The Return of the Black Company

by Glen Cook

Catcher snapped, “In the name of your real mother, who happens to be my pain-in-the-ass sister, you’re going to get a paddling as soon as we finish with this piece of shit.” The voice she used was a dead ringer for that of somebody I used to know who had been a devout believer in not sparing the rod.

  Longshadow was one stubborn fish. He thrashed a lot longer than I thought any human could without air. The kid told the others, “Make sure you don’t kill him.”

  “Go teach your grandma to suck eggs, brat.” This time Catcher’s voice was identical to Goblin’s. I felt a sudden fear for the little wizard.

  Longshadow collapsed. “Tie him and gag him and put him in that chair of his,” Catcher told Howler. “Fix him good. Then look around for any more surprises he may have here.” The shadow had vanished, either out the cracked door, into hiding or destroyed.

  Howler, panting, asked, “And what’ll you be doing, O mighty one?”

  “Setting the pecking order straight.” She grabbed the Daughter of Night, dropped to one knee, bent the struggling child over the other, mouthed a spell that flung Narayan Singh across the room hard enough to knock him cold, then yanked the kid’s pants down and proceeded to apply a well-deserved tanning.

  The child never cried but tears filled her eyes once Catcher finished. She felt both humiliated and deserted. Again she faced a crisis of faith. The stench of Kina had faded as soon as the kid got too busy to mess with her incomplete summoning.

  Catcher said, “You give me any more crap, sweetheart, and next time you get intimately acquainted with a willow switch. You got him tied up good?”

  “I’m working on it. You’ve waited this long you don’t need to get in any big damned hurry now.”

  “I want to get control of his shadows. They’re not going to sit still—”

  “I know the plan. I helped write it.” Howler screeched. There was a world of irritation in his cry.

  I had to see the Old Man.

  65

  “They’re squabbling among themselves already,” I told Croaker after he shooed everybody outside. “But they definitely have Longshadow on the hook. Catcher intends to make him do whatever she wants.”

  “She going to do a Taking?”

  I had not thought of that. That kind of stuff had happened only way, way back. “Would she know how?”

  “She might. But she might not have enough to work with where Longshadow is concerned. She might need to know his true name. We know he’s got that hidden in the Shadowgate spell.”

  “What’s going on here?”

  “I’ve ordered the New Division to move over to the Shadowgate and relieve the Old Division. If I get them entangled with the shadows before they understand what the Prahbrindrah Drah is doing, they won’t be able to participate. All they’ll have time for is fighting shadows.”

  “What excuse did you give them?”

  “The Old Division doesn’t have enough bamboo.”

  On a night like tonight no general was going to let his men surrender their bamboo to another outfit.

  “Also, that I want the Old Division to attack Overlook from the south. Those are the orders I actually sent to get them started. They won’t get their real orders till after they separate.”

  We had rehearsed a move from the Shadowgate to the south wall several times. Maybe the Old Man was still thinking way ahead of everybody else.

  “I think I was able to warn Lady.” I told him what I had done. “It seemed like the right call in the circumstances. I know she’ll ask questions later.”

  “Oh, she will. And she’ll crap bricks when she gets her answers.”

  “You don’t seem particularly terrified.”

  “I was her prisoner in the Tower at Charm before she learned to love me. I used up my scared then.”

  I would not count on her love if I was him. They had not been much of a loving couple lately. Guys like me never stop loving their Saries but other people do fall out of love when there is a lot of stress for a long time. I said, “I have to check on Goblin. I had a really ugly thought while I was watching them fight over there. If Catcher was as thorough as I think she’d be, old One-Eye might be an orphan.”

  “Shit,” Croaker said softly. “I overlooked that angle completely. Look, while you’re searching for that little shit tell Smoke ‘white wedding’ and ‘white knight’ every little bit. Alternate them. That’ll make Goblin easier to spot.”

  “I figured there was something—”

  “And any time you see crows, anywhere, panic them. We need to blind Catcher as much as we can.”

  “She fooled you, eh?”

  “Say I underestimated her ambitions. Obviously, now, she’s up to more than just getting even with Lady. Go on.”

  * * *

  The “white wedding, white knight” mantra worked wonders. Smoke and I found Goblin almost immediately. And he was in deep shit, just as I feared, only it was not nearly as deep as some probably hoped. When Smoke and I got there we found him and his boys lying very quietly amongst some rough rocks feeling very nasty. In a very few minutes somebody was going to get hurt. Bad.

  I had to dive into the pool of time to find out why.

  Goblin is just a minor wizard but he is one. He comes equipped with a normal Company complement of distrust, too. He could not control shadows or crows, bats or mice, or any other creature well enough to use it to collect information but he could manipulate some creatures some ways. His choice was a miniature owl common on the south side of the Dandha Presh. It did not grow much bigger than your fist.

  He kept the critters posted in the bushes around his camp wherever he went to ground. And they always fluttered ahead when he was on the march. He moved only by night except when he chose to attack some of Longshadow’s loyalists.

  Goblin suffered no surprises.

  He was not surprised when the forvalaka came padding through the darkness and leapt at him with a thunderous growl. Owls using a call unique to that particular danger had cried out as the beastwoman passed.

  There were no official plans for her to be anywhere nearby tonight.

  There had been a lot of unnecessary, unexplained crow activity in the neighborhood lately, too.

  Goblin had become suspicious. He had prepared. Just in case. After a while even a Company man as lazy as One-Eye will react to signs and portents.

  The forvalaka attacked—but what she sank claws and fangs into was not Goblin. It was only vaguely human in shape, sacking stuffed with leaves and straw. A spell had been put on that so the forvalaka could not let go once it grabbed hold.

  That happened at virtually the identical moment that Soulcatcher stepped into Longshadow’s workplace, when all hell broke loose everywhere else.

  A little something that did not look like Goblin at all and probably smelled even less like him bounced out of the darkness. It awarded the panther an enthusiastic kick in the ribs. “I knew you were too good to be true. And after I went to all that trouble to try to fix things for you.” Boom! He kicked her again. She roared and thrashed.

  A voice from the darkness said, “You make her any madder, she’s going to bust loose and tear you a new asshole.”

  “If I didn’t make that spell strong enough to hold four more just like her then I deserve to get my shit chute rerouted.” The forvalaka roared again. “But I do need to do something about all this racket.” It could be heard for miles.

  Owls hooted. This time they conveyed no sense of alarm. Nevertheless, only the forvalaka was out in the open when a lone Taglian stepped into the clearing where the beast still struggled to let go of its prey. The newcomer told the darkness, “White wedding, white knight.” I would have laughed had Smoke permitted me that option.

  Goblin materialized. “What’s the word, Mowfat?”

  “Somebody’s coming. Sneaking. And they know where they’re going.”

  “Surprise, surprise.” Goblin gave Lisa Bowalk another kick that would have broken normal ribs. “When they sell you out they sell
you all the way. I ever tell you what this bitch was doing first time we met her? She was barely old enough to bleed at the crotch but she was killing people to sell their bodies.”

  “We’ve heard it all before, boss,” a voice called from the darkness. “If we’ve got company coming let’s get ready to have a party.”

  “I hate this shit,” Goblin told Mowfat. “I hate this country, I hate these people, I hate—”

  “I hate to tell you this but they’re less than a mile away.”

  “Mogaba with them?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t wait around till they got that close.”

  Goblin went to work being a wizard. He cooked up some of his favorite wizard dishes. Those, it was obvious immediately, would include illusions.

  One-Eye and Goblin love to make people see things that are not there.

  I stole away to take a look at the people approaching.

  These events were taking place in rocky, wooded, brushy mountain country in the dark. The seeing was bad even for me. I could not find Mogaba though I did confirm that the folks hunting Goblin were Mogaba’s partisans. They were hard little snots, too, after having spent a winter in the business. They were wary and they were quiet.

  I backtracked them. I had to go all the way back to before sunset to get a glimpse of Mogaba. I caught him sitting around with his boys not five miles from Goblin’s camp. He was sharing his venison roast with a big black kitty.

  That led me backward again instead of just humping off to see where everybody went. The mantra that cleared the mists around Goblin also helped disperse those around Mogaba. But only for a few seconds at a time.

  I found out what I wanted to know, then rejoined Goblin’s bunch in time to watch them ambush the bad boys who were supposed to clean up after sweet Lisa Bowalk.

  What looked like a shimmering ghost materialized on the slope opposite the one where Goblin and most of his gang waited. Although the specter grabbed the attention of the Shadowlanders that was not its function. It was a signal meant to warn Goblin’s gang to protect their night vision. Four, three, two, one. Flash!

  I had no eyes to close. For an instant I was as blind as Mogaba’s raiders. Then I asked myself why I should be blind and decided I was blind only because I expected to be blind. I could see again as soon as I decided I should. Which was more proof that lots of things really are a matter of viewpoint and expectation.

  The flash not only blinded the Shadowlanders for a while, it splashed them with something that left them glowing in the dark. They made good targets.

  Goblin’s men were outnumbered. They took the opportunity to rectify that. Life became very unpleasant for the southerners. Short for some of them, too.

  Goblin made their situation more unpleasant by conjuring numerous simulacra of brothers present and past. It was an old device and one of his favorites. He did not use it so often anyone figured out how to deal with it. The southerners struggled with spooks and shadows while Goblin’s rangers picked them off. They did not jump on the option of using antiambush tactics because they took too long to comprehend the full scope of what had befallen them.

  Mogaba never appeared. I could not find him no matter how hard I looked. Eventually it dawned on his lieutenants that they had taken a bite that was beyond their ability to chew.

  They began to withdraw. They flailed at themselves and one another, trying to shed the luminescence that made them easy targets. Some tried to strip, though that meant staying in one place for a length of time definitely not conducive to continued good health.

  The spooks and Goblin’s men kept after them. Organized withdrawal collapsed into panic. Goblin kept close contact. He had spun Fortune on her ear and tripped his enemies good. Now he wanted to ride his good luck for all it was worth. He wanted to catch Mogaba while the Nar remained unaware of the scope of the disaster.

  I wished him luck.

  My fears for Goblin having proven unjustified I headed back to report what looked like the only good thing that had happened all night.

  66

  “It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Croaker told me. “Yet.” He watched me suck down a quart of sugar water. “It looks like the Old and New Divisions are swapping places without any problems. And we haven’t seen any evidence that many shadows are getting through. And I think Lady can get her situation under control. So whatever kind of stunt Soulcatcher is pulling it isn’t gonna go all her way.”

  There were some unspoken yets in there that were pretty damned big.

  Croaker asked, “How are you holding up? Should I have One-Eye come take over?”

  “He’s probably more use wherever he is now.”

  “I don’t know. He’s being One-Eye. A few minutes ago he was running around waving a fancy black spear and mumbling incoherently. I do believe he was a bit tipsy.”

  “Shit.” One-Eye drunk and in a mood to show off his talents seldom bodes well for anyone. “That’s the spear he made while we were trapped in Dejagore. He was drunk the last time he tried to use it.”

  “The one he made to kill Shadowspinner?”

  “To kill Shadowmasters in general, but yes.”

  “We don’t want him killing this Shadowmaster. Not yet.”

  “He’s probably worried about the shapeshifter. You can tell him she’s no threat. Goblin’s got her under control.”

  “You’re sure you don’t need a break?”

  “I’m fine.” I got back into the alcove with Smoke.

  Croaker called, “Your in-laws understand about the shadows?”

  “Thai Dei saw them at Lake Tanji. They’ll keep their heads down.”

  * * *

  Smoke and I went straight up half a mile so I could get an idea of who was doing what to whom, where and when.

  Everybody was doing something to somebody. The night was alive with trails of fire down around the Shadowgate. It looked as though some of the Old Division were still there giving their replacements a hand.

  There were a few fireballs flying around in Kiaulune and the wastes between the ruins and Overlook, though not so many as I had expected. Maybe I had gotten the warning to Lady too late.

  I headed downward. Below me the ruins and surrounding area began to develop a case of measles as ruby dots took life. In moments those gave birth to red threads that slithered through the night in search of other measles.

  Whatever it was, Lady was behind it. It encouraged a lot of yelling and running. The people getting excited all proved to belong to the Prince’s division.

  Lady’s men were rounding them up and disarming them. Those who chose to remain loyal to her, of course.

  The worm had turned real fast.

  The Prince himself exercised the better part of valor, accompanied by his staff, his bodyguards and anyone else who could run fast enough to keep up. Lady had impressed them quickly and thoroughly and the survivors fully understood that their futures might be much more pleasant if welcomed somewhere else.

  There were a lot of dead people around. Most appeared to be stubborn Taglian loyalists.

  The rubies grew larger and brighter. The threads connected, then contracted into straight, rigid lines. Seen up close those hummed and crackled and popped ferociously when some fool touched them. Said fool always fell down stone dead. The red light smelled bad. It took me a moment to recognize the odor because I was not expecting it.

  The ruby light exuded the smell of Kina. Lady was drawing upon the goddess to create her sorcery.

  The lines of power she laid down carved the area into triangles of isolation that could be escaped but only by using great caution. The lines kept the Prince’s faithful from supporting one another. Consequently, Lady was emerging triumphant although she was outnumbered dramatically.

  She was a nasty old bitch.

  I closed in on her. She had reached a state where she was happy with the way things were going. I presumed. It was hard to read her emotional state when she was buttoned up inside the Lifetaker costume. She
told Isi and Ochiba, “That should take care of that. For a while.”

  Isi said, “I guess this means no more warm barracks and no more combat pay.” There had been no pay for anybody since the battle at Charandaprash. Not that there was anything to spend pay on. Unless One-Eye’s brewing scheme was more successful than I believed.

  “I suspect our contract has been terminated, yes. And the Captain is likely to be put out because all its terms have not yet been met.”

  That was true, though the Prince and his sister had been cautioned repeatedly against failing to fulfill their end of the bargain. And right now those warnings had to be weighing heavily on the Prince’s mind. He had cast his fortune with Soulcatcher, for whatever reason, and the snake had turned in his hand. How many times had he heard Croaker tell what had happened to past employers who had turned on the Company?

  Plenty. Catcher must have done some strong selling to make him turn on us. She must have been convinced that she could handle Lady.

  Might be worth a few minutes trying to find out what kind of a deal they made.

  Lady’s bunch had a gang of prisoners seated in neat lines, cross-legged. None seemed inclined to protest their situation. Willow Swan and Blade were among the captives. They seemed depressed.

  I guess Sindawe was right when he said she did not trust them.

  I almost wished I was there in person.

  “I hear Cordy’s supposed to get here tomorrow,” Swan muttered to Blade. “Nothing like timing.”

  Blade grunted.

  “Why the hell did the fool go and do something like this?”

  It took me a moment to realize that Swan meant the Prahbrindrah Drah, not Cordy Mather.

  Blade grunted again. Swan seemed to understand.

  “Why the hell didn’t he tell me? I’m supposed to be the goddamned commander of his goddamned bodyguard.”

  “Because you’re always over here watching her body instead?”

  “So I’m sorry. He don’t appeal to me. You suppose this crap is happening all over? Or did just the Prince go bugfuck?”

  “No talking over there,” Lady said, not unkindly. She asked, “Anyone have any thoughts concerning what we can do about our friends in there?”