The Dead Man said our target was hiding under that rockpile.
He might as well have been in another dimension.
We had a good crowd gathered just south of the city wall, in an area kept barren by an eccentric owner. Chodo had sent a dozen street soldiers to back Crask and Sadler. The various denominations had contributed several hundred vigorous young priests. The guy who had come off the Hill, whose name I never did get, had juice enough to borrow a company of the Watch. Morley and I kind of stood off by ourselves, with Maya, wondering what was going to happen.
An ecumenical delegation had gone to Chattaree in hopes of recruiting a Magister or two. We were waiting on the Church's reply.
The drop-off to the river was about twelve feet, a sort of miniature bluff. Morley and Maya and I were on a knoll fifty yards back. Everyone else was between us and the river but kind of hanging back, not wanting to get any closer than they had to. I wondered if the thing on the island was aware of us.
I wondered, too, if I had some score to settle with Jill Craight. She and her pal Agire were standing separate, thirty yards south of anyone else. I'd been keeping an eye on them. They weren't talking and didn't seem very friendly. Maybe Agire was having trouble coping with being seen in a whore's company. It was too late for him to make it look like anything but what it was.
Maya noted my interest. She was too nervous to tease me. "What're they doing here?" she asked. "I don't know."
The only men who had dared the lip of the bluff were Crask and Sadler. Now they headed our way. I was excited about that.
Crask came up, said, "Garrett, you were the Marine. How do we get over there?"
"I don't think we do, you want the truth." He scowled.
"Remember the thing that came to Chodo's place? That's what we're up against." That and a lot more. This Loghyr had been polishing his tricks for ages. He'd lived through these things before. In fact, the Dead Man said this particular Loghyr was supposed to have been scrubbed after the fall of Carathca. "An attack will just get us all killed."
Neither Crask nor Sadler were known for subtle solutions to problems. Sadler asked, "Then what're we doing out here?"
"We're here because the people who tell us what to do don't understand what we're up against."
"All right, smart guy," Crask said. "You live with one of these things. How would you take it out?"
I'd hoped that wouldn't come up. I didn't want to give anybody something he could use against me and the Dead Man.
"We should wear him down. First thing, set up a kind of siege."
"A line here, and somebody on the river, to keep its people from rescuing it. After that I'd just collect mice and rats and bugs and float them to the island on rafts. For as long as it took."
"What?" They both looked lost.
"All right. First thing you got to realize, this thing is dead. But its spirit is tied to its body. No body, the spirit has to go away." Or so the Dead Man claimed. "There's nothing on that island for vermin to eat except that Loghyr body. The Loghyr knows that, too. He'll be watching for bugs and stuff. But if there are a lot of them, it'll be hard for him to spot them all and take care of them. Also, a dead Loghyr has to spend a lot of time sleeping. That's when they develop the energy they use when they pull their stunts. This one is probably sleeping right now. When he's asleep he can't keep track of vermin. They could work him over good. He wouldn't feel them biting because he's dead."
Crask snorted, disgusted. But Sadler nodded, seeing it. "Take a while, though."
"It would. But I don't know of any more certain, less risky way to handle it."
"We'd have to check with Chodo. He wants results quick." Chodo had retired to his estate.
"He'll pay dear for that if he insists."
Crask jerked his head at Sadler. They went off to talk it over. Morley asked, "Why not ring in a firelord or two? They could burn it out there, couldn't they?"
"Maybe. But a sorcerer wouldn't be safer from it than you or me."
"Garrett," Maya said softly, scared, "I don't think it's asleep."
She had a flair for understatement.
I saw nothing but a glow from where we stood but something was happening on the island. Those nearer the edge began yammering and backing away.
Then a spot of black cloud formed above the island, maybe fifty feet high. It grew quickly, spinning like a whirlpool. Everybody watched it, which was a mistake.
Sudden as lightning three guys in antique armor jumped over the lip of the bluff. Glowing, they charged the crowd. They hurled spears of fire.
A six-armed woman formed inside the spinning cloud. She grew huge. She wore nothing, was a polished black, and had a skull for a face and teats like a dog.
Priests screamed. The Watch company decided they weren't getting paid enough to deal with this.
Crask and Sadler and their boys were willing to take on the armored guys but couldn't get to them through the panicky mob.
The armored guys went to work. Pieces of body flew.
"Damn!"
I glanced at Morley but kept most of my attention on the black thing. It seemed especially interested in Jill and Agire. Morley dipped into a pocket. I caught a glimpse of something lemon-colored. He threw it at the armored men.
Damn him, he'd managed to sneak himself some of Peridont's goodies while the lights were out that night.
The bottle broke on a man's breastplate. For a moment I thought nothing was happening. When it did start it wasn't what Morley had in mind.
The guy started laughing. In a minute he was laughing so hard he rested his sword tip on the ground and leaned on the weapon, having one hell of a good time.
"Shit," Morley grumbled. "That was a bust." He threw a couple more bottles, other colors, at the other two armored figures. Those had even less obvious effect.
The yellow bottle wasn't a complete bust. Crask forced his way through the crowd, took the sword away from the laughing villain, used it to carve him up. Then he got the giggles himself.
One down. But the other two were slaughtering everybody they could catch. And the thing in the air was after Agire and Jill.
I threw my red bottle.
I didn't want to do that. In the back of my mind I'd hoped to get to the island and use it on the dead Loghyr.
The results were the same as they'd been at Chodo's place. The monster melted and evaporated. But I didn't have time to watch. Two armored guys were headed my way and, except for Chodo's troops, everybody was opting for discretion.
One of Morley's bottles began to take effect. One of the attackers started having trouble keeping his balance.
He slipped, staggered, and as he got closer fell to his knees.
Neither was throwing sorceries anymore. Though maybe that was because the thing on the island was distracted by what was happening to its monster.
Crask got behind the staggering character, ran a spear through him. So then there was one. All of a sudden it was at the heart of a circle of unfriendlies including Morley and myself, Sadler and most of Chodo's boys, and maybe a dozen priests and Watchmen with more man average nerve. The guy was like a giant thunder lizard surrounded by little hunters. We couldn't hurt him head-on but his back was always turned to somebody.
He didn't last long.
When it was over I glanced at the thing that had been in the air. It lay on the ground twitching, half devoured by the stuff eating it, black fog boiling off. Sadler stepped over. "I get the point you were making, Garrett. That thing can hack away any time it wants."