He went. I studied the prospect.
Shadowspinner's camps and siegeworks surrounded the city. Near the north gate the besiegers had raised an earthen ramp to the top of the wall, no mean achievement. Dejagore squatted atop a high mound, behind walls forty feet high. The ramp had been damaged badly. Men were hauling earth up to repair it.
Presumably that had been the point of attack the night whatever had happened had happened.
The besiegers looked ragged. The condition of their camps suggested low morale. Could I take advantage? Had word of yesterday's misadventure reached the line troops? Knowing that, knowing a large force could hammer them against the anvil of the city, they ought to be ripe for a rout.
I could not place Shadowspinner. Maybe he was holed up in the remnants of the permanent camp south of the city. It had its own rampart and ditch. If not, he was careful not to stand out. Maybe Mogaba had a habit of picking on him.
Ram returned with Abda and the other man. I said, "I want to find a way to get down there unseen. Spread out, try to find one. Watch for pickets. If we can get down there we can give them a nasty surprise tonight."
They nodded and slipped away. Ram with his customary worried look. He still did not believe I could take care of myself.
Sometimes I wondered.
I gave them a head start, then moved westward. I had a surprise for the Shadowmasters-if my limited talent was up to it.
It took longer than I hoped but it looked workable, "it" being a bat trap that would call and kill like a candle does moths. I'd been thinking about versions since we'd left Taglios. It should work on crows, too, with adjustments.
Which left only the shadows.
We had not encountered it but rumors of old, out of the Shadowlands in the days of conquest, said those shadows could be assassins as well as spies. Captains and kings had died too opportunely, with no other explanation. Maybe the deaths of two Shadowmasters had taken that weapon away. Maybe a killing took a combined effort. I hoped so but did not count on it.
I set the trap working and hurried back to where I had parted with Ram. The others were there waiting. Ram scolded me. I suffered it. I'd grown fond of him in a sisterly way. It had been a long time since anyone had been concerned about me. It felt good.
When Ram finished, Abda interjected, "We've found two routes down. Neither one is ideal. The better one might be used by the horsemen. We cleared the pickets. I sent a few men down in case there's a changing of the guard."
That could be a problem.
Blade materialized, dogged by Narayan and Sindhu. "You made good time," I told him.
He grunted, studied the city. I explained what I wanted to do. "I don't expect to accomplish much. The point is to harass Shadowspinner, demoralize his men, and let ours inside know there's an army out here."
Blade glanced at the westering sun, grunted again.
Swan and Mather joined us. I said, "Get some men moving. Abda, explain the routes. Mr. Mather, take charge of the infantry. Sindhu, you take the horsemen. Swan, Blade, Narayan, Ram, come with me. I want to talk."
Mather and Sindhu got things moving. We got out of their way. I asked Swan, "Swan, your men brought home the news about the row down here. Run through what you know."
He did. I entered questions, did not get half the information I wanted. Not that I expected to.
Swan said, "Some third party is playing his own game."
"Yes." There were crows nearby. I could not mention names. "The attackers definitely masqueraded as Lifetaker and Widowmaker?"
"Absolutely."
"Then those men down there should panic if they see them again. Get the armor, Ram."
Narayan prowled restlessly while we talked, putting in nothing, keeping one eye on the city. He said, "They're starting to move around."
"We've been discovered?"
"I don't think so. They don't act like they expect trouble."
I went and looked. After watching awhile I hazarded a guess. "The news is out. They're shook. Their officers are trying to keep them busy."
"You really going to take a whack?" Swan asked.
"A little one. Just big enough to let Mogaba know he has friends on the outside."
The day was getting on. I passed orders for the men to eat cold and keep moving. Ram showed up with our armor and animals. "Two hours of light. We ought to do something while they can see us."
Narayan said, "There's a group of four, five hundred headed out south, Mistress."
I checked. Hard to tell from so far away but they looked more like a labor battalion than armed men on the march. Curious. A similar group was forming north of the city.
Sindhu appeared. "They got the word about yesterday. They're bad rattled."
I lifted an eyebrow.
"I got close enough to hear some talk. They're making a move. Don't know what it is."
Daring, Sindhu. "You didn't hear where we could find Shadowspinner, did you?"
"No."
I sent everybody off with instructions. Ram and I donned our armor. Ram said nothing the whole time. Usually he had some small talk, thoughtless but comforting.
"You're awfully quiet."
"Thinking. All what's happened in just a couple months. Wondering."
"What?"
"If the world really is so black it's time for the Year of the Skulls."
"Oh, Ram." He was not a fast thinker but an inexorable one, now suffering a crisis of faith brought on by events in the grove but sprouting from seeds that had fallen earlier. He cared again. Kina was losing her hold.
And damn me, I let Croaker get past my defenses and turn me soft inside, too. I Felt enough now that I could not just use and discard.
Maybe that soft center was there all the time. Maybe I was like an oyster. Croaker always thought so. Before we hardly knew one another he wrote about me in ways that suggested he thought there was something special inside me.
Those people down there took him. They destroyed his dreams and hamstrung mine. I did not give a damn about the Year of the Skulls or Kina. I wanted restitution.
"Ram, stop." I stepped close, placed a hand on his chest, looked him in the eye. "Don't worry. Don't tear your heart out. Believe me when I tell you I'll try to make everything work out."
He did trust me, damn him. A big damn faithful dog look came into his eyes.
Chapter Forty-Three
The Prahbrindrah Drah took Smoke's advice. He reread the old books about the Black Company's first visit. They told a tale of death and heartbreak but reread as he might he found nothing to indict the Company returned from the north. The more he studied the more he veered from the attitude Smoke wanted him to adopt.
The Radisha joined him. "You're going to wear those things out."
"No. I don't have to read any more. Smoke is wrong."
"But..."
"Never mind the woman. I'd bet my life-and I am-that she has no intention of becoming the Daughter of Night. It's subtle. You have to read this stuff over and over before it sinks in, but there're signs missing that would be there no matter how hard they tried to hide them. They were exactly what they pretended."
"Oh?" the Radisha asked. "Didn't they mean to return to Khatovar?"
"Without knowing what it is. Could have been interesting seeing what would have happened if they'd made it."
"We still might find out. If anyone can pull down the Shadowmasters that woman can."
"Maybe." The prince smiled. "Peaceful as it's been, I'm tempted to ride south myself. There's no one left here to bother me."
"Don't let it go to your head."
"What?"
"People being scared of you. It won't last. Better win their respect before their fear wears off."
"Just once I'd like to go off and do something because I want to do it, not because it will strengthen the office."