Book 2 - She Is The Darkness by Glen Cook

too far ahead. I guess Mogaba was more interested in
knowing where we were than in wasting soldiers trying to stop us
before we came to his strong point.
    Then one afternoon nobody received the routine order to halt and
camp. The soldiers stumbled forward doggedly, cursing the bite of
the wind while reminding one another that generals are seldom of
sound mind and unbesmirched ancestry. They would not be generals if
they were.
    I went looking for the Captain.
    There he was, his big crows on his shoulders. More circled him,
bickering. He was smiling, the one happy fool in the army. The
generals’ general. “Hey, boss. We going to keep humping
it all night?”
    “We’re less than ten miles from Charanky whatsit. I
think it would be nice to be camped there when Mogaba gets up in the
morning.”
    He lived in his own reality, no doubt about that. Had to be a
general. He actually believed he could play with Mogaba’s
mind.
    He had not seen Mogaba at Dejagore. Not enough.
    I said, “We’ll be so beat he can come over and dance
on our heads.”
    “But he won’t. Longshadow has a ball and chain tied
to his tail.”
    “So he kicks ass and lies to his boss later.”
    “That what you’d do?”
    “Uh . . . ” I might.
    “Longshadow will be here watching him. Go get some sleep.
When the sun comes up I want you perched on Mogaba’s
shoulder.” Uncle Doj was only steps away, taking everything
in. We were speaking Forsberger but I wondered if that was enough
of a security measure.
    Those crows were never far away.
    What I got from the exchange was that Croaker did have a plan.
Sometimes it was hard to believe that.
    “I’m not tired right now.” I was hungry and
thirsty, though. Any extended period spent with Smoke leaves me
that way. I took advantage of the staff officers’ mess.
    Messengers began to come and go. Croaker grumbled, “Guess
it’s time to start telling people what they need to
do.”
    “There’s an original concept. After all these
years.”
    “Do we really need another smartass Annalist, Murgen? Get
some rest.”
    He began gathering senior officers for a meeting. I was not
invited.
    I went back to One-Eye’s wagon, where I ate some more,
drank a lot of water and then went ghostwalking again.
    Me and the fire chief eavesdropped on Croaker and his commanders
but I should not have wasted the time. I learned very little.
Croaker did all the talking, referring to a detailed map showing
everyone where he wanted each unit to light in front of Mogaba. The
only real surprise was that he wanted the Prahbrindrah Drah’s
division stationed in the center while his own two divisions
positioned themselves on the right flank excepting one specially
trained combat team he wanted on the extreme left, outside
Lady’s left flank.
    Interesting. Our right wing just happened to face and lap the
Shadowlander division Blade had been given to command. Croaker
really wanted Blade.
    Narrow-eyed, Lady asked, “Why did you decide to arrange the
army this way? We’ve talked about this for three
years . . . ”
    Croaker told her,
“Because this is where I want you all.” Lady had
trouble keeping her temper. In a long life she had not had to do
that much.
    Croaker smelled the smoke. “When I don’t explain to
you nobody else finds out what I’m planning, either.”
He offered some tidbit to one of his crows.
    That helped. A little. But the Prahbrindrah Drah and most of the
rest had no idea of the significance of Croaker’s crows.
    I left Smoke, drank again, snacked, made sure the sleeper got
some soup. He did not need nearly as much sustenance as I did.
Maybe he was sucking on me out there, like some kind of psychic
spider.
    I slept. I had bad dreams that I recalled only in shards when I
awakened. The Radisha was there. Soulcatcher was there. I suppose
the old men in the caverns were there, too, though none of that
stuck. Somewhere a bleak fortress.
    I gave up trying to remember, went out with Smoke to try to see
our