess, Narayan would go directly to
Deceiver paradise where, no doubt, his rewards would be
commensurate with his service.
I tend toward the cynical view where religion is concerned.
After a silence so extended I decided she was not listening,
my beloved responded, “You might just be smarter than you
look. She’d expect us to be suspicious enough to watch every
breath Goblin took. So she’d want him to seem as normal as
possible until he got a solid chance to get away.” She began
to pace. “Poor Goblin. That would’ve been mostly him,
maybe even really trying to help his old friends as much as he
could. And he’ll still be partly Goblin, but a prisoner
inside his own body.” The hollowness of her voice indicated
that she might have been through that herself, once upon a
time.
“Which tells us nothing of his purpose. Or of
Kina’s.”
“She’s in prison. She wants out. That doesn’t
take any special figuring.”
“But there’ll be a grand plan. Old Goblin
didn’t get his soul eaten up just so he could be flung across
the pond of the world like a skipping stone. He’s going to go
somewhere and he’s going to do something and if he gets away
with it all the rest of us are going to end up really
sorry.”
Lady grunted. She was still mostly angry.
I said, “He headed north. What’s up there that would
interest Kina?”
Tobo interrupted his sweet talk with his pets.
“Booboo.” He sounded as unhappy as I felt.
“He’s going to take Narayan’s place watching over
the Daughter of Night.”
“Yeah. Only there’ll be a big chunk of Goddess in
him so he’ll be a lot more dangerous than Narayan ever
was.”
Lady glared around her with an expression that made me think she
did not have much trouble seeing Tobo’s friends. “Do
you think my sister can be made to hear one of those?”
You could have heard a stack of pans drop. Even the animals
quieted down.
I asked, “You have something in mind?”
“Yes. We send her a message. Tell her what’s going
on with Goblin. It’s as much in her interest to stop him as
it is in ours.”
“And she has a personal interest,” Tobo reminded
us.
I understood immediately but Lady needed it explained.
“Goblin is the reason Soulcatcher has a bad leg.”
“Oh. Of course. I remember now.”
She ought. She was there, spying on everything through the eyes
of a white crow, during the kidnapping of the Radisha. That same
night Goblin managed to trick Soulcatcher into springing a booby
trap. The result had been serious and irreversible damage to her
right heel.
Tobo said, “She gets around pretty well now. She wears a
special boot and brace and is supported by several specialized
spells. She only limps when she’s really tired.”
“Ah. She’ll definitely want to chat with Goblin,
then. She’s always been a sore loser.”
“Just a thought,” I offered. “What happens if
Soulcatcher turns Goblin into her own version of the Taken? And
maybe Booboo, too? Word is, there were times when she showed a few
powers of her own.”
“Make a slave out of a Goddess?” Lady was
incredulous. I raised an eyebrow. She protested, “What I did
wasn’t the same thing at all. What I did was pure parasitism.
I wormed in so she couldn’t get me out without hurting
herself.”
“And now you’re getting a little of that
back?”
“But it doesn’t feel the same. Tobo. Can you send a
message to my sister or not?”
“I can try. In fact, I can do it. Easily. The real
question would be whether or not she’d listen.”
“She’ll listen or I’ll kick her
butt.”
It took all of us a moment to realize she was joking. She did so
so rarely.
Tobo began concentrating on the task of getting an extended
message to Soulcatcher.
Again I cautioned, “There’s a risk in
this.”
Lady just made one of her grumpy noises. She was turning into a
cranky old witch.
The Nether Taglian Territories: Lady Made
Grumpy Noises
Lady was in a
towering rage. I could not recall ever having seen her so close to
losing control. “How the hell could they let that happen?
Somebody was supposed to stay in that little shit’s pocket
every second!”
No one bothered to respond. She did not want answers. Not
really. She wanted somebody to hurt.
Tobo was quietly busy talking to things that were there only
when you looked away. Big things, little things, human-looking
things and things that had escaped from madmen’s nightmares.
Goblin was going to be found. Goblin was going to be tracked and
harassed and hurt if at all possible, all the live-long day.
Insofar as this fragment of the Company was concerned Goblin was
going to be the main mission from this day forward. He was to be
hunted down and exorcised—or exterminated—before he could engineer
any more disasters on Kina’s behalf.
Though long out of practice and definitely out of the habit,
Lady hurled a deadly spell at an inoffensive scrub pine. The tree
began to wilt almost immediately.
“What the hell was that?” I demanded. “I
thought you couldn’t . . . ”
“Be quiet. Let me think.” So astonished was Lady
that she forgot to be angry about Goblin.
I was quiet. I gave her all the thinking room a girl could
want.
Was there a silver lining inside our latest black cloud?
My at-the-moment not very lucky wife called, “Tobo. Next
message you send north, ask if the little shit got away with one of
the gate keys. Or anything else unusual.”
Tobo made little gestures to the air, then replied, “I
checked on that already. He got away with nothing more than two
horses and one saddle. Not even a sausage. He’s probably
eating bugs. The only unusual thing mentioned is that nobody
noticed him. An eventuation almost certainly artificial in
origin.”
“Because?”
“Because he’s being damned hard to notice right now.
The Black Hounds shouldn’t be having trouble finding and
following him. But they are. He’s as elusive as a ghost. Each
time they do make contact it’s because he’s been
following the road, without deviating, and they can just wait for
him to show up.”
“Following the road where?”
“North. Toward the junction with the Rock Road.
Though because he isn’t talking his plans are
unclear.”
Tobo still had a sense of humor about what was going on.
I asked Lady, “How did you manage to murder that
tree?”
She mused, “A good question. Without a good answer. I
never felt any sharpened Kina presence.”
“You think it might have to do with Goblin? We know Kina
must’ve put a piece of herself into him or he wouldn’t
even be alive.”
“I would’ve sensed something before. I think. Tobo.
Did you feel anything weird about Goblin?”
“Of course.” The boy was curt. He was trying to
work. Old folks kept interrupting. “He wasn’t Uncle
Goblin anymore. But he wasn’t any more powerful than he was
before, either.”
I said, “Maybe it was something that didn’t come out
until he got the chance to kill Narayan.”
Debate on the why increasingly focused on the fact that crippled
old Narayan had been in no shape to run or do anything on behalf of
his Goddess and, if left in our hands, would have been compelled to
reveal whatever he knew eventually. And while most of us would view
his murder as a betrayal by his Goddess, what we knew of Deceiver
doctrine suggested that he might actually see it as a reward.
Having been strangled for the Goddess, Narayan would go directly to
Deceiver paradise where, no doubt, his rewards would be
commensurate with his service.
I tend toward the cynical view where religion is concerned.
After a silence so extended I decided she was not listening,
my beloved responded, “You might just be smarter than you
look. She’d expect us to be suspicious enough to watch every
breath Goblin took. So she’d want him to seem as normal as
possible until he got a solid chance to get away.” She began
to pace. “Poor Goblin. That would’ve been mostly him,
maybe even really trying to help his old friends as much as he
could. And he’ll still be partly Goblin, but a prisoner
inside his own body.” The hollowness of her voice indicated
that she might have been through that herself, once upon a
time.
“Which tells us nothing of his purpose. Or of
Kina’s.”
“She’s in prison. She wants out. That doesn’t
take any special figuring.”
“But there’ll be a grand plan. Old Goblin
didn’t get his soul eaten up just so he could be flung across
the pond of the world like a skipping stone. He’s going to go
somewhere and he’s going to do something and if he gets away
with it all the rest of us are going to end up really
sorry.”
Lady grunted. She was still mostly angry.
I said, “He headed north. What’s up there that would
interest Kina?”
Tobo interrupted his sweet talk with his pets.
“Booboo.” He sounded as unhappy as I felt.
“He’s going to take Narayan’s place watching over
the Daughter of Night.”
“Yeah. Only there’ll be a big chunk of Goddess in
him so he’ll be a lot more dangerous than Narayan ever
was.”
Lady glared around her with an expression that made me think she
did not have much trouble seeing Tobo’s friends. “Do
you think my sister can be made to hear one of those?”
You could have heard a stack of pans drop. Even the animals
quieted down.
I asked, “You have something in mind?”
“Yes. We send her a message. Tell her what’s going
on with Goblin. It’s as much in her interest to stop him as
it is in ours.”
“And she has a personal interest,” Tobo reminded
us.
I understood immediately but Lady needed it explained.
“Goblin is the reason Soulcatcher has a bad leg.”
“Oh. Of course. I remember now.”
She ought. She was there, spying on everything through the eyes
of a white crow, during the kidnapping of the Radisha. That same
night Goblin managed to trick Soulcatcher into springing a booby
trap. The result had been serious and irreversible damage to her
right heel.
Tobo said, “She gets around pretty well now. She wears a
special boot and brace and is supported by several specialized
spells. She only limps when she’s really tired.”
“Ah. She’ll definitely want to chat with Goblin,
then. She’s always been a sore loser.”
“Just a thought,” I offered. “What happens if
Soulcatcher turns Goblin into her own version of the Taken? And
maybe Booboo, too? Word is, there were times when she showed a few
powers of her own.”
“Make a slave out of a Goddess?” Lady was
incredulous. I raised an eyebrow. She protested, “What I did
wasn’t the same thing at all. What I did was pure parasitism.
I wormed in so she couldn’t get me out without hurting
herself.”
“And now you’re getting a little of that
back?”
“But it doesn’t feel the same. Tobo. Can you send a
message to my sister or not?”
“I can try. In fact, I can do it. Easily. The real
question would be whether or not she’d listen.”
“She’ll listen or I’ll kick her
butt.”
It took all of us a moment to realize she was joking. She did so
so rarely.
Tobo began concentrating on the task of getting an extended
message to Soulcatcher.
Again I cautioned, “There’s a risk in
this.”
Lady just made one of her grumpy noises. She was turning into a
cranky old witch.