The Return of the Black Company

by Glen Cook

  “That is one thing I do very well, without great effort or trouble, Uncle. I have babies.”

  “This one will be bigger than your first two. Your husband is a big man.”

  “Do you expect the child to be a devil, too?”

  Trang smiled thinly. “Not in the sense others might mean. But in the sense of Hong Tray’s prophecy, probably. Your grandmother was a wise woman. Her prophecies all come to pass—though not always in the manner we imagined when she offered them.”

  “She said nothing about any monster.”

  “What she said and what your mother and Doj heard were not necessarily the same. There are things people just don’t want to hear.”

  He had my interest on several fronts. I might learn something more about Uncle Doj. I might learn something about this prophecy of Hong Tray’s, which, so far, was almost as mysterious as the concerted determination of all Taglians that the Black Company had to be some sort of catastrophe in the making, worse than any flood or earthquake. Trang disappointed me. He said nothing more. In fact, he struck a listening attitude.

  I popped into the hallway.

  The man I had frightened before was returning. And he was bringing friends.

  I swooped at him again, angrier than before. He was no hero. He squealed and took off. His companions yammered among themselves. They decided their friend must have mental problems. They went after him instead of going on to Sahra’s cell. I followed to make sure.

  Trang was gone when I got back. A flick through time provided me no useful information.

  61

  Sahra had moved to her pallet. She was on her knees there, palms atop her thighs, staring straight forward. Waiting.

  I drifted into position in front of her.

  “You’re here, aren’t you, Mur? I can feel it. You’re what I’ve felt before, aren’t you?”

  I tried to answer her. I got she is the darkness! from Smoke and a reeling back. Why now? Sahra had not bothered him before. Had she?

  He did not like any female these days. He even tensed up around the Radisha when we were there.

  I pushed inward. Smoke pushed back. Sahra sensed something. She said, “I’m too heavy to travel now. I’ll come as soon as our son can travel.”

  A son? Me?

  I became a different man in that moment. But it lasted only a few seconds. Only until I wondered, how could she know that?

  Some people called her a witch. Well, spooky. I never saw it myself.

  But maybe she could know.

  My world began to shudder and shake. I had enough experience ghostwalking to know that meant somebody back at the shop wanted me to wake up. Reluctantly, I responded. I wished there was some way, any way, to let Sahra know I had gotten her message. “I love you, Sarie,” I thought.

  “I love you, Murgen,” Sahra said, as though she had heard me.

  The shaking grew more insistent. I turned loose of the temple of Ghanghesha but refused to be managed completely. I tried to drop in on the Radisha for a closer look at her scheming but Smoke shied away with an aversion almost as strong as that he showed for Soulcatcher. She is the darkness.

  The earth blurred beneath my point of view. I was low and moving fast. Maybe that helped defeat some of the spells making Goblin and Mogaba so hard to find. I got a clear, if brief, look at both as I whipped past.

  They were on the move. Mogaba seemed to be gathering strength. The forvalaka was with Goblin. Both groups moved inside an envelope of crows.

  Soulcatcher probably had a better idea of the big picture than I did.

  * * *

  “Don’t you ever learn?” Croaker snarled.

  I barely had strength enough to sit up and reach for something to drink. I had spent a lot more time out than I realized while it was happening. Sarie always did make me lose track of time.

  “Shit,” I murmured. “That took it out of me. I could eat a cow.”

  “You weren’t supposed to be dealing with family things. You keep it up, it’s going to be crow, not cow.”

  You could not find an edible cow in this end of the world, anyway.

  I grunted. I had a pitcher of something sweet in one hand and a warm loaf of bread in the other. At that moment it did not occur to me to ask why he would accuse me of getting involved in family things.

  “It’s dark already. Our people are all climbing into their holes and pulling them in after them. I need you rested and ready because I want you over there watching the Shadowgate. And not sightseeing, either. We need to get a signal up the instant Longshadow cracks the gate.”

  I lifted a hand. As soon as I cleared my mouth I asked, “Why don’t I watch Longshadow? Smoke don’t want to get close out there. I might not see the shadows moving till it’s too late. Longshadow I can see while he’s making his summons.” I dumped some sugar water in behind the last bite of bread.

  Smoke groaned.

  “Shit.” Suddenly the Old Man looked like he wanted to cry.

  “Where’s One-Eye?” I asked. “Better get him in here.”

  Smoke had not made a sound in years.

  “You find him. I’m the physician here.” He headed for Smoke’s cot.

  “Good idea.” I got myself up and stumbled toward the doorway on still feeble legs.

  62

  It was a great night for all hell to break loose. I had not really noticed the gathering darkness while walking the ghost, so lost in thought had I been. But clouds were moving in to deepen the darkness. “One-Eye!” I bellowed. “Get your dead ass over here now!”

  I considered the clouds. My suggestion looked real good now.

  Where the hell was that little shit? I climbed on up out of Croaker’s dugout. “One-Eye!” I headed for his hole. Surely he did not intend to spend the night there? He had not done nearly enough work on it to make it a good place to wait out a night when shadows were slithering about, wizard or not.

  I was almost there when the little wizard came scuttling from the direction of my shelter. “What do you want, Kid?”

  “Where the hell you been? Never mind. We got trouble with the ghost.”

  “Uhm?”

  “He’s making noise,” I whispered. Then I glanced around. I had forgotten to guard my tongue.

  It was my lucky night. There were no crows anywhere around.

  One-Eye glanced over his shoulder. “Making noise?” He did not believe me.

  “Did I stutter? Get your ass in there. Croaker’s already checking him for physical problems.” I continued to look for listeners. Mice and bats and shadows have little ears, too.

  A boreal light rippled between Overlook and the jagged ruins of Kiaulune, reflecting brilliantly off the metal in the fortress wall. It was just a sputter, though, as Lady got tuned up. A moment later the only light visible anywhere came from the surviving chambers of crystal atop Overlook’s towers. Longshadow’s favorite was particularly bright.

  “You gonna stand around and gawk or are you gonna get on with business?”

  That was One-Eye. Turn everything around so any delays would be my fault.

  I took one last look around before I went inside. Still nothing. I dropped the rags covering the doorway, moved a shadow-repellent candle on a stand into place between the doorway and the rest of us. I lighted it from the nearest lamp. We ought not to count on Longshadow to keep our timetable. “I wonder if the Shadowmaster isn’t curious about why we aren’t showing any lights and making any noise.”

  “Hush,” One-Eye told me. He whispered, “Thought you said Croaker was giving him a physical.”

  Croaker was sitting in my chair, slumped. “He was when I left.” I grabbed a pitcher and sucked down a bellyful of sweet water.

  “He don’t look real frisky to me,” One-Eye said. He poked Smoke.

  “I didn’t say he got up and danced a hornpipe. He groaned. In all the time I’ve been around him the only noises he ever made was when we thought he was coming down with pneumonia. A groan looked like a big thing. Croaker a
greed.”

  The Old Man made a noise. He returned to flesh. As soon as his head cleared he told us, “It’s going to be interesting. Longshadow just sent for Howler, Singh and the girl. He’s ready to get started.”

  One-Eye grumbled, “A thrill a minute around here. Shadows again. I knew I should’ve picked up that farmland and got out. Swizzledick here says the runt’s been getting uppity. Talking back and everything.”

  “He made a sound,” Croaker snapped. “Call it a groan. And when I tried to take a look at the girl he shied away and gave off a sort of feeling to do with shadows.”

  “‘She is the darkness,’” I quoted. “Lately he’s done it any time I take him close to anybody female. It’s strongest near Soulcatcher. Sarie and the Radisha tie for number two.”

  “Ah,” One-Eye said. “I’d almost forgotten that old witch. How’s she doing, Murgen?”

  “You care?”

  “I hear Cordy’s on his way. He might want to know.”

  “You’re going to tell him we can spy on his bounce baby?”

  “Grr. I guess not. But I owe him a couple, three big tweaks.”

  Personally, I doubt that anybody has ever gotten ahead of One-Eye anywhere. Except maybe Goblin. One-Eye is the kind of guy who gets even with you first.

  One-Eye is also the kind of guy who can still hand out the occasional surprise after two hundred years. “I don’t make it through the night tonight, there’s a will in my bedroll. Most everything goes to Goblin. Couple things, though, I want Gota to have.” He was peeling back Smoke’s eyelids at the time so did not notice when Croaker and I exchanged startled looks.

  Croaker said, “You don’t make it, there’s not much chance we’ll still be here, either.”

  “The Kid will be. His mother-in-law claims he’s destined. What for, who knows? The only one who ever did is dead.”

  Before the Old Man could ask, I said, “He’s talking about something Hong Tray came up with way back in Dejagore. I’m not sure what it was. Sarie and I talked about it but they never made it clear to her, either. Something about the future of the Nyueng Bao. I know it bugged the shit out of Uncle Doj and Mother Gota. Thai Dei’s more neutral but he’s not keen on it, either. I think he’s glad he doesn’t really know what’s going on.”

  “I think you’ve pretty well shaped the future of those people already,” Croaker told me. “We’ve still got half the tribe traipsing around behind us. Where’s your pet, One-Eye? I haven’t seen him in a week.”

  “JoJo? Damned if I know. Long as he stays out from underfoot.… Look, I don’t see anything different about this guy. Not from here. Let me take him out, see if there’s any change in him where he’s at.”

  I said, “I already told you—”

  “Yeah, yeah. Shut up. I got to concentrate here.” But not much. Smoke was so used to being used this way that taking him out required no effort at all.

  Croaker said, “He did feel a little different. But it’s been a long time for me.”

  “It just occurred to me that I haven’t run into Kina out there lately.”

  “How about in your dreams?”

  I could not remember. “That’s odd. I don’t remember. But it has to be. I have the same dreams all the time. I’m almost comfortable with them now.”

  “Maybe that’s the point. Be careful.”

  “Like One-Eye says, careful is my middle name.”

  “Stupid is One-Eye’s middle name.”

  “I heard that. I’ll turn you into a toad.” The little wizard was back already.

  “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You’re not even good at turning food into shit. What’s the word?” I asked.

  “We may have to wait for a day when we have more time but you and me are going to have to sit down and see what we can figure out about what you’ve been doing.”

  “What?”

  “It feels to me like a couple of the walls he’s hiding behind have started to fall down.”

  Croaker asked, “Is he going to wake up on us tonight, right in the middle of things?”

  “I doubt it. He’s still buried way down deep.” He watched me suck down some more water, then follow that with a leg from a roasted chicken. You do not eat badly if you are the Liberator. “You going to suck down everything in sight, Kid?”

  “It’s going to be a long night.”

  “You stay here and stick to business,” Croaker told me. “Short trips out only. Let me know what’s happening when it happens.”

  “Right. Will do, boss.”

  “One-Eye. We need more spells around this place. Something that will keep the shadows away but that will let us come and go if we want to.”

  One-Eye put on a big, gap-toothed grin and cocked that ugly hat of his at an uglier angle. “I done come up with the perfect amulet, chief. Figuring we were going to need to have messengers moving around during hard times.”

  “How many do you have?”

  “Right now, an even baker’s dozen.”

  “That’s all?”

  “Hey. They’re hard to make.”

  And, no doubt, fooling with them took time away from his still and black market projects.

  We had been in one place long enough for him to have gotten involved in some sort of black marketing, however feeble its prospects were. Which would take time away from less interesting avocations. Like making amulets that might save lives.

  I was willing to bet that he had more than the thirteen he was willing to turn over to the Old Man. He would have at least one for each of his own wrists and ankles plus a few socked back to retail to the highest bidders once we saw how well they worked and how badly they were needed.

  That little shit really is a villain.

  But he was on our side, our villain, the best we had. Unless you counted Lady, which I did not even though she was the Lieutenant. I never have been able to count her part of the Company. She came with too much baggage.

  “It’s getting late,” Croaker remarked. “You might take a quick run at Overlook, see what they’re doing now. One-Eye. I want to stash my couriers in your dugout.”

  “What? No way, chief. I just got the place cleaned up.”

  I took another drink, then sat down beside Smoke.

  63

  The light in Longshadow’s crystal chamber seemed brilliant enough to hurt fleshly eyes. Magically created, it came from everywhere at once and left no place at all where a wild shadow might lurk. The few furnishings up there were smooth and rounded and left no little pockets or crevasses or corners where even a pinhead of untamed darkness might come to life.

  No feral shadow was going to sneak up on him.

  Longshadow seemed to have changed clothing and even bathed in preparation for the night’s events. Certainly he wore a new mask, black and silver with inlays of cyan, cardinal, and a particularly intense dark green. The patterns on the mask altered every time I looked. I told myself when I got a minute I ought to go back and have a look at Longshadow making himself over. He had not done anything like this ever before.

  Narayan Singh and the girl arrived only moments before I did. I determined that by a quick dip into the past. Longshadow asked, “Where is Howler?”

  Singh shrugged. The girl reacted as though Longshadow had not spoken at all. Singh said, “We have not seen him in days.” Which was an outright lie.

  “He should be here. I warned him to be here. For his own safety.”

  The girl sat down on the floor, cross-legged. She paid the Shadowmaster no mind whatsoever. Singh probably had had to badger her to get her to leave her writing.

  Curious, I did a dash back in time. And got surprised. I found the child hurrying Singh. “We must be there in time.”

  I went back some more. I found the child in that trancelike state where she claimed to be in touch with Kina. Certainly the odor of Kina was strong. I got out of there before I attracted her attention. She had not paid me much mind lately and I liked that just fine.

 
; I took a couple of quick dips into times nearby and concluded that Narayan and his ward had responded to Longshadow’s summons because Kina had told them to respond.

  Interesting. But what did it mean?

  When I got back to present time I found the Howler puffing his way up the last spiral of stairs to Longshadow’s chamber. The Shadowmaster had sensed his approach and had faced the entrance. The smelly little wizard appeared, let out a shriek before the Shadowmaster could start giving him a hard time. It sounded almost amused.

  Longshadow turned away although he had been suffering a bad case of the nags lately. He seemed to be in such a good mood that he was willing to overlook petty transgressions. He said, “Good. We’re all here. Now we go ahead with the game the way I should have played it from the beginning.” He sounded slightly puzzled, as though, suddenly—like every man and woman in the army besieging him—he wondered why he had done so little for so long. He acted as if a powerful psychic wind had torn away a dense fog that had gripped his mind for ages.

  I suspected that was close to the truth. I could not identify the villain but I was sure that one of our nastier female players, most likely Kina, had reached him somehow long ago and had been blunting his sword ever since. If I was right I had to admire the subtlety of it. Longshadow had not worked it out. That might be because the manipulation had been limited to dumbing him down and exaggerating his natural prejudices and bullheadedness .

  I recalled that he had had a few sharp spells. Things had not gone well for us during those interludes.

  “Close the door, Deceiver.” The Shadowmaster’s voice was strong. “There must be no interruptions.”

  Howler seated himself on a tall stool. I gathered that it had been brought in for him specifically, back when he first attached himself to the Shadowmaster. He did not use it often but no one else used it ever. He and Longshadow were not the sort of colleagues who watched over one another’s shoulders, sharing suggestions and expertise.

  The Shadowmaster had done some housekeeping. Usually his chamber contained an arsenal of magical gewgaws, all laid out strategically. Most of those were absent tonight. Maybe Longshadow did not want to test the honesty of his guests.