unladylike sniggen snaggen riddly rodden
racklesnatzes under her breath, then told the lieutenant, “Go
talk it over with your men.” The moment he was out of hearing
she demanded, “Does this mean we stop being friends? If I
take your damned oath?”
“Do you reckon I stopped being friends with the others
when they elected me Captain?”
“I admit I don’t hear a lot of ‘yes sir,’
‘no sir,’ ‘your worship sir.’ ”
“But you do see them do what they’re told when they
know I mean what I say.”
“Most of the time.”
“Goblin and One-Eye need a little extra convincing once in
a while. What’s it going to be? You going to be a
soldier?”
“Do I have a choice, Croaker? You can be a
bastard.”
“Of course you have a choice. You can go back with your
men and be the Lady.”
The lieutenant was talking to his troops and the idea of going
on south was proving less popular than he or I had thought it
would. Most of the bunch started getting their horses together,
facing north, before he finished talking.
He finally came over and presented us with six men who wanted to
go on with us. He did not include himself with the group. Evidently
his conscience had shown him a way around doing what he considered
to be his duty minutes before.
I questioned the men briefly and they did seem interested in
going on. So I brought them over the line and swore them all in,
making a production of it for Lady’s sake. I do not recall
doing anything particularly formal for anyone else before.
I gave the six to Otto and Hagop for dividing between them, and
kept the one for me, and later entered their names into the Annals
when we learned how they wanted to be known.
Lady remained content to be called Lady. It sounded like a name
when heard by speakers of any language but one, anyway.
Crows watched the whole show from a nearby tree.
----
----
Chapter Ten: SHADOWMASTERS
Though the sun stared in through a dozen vaulted windows there
was darkness in that place where Darkness met.
A pool of molten stone simmered in the center of the vast floor.
It cast bloody light upon four seated figures floating a few feet
in the air. They faced one another over the pool, forming an
equilateral triangle with a couple at its apex. Those two were
leagued more often than not. They were allied now.
There had been war among the four for a long time, with nothing
gained, one in relation to another. But at the moment there was an
armistice.
Shadows slithered and swirled and pranced around them. Nothing
could be seen of any of them except vague shapes. All four chose to
conceal themselves within robes of black, behind black masks.
The smallest, one of the couple, broke a silence that had
reigned an hour. “She has begun moving south. Those who
served her and still bear her indelible mark are moving also. They
have crossed the sea, and they come bearing mighty talismans. And
their road is strewn with those who would join their destinies to
that black standard. Including some whose power we would be foolish
not to beware.”
One angle of the triangle made a sound of contempt.
The other asked, “And what of the one in the
north?”
“The Great One remains secure. The lesser one who lay in
the shade of the prisoning tree does so no longer. It has been
resurrected and given new form. It comes south too, but it is so
insane and vengeance-starved that it is not to be feared. A child
could dispose of it.”
“Have we cause to fear that our presence here is
known?”
“None. Even in Trogo Taglios only a few are convinced that
we exist. Beyond the First Cataract we are but a rumor, and not
that above the Second. But he who has made himself master in the
great swamps may have sensed us stirring. It is possible he
suspects there is more afoot than he knew.”
The reporter’s companion added, “They come. She
comes. But harnessed to the pace of man and animal. We still have a
year. Or more.”
The one snorted again, then spoke.
racklesnatzes under her breath, then told the lieutenant, “Go
talk it over with your men.” The moment he was out of hearing
she demanded, “Does this mean we stop being friends? If I
take your damned oath?”
“Do you reckon I stopped being friends with the others
when they elected me Captain?”
“I admit I don’t hear a lot of ‘yes sir,’
‘no sir,’ ‘your worship sir.’ ”
“But you do see them do what they’re told when they
know I mean what I say.”
“Most of the time.”
“Goblin and One-Eye need a little extra convincing once in
a while. What’s it going to be? You going to be a
soldier?”
“Do I have a choice, Croaker? You can be a
bastard.”
“Of course you have a choice. You can go back with your
men and be the Lady.”
The lieutenant was talking to his troops and the idea of going
on south was proving less popular than he or I had thought it
would. Most of the bunch started getting their horses together,
facing north, before he finished talking.
He finally came over and presented us with six men who wanted to
go on with us. He did not include himself with the group. Evidently
his conscience had shown him a way around doing what he considered
to be his duty minutes before.
I questioned the men briefly and they did seem interested in
going on. So I brought them over the line and swore them all in,
making a production of it for Lady’s sake. I do not recall
doing anything particularly formal for anyone else before.
I gave the six to Otto and Hagop for dividing between them, and
kept the one for me, and later entered their names into the Annals
when we learned how they wanted to be known.
Lady remained content to be called Lady. It sounded like a name
when heard by speakers of any language but one, anyway.
Crows watched the whole show from a nearby tree.
----
----
Chapter Ten: SHADOWMASTERS
Though the sun stared in through a dozen vaulted windows there
was darkness in that place where Darkness met.
A pool of molten stone simmered in the center of the vast floor.
It cast bloody light upon four seated figures floating a few feet
in the air. They faced one another over the pool, forming an
equilateral triangle with a couple at its apex. Those two were
leagued more often than not. They were allied now.
There had been war among the four for a long time, with nothing
gained, one in relation to another. But at the moment there was an
armistice.
Shadows slithered and swirled and pranced around them. Nothing
could be seen of any of them except vague shapes. All four chose to
conceal themselves within robes of black, behind black masks.
The smallest, one of the couple, broke a silence that had
reigned an hour. “She has begun moving south. Those who
served her and still bear her indelible mark are moving also. They
have crossed the sea, and they come bearing mighty talismans. And
their road is strewn with those who would join their destinies to
that black standard. Including some whose power we would be foolish
not to beware.”
One angle of the triangle made a sound of contempt.
The other asked, “And what of the one in the
north?”
“The Great One remains secure. The lesser one who lay in
the shade of the prisoning tree does so no longer. It has been
resurrected and given new form. It comes south too, but it is so
insane and vengeance-starved that it is not to be feared. A child
could dispose of it.”
“Have we cause to fear that our presence here is
known?”
“None. Even in Trogo Taglios only a few are convinced that
we exist. Beyond the First Cataract we are but a rumor, and not
that above the Second. But he who has made himself master in the
great swamps may have sensed us stirring. It is possible he
suspects there is more afoot than he knew.”
The reporter’s companion added, “They come. She
comes. But harnessed to the pace of man and animal. We still have a
year. Or more.”
The one snorted again, then spoke.
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