"River and Runmust are coming in. They're halfway responsible people. I'll turn some of the work over to them as soon as they're rested up. Then I can worry about—"
"Worry about it now. Let Swan sergeant for you. He's experienced and he's got no choice but to throw in with us now. Catcher will never believe that he didn't betray her."
"I hadn't thought of that."
"You don't have to do everything yourself, Sleepy. If you're going to take charge, you need to learn to tell people what needs doing, then get out of the way and let them do it. You keep hanging over their shoulders nagging like somebody's mother, you aren't going to get much cooperation. You seduced that fat boy yet?"
"What?"
"That local-yokel captain. The one who couldn't keep in step if you painted his feet different colors. You got him wrapped up yet?"
"You're zigging when I'm zagging. You lost me completely."
"Let me draw you a picture. You forget to tell him Catcher is going to stop by. You get him to make a deal. He keeps his job. He helps us out so he can get us out of his hair. When he isn't looking, you fix him up so when the shitstorm starts, he don't have no choice but to take his chances with us."
"I have him wrapped up, then. Seventy percent."
"Hey. Blow in his ear. Throw a liplock on his love muscle. Do whatever you have to. If Catcher loses him, she won't ever trust anybody else down here, either."
Goblin used almost the same language as Murgen had when I stopped to visit again. He found Murgen's advice fully excellent. "Grab fat boy by his prong and never let go. Give him a little squeeze once in a while to keep him smiling."
"I've probably said it before. You're one cynical mud-sucker."
"It's all those years of watching out for One-Eye that done it to me. I was a sweet, innocent young thing when I joined this outfit. Not unlike yourself."
"You were born wicked and cynical."
Goblin chuckled. "How much stuff do you think you need to collect before we go up the hill? How long do you think it'll take?"
"It won't take forever if Suvrin cooperates."
"Never, ever, forget that you don't have long. I can't emphasize that enough. Soulcatcher is coming. You've never seen her when she's all worked up."
"The Kiaulune wars don't count?" He must have seen something extreme. He was determined to pound the point home.
"The Kiaulune wars don't count. She was just entertaining herself with those."
I forced myself to make the visit I had been avoiding.
The Daughter of Night wore ankle shackles. She resided inside an iron cage heavily impregnated with spells that caused ever-increasing agony as their victim moved farther away. She could escape but that would hurt. If she pushed it hard enough, she would die.
It appeared that every possible step had been taken to keep her under control. Except the lethal step reason urged me to take. I had no more motive for keeping her alive—except that I had given my word.
The men all took turns being exposed to her, in pairs, at mealtimes and such. Sahra had not been lax. She appreciated the danger the girl represented.
My first glimpse left me stricken with envy. Despite her disadvantages, she had kept herself beautiful, looking much like her mother in a fresher body. But something infinitely older and darker looked out through her pretty blue eyes. For a moment she struck me not as the Daughter of Night, but as the darkness itself.
She did have plenty of time to commune with her spiritual mother.
She smiled as though aware of the serpents of dark temptation slithering the black corridors of my mind. I wanted to bed her. I wanted to murder her. I wanted to run away, begging for mercy. It took an exercise of will to remind myself that Kina and her children were not evil in the sense that northerners or even my Vehdna co-religionists understood evil.
Nevertheless... she was the darkness.
I stepped back, tossed the tent flap open so my ally, daylight, could come inside. The girl lost her smile. She backed to the far side of her cage. I could think of nothing to say. There was really nothing we could say to one another. I had no inclination to gloat and little news of the world outside to report, which might motivate her to do something besides wait.
She had her spiritual mother's patience, that was sure.
A blow from behind rocked me. I clawed at my stubby little sword.
White wings mussed my nattily arranged hair. Talons dug into my shoulder. The Daughter of Night stared at the white crow and revealed real emotion for the first time in a long time. Her confidence wavered. Fear leaked through. She pressed back against the bars behind her.
"Have you two met?" I asked.
The crow said something like, "Wawk! Wiranda!"
The girl began to shake. If possible, she became even paler. Her jaw seemed clenched so tight her teeth ought to be cracking. I made a mental note to discuss this with Murgen. He knew something about the crow.
What could rattle the girl so badly?
The crow laughed. It whispered, "Sister, sister," and launched itself back into the sunlight, where it startled some passing brother into a fit of curses.
I stared at the girl, watched the inner steel reassert itself. Her gaze met mine. I felt the fear within her evaporate. I was nothing to her, less than an insect, certainly less than a stubbed toe at the beginning of her long trek across the ages.
Shuddering, I broke eye contact.
That was a scary kid.
66
O ur days began before sunrise. They ended after sunset. They included a great deal of training and exercise of the sort that had been let slide for too long. Tobo worked with almost fanatic devotion to improve his skills as an illusionist. I insisted upon daily readings from the Annals in an effort to reinforce the depth and continuity of brotherhood that were so much the foundation of what the Company was. There was resistance at first, of course, but the message sank in at a pace not unrelated to a growing realization that we were going to go up onto the glittering plain—really!—or were going to die here in front of the Shadowgate when Soulcatcher chose to write our final chapter.
The renewed training paid dividends quickly. Eight days after we reduced the fort below the Shadowgate, another mob like Suvrin's, but much larger, trudged in out of the country west of the New Town. Thanks to Murgen, we had plenty of warning. With Tobo and Goblin assisting, we sprang a classic Company ambush using illusions and nuisance spells that confused and disorganized a force that had had almost no idea what it was doing already. We hit fast and hard and mercilessly and the threat evaporated in a matter of minutes. In fact, the relief force fell apart so fast we could not take as many prisoners as I wanted, though we did round up most of the officers. Suvrin generously identified those he recognized.
Suvrin was practically an apprentice Company man by now, so desperate was he to belong to something and to gain the approval of those around him. I felt halfway guilty exploiting him the way I did.
The prisoners we did take became involuntary laborers in our preparations for the future. Most jumped on the opportunity because I promised to release those who did work hard before we went up onto the plain. Those who failed to work hard would go along as porters. Somehow a rumor got started amongst the prisoners that human sacrifice might be involved in what we were going to be doing once we passed the Shadowgate.
I found Goblin in with One-Eye, whose recovery seemed to have been sped by Gota's presence. Possibly because he needed to be well enough to get away from her and her cooking. I do not know. They had the Key laid out on a small table between them. Doj, Tobo and Gota watched. Even Mother Gota kept her mouth shut.