Crows. All the time with the damned crows. They were trying to tell me something, sure. What? They had warned me before. Were they saying I should pay no attention to the river stages?
That was my inclination anyway, because of the mud.
I went to the door and yelled, "One-Eye! Goblin! I need you."
They mustered in looking surly, standing well away from one another. Not a good sign. They were feuding again. Or working up to it. It had been so long since they had eased the pressure that it might be a major blowup.
"Tonight's the night, guys. Take out the rest of the Shadowmasters' agents."
"I thought we had some extra time," One-Eye carped.
"We might have. And we might not. I want it done now. Take care of it."
Under his breath Goblin muttered, "Yessir your dictatorship, sir." I gave him a dirty look. He moved out. I went to the window and stared out at that clearing sky.
"I had a feeling things were going too good."
Chapter Thirty-two: SHADOWLIGHT
The Shadowmasters met in a haste that left them exhausted. The meet had been set days earlier but as they travelled a cry had gone out saying it was too late for lazy, comfortable movements.
They were in the place of the pool and uncertain dimensions and shadows. The woman bobbed restlessly. Her companion was agitated. The one who spoke seldom spoke first. "What is the panic?"
"Our resources in Taglios have been exterminated. All but the newest. As suddenly as that." She snapped her fingers.
Her companion said, "They are about to march."
The woman: "They knew who our resources were. Which means everything we learned through them is suspect."
Her companion: "We have to move sooner than we planned. We cannot give them a minute more than we must."
The quiet one asked, "Have we been found out?"
The woman: "No. We have the one resource close to the heart, still undetected if mostly ineffective. It hasn't reported a hint of a suspicion."
"We should join the troops. We should leave nothing to the hazard of battle."
"We've argued this out already. No. We will not risk ourselves. There is no cause to think they will have any chance against our veterans. I have added five thousand men to the invasion force. That is enough."
"There was another thing. The thing you called us here to present."
"Yes. Our comrade of Shadowcatch and Overlook is not as southward obsessed as he would have us think. He infiltrated some of his people into Taglian territory the past year. They attacked the leaders of the Black Company. And failed abysmally. Their efforts served only one purpose—beyond betraying his thinking. They gave me a chance to insinuate our one surviving resource into the enemy fold."
"Then when next we meet him we can mock him in turn."
"Perhaps. If it seems appropriate. One piece of news comes out of his effort. Dorotea Senjak is with them."
A long stillness followed. Finally, the one who spoke so seldom observed, "That alone explains why our friend would send men north secretly. How dearly he would love to own her."
The female replied, "For more reasons than the obvious. There appears to be a relationship with the Company's Captain. She would be a valuable resource if that relationship is strong enough to be manipulated."
"She must be killed as soon as possible."
"No! We must capture her. If he can use her, so can we. Think what she knows. What she was. She might hold the key to ridding the world of him and of closing the gateway. She may be powerless but she has not lost her memory."
The one who spoke seldom began to laugh. His laughter was as insane as that heard in Overlook. He was thinking anyone could use the memories of Dorotea Senjak. Anyone!
The female recognized that laugh, understood what was happening in his mind, knew she and her companion would have to proceed very carefully. But she pretended not to see. She asked her companion, "Have you contacted the one in the swamps?"
"He wants nothing to do with us or our troubles. He is content with his fetid, humid little empire. But he will come around."
"Good. We're agreed? We advance the schedule?"
Heads nodded.
"I will send the orders immediately."
Chapter Thirty-three: TAGLIOS: DRUNKEN WIZARDS
It had not been a good day. It got no better because the sun went down. The high had been Frogface reporting Sindawe reaching Vejagedhya. The low followed immediately. There was no material to fortify the town. A ditch would be it.
But the ground was so sodden the walls of a ditch would keep collapsing.
Oh, well. If the gods were out to get us they were out to get us. All our wriggling on the hook wouldn't change a thing.
I was ready to collapse into bed when Murgen burst in. I was so tired I was seeing double. Two of him did not improve the state of the universe. "What now?" I snapped.
"Maybe big trouble. Goblin and One-Eye are down at Swan's place, drunk on their asses, and they've started in. I don't like the smell of it."
I got up, resigned to another sleepless night. It had been a long time brewing. It might get out of hand. "What are they doing?"
"Just the usual, so far. But there's no fun in it this time. There's an undercurrent of viciousness. Anyway, it stinks like somebody could get hurt."
"Horses ready?"
"I sent word."
I grabbed up the officer's baton some Nar had tossed me as we had approached Gea-Xle. No special reason other than that it was the nearest thing handy for thumping heads.
The barracks was quiet as we passed through. The men sensed something afoot. By the time I reached the stables Mogaba and Lady had joined the parade. Murgen explained while they cursed our Taglian stablehands into readying two more horses.
That the feud had gotten out of hand was obvious from blocks away. Fires illuminated the night. Taglians were coming out to see what was happening.
The wizards had squared off in the street outside Swan's place. That had been gutted. Fires flickered up and down the street, none major, just patches gnawing the faces of buildings, evidence of the errant aim of a couple of drunken sorcerers.
Those troublesome little shits were having difficulty standing, let alone shooting straight. So maybe the gods do watch out for fools and drunks. Had they been sober they would have murdered each other.
Unconscious bodies lay scattered around. Swan and Mather and Blade and several guys from the Company were among them. They had tried to break it up and gotten creamed for their trouble.
One-Eye and Goblin were escalating. One-Eye had a pained-looking Frogface sicced on Goblin. Goblin had something that looked like a black snake of smoke growing out of his belt pouch. It was trying to get past Frogface. When the things grappled a shower of light washed the street, revealing Taglians crouched, watching from relative safety.
I halted before they noticed me. "Lady. What's that thing Goblin's got?"
"Can't tell from here. Something he shouldn't. A match for Frogface, which I would have thought was out of One-Eye's class." She sounded vaguely troubled.
There were times I'd had that notion myself. It did not seem reasonable that you could walk into a shop and buy a Frogface off the shelf. But it hadn't bothered One-Eye, and he was the expert.
Frogface and the snake came to grips midway between their masters. They started grunting and straining and screaming and thumping around. I wondered aloud, "Is that what Goblin brought back from the country?"
"What?"
"From the first time I saw him after his set-to with the brown guys directing the shadows he had this smugness about him. Like he finally had him some way to whip the world."