The Great General
started south through the Dandha Presh moments after the Protector
abandoned him so she could make more speed. Consequently he met
Soulcatcher on the southern side of the summit just a week later.
She talked to herself continuously in a committee of voices while
she was awake and gibbered in tongues during her brief bouts of
sleep. Mogaba thought the Daughter of Night seemed smugly pleased
in the moment before she collapsed from exhaustion.
“Kill them,” Mogaba urged the moment he had
Soulcatcher’s ear and a bit of privacy. “Those two can
be nothing but trouble and there’s no way you can profit from
keeping them around.”
“Possibly true.” The Protector’s voice was a
sly one. “But if I’m clever enough I can use the girl
to tap into Kina’s power the way my sister did.”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from a life
noteworthy for its regiments of disappointments, it’s that
you can’t rely on cleverness. You’re a powerful woman
now. Kill them while you can. Kill them before they find a way to
turn the tables. You don’t need to become any stronger.
There’s no one in this world capable of challenging
you.”
“There’s always someone, Mogaba.”
“Kill them. They sure won’t waste a second on
you.”
Soulcatcher approached the Daughter of Night, who had not moved
since her collapse. “My dear sweet niece wouldn’t harm
me.” The voice she chose could have been that of a naive
fourteen-year-old responding to the charge that her
twenty-five-year-old lover was interested in only one thing. Then
she laughed cruelly, kicked the Daughter of Night viciously.
“You even think about it, bitch, and I’ll roast and eat
you one limb at a time. And still make sure you live long enough to
see your mother die first.”
The Great General neither moved nor made any remark. His face
betrayed nothing, not even to Soulcatcher’s acute eye. But in
his sinking heart he understood that yet again he had allied
himself with complete and unpredictable insanity. And yet again he
had no option but to ride the tiger. He observed, “Perhaps we
should give thought to how to guard our minds against intrusion by
the Queen of Terror and Darkness.”
“I’m ahead of you, General. I’m the
professional.” This voice was that of a self-important little
mouse of a functionary. It became that of a self-confident woman
being conversational, the voice Mogaba suspected was
Soulcatcher’s own. It resembled closely the voice of her
sister, Lady. “For the last week I’ve had nothing to do
but nurture the blisters on my feet and think. I conceived
marvelous new torments to practice upon the Black Company—too late
to enjoy them. Isn’t that the way it always goes? You always
think of the perfect comeback about an hour too late for it to do
any good? I suppose I’ll find other enemies and my innovation
won’t be wasted. Most of the time, though, I considered how
best to circumvent Kina’s power.” She did not fear
naming the goddess directly. “We can do it.”
The Daughter of Night stirred slightly. Her shoulders tightened.
She glanced up for an instant. She looked a little uncertain, a
little troubled.
For the first time since her birth she was completely out of
touch with her soul-mother. She had been out of touch for several
days. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.
Soulcatcher eyed Narayan Singh. That old man was not much use
anymore. She could test her new torments on him once she had
him back in Taglios, before a suitable audience.
“General, if I get caught up in one of those byways that
distract me so often, I want you to nudge me back to the business
at hand. Which will be empire building. And, in my spare time, the
creation of a new flying carpet. I think I know enough of the
Howler’s secrets to manage. This past week has forced me to
admit to myself that I have no innate fondness for
exercise.”
Soulcatcher prodded the Daughter of Night again, then settled on
a rotten log and removed her boots. “Mogaba, don’t ever
tell anyone that you’ve seen the world’s greatest
sorceress stumped for a way to handle something as trivial as
blisters.”
Narayan Singh, who had been snoring fitfully, suddenly rose up
and gripped the bars of his cage, his face contorted in terror, its
butternut color all but gone. “Water sleeps!” he
screamed. “Thi Kim! Thi Kim is coming!” Then he
collapsed, unconscious again, though his body continued to
spasm.
Soulcatcher growled softly. “Water sleeps? We’ll see
what the dead can do.” They were all gone this time. It was
her world now. “What else did he say?”
“Something that sounded like a Nyueng Bao name.”
“Uhm. Yes. But not a name. Something about death. Or a
murder. Thi Kim. Coming. Hmm. Maybe a nickname?
Murder walker? I should learn the language better.”
The Daughter of Night, she noted, was shaking more than
Singh.
The wind whines and howls through fangs of ice. It races
furiously around the nameless fortress but tonight neither the
lightning nor the storm has any power to disturb. The creature on
the wooden throne is relaxed. He will rest comfortably through a
night of years for the first time in a long millennium. The silver
daggers are no inconvenience at all. Shivetya sleeps and dreams dreams of immortality’s
end. Fury crackles between the standing stones. Shadows flee. Shadows
hide. Shadows huddle in terror. Immortality is threatened.
The Great General
started south through the Dandha Presh moments after the Protector
abandoned him so she could make more speed. Consequently he met
Soulcatcher on the southern side of the summit just a week later.
She talked to herself continuously in a committee of voices while
she was awake and gibbered in tongues during her brief bouts of
sleep. Mogaba thought the Daughter of Night seemed smugly pleased
in the moment before she collapsed from exhaustion.
“Kill them,” Mogaba urged the moment he had
Soulcatcher’s ear and a bit of privacy. “Those two can
be nothing but trouble and there’s no way you can profit from
keeping them around.”
“Possibly true.” The Protector’s voice was a
sly one. “But if I’m clever enough I can use the girl
to tap into Kina’s power the way my sister did.”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from a life
noteworthy for its regiments of disappointments, it’s that
you can’t rely on cleverness. You’re a powerful woman
now. Kill them while you can. Kill them before they find a way to
turn the tables. You don’t need to become any stronger.
There’s no one in this world capable of challenging
you.”
“There’s always someone, Mogaba.”
“Kill them. They sure won’t waste a second on
you.”
Soulcatcher approached the Daughter of Night, who had not moved
since her collapse. “My dear sweet niece wouldn’t harm
me.” The voice she chose could have been that of a naive
fourteen-year-old responding to the charge that her
twenty-five-year-old lover was interested in only one thing. Then
she laughed cruelly, kicked the Daughter of Night viciously.
“You even think about it, bitch, and I’ll roast and eat
you one limb at a time. And still make sure you live long enough to
see your mother die first.”
The Great General neither moved nor made any remark. His face
betrayed nothing, not even to Soulcatcher’s acute eye. But in
his sinking heart he understood that yet again he had allied
himself with complete and unpredictable insanity. And yet again he
had no option but to ride the tiger. He observed, “Perhaps we
should give thought to how to guard our minds against intrusion by
the Queen of Terror and Darkness.”
“I’m ahead of you, General. I’m the
professional.” This voice was that of a self-important little
mouse of a functionary. It became that of a self-confident woman
being conversational, the voice Mogaba suspected was
Soulcatcher’s own. It resembled closely the voice of her
sister, Lady. “For the last week I’ve had nothing to do
but nurture the blisters on my feet and think. I conceived
marvelous new torments to practice upon the Black Company—too late
to enjoy them. Isn’t that the way it always goes? You always
think of the perfect comeback about an hour too late for it to do
any good? I suppose I’ll find other enemies and my innovation
won’t be wasted. Most of the time, though, I considered how
best to circumvent Kina’s power.” She did not fear
naming the goddess directly. “We can do it.”
The Daughter of Night stirred slightly. Her shoulders tightened.
She glanced up for an instant. She looked a little uncertain, a
little troubled.
For the first time since her birth she was completely out of
touch with her soul-mother. She had been out of touch for several
days. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.
Soulcatcher eyed Narayan Singh. That old man was not much use
anymore. She could test her new torments on him once she had
him back in Taglios, before a suitable audience.
“General, if I get caught up in one of those byways that
distract me so often, I want you to nudge me back to the business
at hand. Which will be empire building. And, in my spare time, the
creation of a new flying carpet. I think I know enough of the
Howler’s secrets to manage. This past week has forced me to
admit to myself that I have no innate fondness for
exercise.”
Soulcatcher prodded the Daughter of Night again, then settled on
a rotten log and removed her boots. “Mogaba, don’t ever
tell anyone that you’ve seen the world’s greatest
sorceress stumped for a way to handle something as trivial as
blisters.”
Narayan Singh, who had been snoring fitfully, suddenly rose up
and gripped the bars of his cage, his face contorted in terror, its
butternut color all but gone. “Water sleeps!” he
screamed. “Thi Kim! Thi Kim is coming!” Then he
collapsed, unconscious again, though his body continued to
spasm.
Soulcatcher growled softly. “Water sleeps? We’ll see
what the dead can do.” They were all gone this time. It was
her world now. “What else did he say?”
“Something that sounded like a Nyueng Bao name.”
“Uhm. Yes. But not a name. Something about death. Or a
murder. Thi Kim. Coming. Hmm. Maybe a nickname?
Murder walker? I should learn the language better.”
The Daughter of Night, she noted, was shaking more than
Singh.
The wind whines and howls through fangs of ice. It races
furiously around the nameless fortress but tonight neither the
lightning nor the storm has any power to disturb. The creature on
the wooden throne is relaxed. He will rest comfortably through a
night of years for the first time in a long millennium. The silver
daggers are no inconvenience at all. Shivetya sleeps and dreams dreams of immortality’s
end. Fury crackles between the standing stones. Shadows flee. Shadows
hide. Shadows huddle in terror. Immortality is threatened.