Chapter Fifty-Two
Longshadow let out one long scream of rage that echoed throughout Overlook. It brought toadies running, bent with fear he would take it out on them. Whatever it was. "Get out! Get out and stay... Wait! Get in here!"
Calm returned suddenly. He'd always had a facility for gaining control when the crisis was tight. That was when he thought his best, responded most quickly. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise.
"Bring the big sending bowl. Bring mercury. Bring that fetish that belongs to my guest and ally. I must contact him."
They scurried around in terror. That was good to see. They held him in high fear. Fear was the power. What you feared ruled you... . He thought of shadows and a plain of glittering stone. The rage boiled up. He rejected it, as he rejected fear. One day, when the distractions were eliminated, that plain would bend to him. He would conquer it, end the fear of it forever.
They had everything set before he was ready himself. "Now get out. Stay out till I call."
He activated the bowl and reached for his man. He touched nothing. He tried again. Again. Four times. Five. The rage was about to break through again. The Howler responded.
"Where have you been?"
"Aloft." Scant whisper, barely perceptible. "I had to set down first. Bad news. She's tricked our friend again. Slaughtered another several thousand men."
That went past Longshadow. Shadowspinner's travails were nothing. "Is she there? At all?"
"Of course she is."
"Are you positive? Have you seen her? My shadows can't find her. Last night they couldn't do more than suggest she might be in a given general area."
"Not with my own eyes," Howler admitted. "I'm tracking her forces, though, waiting for the chance to strike. Late tonight, I think."
"I've just had a report from the wizard in Taglios. A desperate effort on his part. All our agents there have been strangled. He says she's there. With her Shadar shadow. And she knows he's ours. Before he finished, something demonic burst in and tore him apart."
"That's impossible. She was here two days ago."
"Have you seen her? With your own eyes?"
"No."
"Recall. She always favored illusion and misdirection. There was evidence she was regaining her powers. Maybe much faster than she let on. Maybe she's tricked us into believing she was one place when she was another. The Taglian said our agents were killed to keep them from reporting her presence."
The Howler did not respond.
Both men thought. Longshadow finally said, "I can't fathom why she'd send an army to make us believe she was in our territories. But I know her. You know her. If it's that important to her that we believe her somewhere she isn't, then it's lethally important to us. There's something in Taglios she doesn't want us to discover. Perhaps she's on the track of the Lance. Someone carried it away from the battlefield. It hasn't been seen since."
"If I go we're liable to lose Dejagore and Spinner. His skills are impaired. His mind is as dull as a knife used to chop rock."
Longshadow cursed softly. Yes. Pray come the day when Shadowspinner was no longer needed. When there was no need for a bulwark against the north. But somebody had to bear the brunt now. "Do something. Then go." The runt could understand that. "Collect her quick. Hell will be a pleasure compared to what we'll face if she stays loose till all her powers are restored."
"Consider it done," the Howler whispered. "Consider her taken."
"I take nothing for granted where Senjak is concerned. Get her, dammit! Get her!" He slammed a fist into the mercury. That killed the connection.
He let the rage roar through him. He hurled things, broke things, till it was appeased. Then he went up into his tower and glowered his hatred at the night-hidden plain.
"Why must you torment me? Why? Turn away. Let me be." If that was not out there, ready to burst its bonds, he would be free to deal with these things himself. He would make short work of these problems if he could see to them himself. But he needs must rely on incompetents and agents with insufficient power to get the job done.
He thought of the Taglian wizard. That tool had not done the job for which it had been forged but it had served. Pity it had been destroyed so quickly.
A pity.
Chapter Fifty-Three
The cavalry rejoined us two days north of Dejagore, where I made camp. The general mood was positive. The men resented having been withdrawn. They did not want to believe they had just been lucky, not invincible. I wanted them to know their luck could turn. They did not believe me. Most people believe only what they want to believe.
Their confidence had infected Narayan and Blade. Those two would have turned south again without question had I ordered it. I was tempted. I considered myself lucky to be sick. It kept me thinking rationally.
They presented a plan for harassing Shadowspinner into another trap. I told them, "Spinner won't charge into traps. If we separate him from his men maybe we can trap them. But not him."
Narayan leaned close. "It wasn't luck, Mistress. It was Kina. Her spirit is loose. It is the time of foreshadowing. The Year of the Skulls approaches. She passes her hand over the eyes of her enemies. She is with us."
I wanted to tell him that the man who counts on the aid of a god deserves the help he doesn't get but I reconsidered. The Deceivers were true believers. Whatever else, however bloodthirsty and criminal their enterprises, they believed in their goddess and mission. Kina was not just a convenient fiction excusing their crimes.
After months of dreams I had trouble not believing in Kina myself. Maybe not as Narayan's kind of goddess but as a potent force that fed on death and destruction.
Blade asked, "Why not take Shadowspinner out of the picture?"
"Right. A stroke of genius, Blade. Maybe if we all wish hard enough he'll come floating belly up."
He smiled. His smile was no fawning grin like Narayan's but it was powerful because he used it so seldom. He offered me a hand up. "Take a walk with me, please."
Right on the edge there, Blade. He was not sufficiently impressed, I feared. I reminded myself to remember he probably had his own agenda and I did not have the foggiest what it might be.
We walked away from the others. Narayan and Ram and Swan all watched, each with his particular breed of jealousy.
"Well?"
"Shadowspinner is the main enemy. Kill him and his army would collapse."
"Probably."
"I have eyes and ears. My brain works. When I'm curious I ask questions. I know what Narayan is. I know what you are to him. And I think I know what they want you to become."
No great surprise, that. Probably half the army had some notion, though they might not believe Ram and Narayan deserved their legendary reputation. "So?"
"I've seen Sindhu in action. I understand Narayan is better."
"True."
"Then point him at Shadowspinner. He could have the Shadowmaster dead before he knew what hit him."
Strangling a sorcerer is a good way of disposing of him. One of Spinner's magnitude relies heavily on voice spells and, secondarily, gesture spells. Stick him with a knife or sword or missile and he can still use both voice and hands unless you kill him instantly. A Narayan could take away the voice. Assuming he could break a neck as fast as he claimed, gestures would not matter.
"Stipulated. I think. Leaving one small problem. Moving Narayan near enough to use his rumel."
"Uhm."
"Narayan, of his kind, is what I used to be of mine. The pinnacle. The acme. I've watched him. He's death incarnate. But he lacks the skills needed to get close to Shadowspinner. He just never learned how to turn invisible."
Blade chuckled. "Bet that's a trick he'd love you to teach him."