Book 4 - Soldiers Live by Glen Cook Page A

deny to us forever
the knowledge we need to repair the shadowgate opening on our
native world. She misapprehends my ability to evoke the unfriendly
response.
    Before the werepanther came I might have stumbled. I might have
expressed an actual opinion to a member of the File, some of whom
are amongst the most reprehensible generals I have ever
encountered. I doubt that, given the opportunity to rule
unchallenged, many of them would be more enlightened than the hated
Shadowmasters.
    People are strange. The Children of the Dead are among the
strangest.
    I will not upset anyone. I will be diligently supportive of any
policy Sleepy sets. I want to leave this Land of Unknown Shadows. I
have things to accomplish before I hand these Annals over for the
last time. Settling up with Lisa Daele Bowalk is just one. There is
the Great General, Mogaba, the darkest traitor ever to stain the
Company’s history. There is Narayan Singh. For Lady, there is
Narayan and Soulcatcher. For both of us there is our child. Our
wicked, wicked child.
    I asked, “Is there anything besides Longshadow we could
offer the File of Nine? Sweeten it just enough to make them move
over beside Khang Phi and the Court of All Seasons?”
    My sweetie shrugged. “I can’t imagine what.”
She smiled enigmatically. “But it may not matter.”
    I did not pay sufficient attention. Sometimes I overlook the new
truths. These days my Company is managed by sly children and
devious old women, not straightforward stalwarts like myself and
the men of my time.
     
----

11

An Abode of Ravens:
Exercise Session
    A s soon as I
healed enough I asked Uncle Doj to let me resume the martial arts
exercises I had given up many years ago. “Why are you
interested now?” he asked. Sometimes I think he is more
suspicious of me than I am of him.
    “Because I have time. And
the need. I’m as weak as a puppy. I want to get my strength
back.”
    “You chased me away when I offered.”
    “I didn’t have time then. And you were so much more
abrasive.”
    “Ha.” He smiled. “You’re too
kind.”
    “You’re right. But I’m a prince.”
    “A Prince of Darkness, Stone Soldier.” He knew that
would get my goat. “But a lucky prince.” The old fart
indulged in a smirk. “Several of your contemporaries have
approached me recently, also motivated by anticipation of those
hardships that can no longer be that far ahead.”
    “Good.” Did he know something I did not? Probably a
lot. “When and where?”
    His grin became evil, revealing bad teeth. Which made me wonder
if Sleepy had found anybody to fill the dentistry vacancy left by
One-Eye’s passing. The old fool had not bothered taking on
apprentices.
    “When” was the crack of dawn and “where”
was the unpaved street outside Doj’s small house, which he
shared with Tobo’s uncle Thai Dei and several bachelor
officers of local origin. My fellow victims were Willow Swan, the
brothers Loftus and Cletus, who remain the Company’s
principal architects and engineers, and the exiled ruling prince
and princess of Taglios, the Prahbrindrah Drah and his sister the
Radisha Drah. Those are not names, they are titles. Even after
decades I do not know their personal designations. And they show no
inclination to share.
    “Where’s your pal Blade?” I asked Swan. For a
while Blade had been Sleepy’s military envoy to the File of
Nine, but I had heard that he had been recalled after
One-Eye’s death. I had not seen him around, though.
    “Old Blade’s got too much on his plate for anything
like this.”
    Loftus and Cletus both grumbled under their breaths but did not
clarify. I had not seen much of them lately, either. I supposed
they were working themselves to death building a city from scratch.
Suvrin, who arrived just in time to hear what they mumbled, nodded
vigorously. “She’s going to work us all till
there’s nothing but grease spots left.” I am not sure
about Suvrin. I have no trouble imagining him going