The nature of that response would have repercussions throughout the Taglian empire.
Would the return of the royals be celebrated? Or resented? The Dejagoran response was likely to set the fashion for all the cities and towns that came under the Company sway.
"I'm sure of it," Mogaba told Ghopal. "But I'm less sure of the condition of the invaders afterward. I got the distinct impression that their defeat of the Middle Army was neither cheap nor easy."
Aridatha said, "We've got to have better intelligence."
Mogaba took a moment to stifle his sarcasm before confessing, "I'm open to ideas. Any ideas."
No inspirations sprouted immediately.
Aridatha said, "We could always do something mythic. Like damning ourselves by bringing in an ally worse than our enemies. One that will devour us after it finishes doing what we brought it in to do."
Mogaba and Ghopal recognized the effort but did not get Aridatha's joke.
"It's an allusion. Or a parable. Or something," Aridatha explained. "Like all stories about Kina. The Lords of Light created her or brought her in for the demon plain war. And probably would have been better off if the rakshasas had won, ultimately."
Mogaba did have a sense of humor. He just had not brought it along tonight. "I guess you had to be there. Anyway, there's nobody we could bring in. We're on our own. So suggestions are in demand. Practical suggestions will be particularly welcome." That was something in the nature of a jest so, perhaps, he had brought part of his sense of humor.
Ghopal said, "All we can do is send out more spies and set up more remount stations so the spies can get their observations to us faster."
"And we have only one courier battalion." Mogaba sat quietly for half a minute. Then he asked, "How is our support among the priests and bourgeoisie? They've had time to think about the royals coming back. They plan to desert us?"
"We're the devil as far as they know," Ghopal replied. "The Protector has been their benefactor. And only a few of the slickest talkers can hope to benefit if we get thrown out. We worked hard to eliminate the Radisha's friends once we could no longer hide the fact that the princess was gone, not just hiding out feeling sorry for herself."
The Great General proposed, "Let's try the same strategy. Make believe we haven't lost the Protector. Aridatha. You seem to be distracted."
"I keep thinking about the girl. The Daughter of Night."
"And?"
"I saw her once. Five years ago. There's something about her... Makes you want to throw her down on her back. And makes you want to worship her at the same time. Makes you feel like you should do anything you can to please her. It's scary when you step back far enough to realize what happened."
"She's all grown-up that way." Mogaba explained what Lady had told of events to the south. "That girl got hundreds of men killed. We'll have to assassinate her remotely somehow. See if some mechanical engine can be contrived."
"I have a question," Ghopal said.
"Go."
"What's that thing you're fiddling with? You've been playing with it ever since you got here."
"Oh. Some kind of snail shell. They're all over the Palace. Nobody knows where they come from. Nobody's ever actually seen one crawling around. They're sort of relaxing when you roll them around in your fingers."
Both Singhs eyed the Great General as though thinking his behavior was distinctly odd.
Ghopal said, "Regarding the Daughter of Night. We might consider poison. There're some talented poisoners in Chor Bagan, the thieves' market."
The years had changed Mogaba. He did not immediately reject the suggestion as unworthy of men of honor.
76
The Taglian Territories: Another Origin Story
I suggested, "How about a standoff weapon we can launch from outside her influence? Hell, if we take the logs and carpets up high enough we can just keep dropping rocks till we get her." There was some optimism. We did not have even one carpet since Booboo knocked Howler and Tobo down. What we did have was bits and pieces of half a dozen carpets that Howler had been working on when nothing else took up his time.
Lady glared at me so intensely I began to wonder how soon I would start melting.
Killing Booboo was not yet on her list of options. Her emotions were engaged much more deeply than mine, though the problem of the girl was a torment to me, too.
My entanglement was more with the idea of the child than with the specific daughter.
Lady wanted to fool herself into believing there might be some way that Booboo could be redeemed.
"You're wasting time," the Prahbrindrah Drah said. The collapse of Soulcatcher's Middle Army had brought him to life. Suddenly, he believed his restoration was just a matter of marching to Taglios and yelling, "I'm back!" He had leaped into the embrace of self-delusion.
There was a lot of that going around.
Murgen joined the conference as the Prince began to bicker with Sleepy about her plans, a situation guaranteed not to persist for long. Sleepy would let him know who was running the show. Murgen announced, "I just finished reading a really long message from Baladitya. Who is well and loving every minute of his new life, thank you very much, Sleepy. Which he did not fail to point out several times."
I asked, "What're you doing getting mail from that old goofball?"
"He wasn't writing to me. He doesn't know me. The message was intended for Tobo."
Sleepy, who was thoroughly cranky because nothing was going the way she wanted, grumped, "I'm sure you're going to share every exciting detail with us, too, even though what we all need is some sleep."
"Since you insist." Murgen grinned. He had no particular job assignment while he was recuperating so he could do just about anything he pleased. "His letter mostly concerned the prisoners Shivetya is holding up there. The First Father and Gromovol's dad. Who Shivetya took in originally just to protect them from the shadows. Of which there are hardly any left anymore. Them and the Voroshk have almost wiped each other out. Sorry." He patted Shukrat's shoulder. Nobody missed that gesture. Murgen approved of Tobo's girlfriend—if that was what she was.
I wondered what he was doing bringing Shukrat to a staff meeting.
Sahra, of course, bristled like a hedge hog. There were no eligible Nyueng Bao girls anywhere within two hundred miles and she had married a foreigner, Murgen, for love herself, against the will of most of her family, but what did that have to do with today?
Sahra could restrain herself most of the time, these days. In public. If Murgen was around to calm her and remind her that Tobo was not a four-year-old anymore. But she was under tremendous additional strain now, with all her family dead or wounded. She had not yet pulled herself together well enough to make decisions about funeral arrangements for her brother and Uncle Doj.
He restrained her now, with just a gentle touch.
"You got a point to make?" Sleepy said. "Or can I get back to work figuring out how to get us through this on terms that suit our needs?"
Swan muttered something about the little bit needing a good dose of man to relax her. Sleepy snarled. Swan grumbled, "Did I volunteer? I don't think so. Not recently. So don't fuck with me."
Hurriedly, Murgen told us, "Guys, Shivetya came up with another Kina origin cycle. He got this one from the Voroshk. Evidently they don't mind talking history if they're bored. In this version Kina's husband put her to sleep. When she kept acting up after she won the demon plain war for the gods by sucking the blood out of all the demons. This version of the Goddess has ten arms instead of four. Her husband, known as Chevil in the world of the Voroshk, has four arms and is a lot like the Kina we know. Sometimes he's called the Destroyer, too. But sometimes he can be cajoled or seduced into going easy. Kina can't."