She Is The Darkness

48

The weather changed eventually. The snow melted. We came out of our shelters like a bunch of groundhogs. So did the rest of the world. But most everyone was interested in recovering, not in getting into fights.

Fighting did continue inside Overlook, though mostly Longshadow's soldiers were satisfied to keep Lady's troops bottled up. Those men were in no hurry to get themselves killed now they were cut off from the outside. They had control of stores enough for a long time and complete confidence that Lady would make every effort to relieve them.

She would. I used Smoke to look in on some of her planning. She had expected any men who got inside to be cut off for a while. She had chosen shock units and commanders she believed would be able to handle the hardship.

The Prince's division was fighting in the ruins of Kiaulune and in the hills north of us, where Mogaba persisted in harassing the shit out of us. Lady's division held the ground between the city and Overlook. One of the Captain's divisions was around the other side, astride the road to the Shadowgate. The other remained in reserve.

Spring was a real threat on the horizon.

I asked Croaker, "You think the Prahbrindrah Drah is maybe going to get tired of getting the honors in all these fights?"

He gave me a startled look. "Am I that obvious?"

"About what?" I looked around. Only Thai Dei was close enough to hear anything.

"You just... It could be his division is the most incompetent."

"And least reliable?"

"This army will suffer a lot of casualties before we get to Khatovar, Murgen. Correct me if I'm wrong. It seems to me it would be in the Company's interest if most of those happened outside our own ranks."

"Uhm?"

"I trust my Old Division. A lot of those men want to join the Company. Most of them would fight the Prince if I gave the order."

Lately a lot of Taglians wanted to join the Company. I think most of the applications were genuine. Guys who take the oath always stick. They never take the oath lightly.

The oath is always administered in secret. Recent recruits have been asked to keep their new allegiances to themselves. No one outside the Company had any idea how strong we really were. Some people inside were getting the mushroom treatment, too, if their name was something like Lady. The Old Man was turning paranoia into a fine art. "I understand that. What I'm wondering is, how come Lady is getting the hurt, too?" If something did not end up on the Prince's back usually it went to her.

Croaker's shrug told me he was not quite sure himself. "I guess I don't want her in any position where she has to deal with too much temptation."

"And the New Division?"

"I wouldn't ask them to face off with the Prince. They probably won't ever be ready to take our side in a civil scrimmage." He looked me in the eye. This campaign had elevated him to a new level of hardness. This was like trading looks with Kina. I did not look away.

Croaker explained, "I'll deliver on my promises." He meant that our employers would not deliver. The Radisha, especially, was determined to screw us. The Prince had been out here long enough to become one of the gang. We never did get a chance to work our magic on his sister.

I said, "I spend a lot of time wishing I'd stayed a farm boy."

"You still having trouble with the nightmares?"

"Every night. But it's not like it's a direct attack. I always work my way through and use the opportunity to scout around. Sure as hell ain't pleasant, though, I'll tell you that." Kina, or somebody or something who wanted me to think she was Kina, was in my dreams all the time. My own conviction was that it was Kina, not Catcher. She was still trying to promise me Sahra back.

I wished she would do something about the odor.

"She trying to work Lady, too?"

"Probably." Almost certainly. "Or maybe Lady is working her."

"Uhm." He was not listening. He was concentrating on Overlook now. Fireballs had begun zipping around over there.

Several fireballs flashed in the ruins of Kiaulune, too. The people Mogaba had in there were stubborn. The man really could find good soldiers and could motivate them. The Prahbrindrah Drah had begun razing parts of the ruined city, building by building, salvaging burnables where he could.

It was still cold. At the moment there were eight inches of snow on the ground, atop a couple of inches of hard-packed sleet. This was spring? How many more storms would we have to endure before the weather gave up delivering unpleasant surprises? Longshadow's surviving crystal turrets sure looked comfy. I wondered why he had not bothered us much lately.

I checked the smoke rising from Kiaulune. I hoped the Prince would save a few nice places where us special folks could hole up in comfort after he rooted out the last partisans.

I was tired of living like a badger.

"What's going on in there?" Croaker asked, indicating Overlook.

"Nothing's changed. I don't understand Longshadow. Not even a little. It's like he's determined to destroy himself. He's in some kind of emotional slough where he just can't exercise any initiative. You've been there, I expect. I have, I know. You know what needs doing but you just can't move. It doesn't seem like it's worth the effort. It's the same sort of paralysis that came over Smoke those last few weeks before he got knocked into his coma."

Croaker looked thoughtful. "How about you? You feeling like you're getting enough rest? With these dreams?"

"It isn't bothering me yet." I lied. Though I did not need sleep. I needed an emotional respite. I needed a few weeks alone somewhere with my wife.

"Where are your in-laws?" The eternal question. Uncle Doj was still missing.

"Good question. And before you ask, I still don't have a clue what they're up to. If they're up to anything."

"I worry about so many Nyueng Bao being so close to us."

"Bad can't happen, Captain. Not ever. They're with us as a debt of honor."

"As you always tell me, you had to be there."

"That'd sure help you understand."

He glared at the great white fortress, "You think we could let refugees get through?"

"Huh?"

"Put another burden on Longshadow. More mouths to feed."

"He wouldn't let them in." I was still amazed that Longshadow had provided himself with such a small garrison. There were never more than a thousand people inside Overlook, including servants and families and those refugees who had gotten in before the destruction of the scaffolding. There was no mundane way the fortress could have been defended against multiple attacks.

But Longshadow had not planned to deal with the mundane. He had expected to be safe behind countless adamantine spells for as long as he liked.

"I don't think it'll be much longer, Murgen. Not much longer at all."

Fireballs flew around over there. A rising breeze lifted some of those box kites the quartermasters had dragged all the way from Taglios. In this sort of wind they could lift twenty-five pounds to the top of the wall.

That was not what Croaker had brought them along for, he said. But he did not expound.

"I admire your confidence, boss. Yeah. Next year in Khatovar."

"Next year in Khatovar" had become the sarcastic slogan of the Old Crew these past few years. Most would just as soon have faded away and gone back north. The constant stress of being in service to Taglios suited nobody but Lady. Despite her bouts with exhaustion she seemed to thrive emotionally where raging paranoia was the only sane way of facing reality.

Croaker was not amused. His goals for the Company were not acceptable butts for humor.

His sense of humor had been assassinated by this campaign. Or, at least, it had gone as comatose as Smoke.

"Thai Dei. How about we go for a walk?" When the Old Man got in a mood it never hurt to be somewhere else.