Longshadow spoke to it. The light on the sphere rippled, crept up his arms. The sphere vibrated. A sound weaker than a whisper came off it. Longshadow listened. Then he sent the shadow away and summoned another.
To the fourth such shadow he said, "Take this message to Taglios: ‘Create the agent.' "
As the shadow oozed away, fleeing the light, the Shadowmaster suddenly felt that he was no longer alone. Frightened, he tried to turn to look at the road from the plain.
Nothing moved there. The shadowtraps were holding. What, then?
Something inky, glossy, flashed through the nearest beam. "Huh?" No shadow, that. A crow! A lot of crows. What were crows doing here?
It was night. Crows didn't fly at night.
It came, then.
There had been crows around Overlook for weeks, seldom behaving as crows should. "Hers!" He cursed, stamped angrily, childishly. She'd been watching all along. She knew everything!
Fear fled before rage. He'd never had much self-control. He tried to yank his arms free, forgetting there should be no quick movement in the sphere. The crows seemed to laugh at him.
Hell. They swarmed over the surrounding walls, cawing mockingly.
He ripped a hand out of the sphere. Bloody sparks crackled between his fingers. There would be an end to those cackling devils! She wouldn't spy on him again!
He hurled a bolt. A dozen crows exploded. Blood and feathers splattered the tower. The survivors cawed uproariously.
Sense penetrated rage. Something was wrong. They wanted him to attack them.
Diversion?
The sphere!
A gap remained where he'd freed his hand. The hole penetrated to the core. A darkness was slithering through already.
He screamed.
He clamped down on his fear, removed his other hand slowly. He closed the deadly gap carefully, but not before the shadow escaped.
It darted through the doorway, out of the chamber, down into the bowels of Overlook, fleeing the light.
There was a shadow loose in the fortress!
Somewhere, a scream. The shadow was hunting.
Longshadow forced an icy calm. It was one lone shadow, small, controllable.
Outside, the crows made merry.
He stifled rage. They would not provoke him again. "Your hour will come," he promised. "Fly to the bitch. Report your failure. I live. I still live!"
Chapter Twenty-Two
When the watchful eye lapses those who are watched invariably sense the instant of freedom.
A prodigious wail escaped the little thing called the Howler. It gobbled at the men carrying it. They raced forward, carried it into the camp of the Shadowmaster Shadowspinner while the watcher in the south was diverted.
The Howler remained just long enough to make contact, speak briefly, exchange views, reach an understanding by which he stood to evade the inevitable treachery of Longshadow, sure to surface the instant the threat from Taglios evaporated.
He was long gone when Longshadow's seekers found him again. The only evidence of his visit was an improvement in Shadowspinner's condition. Spinner kept that well hidden.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The breeze had shifted. It came from the northeast now, carrying smoke from across the river. I asked Narayan, "Could we confiscate their wood?" There had been suicides all morning.
"Unwise, Mistress. Interfering might start a rebellion. Your grip isn't that tight."
And likely would never be, unpleasant as I found that truth. "Just wishful thinking. Tinkering with customs isn't my mission."
Nor his. I had not pressed Narayan about that. I could guess, though. It was implicit in his beliefs. He wanted to bring on the Year of the Skulls. He wanted Kina free. He wanted to become immortal, a Deceiver saint.
"It's all far away, Mistress. What do we do today?"
"We're approaching that point where assembling an army begins snowballing."
"Snowballing?"
I'd used Forsberger for "snowballing," not thinking. I did not know the Taglian for snow. It did not snow here. Narayan had never seen snow. "It starts growing of its own momentum. In another week, ten days, I'd guess, we'll begin getting more recruits than we can handle."
"Even with the Radisha against us?" He was convinced the woman was an enemy.
"That could work for us if we appeal to resentment of the powers that be."
Narayan understood. Such resentments brought recruits to the Deceivers. "There's less of that than you hope. This isn't your land. My people are very fatalistic."
They were. But they had their handles. There would not be two thousand men under my standard now otherwise. "They'll respond to the right spark. True?"
"We all will, Mistress."
"Absolutely. I've provided that spark for you and your friends, haven't I? But how about a spark to fire the masses ? One that will make them forget their fear of the Black Company and their objections to a woman commander?" I understood why the Company was feared now. For his sake maybe it was best Croaker had gone before he figured it out. It would have broken his heart.
Narayan had no suggestions.
I said, "We need an electrifying rumor to hand your brotherhood, to whisper everywhere."
"Word should have reached all the jamadars now, Mistress."
"Wonderful, Narayan. So every band captain has heard that your Strangler messiah is come. Assume they all believe because the news came from you, famous and honored master Strangler." My tone was getting sarcastic. "How many men will that bring to a standard that needs thousands? I'd rather have your friends stay where they are, as our hands and knives in hiding. Are there other legends I can exploit? Are there other fears?"
"The Shadowmasters are scary enough, at least in the country, where they remember last year."
True. We were getting volunteers from across the river already, men who'd had no chance to enlist before we marched on Dejagore. The men we had taken down had come from the city or were slaves we had liberated after overrunning Ghoja. The country folk, intimate with the terror of the Shadowmasters, should prove a rich source of manpower. And would be hardier than city folk. But I might have to gather my harvest quickly.
Around here power emanated from the palace and the temples of Trogo Taglios. A few frightened men there could issue bulls and dictates forbidding the faithful from joining me.
"Do you have friends in the city?"
"Not many. None that I know personally. Sindhu may know some."
"Ram came from the city."
"Yes. And a few others. What're you thinking?"
"It might be wise to get established there now, before the Radisha, and especially that whimpering runt Smoke, can swing opinion against us." I said we and us always but meant I and me. Narayan was not fooled much.
"We can't leave Ghoja. Thousands more men will come here. We have to collect them."
I smiled. "Suppose we split what we have? You take half, stay here, do the gathering, and I take half to the city?"
He reacted the way I expected. Almost panicky. He didn't want me out of his sight.
"Or I could leave Blade. Blade is a man of respect, with a strong reputation down here."
"Excellent idea, Mistress."
I wondered who was manipulating whom. "Do you suppose Sindhu is a man of enough respect to leave with him?"
"More than enough, Mistress."
"Good. Blade will have to know something about him. Something about your brotherhood."
"Mistress?"
"If you're going to use a tool you should know its capabilities. Only a priest demands we take things on faith."