No human being can
jump as high as Soulcatcher did. Nevertheless, she managed to get
her heels ten feet off the ground a gnat’s breath before the
fireball ripped through the air where she had stood. I should have
kept my big darned mouth shut. Gloating will do you in every time.
How many stories and sagas are there where the hero survives
because his captor insists on wasting time bragging and gloating
before the execution? Add another one to the roll, where Company
Annalist Sleepy does the incredibly dumb deed and leaves the target
not quite relaxed enough.
Of course, she was fast. Epically fast. Poor old Khusavir Pete
only got off two more fireballs before Soulcatcher got to him where
we had left him chained.
It did not play out the way I hoped, only the way I expected.
Now Khusavir Pete would have a hard time repaying any debt he still
owed us.
I caught a glimpse of motion, the white crow plunging like a
striking hawk. It pulled out and glided away. I murmured to myself,
“Sister, sister.” I was beginning to read the
messages.
“Come here, Tobo.” He was carrying the Key. He was
supposed to be up at the head of the column but had hung back so he
could watch the fireworks. He was the only one of us who did not
have the sense to be frightened. Because he was not up where he
belonged, all progress had come to a halt above us. He wore a
hangdog look as he approached. He expected to be chastised. And he
would be, later. “Hold up the Key.”
“But won’t that—”
“The Company isn’t a debating club, Tobo. Show her
the Key. Today.”
He hoisted the Key overhead angrily. The morning sunlight blazed
off the golden pick.
Soulcatcher did not show much excitement. But I had not meant
the demonstration for her benefit, really. I wanted Narayan Singh
to know what he had let slip through his fingers.
It was the Key, of course, but it was also some ancient and holy
relic of Kina’s Strangler cult. In their glory days every
Deceiver company priest had carried a replica. I muttered,
“You win some, you lose some, Narayan. In the excitement you
got the girl back. But I’ve got this. And I can carry it.
You’ve got the Daughter of Night and you can take her
anywhere you want to. If you can carry her and her cage.”
Goblin and One-Eye had crafted a masterpiece of wicked sorcery. She
could not even escape by destroying the cage. Whatever happened to
it would happen to her.
I was not pleased about having to leave the cage behind but the
Shadowgate had been decidedly stubborn in resisting its passage.
That could have been overcome by sheer muscle power but I had not
been able to get enough men onto it fast enough to force it through
before the fireballs started flying.
Good luck, Baby Darkness, dragging all that iron around whilst
you pursue your wickedness.
I hoped Singh had left the Book of the Dead hidden on the other
side of the Dandha Presh so it would be a long time before the girl
and it embraced one another. Long enough for me to get where I
wanted to go and accomplish what I wanted to accomplish.
“That’s good, Tobo. Now get back up front and get
this mob moving. Swan. Tell me about the camping circles. And give
me your best guess about how soon we’re likely to run into
trouble because of breaks in the protection of the road.”
“I don’t remember them ever being more than a few
hours apart. And although we used them as camping places, I think
that they were actually crossroads. That’s easier to tell at
night.” Ominously, he added, “You’ll see.
Everything is different at night.”
I did not like the sound of that.
I was still in the rear guard and only halfway to the crest when
Soulcatcher found out what had happened to her flying carpet. The
sound of her anger reached us despite the dampening effect of
whatever barrier stood between us and the rest of the world. The
earth shivered at the same time.
Uncle Doj was not far away, standing at the edge of the road,
watching for evidence of his success. I said, “She seems
displeased with the prospect of having to walk home.” My
friend the horse stood behind me, looking over my shoulder. It made
a sound that could have passed for a snicker if it had not been a
horse making it.
Doj indulged in a rare smile. He was thoroughly pleased with
himself.
Willow Swan asked me, “What did you do now?”
“Not me. Doj. He totally obliterated her means of
transport. She’s on her own two hooves, now. She’s a
hundred miles from her only friend. And Goblin’s already
fixed up one of her feet so she can’t run or
dance.”
“What you’re telling me, then, is that you’ve
created another Limper.”
He was old enough to remember that nemesis of the Company. I
could not contradict him. I did lose my smile. I had read those
Annals often because they had been recorded by the Captain himself
when he was young. “Nah, I don’t think so. Soulcatcher
doesn’t have the concentrated venom and nearly divine malice
that possessed the Limper. She doesn’t get obsessed the way
he did. She’s more chaos walking while he was malevolence
incarnate.”
I showed Swan my crossed fingers. “I’d better dash
up front and pretend that I know what I’m doing.
Tobo?”
“He went ahead without you,” Doj said. “You
upset him.”
I noted that the column had resumed moving, which meant that
Tobo was on the plain already, carrying the Key like a protective
talisman.
I needed to give a lot of thought to the fact that that
artifact, evidently considered a holy of holies by the Stranglers,
may actually have been brought off the plain into my world by the
ancestors of the Nyueng Bao. I had to spend some thought on what
the Key might mean to the last informed priest of the Nyueng
Bao.
No human being can
jump as high as Soulcatcher did. Nevertheless, she managed to get
her heels ten feet off the ground a gnat’s breath before the
fireball ripped through the air where she had stood. I should have
kept my big darned mouth shut. Gloating will do you in every time.
How many stories and sagas are there where the hero survives
because his captor insists on wasting time bragging and gloating
before the execution? Add another one to the roll, where Company
Annalist Sleepy does the incredibly dumb deed and leaves the target
not quite relaxed enough.
Of course, she was fast. Epically fast. Poor old Khusavir Pete
only got off two more fireballs before Soulcatcher got to him where
we had left him chained.
It did not play out the way I hoped, only the way I expected.
Now Khusavir Pete would have a hard time repaying any debt he still
owed us.
I caught a glimpse of motion, the white crow plunging like a
striking hawk. It pulled out and glided away. I murmured to myself,
“Sister, sister.” I was beginning to read the
messages.
“Come here, Tobo.” He was carrying the Key. He was
supposed to be up at the head of the column but had hung back so he
could watch the fireworks. He was the only one of us who did not
have the sense to be frightened. Because he was not up where he
belonged, all progress had come to a halt above us. He wore a
hangdog look as he approached. He expected to be chastised. And he
would be, later. “Hold up the Key.”
“But won’t that—”
“The Company isn’t a debating club, Tobo. Show her
the Key. Today.”
He hoisted the Key overhead angrily. The morning sunlight blazed
off the golden pick.
Soulcatcher did not show much excitement. But I had not meant
the demonstration for her benefit, really. I wanted Narayan Singh
to know what he had let slip through his fingers.
It was the Key, of course, but it was also some ancient and holy
relic of Kina’s Strangler cult. In their glory days every
Deceiver company priest had carried a replica. I muttered,
“You win some, you lose some, Narayan. In the excitement you
got the girl back. But I’ve got this. And I can carry it.
You’ve got the Daughter of Night and you can take her
anywhere you want to. If you can carry her and her cage.”
Goblin and One-Eye had crafted a masterpiece of wicked sorcery. She
could not even escape by destroying the cage. Whatever happened to
it would happen to her.
I was not pleased about having to leave the cage behind but the
Shadowgate had been decidedly stubborn in resisting its passage.
That could have been overcome by sheer muscle power but I had not
been able to get enough men onto it fast enough to force it through
before the fireballs started flying.
Good luck, Baby Darkness, dragging all that iron around whilst
you pursue your wickedness.
I hoped Singh had left the Book of the Dead hidden on the other
side of the Dandha Presh so it would be a long time before the girl
and it embraced one another. Long enough for me to get where I
wanted to go and accomplish what I wanted to accomplish.
“That’s good, Tobo. Now get back up front and get
this mob moving. Swan. Tell me about the camping circles. And give
me your best guess about how soon we’re likely to run into
trouble because of breaks in the protection of the road.”
“I don’t remember them ever being more than a few
hours apart. And although we used them as camping places, I think
that they were actually crossroads. That’s easier to tell at
night.” Ominously, he added, “You’ll see.
Everything is different at night.”
I did not like the sound of that.
I was still in the rear guard and only halfway to the crest when
Soulcatcher found out what had happened to her flying carpet. The
sound of her anger reached us despite the dampening effect of
whatever barrier stood between us and the rest of the world. The
earth shivered at the same time.
Uncle Doj was not far away, standing at the edge of the road,
watching for evidence of his success. I said, “She seems
displeased with the prospect of having to walk home.” My
friend the horse stood behind me, looking over my shoulder. It made
a sound that could have passed for a snicker if it had not been a
horse making it.
Doj indulged in a rare smile. He was thoroughly pleased with
himself.
Willow Swan asked me, “What did you do now?”
“Not me. Doj. He totally obliterated her means of
transport. She’s on her own two hooves, now. She’s a
hundred miles from her only friend. And Goblin’s already
fixed up one of her feet so she can’t run or
dance.”
“What you’re telling me, then, is that you’ve
created another Limper.”
He was old enough to remember that nemesis of the Company. I
could not contradict him. I did lose my smile. I had read those
Annals often because they had been recorded by the Captain himself
when he was young. “Nah, I don’t think so. Soulcatcher
doesn’t have the concentrated venom and nearly divine malice
that possessed the Limper. She doesn’t get obsessed the way
he did. She’s more chaos walking while he was malevolence
incarnate.”
I showed Swan my crossed fingers. “I’d better dash
up front and pretend that I know what I’m doing.
Tobo?”
“He went ahead without you,” Doj said. “You
upset him.”
I noted that the column had resumed moving, which meant that
Tobo was on the plain already, carrying the Key like a protective
talisman.
I needed to give a lot of thought to the fact that that
artifact, evidently considered a holy of holies by the Stranglers,
may actually have been brought off the plain into my world by the
ancestors of the Nyueng Bao. I had to spend some thought on what
the Key might mean to the last informed priest of the Nyueng
Bao.