Damn him, he did talk like that when he had an audience. And he wouldn't stop.
"Gentlemen, the silver spike is loose in the world. It's not the Dominator. He's dead. But the undying black essence that drove him remains. And that could be used by an adept to summon, coerce, and shape powers even I cannot begin to imagine or fathom. That spike could become a conduit to the very heart of darkness, an opener of the way that would confer upon its possessor powers perhaps exceeding even those the Dominator possessed.
"Our mission, our holy mission, given the White Rose by Old Father Tree himself, is to recover the silver spike and deliver it for safekeeping, at whatever cost to ourselves, before someone of power seizes upon it and shapes it to his own dark purpose and is, in this turn, shaped— perhaps into a shadow so deep there would be no chance ever for the world to win free."
That bit about "at whatever cost to ourselves" got a big hand. The talking buzzard pulled his head out from under his wing, cracked an eye, went to town heckling the old wizard. That finally distracted him from his windier fancies.
"Buzzard, if you were fit to eat I'd be picking up kindling right now!" he shouted. Then he got back to business. "The tree god has reason to suspect that the spike is now in Oar. The White Rose, Silent, the Torques, and some of our smaller companions will drop into the city. With the help of the underground they will establish a secure base, then will take up the hunt. Raven, Case, and I, because of our considerable familiarity with the site, will go on to the Barrowland to see what can be learned there."
That started a bunch of bitching. Raven didn't like being sent off someplace where Darling wasn't. I didn't think these guys had the right to draft me into their adventure I got pretty hot.
Darling took me aside and calmed me down, then convinced me that even if I remained committed to the empire in my heart, helping her in this would not harm me. Maybe she was right when she said the evil she wanted to abort wouldn't respect allegiances or philosophies. That it would divide the world into two kinds of people, its enemies and its slaves.
That was a little heavy to get down in one or two bites but I said all right, I'm just following Raven around anyway. Might as well keep on keeping on.
So that was that. I gave in. I also started giving some thought to going back to herding potatoes as a career No potato never talked anybody into making a fool of himself.
XLI
Smeds came out onto the porch of the Skull and Cross-bones figuring to shoot the shit with Fish, but found the only empty chair stood between Fish and the Nightcrawler corporal. He wanted to turn around but felt like he was committed.
He plopped down. "Hey, Corp. Don't you never do nothing but sit here and drink beer?"
"Not if I can help it."
"That's the life. I oughta go sign up."
"Yeah? You wouldn't like it. Where was you at three in the morning?"
"In bed sleeping one off."
"Lucky you. Ask me where I was at three in the morning."
"Where were you at three in the morning?"
"With about two hundred others guys out Shant, where they got all those buildings tore down and nothing new put up yet. Looking for a monster. Some guy reported there was a monster out there bigger than the Civil Palace."
"Was there?"
"Not even a little one."
"Was the guy drunk?"
"Would a sober man be out there at that time of night?"
"Got something interesting coming here," Fish interjected, jutting his chin up the street.
Smeds saw three men and a woman. She was not much to look at and too old to be interesting anyway. But she looked tough. She carried weapons like a man.
As a bunch they looked as hard and tough as any Smeds had seen. But what made them stand out was the zoo they carried with them.
The woman had a live ferret draped around her neck and chipmunks peeking out of her pockets. The tall, dark, and darkly clad man who walked to her right carried an unhooded falcon on his left shoulder. The three men behind them— Smeds thought they might be brothers—carried a bunch of monkeys and one big snake.
Smeds asked, "You going to arrest them? They're lugging enough illegal hardware to start their own war."
"And give you boys a show? Eh? My mama's stupid babies never lived to make corporal." Even so, he stuck his fingers in this mouth and whistled. When those people looked he beckoned.
The tall man looked over with tight eyes for a moment, made a slight gesture at the man with the snake. That one came over. The snake looked them over like it was sizing them up for dinner. It gave Smeds the creeps.
The corporal said, "Just a friendly word of advice, pal. The city is under martial law. Ain't nobody supposed to tote a blade over eight inches long. 'Less he's wearing gray."
The snake man went back and told the tall man, who looked at the corporal hard for a moment, then nodded.
"You see that?" Smeds said. "That goddamned monkey gave us the finger."
The corporal said, "I seen that tall guy somewhere before. Down the length of a sword. Hunh! Well. Bucket's empty. Save my chair while I walk my lizard and get me a refill." He went inside.
"What you think of that bunch?" Smeds asked Fish.
"I've seen the tall one before, too. In the same circumstances as the corporal. A long time ago. No problem remembering where or when, either, since I was only ever in one battle."
That just puzzled Smeds. He asked, "You figure they're here after the dingus, too?" He could ask because by now everyone in town had a good idea what was going on.
"They're here for it, yes. They'll help make the game interesting."
"What're you yapping about, Fish?"
"Don't mind me, boy. Just an old man maundering. Ha! I thought so. Isn't there anymore, is it?"
Down the street the animals people had stopped in front of a place Timmy said used to be a butcher shop but these days was just another dump filled up with squatters. The tall man glanced back as though he had heard Fish. Then the whole bunch moved on, indifferent to stares.
The corporal came back out with his full pail and bladder empty. "I ought to give this shit up. Bothers my stomach." He took a drink. "Where were we?"
Fish said, "I was just going to ask you when they're going to unbutton the gates. Going to start getting hungry in here now the fanners won't bring anything in."
"They don't consult me on policy, Pop. But I'll tell you something. I don't think those two bitches give a rat's ass if everybody in Oar starves. They ain't going to go hungry."
Smeds was tired of listening to the corporal. "Going to get me something to drink." He went inside and had a beer drawn, wondered how long the supply would last. And how much more patience the people of Oar had. A while, for sure. Not that many were hurting yet. But if circumstances did not change a big blowup was inevitable.
Timmy Locan came in, got him a beer, stood beside Smeds awhile without saying anything, then suggested, "Let's go for a walk when we finish these."
"All right. I need the exercise."
When they were well away from the Skull and Cross-bones, passing through a construction area where they were unlikely to be overheard, Smeds asked, "Well? What's up?"
"You remember that doc that looked at my hand when we first came back?"
"Yeah." More than a twinge of guilt. He and Fish had not told the others what they had done. Tully was so indifferent he had not noticed that the physician and wizard were no longer among the living. Timmy had noticed, though, and Smeds supposed he had some definite suspicions about two such coincidental and convenient murders. "What about him?"