No point talking anymore. There was only one choice left.
They would hate him if they caught him. They would brand him traitor. But there was no other answer.
He had to pray for courage and a clear head. The Shadowmasters were masters of deceit themselves. They would use him if they could. But if he played the game carefully he could serve Taglios better than any dozen armies.
He started trying to cut the conversation short. As brother and sister were leaving, the prince said, "Smoke, I meant to ask. Why would she put a bounty on bats all of a sudden?" "A what?"
"The Shadar Singh mentioned it. He heard it on his way here. She put out word that any children who wanted could pick up a few coppers by bringing her dead bats. Every poor family in town will start hunting them. And the treasury will have to pay for them. Why?" "I have no idea," Smoke lied. His heart was in his throat. She knew. That business about reporting strangers ... It wasn't a propaganda ploy. She knew. "A few exotic spells use bat parts powdered. Fur, claws, livers. But they're the kind that make your neighbor's cattle sterile or his hens stop laying. Nothing of use to her."
But live bats were useful to the Shadowmasters. He barely waited till the prince and his sister turned a corner down the hall. Then he headed for the world outside, before there were no bats left to find him.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Croaker sat on a rock in the wood, leaning against a tree, twisting an animal figure. He finished it and tossed it at a stump. Crows watched. He paid them no heed. He was thinking about Soulcatcher.
She was not great company. She had spent ages turned inward. She could be amiable and animated for brief periods but did not know how to keep it up. Neither did he. Sometimes it seemed they were moving in parallel rather than together. But she would not let him go just because they weren't soulmates. She had uses for him.
She had been bustling around the temple all day. He did not know why. He felt no urge to find out. He was depressed. He came to this spot when his mood was at low ebb.
The imp Frogface materialized. "Why the long face, Cap?" "Why not?" "You got me there." "What's happening in Dejagore?"
"Got me there, too. I've been busy."
"Doing what?"
"Can't say." The imp aped his morose stance. "Last time I was there your boys was doing fine. Maybe fussing and feuding a little more than before. Old One-Eye and his sidekick don't get along with that Mogaba, not even a little. They been talking about doing a fade and letting him go to hell his own way."
"He'd get wiped out if they did."
"He don't appreciate them enough, that's sure."
"She says we're going down there."
"Well. Then you can look for yourself."
"I don't think that's what she's got in mind. She call you in?"
"Came to report. Interesting things happening. You could ask. She might tell you."
"What's she doing?"
"Fixing the place up so it don't look like somebody's been living there. That Festival thing is coming up. Them weirdos will be getting here real soon."
Croaker doubted he would get a straight answer but he asked anyway. "How's Lady?"
"Fine. Keeps on, she'll be running the whole show in six months. Got every poobah in Taglios so confused she's doing any damned thing she pleases."
"She's in Taglios?" He hadn't known that. Catcher hadn't told him. He hadn't asked.
"Has been for weeks. Left that Blade character in charge at Ghoja and went up to the city and started taking over."
"She would. She isn't the kind to wait for things to happen."
"Tell me about it. Whoa! I hear the boss calling. Better get on over there. Pack up your things."
"What things?" He did not have much but the clothes he wore. And those were rags.
"Whatever you have to take with you. She's leaving in an hour."
He did not argue. That was as futile as arguing with a stone. His wants and interests did not count. He had less freedom than a slave. "Take it easy, Cap," the imp said. And vanished.
They rode till Croaker collapsed. They rested, then rode again. Soulcatcher ignored such niceties as restricting travel to daylight hours. She permitted a third halt only after they entered the hills northwest of Dejagore. She spoke seldom except to her crows, and to Frogface briefly after they arrived, while Croaker was sleeping.
She wakened him as the sun rose. "We reenter the world today, my love. Sorry I haven't been as attentive as I should." He could tell nothing from her choice of voices. This one he thought was her own, much like her sister's, always neutral. "I've had a lot on my mind. I should bring you up to date."
"That would be nice."
"Your flair for sarcasm hasn't disappeared."
"It keeps me going."
"Maybe. This is how things stand. Last week Spinner attacked Dejagore in force. He was thrown back. He would have succeeded if he'd used all his skills. But he couldn't without Longshadow finding out he's not as feeble as he pretends. He'll try again tonight. He could succeed. Your One-Eye and Goblin have broken with their commander.
"My beloved sister has obtained a strong position in and around Taglios. She has five or six thousand men, none of them worth a damn.
"She left the man Blade at Ghoja when she headed north. He has the same problems and none of her expertise but some of the men he has have legionary experience. He's decided to let them learn the hard way. He's begun occupying surrounding territories, especially southward along the road to Dejagore."
"Makes it easier to feed his men, probably."
"Yes. He has a force exceeding three thousand men now. His scouts have skirmished with Shadowspinner's patrols.
"And the big news, of course, is that the wizard Smoke has been seduced by Longshadow."
"Say what? That little bastard. I never did trust him."
"Longshadow appealed to his idealism. And to his fear of my sister and the Black Company. Offered him assurances he couldn't help but believe, made him think he could become a hero by saving Taglios from its supposed saviors while he made peace with the Shadowlands."
"That man is a fool. I thought you had to be smart to be a wizard."
"Smart doesn't mean sensible, Croaker. And he isn't a complete fool. He didn't trust Longshadow. He used every device he could to make Longshadow keep his word. His real mistake was going to visit Longshadow at Shadowcatch."
"What?"
"The Howler and Longshadow combined their talents to create a flying carpet like those we had back when, before they were destroyed. It's a puny one but good enough for Howler to fly the wizard to Shadowcatch and to drop spies into Taglios. Smoke is down there now. Frogface is watching him. Longshadow is trying to do a poor man's Taking of Smoke. He'll go back to Taglios as Longshadow's creature."
Croaker did not like the sums he came up with. Three major wizards against Taglios now, and Taglios' only magical defender was a creature of the enemy. Lady might be doing well but could not be doing as well as she must to manage both the Shadowmasters and her enemies behind her.
Doom would be stalking Taglios long before anyone expected it.
Khatovar was farther away than ever.
He could not manage that mission on his own. Taking the Annals back... He did not have them. They were trapped inside Dejagore. He could not get to them.
Was Murgen keeping them up? He'd better be.
"You haven't said anything about our part in all this."
"But I have. Often. We're just going to have fun with it. We're going to kick the props out from under people. Tonight we'll have this whole end of the world wondering what's going on and who's doing what to who."
He began to understand soon after she told him to start getting ready.
"Ready how?"
"Get your armor on. It's time to scare the shit out of Spinner's men and save Dejagore."