Catcher giggled like a girl sharing whispers about boys. "Defiance is pointless. Stubbornness is meaningless. There is no one to help you." That was the voice of despair. It rasped, too, but it was the last speech of an old man dying of cancer. "You are mine to do with as I please. It pleases me that you tell me what you just said."
The child raised her eyes. There was no love for her auntie there.
Soulcatcher laughed.
She was a cruel thing at times.
She made a gesture. The child shrieked, thrashed in agony. She fought her cries, not wanting to give her tormenter the pleasure, but her body could not be controlled by her will, powerful as that was.
"You think your mother was here? You have no mother, neither my sister nor Kina." This voice was that of an accountant reporting the week's profits. "I am your mother now. I am your goddess. I am your only reason for living."
I moved my viewpoint slightly so I could see them better. Maybe my movement disturbed the lamp's flame. Maybe a breath of wind crept in from outside. Whatever, Catcher shut up and gave a lot more attention to her surroundings.
After a minute during which she just turned slowly, in silence, she mused, "There's something here. And you sensed it right away." The girlish giggle returned. "Right away. And you thought it might be Kina. But it isn't, is it?"
Soulcatcher made a sudden gesture with her gloved left hand, fingers dancing too fast to follow. The brat collapsed, unconscious. Catcher settled with her back to the cave wall, dragged a pair of ragged leather sacks closer. I could smell nothing out there but I bet she reeked as bad as Howler. She was vain enough to guarantee herself incredible beauty and sensuality but not vain enough to waste much time on personal hygiene.
Maybe the smell would help me push her away if memories of Sahra did not do the trick.
She almost caught me. It did not look like she was doing anything but stirring through her trash. And my thoughts distracted me. I saved myself because she was used to living alone, or with crows. She reasoned aloud, "If it was the freak goddess I'd smell her. And she'd try to do something stupid. But somebody else has been prowling around, too. Let's find out who. Maybe it's my beloved sister." The voice that spoke those last few words was powerfully vicious.
Her hands sprang out of one leather sack, sudden as a snake's strike, but I was on the move, cleverly not toward the entrance. Her all but invisible net of black thread whooshed past two feet away. As soon as it fell I headed toward the exit. I did not know if she could catch me for real but I had no urge to find out.
Soulcatcher laughed. This was no giggle. This was fullblown, malicious adult amusement. "Whatever you are, I can't fool you. Can I?"
She sure could. That was why I was getting out while I could. Like all the Ten must have been, she was way more scary than would seem at first exposure. The madness leaked through only slowly.
Catcher made a series of gestures employing every finger on each hand. She spoke in one of those tongues sorcerers favor, this one probably that of her childhood. I felt a truly ugly presence approaching as I was about to slip my ghostly nose into the crack that would take me outside.
A shadow wriggle in. It cringed. It shuddered. It responded to Catcher's will. I did not hang around to find out what she wanted it to do.
It was enough to know that Soulcatcher had discovered a way to manipulate shadows. Which meant that with the last Shadowmaster barely finished kicking, a new queen of the darkness was about to rise.
She is the darkness.
82
"Was I right?" Croaker asked.
"About the standard?"
"What else?" He seemed exasperated. Maybe it was a strain, sharing quarters with Lady and the loon crew of Smoke, Singh and Longshadow.
"Probably. You could sure feel it. And nothing got by." I was worn out. My inner thigh ached again after the long walk over. "But I can't prove that wasn't because of Lady's gimcrackery."
"The Lance did something, though?"
"Oh, yeah. Everybody felt something. Some probably even decided it had something to do with the standard." Thai Dei had remained outside, as he always did when I visited the Old Man, so I was not shy about describing the skirmish between Uncle Doj and Mother Gota.
"Which was about this Noose constellation?"
"That started it. I think that was just an excuse. Their conflict runs a lot deeper."
"And this all just started?" He smiled to himself, like me, probably, jumping straight back to Gota's business with One-Eye.
"And where is our pet hedge wizard?" I asked. He was not out riding Smoke, which is what I had expected him to do while I was away. Lady had the little fire chief all tied up.
Croaker shrugged. "Out of my hair, which is all I want right now."
Probably off tending his distillery, which had not been found in his dugout when the rescue crews turned the place inside out, looking more for that than for poor old One-Eye.
I said, "I had a dream. Or maybe I was out of myself. It almost turned into a nightmare."
"Uhm?"
"Catcher's figured out how to run the shadows. Just like our boy in the cage, there." Longshadow, though, was unconscious. More so than Smoke, who insisted on groaning every few minutes.
Croaker sighed. "I'm disappointed but I'm not surprised. It was a logical step for her. And she's had time to work on it."
"You going to do something about it?"
"Haven't I already?"
"You lost me, boss."
"She's figured out how to manage a few shadows. Close up. But I control the source of the shadows. And I don't have to get near her. Though I'm going to."
"I wouldn't get overconfident where she's concerned. You never know with her. Remember how she planted that demon Frogface on us."
"I take nothing for granted, Murgen." He glanced at his woman, lying motionless beside Smoke. "But I try not to let paranoia cripple me."
He would get an argument on that from a lot of people. On the other hand, though, he had overthrown the Shadowmasters and seemed well positioned to have us survive the perfidy of our allies.
But, Soulcatcher? I did not doubt that Smoke had been right every time he insisted She is the darkness!
83
One-Eye caught me outside Croaker's place. "Her Worship still at it?"
"Uh... You mean... ?" Thai Dei's were only one pair of uninitiated ears nearby.
"You know what I mean, Kid."
"She is."
"Damn! I can't get ten minutes at a time now that she's started playing. Damned woman must be worried about her weight."
Took me a minute to figure that out. Then I laughed, remembering how hungry I used to get. "That could do it. If she gets totally hooked."
One-Eye grumbled something and stomped off. He did not go any farther than his dugout, though. He began fussing around the remains like a dog trying to dig a rabbit out of its warren, killing time while he waited to walk the ghost. I went about the business I had, mostly stalling because I had no desire to go back over to the Shadowgate. After ten minutes of slinging mud and trash One-Eye stomped back to me. "I found that little shit Goblin yesterday. Last night. He was just about to jump on the Prahbrindrah Drah. I want to know how that came out."
"Uhm." Yes. I hoped he took the Prince prisoner if they had them an asskicking contest. I would rather have his sister scared of us than mad at us. Mad she would be if we sent her little brother to his funeral ghat.
She was not the kind to jump into the flames after him.
"That bastard was getting pretty good when he turned on us," One-Eye said. "There's no guarantee the runt can take him."