dark
out. He had turned his team loose to forage nearby, had a fire burning, and was
now back on his driver’s seat polishing a spear that looked as though it had
been carved from ebony, inlaid with silver highlighting a hundred grotesque
figures. “You were thrashing around and yelling back there.”
“Thanks for coming to see what was wrong.”
“The old woman said you do that all the time. Didn’t seem worth worrying about.”
“Probably wasn’t. I just rolled over on your still parts.” Not true but I had a
feeling he would have some around somewhere. Even during the worst of the siege
of Dejagore he and Goblin had managed to produce something they pretended was
beer.
He bought it long enough to give himself away. If this damned wagon stayed in
one place very long something better used as food or horse fodder would turn
into something else stinky but liquid and alcoholic.
“What’s the spear for?” I asked. “Haven’t seen it out for a while.” He had
created it for the specific purpose of killing Shadowmasters.
“Talked to some of our brothers who’ve been with Lady’s division. Came by while
you were snoring. Big Bucket and Red Rudy. Said they’ve seen a big black cat a
couple three times lately. Figured I ought to be set with my best.”
He did not sound concerned but he was. That spear was a masterpiece of his art.
The cat was probably a shapeshifter named Lisa Daele Bowalk who could not shed
her animal form because One-Eye had killed her teacher before she learned how.
She had tried to get him before. He was confident that she would try again.
“Catch her if you can,” I told him. “I got a notion we could use her if we let
Lady work on her for a while.”
“Right. That’ll be the main thing on my mind.”
“I’m going to see the Old Man.”
“Tell him I want to go home. It’s too damned cold out here for an old man like
me.”
I chuckled, the way I was supposed to. I got down to the ground despite my
stiffness and headed the general direction I presumed Croaker would be, based on
the size of the fires.
Good thing One-Eye and I made a habit of using old languages. Thai Dei stepped
out of the shadows before I had walked twenty feet. He said nothing but he was
there guarding my back, wanted or not.
Black Company GS 7 - She is Darkness
19
The journey continued. Wagons broke down. Animals came up lame. Men injured
themselves. Elephants complained about the weather. So did I. It snowed a couple
of times, not blankets of big soft wet flakes but the wind-whipped pellet kind
that stings your skin and never amounts to anything but a few traces when it is
done.
On the plus side, Mogaba’s cavalry never really got in our way. They were no
problem as long as our foragers and scouts did not range 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
out. He had turned his team loose to forage nearby, had a fire burning, and was
now back on his driver’s seat polishing a spear that looked as though it had
been carved from ebony, inlaid with silver highlighting a hundred grotesque
figures. “You were thrashing around and yelling back there.”
“Thanks for coming to see what was wrong.”
“The old woman said you do that all the time. Didn’t seem worth worrying about.”
“Probably wasn’t. I just rolled over on your still parts.” Not true but I had a
feeling he would have some around somewhere. Even during the worst of the siege
of Dejagore he and Goblin had managed to produce something they pretended was
beer.
He bought it long enough to give himself away. If this damned wagon stayed in
one place very long something better used as food or horse fodder would turn
into something else stinky but liquid and alcoholic.
“What’s the spear for?” I asked. “Haven’t seen it out for a while.” He had
created it for the specific purpose of killing Shadowmasters.
“Talked to some of our brothers who’ve been with Lady’s division. Came by while
you were snoring. Big Bucket and Red Rudy. Said they’ve seen a big black cat a
couple three times lately. Figured I ought to be set with my best.”
He did not sound concerned but he was. That spear was a masterpiece of his art.
The cat was probably a shapeshifter named Lisa Daele Bowalk who could not shed
her animal form because One-Eye had killed her teacher before she learned how.
She had tried to get him before. He was confident that she would try again.
“Catch her if you can,” I told him. “I got a notion we could use her if we let
Lady work on her for a while.”
“Right. That’ll be the main thing on my mind.”
“I’m going to see the Old Man.”
“Tell him I want to go home. It’s too damned cold out here for an old man like
me.”
I chuckled, the way I was supposed to. I got down to the ground despite my
stiffness and headed the general direction I presumed Croaker would be, based on
the size of the fires.
Good thing One-Eye and I made a habit of using old languages. Thai Dei stepped
out of the shadows before I had walked twenty feet. He said nothing but he was
there guarding my back, wanted or not.
Black Company GS 7 - She is Darkness
19
The journey continued. Wagons broke down. Animals came up lame. Men injured
themselves. Elephants complained about the weather. So did I. It snowed a couple
of times, not blankets of big soft wet flakes but the wind-whipped pellet kind
that stings your skin and never amounts to anything but a few traces when it is
done.
On the plus side, Mogaba’s cavalry never really got in our way. They were no
problem as long as our foragers and scouts did not range 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
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