"And when the water does go down they'll have ten thousand men hanging around over there."
"Don't look good, does it?"
"No. Let's find a place to get out of the rain."
"I can stand to ride back if you can."
"Let's try. We'll sleep dry if we make it. What do you think of the men over there? Professionals?"
"My guess is they're just a little better than men disguised as soldiers."
"They looked pretty sloppy to me, too. But maybe they don't have to be any better in these parts."
I had seen and watched four men while I was crouching near the ford. They had not impressed me. Neither had the design or construction of the fortifications. Clearly, these Shadowmasters had brought in no professionals to train their forces and they had not developed a good edge on what they did have.
" 'Course, maybe we saw what we were supposed to see."
"There's always that." An interesting thought, maybe worth some consideration, because at that moment I noticed a couple of bedraggled crows watching us from a dead branch on an elm tree. I started to look around for the stump, thought the hell with it. I would handle that when the time came.
"You remember Shifter's woman, Goblin?"
"Yeah. So?"
"You said you thought she seemed familiar back in Gea-Xle. Now it's all of a sudden coming on me that maybe you were right. I'm sure we ran into her somewhere before. But I can't for the life of me think where or when."
"Does it matter?"
"Probably not. Just one of those things that nag at you. Let's cut off to the left here."
"What the hell for?"
"There's a town on the map, called Vejagedhya, that I want to look at."
"I thought we were going back—"
"It'll only take a few minutes extra."
"Right." Grumble, grumble, ragglesnatz.
"Looks like we might have to fight. I need to know the country."
Fraggin snigglebark.
We ate cold food as we rode. It is not often that I do so, but at such moments I sometimes envy the man with a cottage and wife.
Everything costs something. It was ghost country we rode, spooky country. The hand of man was evident everywhere, even in darkness. Some of the homes we inspected looked like they had been closed up only yesterday. But not once did we encounter another human being. "I'm surprised thieves haven't been working all this."
"Don't tell One-Eye."
I forced a chuckle. "I guess they were smart enough to take their valuables with them."
"These people do seem determined to pay whatever price they have to, don't they?" He sounded impressed.
Grudgingly, I was developing a case of respect. "And it looks like the Company is going to be their one toss of the bones with fate."
"If you let them."
There was the town, Vejagedhya. It might once have been home to as many as a thousand people. Now it was even more spooky than the abandoned farms. Out there, at least, we had encountered wildlife. In the town I saw nothing but a few crows fluttering from roof to roof.
The townsfolk had not locked their doors. We checked maybe two dozen buildings. "It would do for a headquarters," I told Goblin.
He grunted. After a while, he asked, "You making up your mind?"
"Beginning to look made up for me. Right? But we'll see what the others have to say."
We headed north. Goblin did not have much to say after that. That gave me time to dwell on and invent deeper meanings to my roles as Captain and potential warlord.
If there was no choice but to fight, and to lead a nation, I was going to make demands. I was not going to let the Taglians put me in a position where they could second-guess and override my every decision. I had watched my predecessors get half crazy dealing with that. If the Taglians hooked me, I was going to hook them right back.
We might call it something prettier, but by damn I was going to be a military dictator.
Me. Croaker. The itinerant military physician and amateur historian. Able to indulge in all the abuses I'd damned in princes for so long. It was a sobering notion.
If we bought it, and took the commission, and I got what I would demand, I might have Wheezer follow me around and remind me that I'm mortal. He wasn't good for much else.
The rain let up as we were riding into town.
Now I knew the gods loved me.
Chapter Twenty-nine: SMOKE'S HIDEOUT
Smoke was perched on a tall stool, bent over a huge old book. The room was filled with books. It looked like a wave of books had swept in and left tidal pools behind. Not only were there shelves dripping books, there were books stacked hip-high on the floor, books on tables and chairs, even books piled on the sill of the room's one small, high window. Smoke read by the light of a single candle. The room was sealed so tight the smoke had begun to irritate his nose and eyes.
From time to time he grunted, made a note on a piece of paper to his left. He was left-handed.
In all the Palace that room was the best protected from spying eyes. Smoke had woven webs and walls of spells to secure it. No one was supposed to know about it. It did not show on any plan of the Palace.
Smoke felt something touch the outermost of the protective spells, something as light as a mosquito's weight as it lands. Before he could swing his attention to it it was gone and he was not sure he had not imagined it. Since the incident of the crows and bats he had been almost paranoid.
Intuition told him he had reason. There were forces at work that were way beyond him. His best weapon was the fact that no one knew he existed.
He hoped.
He was a very frightened man these days. Terror lurked in every shadow.
He jumped and squeaked when the door opened.
"Smoke?"
"You startled me, Radisha."
"Where are they, Smoke? There's been no word from Swan. Have they gotten away?"
"Leaving most of their people behind? Radisha, be patient."
"I have no patience left. Even my brother is becoming unsettled. We have only weeks left before the rivers fall."
"I'm aware of that, madam. Concentrate on what you can do, not what you wish you could do. Every force possible is being bent upon them. But we cannot compel them to help."
The Radisha kicked over a pile of books. "I've never felt so powerless. I don't like the feeling."
Smoke shrugged. "Welcome to the world where the rest of us live."
In a high corner of the room a point no bigger than a pinprick oozed something like a black smoke. The smoke slowly filled out the shape of a small crow. "What are the rest of them doing?"
"Making preparations for war. In case."
"I wonder. That black officer. Mogaba. Could he be the real captain?"
"No. Why?"
"He's doing the things I want them to do. He's acting like they're going to serve us."
"It makes sense, Radisha. If their captain comes back convinced they can't sneak away, they'll be that much farther ahead."
"Has he made preparations to run back north?"
"Of course."
The Radisha looked vexed.
Smoke smiled. "Have you considered being forthright with them?"
She gave him a look to chill the bones.
"I thought not. Not the way of princes. Too simple. Too direct. Too logical. Too honest."
"You grow too daring, Smoke."
"Perhaps I do. Though as I recall my mandate from your brother is to remind you occasionally—"
"Enough."
"They are what they pretend to be, you know. Wholly ignorant of their past."
"I'm aware of that. It makes no difference. They could become what they were if we let them. Sooner bend the knee to the Shadowmasters than endure that again."
Smoke shrugged. "As you will. Maybe." He smiled slyly. "And as the Shadowmasters will, perhaps."
"You know something?"