Murgen was busy
eavesdropping even though it was daytime. He was worried about
Sahra and Tobo. And maybe even a little about Goblin. I found
One-Eye, hung over but attentive, at the table where the mist
engine resided. Mother Gota and Uncle Doj were there as well, tense
and attentive themselves. Which told me that Sahra was determined
to go ahead with our most daring stroke yet. To my amazement,
One-Eye hustled over—in reality, a slow shuffle—and patted me on my
back. “We heard you were coming in, Little Girl. We were
scared shitless they were going to get you.”
“What?”
“Murgen warned us there was a trap. He heard some of the
Grey bosses talking about it when he was scouting to see what Sahra
was headed into. The old bitch Soulcatcher herself was out there
waiting for you. Well, not exactly you personally, just somebody
who goes around stealing books that aren’t supposed to be
there in the first place.”
“You’ve lost me good, old man. Start someplace where
I can see a couple of landmarks.”
“Somebody followed you and your boyfriend yesterday.
Somebody more suspicious of him than of you. Evidently a part-time
spy for the Protector.”
We knew there were informants out there getting paid piecework
rates. We tried not to be vulnerable to them.
“Also evidently with a boner for your
boyfriend.”
“One-Eye!”
“All right. For your boss. More or less literally. He went
and told the Greys that this dirty old man was about to force
perversions on one of the youths who worked for him. A few Greys
went to the library and started poking around and asking questions
and quickly discovered that some funds had gone missing, and
Santaraksita as well, when they started dragging people out of bed
and pulling them in. Then they discovered several books missing
also, including some great rarities and even a couple that were
supposed to have been removed from the library years ago but had
not been. That got back to Catcher. She got her sweet little behind
down there in about ten seconds and started threatening to eat
people alive and hurting anybody whose looks she didn’t
like.”
“And I almost walked into the middle of it.” I
mused, “How did they know the books were gone? I replaced
them with discards.” But maybe Master Santaraksita, if he was
a crook, had been doing that, too.
If he had been corrupt, he had had me fooled.
We would have to talk.
“Near as Murgen could find out, Dorabee Dey Banerjae
isn’t suspected of anything worse than naïveté. Surendranath
Santaraksita, though, is in deep shit. Soulcatcher is going to kill
him one limb at a time and let him watch the crows eat them as they
go. And after that she’s going to get nasty.” One-Eye
grinned a grin in which just the one lonely tooth loomed. Not
exactly a recommendation of his talents as the Company dental
specialist.
“Say what you like about Soulcatcher, she doesn’t
put up with any corruption.”
Which was just another black mark in her ledger as far as
One-Eye was concerned.
“I’m safe,” I said. “Here’s food
for thought. A white crow was waiting at the gate, possibly to warn
me. It made a definite attempt to communicate. So what’s the
story with Sahra?”
“She’s going ahead. That Jaul Barundandi is a real
dim-wit. He bought Goblin’s feeble imitation of your Sawa
character. Then he tried to get Tobo away from Sahra. Sahra
threatened to tell his wife.”
Minh Subredil was going to have trouble staying employed if she
kept up the bad attitude.
“The cover team in place?”
“Little Girl, who’s been doing this shit since
before your great-grandmother was born?”
“You always check again. And keep on checking. Because
sooner or later, you’re going to save someone who overlooked
something. Is the evacuation team operational?” Chances were
good we were going to have to leave Taglios long before I wanted.
Soulcatcher soon would be hunting us hard.
One-Eye said, “Ask Do Trang. He said he’d take care
of it. You might find it interesting to note that Catcher dropped
the watch on Arjana Drupada when the library jumped to the head of
her list and she needed trustworthy people there.”
“She doesn’t have enough to go around?”
“Not that she trusts. Most of those she’s had
watching the Bhodi disciples so she can head them off before they
pull any more suicide stunts.”
“Then we have to hit Drupada—”
“Go teach your granny to suck eggs, Little Girl. Like I
said, who was playing these games when Granny’s mommy was
still shitting her nappies?”
“Who’s covering the warehouse, then?” Having
so many things in the air meant that every brother had to be
occupied somewhere. Soulcatcher was not alone in facing manpower
limitations.
“You and me, Little Girl. Pooch and Spiff are around
somewhere, being a mixture of sentries and couriers.”
“You’re sure Drupada is clean?”
“Murgen checks every half hour. Much as he’d rather
be haunting his honey. Friend Arjana is clean. For now. But how
long will it last? And Murgen’s also been keeping an eye on
Slink at Semchi. Checking him every couple of hours. Looks like
that’s going to happen today, too. Soulcatcher is going to
shit. She’s just going to shit rocks. We’re going to do
everything but stroll up and bite her on the tit today.”
“Language, old man. Language.”
Uncle Doj murmured something.
One-Eye hastened to the mist projector.
Murgen was busy
eavesdropping even though it was daytime. He was worried about
Sahra and Tobo. And maybe even a little about Goblin. I found
One-Eye, hung over but attentive, at the table where the mist
engine resided. Mother Gota and Uncle Doj were there as well, tense
and attentive themselves. Which told me that Sahra was determined
to go ahead with our most daring stroke yet. To my amazement,
One-Eye hustled over—in reality, a slow shuffle—and patted me on my
back. “We heard you were coming in, Little Girl. We were
scared shitless they were going to get you.”
“What?”
“Murgen warned us there was a trap. He heard some of the
Grey bosses talking about it when he was scouting to see what Sahra
was headed into. The old bitch Soulcatcher herself was out there
waiting for you. Well, not exactly you personally, just somebody
who goes around stealing books that aren’t supposed to be
there in the first place.”
“You’ve lost me good, old man. Start someplace where
I can see a couple of landmarks.”
“Somebody followed you and your boyfriend yesterday.
Somebody more suspicious of him than of you. Evidently a part-time
spy for the Protector.”
We knew there were informants out there getting paid piecework
rates. We tried not to be vulnerable to them.
“Also evidently with a boner for your
boyfriend.”
“One-Eye!”
“All right. For your boss. More or less literally. He went
and told the Greys that this dirty old man was about to force
perversions on one of the youths who worked for him. A few Greys
went to the library and started poking around and asking questions
and quickly discovered that some funds had gone missing, and
Santaraksita as well, when they started dragging people out of bed
and pulling them in. Then they discovered several books missing
also, including some great rarities and even a couple that were
supposed to have been removed from the library years ago but had
not been. That got back to Catcher. She got her sweet little behind
down there in about ten seconds and started threatening to eat
people alive and hurting anybody whose looks she didn’t
like.”
“And I almost walked into the middle of it.” I
mused, “How did they know the books were gone? I replaced
them with discards.” But maybe Master Santaraksita, if he was
a crook, had been doing that, too.
If he had been corrupt, he had had me fooled.
We would have to talk.
“Near as Murgen could find out, Dorabee Dey Banerjae
isn’t suspected of anything worse than naïveté. Surendranath
Santaraksita, though, is in deep shit. Soulcatcher is going to kill
him one limb at a time and let him watch the crows eat them as they
go. And after that she’s going to get nasty.” One-Eye
grinned a grin in which just the one lonely tooth loomed. Not
exactly a recommendation of his talents as the Company dental
specialist.
“Say what you like about Soulcatcher, she doesn’t
put up with any corruption.”
Which was just another black mark in her ledger as far as
One-Eye was concerned.
“I’m safe,” I said. “Here’s food
for thought. A white crow was waiting at the gate, possibly to warn
me. It made a definite attempt to communicate. So what’s the
story with Sahra?”
“She’s going ahead. That Jaul Barundandi is a real
dim-wit. He bought Goblin’s feeble imitation of your Sawa
character. Then he tried to get Tobo away from Sahra. Sahra
threatened to tell his wife.”
Minh Subredil was going to have trouble staying employed if she
kept up the bad attitude.
“The cover team in place?”
“Little Girl, who’s been doing this shit since
before your great-grandmother was born?”
“You always check again. And keep on checking. Because
sooner or later, you’re going to save someone who overlooked
something. Is the evacuation team operational?” Chances were
good we were going to have to leave Taglios long before I wanted.
Soulcatcher soon would be hunting us hard.
One-Eye said, “Ask Do Trang. He said he’d take care
of it. You might find it interesting to note that Catcher dropped
the watch on Arjana Drupada when the library jumped to the head of
her list and she needed trustworthy people there.”
“She doesn’t have enough to go around?”
“Not that she trusts. Most of those she’s had
watching the Bhodi disciples so she can head them off before they
pull any more suicide stunts.”
“Then we have to hit Drupada—”
“Go teach your granny to suck eggs, Little Girl. Like I
said, who was playing these games when Granny’s mommy was
still shitting her nappies?”
“Who’s covering the warehouse, then?” Having
so many things in the air meant that every brother had to be
occupied somewhere. Soulcatcher was not alone in facing manpower
limitations.
“You and me, Little Girl. Pooch and Spiff are around
somewhere, being a mixture of sentries and couriers.”
“You’re sure Drupada is clean?”
“Murgen checks every half hour. Much as he’d rather
be haunting his honey. Friend Arjana is clean. For now. But how
long will it last? And Murgen’s also been keeping an eye on
Slink at Semchi. Checking him every couple of hours. Looks like
that’s going to happen today, too. Soulcatcher is going to
shit. She’s just going to shit rocks. We’re going to do
everything but stroll up and bite her on the tit today.”
“Language, old man. Language.”
Uncle Doj murmured something.
One-Eye hastened to the mist projector.