A priest stood a step away from her door, poised in uncertainty. He must have heard something as he was passing. He glanced both ways along the unlighted hall, down at his own small lamp, then moved to Sahra's door and cocked an ear.
I swooped in close, poured all my anger into my will and tried to butt heads with him.
He spun around. He started to shake. He hurried away. I could scare more than birds if I got mad enough.
I went back inside. Sahra wanted Trang to send a reply. Her speaking the words were all the reply I needed although I would look forward to the note as a physical confirmation of our eternal connection, an icon to carry with me till we saw one another again. Trang agreed but he chose his words carefully. He kept looking around like he thought the place was haunted. He asked, "How is your pregnancy going?"
"That is one thing I do very well, without great effort or trouble, Uncle. I have babies."
"This one will be bigger than your first two. Your husband is a big man."
"Do you expect the child to be a devil, too?"
Trang smiled thinly. "Not in the sense others might mean. But in the sense of Hong Tray's prophecy, probably. Your grandmother was a wise woman. Her prophecies all come to pass—though not always in the manner we imagined when she offered them."
"She said nothing about any monster."
"What she said and what your mother and Doj heard were not necessarily the same. There are things people just don't want to hear."
He had my interest on several fronts. I might learn something more about Uncle Doj. I might learn something about this prophecy of Hong Tray's, which, so far, was almost as mysterious as the concerted determination of all Taglians that the Black Company had to be some sort of catastrophe in the making, worse than any flood or earthquake. Trang disappointed me. He said nothing more. In fact, he struck a listening attitude.
I popped into the hallway.
The man I had frightened before was returning. And he was bringing friends.
I swooped at him again, angrier than before. He was no hero. He squealed and took off. His companions yammered among themselves. They decided their friend must have mental problems. They went after him instead of going on to Sahra's cell. I followed to make sure.
Trang was gone when I got back. A flick through time provided me no useful information.
61
Sahra had moved to her pallet. She was on her knees there, palms atop her thighs, staring straight forward. Waiting.
I drifted into position in front of her.
"You're here, aren't you, Mur? I can feel it. You're what I've felt before, aren't you?"
I tried to answer her. I got she is the darkness! from Smoke and a reeling back. Why now? Sahra had not bothered him before. Had she?
He did not like any female these days. He even tensed up around the Radisha when we were there.
I pushed inward. Smoke pushed back. Sahra sensed something. She said, "I'm too heavy to travel now. I'll come as soon as our son can travel."
A son? Me?
I became a different man in that moment. But it lasted only a few seconds. Only until I wondered, how could she know that?
Some people called her a witch. Well, spooky. I never saw it myself.
But maybe she could know.
My world began to shudder and shake. I had enough experience ghostwalking to know that meant somebody back at the shop wanted me to wake up. Reluctantly, I responded. I wished there was some way, any way, to let Sahra know I had gotten her message. "I love you, Sarie," I thought.
"I love you, Murgen," Sahra said, as though she had heard me.
The shaking grew more insistent. I turned loose of the temple of Ghanghesha but refused to be managed completely. I tried to drop in on the Radisha for a closer look at her scheming but Smoke shied away with an aversion almost as strong as that he showed for Soulcatcher. She is the darkness.
The earth blurred beneath my point of view. I was low and moving fast. Maybe that helped defeat some of the spells making Goblin and Mogaba so hard to find. I got a clear, if brief, look at both as I whipped past.
They were on the move. Mogaba seemed to be gathering strength. The forvalaka was with Goblin. Both groups moved inside an envelope of crows.
Soulcatcher probably had a better idea of the big picture than I did.
"Don't you ever learn?" Croaker snarled.
I barely had strength enough to sit up and reach for something to drink. I had spent a lot more time out than I realized while it was happening. Sarie always did make me lose track of time.
"Shit," I murmured. "That took it out of me. I could eat a cow."
"You weren't supposed to be dealing with family things. You keep it up, it's going to be crow, not cow."
You could not find an edible cow in this end of the world, anyway.
I grunted. I had a pitcher of something sweet in one hand and a warm loaf of bread in the other. At that moment it did not occur to me to ask why he would accuse me of getting involved in family things.
"It's dark already. Our people are all climbing into their holes and pulling them in after them. I need you rested and ready because I want you over there watching the Shadowgate. And not sightseeing, either. We need to get a signal up the instant Longshadow cracks the gate."
I lifted a hand. As soon as I cleared my mouth I asked, "Why don't I watch Longshadow? Smoke don't want to get close out there. I might not see the shadows moving till it's too late. Longshadow I can see while he's making his summons." I dumped some sugar water in behind the last bite of bread.
Smoke groaned.
"Shit." Suddenly, the Old Man looked like he wanted to cry.
"Where's One-Eye?" I asked. "Better get him in here."
Smoke had not made a sound in years.
"You find him. I'm the physician here." He headed for Smoke's cot.
"Good idea." I got myself up and stumbled toward the doorway on still feeble legs.
62
It was a great night for all hell to break loose. I had not really noticed the gathering darkness while walking the ghost, so lost in thought had I been. But clouds were moving in to deepen the darkness. "One-Eye!" I bellowed. "Get your dead ass over here now!"
I considered the clouds. My suggestion looked real good now.
Where the hell was that little shit? I climbed on up out of Croaker's dugout. "One-Eye!" I headed for his hole. Surely he did not intend to spend the night there? He had not done nearly enough work on it to make it a good place to wait out a night when shadows were slithering about, wizard or not.
I was almost there when the little wizard came scuttling from the direction of my shelter. "What do you want, Kid?"
"Where the hell you been? Never mind. We got trouble with the ghost."
"Uhm?"
"He's making noise," I whispered. Then I glanced around. I had forgotten to guard my tongue.
It was my lucky night. There were no crows anywhere around.
One-Eye glanced over his shoulder. "Making noise?" He did not believe me.
"Did I stutter? Get your ass in there. Croaker's already checking him for physical problems." I continued to look for listeners. Mice and bats and shadows have little ears, too.
A boreal light rippled between Overlook and the jagged ruins of Kiaulune, reflecting brilliantly off the metal in the fortress wall. It was just a sputter, though, as Lady got tuned up. A moment later the only light visible anywhere came from the surviving chambers of crystal atop Overlook's towers. Longshadow's favorite was particularly bright.