It never occurred to Thai Dei to ask why he was helping set the bones of a man who was about to die.
He was in another world. He was communing with his soul, with the thing that made him Thai Dei.
After a while, he said, "I argued against it when they sent Sahra away. My voice was too small to carry any weight." He did not look at me when he spoke. His body language told me it was not something he would discuss again, ever.
95
The following morning I talked cautiously to several Gunni about Nyueng Bao mythology. They were no help. I ran into a slough of contempt. If the Gunni had possessed any grasp of the concept they would have labeled the Nyueng Bao heretics. They did not. Taglian society was too completely pluralistic religiously. Nobody I spoke to had any idea what the Key might be. I suspected it might not be a religious relic even though I had overheard enough to understand that it had been one of the major treasures kept hidden at the temple where Sahra was confined.
I wondered what the connection might be. If there was any.
"I'm getting really tired of this hike," I told Thai Dei as we headed across the valley in response to a summons from our Supreme Commander. Not far away from us Shadowlander volunteers were helping take in a grain that was a cousin of barley, working for a share of the harvest. Croaker had a notion that the locals would resent us less if we helped them out. I had a feeling their own crops were not so bad and we ought to be stashing our surpluses inside Overlook. Sure as winter follows summer the day would come when we would need every kernel of reserve.
The Old Man insisted that I had been scarred too deeply by my past, that I would never outgrow Dejagore. Maybe he was right. We are all the sum total of our pasts, good and evil.
Thai Dei said nothing right away. He was more reticent than ever this morning. A mile down the path he said, "You knew Uncle would not die."
"Yep."
"You meant to manipulate him."
"Yep. So tell me. What's the Key?"
"Something that should have been destroyed long ago."
Did I say he was not talking anymore? I checked to make sure I was with my sidekick of many years. "Big mojo, eh?"
He understood the word in context. "Big trouble. All prophecies, all articles and tools of prophecy, bring nothing but trouble."
"This Key wouldn't tie in to Hong Tray's prophecy, would it?" I had not gotten that pinned down yet, despite being part of it and married to part of it. Sarie always claimed that she did not know, she was just a woman.
Thai Dei had found his center, his silence, again. He refused to say anything more.
"You been talking about me?" I asked when I pushed into Croaker's place and found sudden silence and stares my only greeting.
"Perhaps," Lady said. She eyed me speculatively, evidently wondering what was going on inside me these days.
Otto, Hagop and a couple other Old Crew guys were there. Isi and Sindawe were present. Numerous senior Taglians were noteworthy for their absence, as was Blade. We had not seen much of Blade lately, though he and Lady had worked together for years. There seemed to be a shift in the tides of trust.
"What's up?"
"What's your readiness state?" Croaker asked.
"Not bad, actually. A good blowup like the one last night will make guys want to put an edge on."
"No sign of Catcher?"
"No. You ask me, Uncle got her good and she's somewhere licking her wounds." I had not seen a single crow since before Sleepy returned. Talk about your basic good omens.
"Thai Dei talking any more?"
"No. You haven't said—"
"I'm going to go recon the plain."
"I thought—"
"Now's the time. Catcher is weak. I know how she heals. We'll have a week before she's strong enough to cause us more grief. We need to dive through that window of opportunity. If we put together a balanced force and pack train and push it hard, we should be able to travel seventy or eighty miles before we have to turn back. That ought to give us a good idea where we stand."
I did not like the idea but did not argue. Lady was the Lieutenant. It was her job to expose the flaws in the Captain's reasoning. She said nothing so I supposed their discussion was complete.
"I'm thinking fifty men for the first probe," Croaker said. "All the old guys who followed us here to get to Khatovar. Plus the best new men. All volunteers."
Not many recent recruits wanted to go to Khatovar. The old terror still held some power even though now they were part of the Company.
"What's happening in Taglios?" Croaker asked.
I shrugged. "I'm only having normal dreams these days. In fact, I hardly slept the last couple nights. Sleepy mumbles all night. I tried to get him talking but he didn't seem to hear me."
"We'll take him with us. A good long hike might bring him out of it."
I sighed. "When do you want to do this?"
"As soon as we can get it together. Catcher's already getting better."
I sighed again. "I was getting used to not traveling. I was really getting attached to the idea of staying in one place." And waiting for my wife. Or maybe even going back to meet her if I could get Sleepy to tell me what he had done with my horse.
Croaker harrumphed. Really. The son of a bitch was turning into my grandfather. He said, "You know what this means? Standardbearer?"
"I got a bad feeling it means some dumb fuck name of Murgen is going to have to go be out front again."
"With no Goblin or One-Eye to cover your back."
"Shit. Yeah." But my back was covered, for now until forever. "I see a problem, boss. The Nyueng Bao will insist on sticking with their guys from Dejagore."
"I'm counting on it. Every one of them who goes up the mountain is one less Taglian I have to worry about getting behind me and maybe wrapping one of those silk dinguses around my neck."
"What? We haven't had any trouble with those characters since last winter. There aren't any left."
"Ready to bet your life on that? I mean to take the living saint and the rest of our pals along with us."
"Why you want to do that?"
"So we don't get any surprises while our backs are turned. You want Howler getting loose, or Longshadow, when none of us are there to round them up again? You want the Prahbrindrah Drah on the prowl again? Or that panther bitch?"
"No. But if I was running things we'd just kill them and burn their bodies. Then we'd mix what was left up good and throw it all in about six different rivers."
Lady gave me the sort of look that would have made me shit my knickers a few years back. She did not much scare me anymore.
Croaker ignored my opinion. "Once we're up there and see what it's like I might set up staging camps so we can move the whole mob in steps."
"I don't think I'm ready for this, boss."
"Not ready? This is where we've been heading for the last ten years."
"There's a big fucking difference between being on the road and getting there, chief. You go out in the camp and ask, every guy out there will tell you he's perfectly happy to be on his way to Khatovar. But I bet you you won't get the same answer about getting there." I do not believe Croaker ever understood that nobody was as enthusiastic about our quest as he was.
"What do I got to do?" I asked.
"Pack up and get ready. Get your protege whipped into shape because I expect him to trudge right along with the rest of us."
There was something there... Something that left me on the outside. Something, maybe, that had something to do with the sudden silence that had fallen when I walked in.
"Then I'd better go pack up and get ready, hadn't I?"
The Old Man glowered at me as I walked out but did not raise a finger to stop me.
Something was going on.
"Another damned wasted trip," I told Thai Dei. "Only this was the worst one yet." I was getting mad. I was being used somehow.