As Narita went limp, that laughter sounded once more. There might have been a word there, too. Ardath? Or perhaps Silath? Or might it have been... ? No matter. Soulcatcher would not listen to that, just to the mockery. She hurled herself toward the sound but when she burst into the hallway, there was nothing to see.
She started to call for Guards, for Greys, but recalled that she had just slain the one person other than herself who knew for sure that the Radisha had disappeared.
The Radisha had shut herself away from the world. That was all anybody really needed to know. The Princess could live forever right there in her Anger Chamber. She did not need to venture forth ever again. She had her good friend the Protector to handle the boring chores of managing her empire for her.
More laughter, apparently from nowhere and everywhere. Soulcatcher stamped away. This was not over yet.
A white crow dropped out of the murk near the ceiling of the hallway, flapped heavily, landed beside the fat woman. It held its beak poised beneath her nostrils momentarily, as though checking for breath. Then it flapped away suddenly, sharp ears having caught the sound of a stealthy footfall.
A shivering Jaul Barundandi eased into the chamber. He knelt beside the woman. He took her hand. He remained there, tears streaking his cheeks, until he heard the Protector returning, arguing with herself in a variety of voices.
40
W hat do you know about that?" I said to Sahra. "Narita tried to cover for you. And then Barundandi got all broken up about what happened to her."
Sahra waggled a finger. She was thinking. "Murgen. What do you know about that white crow?"
Murgen hesitated before responding. "Nothing." Which meant he was telling an approximate truth but he had some definite ideas. Sahra and I both knew him that well.
Sahra said, "Suppose you tell me what you think is going on, then."
Murgen faded away.
"What the heck is that?" I snapped at One-Eye. "You were supposed to rig this thing so he has to do what he's told."
"He does. Most of the time. He could be carrying out a previous instruction."
But the old fool sounded to me like he had no idea what Murgen was doing.
Soulcatcher worked quickly, then summoned the staff members who had been present when she had broken into the Anger Chamber. "The continuing excitement was too much for this poor woman. I've tried to resurrect her but her soul refuses to respond. She must be happy where she is now." There were no witnesses to contradict her, though remote laughter mocked her. "I did find the Radisha. She'd fallen asleep. She has retreated into the Anger Chamber and does not wish to be disturbed again. Not for a long time. I should have honored her wishes before. We would have avoided this disaster." She indicated the fat woman.
Even the staffers who had looked into the Anger Chamber earlier and had seen nothing had to admit that someone was inside now, moving around angrily, muttering the way the Radisha did and looking very much like the Radisha in glimpses caught through cracks in the poorly restored door.
The Protector suggested, "Let's all turn in for the night. Tomorrow we'll begin repairing the mess I made." She watched her audience intently, feeling for anyone who could cause trouble.
The staff departed. They were relieved just to be away from Soulcatcher.
Soulcatcher sat down and thought. There was no way to tell what was going through her mind till she began muttering in a committee of voices. Then it was clear that she was trying to work out the mechanics of the abduction. She seemed willing to give considerable weight to the possibility that the Radisha had stage-managed the whole thing herself.
A very suspicious woman, the Protector.
One by one she found and questioned each of the people who had dealt with Minh Subredil, Sawa and Shikhandini, beginning with Jaul Barundandi and finishing with Del Mukharjee, the man Barundandi usually trusted to collect the kickbacks from the outside workers. "You will cease that," the Protector informed Mukharjee. "You and anyone else involved. If it happens again, I will put you into a glass ball and hang you above the service postern with your whole body turned inside out. I'll add a couple of imps to feed on your entrails for the six months it will take you to die. Do you understand?"
Del Mukharjee understood the threat just fine. But he had no idea whatsoever why the Protector would want to interfere with his livelihood.
The Protector had a passion about corruption.
In time the Protector reasoned that three women had come into the Palace and three women had gone away again. It seemed very likely that the three who had departed were not the three who had entered. And no one the Radisha's size had gone out since.
Which meant that someone with some answers might still be inside.
Chuckling wickedly, Soulcatcher began to look for evidence that someone had slipped off into the untenanted wilds of the Palace.
Goblin was asleep on a dusty old bed. Occasionally his snores would turn to sneezes and snorts when too much dust got into his nostrils.
A squawk had him bouncing up so suddenly he almost collapsed from light-headedness. He spun around. He saw nothing. He heard soft laughter, then a bizarre, squawking voice that sounded almost familiar. "Wake up. Wake up. She is coming."
"Who's coming? Who's talking?"
There was no response. He did not feel any strong sorcerous presence. It was a puzzle.
Goblin had a good idea who might be coming, though. Not many women were likely to be hunting him here in the middle of the night.
He was ready. His little pack was carrying the two books Sleepy most wanted to save. Taking all three was physically impossible. His traps were set. All he had to do was move on into the now-empty part of the Palace that had been occupied by the Black Company back when its staff and leadership had been quartered there. There were ways to get out unnoticed. He and One-Eye had found them in olden times. The trouble was, he had no desire to be on the streets after dark, amulet or no.
Soulcatcher gave up most of her sense of touch when she chose to wrap every inch of her body in leather and helmet. She never noted the touch of or resistance of the strand of spider silk stretched across the corridor. But she did have a marvelously well-developed sense for personal danger. Before the Ghanghesha hit the floor, she was moving to defend herself. It was such reflexes that made it possible for creatures like her, her sister Lady, and the Howler, to have survived for so long. This time she had the proper controlling spells ready, hung about her, sparkling like spanking-new tools.
The shadow trapped inside the figurine barely got its bearings before it was attacked itself, seized and constrained, then twisted and crushed down into a whining, seething ball completely enclosed inside one of the Protector's gloved hands. A merry young voice called, "You'll have to do better than that."
Soulcatcher continued to move forward, amused by the idea of tossing the shadow back into someone's face. The trail began to grow indistinct, then disorienting. Experimentation showed her the cause was external. The corridor had been strewn with cobwebs of spells so subtle that even she might not have noticed had she just been hurrying along. "Oh, you clever devils. How long has this been here? Ah. A very long time indeed, I see. You were still in favor when you started this. Have you been hiding here all along? I certainly couldn't find you in the city if you never were out there."
In another voice entirely, she asked, "What have we here? It smells like somebody very frightened is hiding behind this door. And he didn't even bother to lock it. How stupid does he think I am?"
She shoved the door with her toe.
A clay Ghanghesha plummeted from its place atop the door. Soulcatcher giggled. She was even quicker to recapture this shadow, which she squeezed down inside her other hand. Then she pushed into the room.