saying. We use them scarves to take out informants and guys who
know too much. Librarians, for instance.”
“Would I be correct in my suspicion that you’ve been thinking about this for a
while and by chance you just happen to have a little list all ready to go?” Very
likely any such list would include all the people responsible for his several
failed attempts to establish himself in the Taglian black markets.
He cackled. He took a swipe at Goblin with his cane. “And you said she’s got a
mind like a flint hatchet.”
“Bring me the list. I’ll discuss it with Murgen next time I see him.”
“With a ghost? They got no sense of perspective, you know.”
“You mean maybe he’s seen everything and knows what you’re really up to? Sounds
like a perspective to me. Makes me wonder how far the Company might’ve gone if
our fore-brethren had had a ghost to keep an eye on you.”
One-Eye grumbled something about how unfair and unreasonable the world was. He
had been singing that song the whole time I had known him. He would keep it up
after he became a ghost himself.
I mused, “You think we could get Murgen to winkle out the source of the stink
that keeps coming from the back, there, where Do Trang hides his crocodile
skins? I know it’s not them. Croc hides have a flavor all their own.”
One-Eye scowled. He was ready to change the subject now. The odor in question
came from his beer- and liquor-manufacturing project, hidden in a cellar he and
Do Trang thought nobody knew about. Banh Do Trang, once our benefactor for
Sahra’s sake, now was practically one of the gang because he had a powerful
taste for One-Eye’s product, a huge hunger for illegal and shadowy income, and
he liked having tough guys on the payroll who would work hard for very little
money. He thought his vice was a secret he shared only with One-Eye and Gota.
The three of them got drunk together twice a week.
Alcohol is a definite Nyueng Bao weakness.
“I’m sure it’s not worth the trouble, Little Girl. It’s probably dead rats. Bad
rat problem in this town. Do Trang puts rat poison out all the time. By the
pound. No need to waste Murgen’s time chasing rodents. You’ve both got better
things to do.”
I would be talking over a lot of things with Murgen if I could deal with him
directly. If we could catch and keep his attention. I would like to know
firsthand everything that ordinarily came to me through other people. I imply no
malice, particularly from Sahra, but people do reshape information according to
their own prejudices. Including even me, possibly, though until now, my
objectivity has been peerless. All my predecessors, though . . . their reports
must be read with a jaundiced eye.
Of course, most of them made the same observation in regard to their own
predecessors. So we are all in agreement. Everyone is a liar but us. Only Lady
was unabashedly self-congratulating. She missed few opportunities to remind
those who came later how brilliant and determined and successful she was,
turning the tide of the Shadowmaster wars when she had nothing to begin building
upon but herself. Murgen was, putting it charitably, less than sane much of the
time. Because I lived through many of the times and events he recollected, I
have to say he did pretty good. Most of what he recorded could be true. I cannot
contradict him. But a lot he set down does seem fanciful.
Fanciful? Last night I had a long chat with his ghost. Or spirit. Or ka.
Whatever that was. If that was really Murgen and not some trick played on us by
Kina or Soulcatcher.
We can never be one-hundred-percent certain that anything is exactly what it
appears to be. Kina is the Mother of Deceit. And Soulcatcher, to quote a man far
wiser and more foul of mouth than I, is a mudsucking lunatic.
Black Company GS 8 - Water Sleeps
15
This is excellent,” I enthused again as Sahra summoned Murgen once more.
know too much. Librarians, for instance.”
“Would I be correct in my suspicion that you’ve been thinking about this for a
while and by chance you just happen to have a little list all ready to go?” Very
likely any such list would include all the people responsible for his several
failed attempts to establish himself in the Taglian black markets.
He cackled. He took a swipe at Goblin with his cane. “And you said she’s got a
mind like a flint hatchet.”
“Bring me the list. I’ll discuss it with Murgen next time I see him.”
“With a ghost? They got no sense of perspective, you know.”
“You mean maybe he’s seen everything and knows what you’re really up to? Sounds
like a perspective to me. Makes me wonder how far the Company might’ve gone if
our fore-brethren had had a ghost to keep an eye on you.”
One-Eye grumbled something about how unfair and unreasonable the world was. He
had been singing that song the whole time I had known him. He would keep it up
after he became a ghost himself.
I mused, “You think we could get Murgen to winkle out the source of the stink
that keeps coming from the back, there, where Do Trang hides his crocodile
skins? I know it’s not them. Croc hides have a flavor all their own.”
One-Eye scowled. He was ready to change the subject now. The odor in question
came from his beer- and liquor-manufacturing project, hidden in a cellar he and
Do Trang thought nobody knew about. Banh Do Trang, once our benefactor for
Sahra’s sake, now was practically one of the gang because he had a powerful
taste for One-Eye’s product, a huge hunger for illegal and shadowy income, and
he liked having tough guys on the payroll who would work hard for very little
money. He thought his vice was a secret he shared only with One-Eye and Gota.
The three of them got drunk together twice a week.
Alcohol is a definite Nyueng Bao weakness.
“I’m sure it’s not worth the trouble, Little Girl. It’s probably dead rats. Bad
rat problem in this town. Do Trang puts rat poison out all the time. By the
pound. No need to waste Murgen’s time chasing rodents. You’ve both got better
things to do.”
I would be talking over a lot of things with Murgen if I could deal with him
directly. If we could catch and keep his attention. I would like to know
firsthand everything that ordinarily came to me through other people. I imply no
malice, particularly from Sahra, but people do reshape information according to
their own prejudices. Including even me, possibly, though until now, my
objectivity has been peerless. All my predecessors, though . . . their reports
must be read with a jaundiced eye.
Of course, most of them made the same observation in regard to their own
predecessors. So we are all in agreement. Everyone is a liar but us. Only Lady
was unabashedly self-congratulating. She missed few opportunities to remind
those who came later how brilliant and determined and successful she was,
turning the tide of the Shadowmaster wars when she had nothing to begin building
upon but herself. Murgen was, putting it charitably, less than sane much of the
time. Because I lived through many of the times and events he recollected, I
have to say he did pretty good. Most of what he recorded could be true. I cannot
contradict him. But a lot he set down does seem fanciful.
Fanciful? Last night I had a long chat with his ghost. Or spirit. Or ka.
Whatever that was. If that was really Murgen and not some trick played on us by
Kina or Soulcatcher.
We can never be one-hundred-percent certain that anything is exactly what it
appears to be. Kina is the Mother of Deceit. And Soulcatcher, to quote a man far
wiser and more foul of mouth than I, is a mudsucking lunatic.
Black Company GS 8 - Water Sleeps
15
This is excellent,” I enthused again as Sahra summoned Murgen once more.