Bucket asked, "Any of you geniuses decide what to do with her now that you've caught her?"
I said something real intelligent like, "Huh?"
"Like Murgen said, you should of brung a cage. Or was you just going to let her walk?"
The Old Man's mood blackened. "Make a litter. She always wanted to be treated like a queen. She can even have her own royal guards. Swan! Mather! You guys can carry the lady."
"Aw, go fuck yourself," Swan said.
Cordy said, "Take it easy, Willow."
"What the fuck's he gonna do, Cordy? Drag me off to Khatovar?"
Lady tugged her reins. Her mount turned till she was facing Swan and Mather. After a moment Swan said, "All right. All right." Ten minutes later he was carrying the downhill end of a litter. He never stopped grumbling but he was far enough behind me that I did not have to listen. Hagop let Swan and Mather start rotating with others after a few miles.
I went through the Shadowgate first. Croaker followed. After a few dozen yards, he said, "Stop here. I want to experiment. Lower the Lancehead to the black path." He dismounted as I did that. He took his silver Company badge off his cloak, held it to the Lance for a moment, then knelt and pressed it against the ribbon of black. His knees creaked. He grunted and strained.
I asked, "What's that all about?"
"I'm not sure. Lady thought it couldn't hurt."
So the killer shadows could pick us out of the crowd? Or maybe the other way around. Lady's instincts were sound. She had been around since before the original Company came down this mountain.
Croaker told me, "Stay here till everybody goes by. Have all our guys get their badges blessed. And don't forget yourself."
Lady dismounted, followed the Old Man's example. Then she remounted and continued up the slope, following Croaker, single file.
Man by man and animal by animal the column filed past. I got puzzled looks from the Company guys and black looks from everybody else. I checked to see where the Old Man was. In Nyueng Bao I told Thai Dei, "If you want you could touch the Lancehead, then that spot on the ground. The others, too."
He thought about that. "I wish Uncle was here to make a ruling."
"What's it gonna hurt? And it might be some kind of protection. You don't have to count it as some big-ass commitment to Company fortunes."
He thought some more, probably wondering if we were not sucking them in little by little, then he shouted at the other Nyueng Bao. He gathered them round, told them they had the option and that taking the blessing might offer a measure of protection once the sun went down.
Many of the Nyueng Bao did not like the idea.
Sparkle came past leading a string of overburdened but infinitely patient bullocks. "You going to bless the animals, too?" He was being sarcastic but I wondered if it might not be worthwhile. Shadows seldom bothered animals in the world outside if human prey was available. But we were not in that world anymore.
The Nyueng Bao argued heatedly but so softly I could not make out a word. Thai Dei eventually had enough. "You do as each of you wishes." He stalked over, slapped his palm against the head of the Lance, dropped and slapped the black trail, got up and took his place beside me.
I expected the Old Man to start bellowing any second but he never bothered to look back.
Howler trundled past. When he reached for the Lance I lifted it. "Keep moving. Friends of the Company only." I touched each of his black goats on the noggin with the Lancehead. Longshadow came along. The Shadowmaster seemed to be paralyzed. His eyes stared into infinity. I had seen that stare before, but only from guys who had suffered too much terror on the battlefield.
Fifty people may not sound like a big gang but when you add in all the animals and whatnot necessary to make a long journey it turns into a pretty good parade. Lady and the Old Man were almost to the top when Rudy and Bucket came up as the rearguard. Rudy asked, "You want we should kiss that thing, too?"
"If you think it'll help."
"I'll give it a handjob if that's what it takes to get me through the next three or four nights."
"I'll let you know. I got to get back up front." By now all the Nyueng Bao had made their decisions one way or another and had dealt with the standard according to their choices.
I hurried through the routine myself, with Rudy's help.
As he neared the top Croaker halted but not to give me a chance to catch up. Good old Murgen would get out front, where he could be the first one to get his head kicked in, only because the Captain had to wait for the troops to adjust to the road so the carts and wagons could make the climb. " 'Scuse me. 'Scuse me there," I said as I clambered past the engineer brothers. "Do a good job so you don't have to do it again on the way back."
A lot of people stood around watching. Construction was not what they did. They felt no urge to learn the trade at this late date. Swan told me, "Lugging this stretcher wasn't such a bad idea after all." Mather, though, was working. Cordy Mather was a good man. I wondered how much the Radisha missed him. I wondered if she spent much time trying to figure out why he had not come back.
I do not believe it was for the sake of the Prahbrindrah Drah.
None of my no never mind, though.
Catcher was awake and alert. She looked me in the eye. I think she would have smiled had she had the use of her mouth. I told her, "I want Sleepy back." She did not respond. She just lay there and twinkled.
When I caught up with the Old Man and finished puffing I asked, "Did you send anyone to look around where I thought I saw my horse?"
"Sent a whole company. Left the same time we did." He looked down the road. "What's taking them so long?"
"All generals and no soldiers." Lady, I noted, had turned her mount completely and was surveying the world from our new vantage point. Men were at work in Overlook already. Smoke rose from cookfires scattered everywhere. Most of the more westerly belonged to shadowlanders gradually creeping back into the farmland. The sky was overcast. I wondered if we would have rain.
"What's that?" Croaker asked.
"What's what?"
"Down there. On the road to your camp."
"Your eyes are better... I see it. Little bit of dust." Somebody, maybe several somebodies, was headed for my camp. They were too far off to make anything of them. They did seem to be in a hurry.
The carts began to roll. Clete and Longo and Loftus began congratulating themselves loudly. Goats bleated. Bullocks offered bovine complaints. Men cursed. The column began to creak forward.
"Lead on, Standardbearer," Croaker said. "And don't forget that those goats can't run as fast as you can." He put his helmet on. The spells on his armor came alive.
I started walking, standard raised. I knew it would get damned heavy before this was all over.
My pack was heavy already. I wiggled my shoulders, trying to get the straps settled more comfortably.
I stepped up onto the plain and set foot on the road. Ahead the standing stones sparkled even with the sun behind the clouds.
The ground shook just as Croaker and Lady came up behind me. I dropped to one knee but it was not a bad quake. In fact, it was barely perceptible. Embarrassed, I got up and started walking again. "First one of those in a while," I told Thai Dei. "Took me by surprise."
Lady and the Old Man did not seem troubled so I guessed I did not need to be.
101
It became a quiet journey once everybody got up onto the plain. We were all too nervous to talk. After a mile or so, though, Lady said, "Warn everyone not to leave the road. As long as we stay on it nothing can touch us."
Croaker raised a hand to signal a halt. I dropped the butt of the Lance to the road surface. Damn, that thing got heavy fast. The Old Man sent Lady's news back down the column. He did not question her. He did not distract her at all. Which might mean she was concentrating totally.