Dreams of Steel

Chapter Forty-Two

Swan could not get over it. "Our man Blade's done turned into a real live general. You had it figured all the way, didn't you?"

Blade nodded.

I believed him. He might actually make a commander-unless he'd had a once in a lifetime stroke of genius.

Swan chuckled. "Old Spinner ought to have the word by now. Bet he's foaming at the mouth."

"Very likely," I said. "And he might take steps. I want a strong guard posted. The night still belongs to the Shadowmasters."

"What can he do, hey?" Swan demanded.

"I don't know. I'd rather not find out the hard way."

Blade said, "Calm down, Swan. We didn't win the war."

You would have thought so from the celebrating. I told Blade, "Tell me more about this other Widowmaker and Lifetaker."

"You know as much as I do. Shadowspinner attacked and should have taken the city. But they rode out of the hills. Lifetaker kept him fighting for his life. Widowmaker rode around killing his men. They couldn't touch him. They rode away after our men drove the attackers out of the city. Mogaba tried a sortie. They didn't help. He took heavy casualties."

I checked a crow in a nearby bush, careful not to be obvious. "I see. We can't do anything about it. Let's ignore it and get on with plans for tomorrow."

"Is that wise, Mistress?" Narayan asked. "The night does belong to the Shadowmasters." Meaning there were shadows among us, listening, and bats whisking overhead.

"There are tools available." I could take care of the bats-and the crows-but I could not get rid of the shadows. To do anything more than confuse them was beyond my limited powers. "But does it matter? He knows we're here. He knows we'll come there. He just has to sit and wait. Or run away, if that suits him."

I had no hope Shadowspinner would elect that option. He retained the preponderance of force-if not in numbers, certainly in power. The stunt I had pulled was the limit. I would not send these men into a maelstrom of sorcery.

The victory would increase their confidence but could lead to trouble if I overvalued it. That was partly why Croaker lost his last battle. He got lucky several times and began to count on it. Luck has its way of running out.

"You have a point, Narayan. No need to ask for trouble. We'll talk about it tomorrow. Pass the word. We'll make an early start. Rest. We may have to do it again." The men had to be reminded: there were battles yet to come.

The others went, leaving Ram, Blade, and me. I looked at Blade. "Well done, Blade. Very well done."

He nodded. He knew that.

"How are your friends taking it?" Swan and Mather were off with their band of Radisha's Guards.

He shrugged. "Taking the long view."

"Uhm?"

"Taglios will be there after the Black Company goes. They've set down roots there."

"Understandable. Will they be trouble?"

Blade chuckled. "They don't even want to trouble Shadowspinner. If there was any way, they'd be running their tavern and staying out of everybody's way."

"But they take their pledge to the Radisha seriously?"

"As seriously as you take your contract."

"Then it behooves me to make sure there's no tension."

He grunted. "Shadows don't need ideas."

"True. Tomorrow, then."

He rose, went.

"Ram, let's take a ride."

Ram groaned. In about a hundred years, maybe, he would make a horseman.

We were both in armor still, uncomfortable as that was. I touched up the glamors. We rode among the men. Had to keep their minds fixed on me. I paused to thank men who had been pointed out as having done well. When the show was over I returned to my own place in the camp, indistinguishable from any other, and gave myself up to night's dreams.

I was sick again. Ram did his best to keep it from the men. I noticed Narayan whispering with Sindhu about it. I did not care at the moment. Sindhu glided away, presumably to tell Blade. Narayan came over. "Perhaps you ought to consult a physician."

"You have one handy?"

His grin was a shadow of itself. "No. There isn't one here."

Which meant some of the wounded would die needlessly, often as not victims of their own home remedies. Medical discipline had been something Croaker had started pounding into his men when they were learning to keep in step. And he'd been right.

I have dealt with a great many soldiers and armies. Infection and disease are deadlier enemies than foreign arms. Determined health discipline had been one of the strengths of the Company before Croaker's passing.

Pain. Damn me. It still hurt. I had never grieved over anybody before.

It was light enough to drive away bats and shadows. "Narayan. Are they fed?" Damn the sickness. "Let's get them moving."

"Where are we going?"

"Get Blade. I'll explain."

He got Blade. I explained. I rode out with the cavalry, leaving Blade to bring the rest. I headed east ten miles, turned into the hills. Crows followed. I was not concerned about crows. They were not reporting to the Shadowmasters.

Ten miles into the hills I halted. I could see part of the plain. "Dismount. Rest. Keep the noise down. Cold food. Ram, come with me." I moved forward. "Quiet. There may be pickets."

We did not encounter any before I could see the whole panorama.

There had been changes. When we had come before the hills had been green with farms and orchards. Now they were spotted brown, especially to the south. The canals were not delivering water as they should.

"Ram, get those two red rumel men, Abda and whatever his name is."

He went. I studied the prospect.

Shadowspinner's camps and siegeworks surrounded the city. Near the north gate the besiegers had raised an earthen ramp to the top of the wall, no mean achievement. Dejagore squatted atop a high mound, behind walls forty feet high. The ramp had been damaged badly. Men were hauling earth up to repair it.

Presumably that had been the point of attack the night whatever had happened had happened.

The besiegers looked ragged. The condition of their camps suggested low morale. Could I take advantage? Had word of yesterday's misadventure reached the line troops? Knowing that, knowing a large force could hammer them against the anvil of the city, they ought to be ripe for a rout.

I could not place Shadowspinner. Maybe he was holed up in the remnants of the permanent camp south of the city. It had its own rampart and ditch. If not, he was careful not to stand out. Maybe Mogaba had a habit of picking on him.

Ram returned with Abda and the other man. I said, "I want to find a way to get down there unseen. Spread out, try to find one. Watch for pickets. If we can get down there we can give them a nasty surprise tonight."

They nodded and slipped away. Ram with his customary worried look. He still did not believe I could take care of myself.

Sometimes I wondered.

I gave them a head start, then moved westward. I had a surprise for the Shadowmasters-if my limited talent was up to it.

It took longer than I hoped but it looked workable, "it" being a bat trap that would call and kill like a candle does moths. I'd been thinking about versions since we'd left Taglios. It should work on crows, too, with adjustments.

Which left only the shadows.

We had not encountered it but rumors of old, out of the Shadowlands in the days of conquest, said those shadows could be assassins as well as spies. Captains and kings had died too opportunely, with no other explanation. Maybe the deaths of two Shadowmasters had taken that weapon away. Maybe a killing took a combined effort. I hoped so but did not count on it.

I set the trap working and hurried back to where I had parted with Ram. The others were there waiting. Ram scolded me. I suffered it. I'd grown fond of him in a sisterly way. It had been a long time since anyone had been concerned about me. It felt good.

When Ram finished, Abda interjected, "We've found two routes down. Neither one is ideal. The better one might be used by the horsemen. We cleared the pickets. I sent a few men down in case there's a changing of the guard."

That could be a problem.

Blade materialized, dogged by Narayan and Sindhu. "You made good time," I told him.

He grunted, studied the city. I explained what I wanted to do. "I don't expect to accomplish much. The point is to harass Shadowspinner, demoralize his men, and let ours inside know there's an army out here."

Blade glanced at the westering sun, grunted again.

Swan and Mather joined us. I said, "Get some men moving. Abda, explain the routes. Mr. Mather, take charge of the infantry. Sindhu, you take the horsemen. Swan, Blade, Narayan, Ram, come with me. I want to talk."

Mather and Sindhu got things moving. We got out of their way. I asked Swan, "Swan, your men brought home the news about the row down here. Run through what you know."

He did. I entered questions, did not get half the information I wanted. Not that I expected to.

Swan said, "Some third party is playing his own game."

"Yes." There were crows nearby. I could not mention names. "The attackers definitely masqueraded as Lifetaker and Widowmaker?"

"Absolutely."

"Then those men down there should panic if they see them again. Get the armor, Ram."

Narayan prowled restlessly while we talked, putting in nothing, keeping one eye on the city. He said, "They're starting to move around."

"We've been discovered?"

"I don't think so. They don't act like they expect trouble."

I went and looked. After watching awhile I hazarded a guess. "The news is out. They're shook. Their officers are trying to keep them busy."

"You really going to take a whack?" Swan asked.

"A little one. Just big enough to let Mogaba know he has friends on the outside."

The day was getting on. I passed orders for the men to eat cold and keep moving. Ram showed up with our armor and animals. "Two hours of light. We ought to do something while they can see us."

Narayan said, "There's a group of four, five hundred headed out south, Mistress."

I checked. Hard to tell from so far away but they looked more like a labor battalion than armed men on the march. Curious. A similar group was forming north of the city.

Sindhu appeared. "They got the word about yesterday. They're bad rattled."

I lifted an eyebrow.

"I got close enough to hear some talk. They're making a move. Don't know what it is."

Daring, Sindhu. "You didn't hear where we could find Shadowspinner, did you?"

"No."

I sent everybody off with instructions. Ram and I donned our armor. Ram said nothing the whole time. Usually he had some small talk, thoughtless but comforting.

"You're awfully quiet."

"Thinking. All what's happened in just a couple months. Wondering."

"What?"

"If the world really is so black it's time for the Year of the Skulls."

"Oh, Ram." He was not a fast thinker but an inexorable one, now suffering a crisis of faith brought on by events in the grove but sprouting from seeds that had fallen earlier. He cared again. Kina was losing her hold.

And damn me, I let Croaker get past my defenses and turn me soft inside, too. I Felt enough now that I could not just use and discard.

Maybe that soft center was there all the time. Maybe I was like an oyster. Croaker always thought so. Before we hardly knew one another he wrote about me in ways that suggested he thought there was something special inside me.

Those people down there took him. They destroyed his dreams and hamstrung mine. I did not give a damn about the Year of the Skulls or Kina. I wanted restitution.

"Ram, stop." I stepped close, placed a hand on his chest, looked him in the eye. "Don't worry. Don't tear your heart out. Believe me when I tell you I'll try to make everything work out."

He did trust me, damn him. A big damn faithful dog look came into his eyes.