The practical
rules of Company field operations resemble those obeyed by stage
magicians. We would prefer our audience saw nothing at all but we
do realize that invisibility is impractical. So we try to show the
watcher something other than what he is looking for. Thus the goats
and donkeys. And, south of Jaicur, all new looks and identities for
everybody, with the enlarged party breaking up into two
independently traveling “families,” plus a group of
failed southern fortune-hunters dragging home in despair and defeat
after having had their spirits crushed by the Taglian experience.
There were quite a few men of the latter sort around. They had to
be watched. Many were not above taking advantage of weaker parties
if they thought they could manage it. The roads were not patrolled
anymore. The Protector did not care if they were safe.
Doj and Swan, Gota and I formed the advance party. We looked
weak but that old man was worth four or five ordinary mortals. We
had only one scrape. It was over in seconds. Several blood trails
led off into the brush. Doj had chosen to leave no one dead.
The land became less hospitable and rose steadily. In clear air
it was possible to look ahead and catch the faintest glimpse of the
peaks of the Dandha Presh, still many days’ journey south of
us. The paved road ended alongside an abandoned work camp.
“They must’ve run out of prisoners,” Swan
observed. The camp had been stripped of everything portable.
“What they ran out of is enemies Soulcatcher thought were
worth an investment in a road. She could always find people she
doesn’t like and use them up in an engineering
project.” And she had done so on the western route, which was
being followed by the rest of the Company. They would have paved
footing all the way to Charandaprash. Their road, and the waterways
serving it, had remained under construction until just a few years
ago, when the Protector evidently decided the Kiaulune wars really
were over, that it was not necessary to make life easy for the
Great General and his men, and bullied the Radisha into no longer
spending the money.
I wondered what the Radisha’s perspective would be. I
suspected she had believed she was in charge right up to the moment
we disappeared her. Then she had begun getting an education, here
amongst her faithful subjects.
We reached Lake Tanji, which I love. The lake is a vast sprawl
of icy indigo beauty. When I was a lot younger, we fought our
deadliest encounter with the things that had given the
Shadowmasters their names there. More than a decade later you could
still see places where rock had melted. If you went exploring some
of the narrow gulches scarring the hillsides, you could find
clutches of human bones that had come back to the surface with
time.
“This is a place of dark memory,” Doj remarked. He
had been here for that battle, too. And so had Gota, who had
stopped complaining long enough to deal with her memories also.
She really did have a lot of pain these days.
The white crow streaked overhead. It dropped down the slope
ahead, vanished into the ragged foliage of a tall mountain pine. We
saw that bird almost every day now.
There was no doubt it was following us. Swan swore that it had
tried to strike up a conversation with him once when he was out in
the brush relieving himself.
When I asked what it wanted, he said, “Hey, I got the hell
out of there, Sleepy. I’ve got problems enough. I don’t
need to get known as a guy who gossips with birds, too.”
“It might’ve had something interesting to
say.”
“Without a doubt. And if it really wants to tell somebody
something badly enough, it’ll come talk to you.”
Right now Swan looked down the slope and said, “It’s
hiding from something.”
“But not from us.” I looked back up the slope. The
ground appeared untouched up there. There was no sign of other
travelers. Below me, downhill, the meandering track appeared
occasionally upon the slope and along the shore, both of which were
deserted. This was no longer a popular route. “I could retire
beside that lake,” I told Swan.
“Must not be the best place or somebody would’ve
beaten you to it.”
He had a point. This country was far emptier now than it had
been twenty years ago. Then there had been villages around the
lake.
“There you go,” Swan said, looking back.
“What?” I looked. It took a moment. “Oh. The
bird?”
“Not just a bird. A crow. The regular kind of
crow.”
“Your eyes are better than mine. Ignore it. If we
don’t pay it any special attention, it shouldn’t have
any reason to concentrate on us.” My heartbeat was rising,
though.
Maybe it was just a feral crow and had nothing to do with
Soulcatcher. Crows are not fastidious about their dining.
Or maybe the Protector had, at last, begun looking for us
outside of Taglios.
White crow in hiding, black crow in the air, searching. What did
it mean?
Not much we could do about it, whatever. Though Uncle Doj had a
calculating eye whenever he looked up at the black crow.
It lost interest after a while. It went away. I told the others, “That shouldn’t be a problem. Crows are smart, for
birds, but one by itself can’t remember a lot of instructions
or carry much information back. If it is one of hers.” We had
to assume that it was. Crows were much less common than they used
to be. Those remaining always seemed to be under
Soulcatcher’s control. Her control was probably why they were
dying out.
If this one was a scout for the Protector, it would be days yet
before it could report.
Doj observed, “If it was suspicious, we can expect to have
shadows around in a few days.”
That would be Soulcatcher’s best means of scouting us.
Shadows traveled faster than crows, could be given much more
complex instructions and could bring back far more information. But
could Soulcatcher control them so far away? The original
Shadowmasters had had major difficulties managing their pets over
long distances.
We passed along the shores of Lake Tanji. Each of us seized an
opportunity to bathe in the icy water. The old road then led us on
to the Plain of Charandaprash, where the Black Company had won one
of its greatest triumphs and the Great General had suffered his
most humiliating defeat—through no fault of his own. Though a
capricious history would not recall the blame due his cowardly
master, Longshadow. Wreckage from that battle still lay scattered
across the slopes. A small garrison watched over the approaches to
the pass through the Dandha Presh. It showed no interest in
clearing any mess or, even, in monitoring traffic. Nobody looked my
group over. Nobody asked questions. We were assessed an unofficial
toll and warned that the donkey might find the footing treacherous
in the high pass because there was still ice on the rocks up there.
We did learn that there had been heavier traffic than usual lately.
That told me that Sahra’s group had encountered no
insuperable difficulties and was ahead of us, as it should be, even
with all the old men and reluctant companions.
The mountains were far colder and more barren than the highlands
we had crossed. I wondered how the Radisha was handling it, about
her thoughts concerning the empire she had acquired, mostly thanks
to the Company. Doubtless her eyes had been opened some.
They needed a lot of opening. She had spent most of her life
cooped up inside the Palace.
The white crow turned up every few days but its darker kinfolk
did not. Maybe the Protector was preoccupied elsewhere.
I wished I had Murgen’s talent for leaving his body. I had
not had so much as a good dream since leaving the Grove of Doom. I
knew exactly as little as everyone else. And that was extremely
frustrating after having had easy access to secrets from afar for
so long.
Nights in the mountains get really cold. I told Swan I was
tempted to take up his suggestion that we go off somewhere and set
up housekeeping in our own tavern and brewery. When it got really
cold, a few lesser sins did not seem to matter.
The practical
rules of Company field operations resemble those obeyed by stage
magicians. We would prefer our audience saw nothing at all but we
do realize that invisibility is impractical. So we try to show the
watcher something other than what he is looking for. Thus the goats
and donkeys. And, south of Jaicur, all new looks and identities for
everybody, with the enlarged party breaking up into two
independently traveling “families,” plus a group of
failed southern fortune-hunters dragging home in despair and defeat
after having had their spirits crushed by the Taglian experience.
There were quite a few men of the latter sort around. They had to
be watched. Many were not above taking advantage of weaker parties
if they thought they could manage it. The roads were not patrolled
anymore. The Protector did not care if they were safe.
Doj and Swan, Gota and I formed the advance party. We looked
weak but that old man was worth four or five ordinary mortals. We
had only one scrape. It was over in seconds. Several blood trails
led off into the brush. Doj had chosen to leave no one dead.
The land became less hospitable and rose steadily. In clear air
it was possible to look ahead and catch the faintest glimpse of the
peaks of the Dandha Presh, still many days’ journey south of
us. The paved road ended alongside an abandoned work camp.
“They must’ve run out of prisoners,” Swan
observed. The camp had been stripped of everything portable.
“What they ran out of is enemies Soulcatcher thought were
worth an investment in a road. She could always find people she
doesn’t like and use them up in an engineering
project.” And she had done so on the western route, which was
being followed by the rest of the Company. They would have paved
footing all the way to Charandaprash. Their road, and the waterways
serving it, had remained under construction until just a few years
ago, when the Protector evidently decided the Kiaulune wars really
were over, that it was not necessary to make life easy for the
Great General and his men, and bullied the Radisha into no longer
spending the money.
I wondered what the Radisha’s perspective would be. I
suspected she had believed she was in charge right up to the moment
we disappeared her. Then she had begun getting an education, here
amongst her faithful subjects.
We reached Lake Tanji, which I love. The lake is a vast sprawl
of icy indigo beauty. When I was a lot younger, we fought our
deadliest encounter with the things that had given the
Shadowmasters their names there. More than a decade later you could
still see places where rock had melted. If you went exploring some
of the narrow gulches scarring the hillsides, you could find
clutches of human bones that had come back to the surface with
time.
“This is a place of dark memory,” Doj remarked. He
had been here for that battle, too. And so had Gota, who had
stopped complaining long enough to deal with her memories also.
She really did have a lot of pain these days.
The white crow streaked overhead. It dropped down the slope
ahead, vanished into the ragged foliage of a tall mountain pine. We
saw that bird almost every day now.
There was no doubt it was following us. Swan swore that it had
tried to strike up a conversation with him once when he was out in
the brush relieving himself.
When I asked what it wanted, he said, “Hey, I got the hell
out of there, Sleepy. I’ve got problems enough. I don’t
need to get known as a guy who gossips with birds, too.”
“It might’ve had something interesting to
say.”
“Without a doubt. And if it really wants to tell somebody
something badly enough, it’ll come talk to you.”
Right now Swan looked down the slope and said, “It’s
hiding from something.”
“But not from us.” I looked back up the slope. The
ground appeared untouched up there. There was no sign of other
travelers. Below me, downhill, the meandering track appeared
occasionally upon the slope and along the shore, both of which were
deserted. This was no longer a popular route. “I could retire
beside that lake,” I told Swan.
“Must not be the best place or somebody would’ve
beaten you to it.”
He had a point. This country was far emptier now than it had
been twenty years ago. Then there had been villages around the
lake.
“There you go,” Swan said, looking back.
“What?” I looked. It took a moment. “Oh. The
bird?”
“Not just a bird. A crow. The regular kind of
crow.”
“Your eyes are better than mine. Ignore it. If we
don’t pay it any special attention, it shouldn’t have
any reason to concentrate on us.” My heartbeat was rising,
though.
Maybe it was just a feral crow and had nothing to do with
Soulcatcher. Crows are not fastidious about their dining.
Or maybe the Protector had, at last, begun looking for us
outside of Taglios.
White crow in hiding, black crow in the air, searching. What did
it mean?
Not much we could do about it, whatever. Though Uncle Doj had a
calculating eye whenever he looked up at the black crow.
It lost interest after a while. It went away. I told the others, “That shouldn’t be a problem. Crows are smart, for
birds, but one by itself can’t remember a lot of instructions
or carry much information back. If it is one of hers.” We had
to assume that it was. Crows were much less common than they used
to be. Those remaining always seemed to be under
Soulcatcher’s control. Her control was probably why they were
dying out.
If this one was a scout for the Protector, it would be days yet
before it could report.
Doj observed, “If it was suspicious, we can expect to have
shadows around in a few days.”
That would be Soulcatcher’s best means of scouting us.
Shadows traveled faster than crows, could be given much more
complex instructions and could bring back far more information. But
could Soulcatcher control them so far away? The original
Shadowmasters had had major difficulties managing their pets over
long distances.
We passed along the shores of Lake Tanji. Each of us seized an
opportunity to bathe in the icy water. The old road then led us on
to the Plain of Charandaprash, where the Black Company had won one
of its greatest triumphs and the Great General had suffered his
most humiliating defeat—through no fault of his own. Though a
capricious history would not recall the blame due his cowardly
master, Longshadow. Wreckage from that battle still lay scattered
across the slopes. A small garrison watched over the approaches to
the pass through the Dandha Presh. It showed no interest in
clearing any mess or, even, in monitoring traffic. Nobody looked my
group over. Nobody asked questions. We were assessed an unofficial
toll and warned that the donkey might find the footing treacherous
in the high pass because there was still ice on the rocks up there.
We did learn that there had been heavier traffic than usual lately.
That told me that Sahra’s group had encountered no
insuperable difficulties and was ahead of us, as it should be, even
with all the old men and reluctant companions.
The mountains were far colder and more barren than the highlands
we had crossed. I wondered how the Radisha was handling it, about
her thoughts concerning the empire she had acquired, mostly thanks
to the Company. Doubtless her eyes had been opened some.
They needed a lot of opening. She had spent most of her life
cooped up inside the Palace.
The white crow turned up every few days but its darker kinfolk
did not. Maybe the Protector was preoccupied elsewhere.
I wished I had Murgen’s talent for leaving his body. I had
not had so much as a good dream since leaving the Grove of Doom. I
knew exactly as little as everyone else. And that was extremely
frustrating after having had easy access to secrets from afar for
so long.
Nights in the mountains get really cold. I told Swan I was
tempted to take up his suggestion that we go off somewhere and set
up housekeeping in our own tavern and brewery. When it got really
cold, a few lesser sins did not seem to matter.