The Howler, Narayan and the Daughter of Night had free run of the place. They were not afraid of its dark corners. They never ran into anything scary. The child had grown contemptuous of Longshadow's fears.
Neither she nor Narayan had witnessed all that could be done by the Shadowmaster's pets.
Neither had we, I feared.
Lady had established a factory for replenishing spent bamboo poles. She had been confident that we would need them. I was afraid she was right.
Stone shudders. Eternity sneers while it devours its own tail. This cold feast is almost finished.
Even death is restless.
The walls are bleeding.
In the darkness of the grey fortress it is hard to distinguish but dribbles of cardinal venous blood have begun to leak from the cracks between stones. It glistens in the light rising from the abyss. Small shadows squabble around it hungrily.
One crow watches.
The mist from the abyss has begun to fill the fortress. Half the tilting throne is covered. The throne is tilting precariously now. It looks like the figure there would slide away into the mist if it were not pinned in place.
The throne slips another millionth of an inch. A groan rises from the tortured figure. Its blind eyes flutter.
One crow cackles.
There is no silence. Stone is broken.
Where there is even a crack life will take root.
Light will find a way in.
52
I told the Old Man about the troops shooting over the Shadowgate. He scowled blackly. "I don't think that's a good idea." He bellowed for a courier. He sent out a strong suggestion to our brothers with the division to the south. "No crows around here," I noted.
"One-Eye custom-built me a spell I can use to make them get hungry and go away for a while. But not forever."
I got the hint. "I don't think we're doing enough to support Lady's men inside Overlook."
Croaker shrugged. "I'm not concerned about Overlook anymore. Much."
"What? Not worried about Longshadow? Howler? Narayan Singh and your... the Daughter of Night?"
"Don't get me wrong. I'm not indifferent. They just don't matter as much as they did."
"I must've missed something. What're you saying?"
"I'm just suggesting it, Murgen. But we could go on south now. If we wanted. If I'm right about the standard."
"Uh... " I said. No flies on me.
"The standard has to be the key to the Shadowgate. I think we could walk right through and keep on going, without any danger, as long as we carry the standard."
"Uh... " I said again, but this time I had a few more thoughts. "You mean we could just get everybody together, say screw you to the rest of this mob, and trot off singing merry marching songs?"
"Exactly. Maybe." So he was not completely sure.
"Wouldn't that leave a lot unsettled? Not to mention risk opening the Shadowgate the wrong way?"
"Longshadow is the master of the Shadowgate. He can keep it sealed."
"What if he can't?"
Croaker shrugged. "We don't owe anybody... You just got finished telling me the Radisha is still fixing to screw us. The Prahbrindrah Drah was up to something down here. Howler is no friend of ours and Catcher has been helping me only because she thinks that'll help her get an angle on Lady."
"I've got a wife out there, Boss. And she's got a bun in the oven. Not to mention Goblin and his crew. Whom I can't find, but I'm sure they're out there somewhere, on some mystery mission from you."
"Hmm? Didn't think about that. There's no mystery. Goblin's job is to be forgotten. Then he's supposed to be in the right place if the Prince runs out on us. Or decides to pull some other stunt where we could use some help that comes from the blind side."
I grunted. It might be true. Or it might only be what he wanted me to think. I set it aside. I could answer the question using Smoke if I was determined and clever and felt any real need. I asked, "What about Singh? You just going to walk away from him?"
I did not believe Lady would accept that. It was hard to tell what was going on inside her head but I did think that no one and nothing would make her walk away while Narayan Singh remained in good health.
"I've been letting things work themselves out. I'll go on doing that for a while. But when the moment comes I won't hesitate to take the Company on down the road to Khatovar." His voice turned cold and hard and confidently formal.
I was getting angry. That was not good. I told him, "I think I'd better excuse myself now."
"Just in time, too." He flashed a wan smile.
One of his huge crows had shoved its beak into the room. If it was possible for a bird to look puzzled this one did.
It also smelled. It had lunched in the ruins.
I asked One-Eye, "How much weight should we put on our contract with the Taglians?"
"Uhn?" He gave me nothing but the puzzled grunt. He wanted me to go away so he could play with his still.
"I mean are we obligated to keep our part of the bargain until they actually try to screw us?"
"What's your problem?" He gestured. There were no snoopy beaks over here.
"The Old Man's talking about walking on past Overlook. Forgetting Longshadow and everything else. Leaving them to enjoy each other while we head on south."
That idea startled the little wizard. He stopped trying to get rid of me. "He figured out how we could do that?"
"He thinks maybe. I don't think he knows for sure. But I do believe he's willing to test it the hard way."
"That's not good. That could bring on a shitstorm the likes of which... Like nothing we can imagine, probably. Like something out of the myths."
"I thought so, too. He could be just shooting his mouth off. But it might be a good idea to remind him that we still haven't read those three missing volumes of the Annals. I've got a feeling we shouldn't overlook that."
One-Eye does not have a quarter of my faith in the Annals, nor a tenth of Croaker's, but he grimaced. "A good point. I'll remind him."
"Subtly? You hit him with a hammer, he tends to get stubborn."
"Subtly? You know me, Kid. I'm slicker than greased owl shit."
"I do know you. That's what scares me."
"I don't know what's got into your generation. You got no trust. You got no respect."
"And not much patience with bullshitters, either," I admitted. "I've got journals to write. Not to mention worries to worry." And food to eat. I was hungry again. Much as I ate when I was walking the ghost I should have gotten too fat to waddle.
I joined my in-laws beside their fire. Mother Gota dished me up a bowl of whatever it was she kept simmering in her pot. Nobody said anything. I had not talked to them much lately. They had begun to suspect that I was not real social anymore. I wondered why the old woman would not do her cooking inside. Thai Dei and I had set her up a whole private suite in our ever-expanding dugout but she would go inside only when the weather turned foul or it was time to sleep.
Thai Dei did most of the work on our shelter. There was not much else for him to do. He was not involved in the schemes of his mother and Uncle Doj.
"Thank you," I told Mother Gota as I finished. "I needed that." I could not compliment her on her cooking. If ever she did screw up and make something palatable she would not buy the real thing. She never did claim any culinary skills.