He bustled into a tall slum tenement, hurried upstairs, pounded on a door. A voice said, “Enter.”
He froze two steps inside the doorway.
The man he had been talking to leaned against the opposite wall. There were eight corpses in the room, all strangled. The man said, “The goddess doesn’t want your master to know her daughter is here.”
Smoke squeaked like a stomped rat. He fled. The man laughed.
* * *
The man amongst the corpses shrank. He became the imp Frogface, who chuckled, then faded away.
* * *
Smoke calmed down before he reached the palace. His mind started working. He had one bolt left. It could bite him as easily as his enemies, but … Engulfed by the darkness he could but flee toward the only light he saw.
He would not yield to Kina.
50
As dusk gathered I descended on Longshadow’s stay-behinds and routed them completely. The slaughter was great. It failed being complete only because my cavalry was otherwise occupied. We had the field to ourselves before the last light left the sky.
“Old Spinner’s going to know in a few minutes,” Swan said. “I figure he’ll have him a litter of kittens, then he’ll get pissed. We ought to go somewhere where he can’t catch us.”
He was on the right track. Coming through the hills I had been considering going after the group left at the southern approach. Not till Swan spoke did I realize I would not be able to sneak up on that group. Night had come. Night belonged to Shadowspinner. He would know where we were and where we were headed. Unless that was away from him he would be waiting when we arrived.
Too, he might be desperate enough to appeal to Longshadow. Maybe Longshadow had help on the way already. Whatever lay between them, it would not be as great as their enmity for the rest of the world. Though premature, theirs was a squabble over the spoils of conquest.
Blade asked, “Any way we could stay here and masquerade as the Shadowmaster’s men?”
“No. I don’t have the skill. Our best bet is to go back north till he stops chasing us, then just keep him nervous while we decide what to do next.”
Narayan had started worrying about missing his delayed Festival. Though I had passed my first test he was suspicious of my will to become the Daughter of Night. A move north would assuage him. And the men needed time away from danger, to recuperate and digest their successes.
Blade asked, “The men in the city?”
“They’re safer than they were. Shadowspinner can’t get at them now.”
Narayan grumbled. Sindhu was in there.
I said, “Mogaba will cope. He’s good at coping.” Too good. We would have trouble down the road, him and me.
Nobody liked heading back north, except Narayan. But no one argued.
I had gained ground, definitely.
51
Smoke was no earthshaker as a wizard but within his limitations, which he recognized, he was competent and effective. And forewarned, he was forearmed.
The woman knew his every move? Then she commanded some unsuspected agency for espionage. He needed blind that only a few minutes.
He scuttled through the palace, ducking his employers, who were looking for him. He dodged into one of his shielded rooms, barred the door.
Obviously his shielding had been penetrated because that man had implied she knew everything, meaning she had been peeking here, too. She was more than she pretended. Much more. She was the Daughter of Night. And that fool the prince had been blinded by her. Hadn’t they been out to the gardens again tonight?
No one could stop her but him. Maybe he could shake loose from Longshadow later.
The Shadowmaster’s face formed in his head. His legs turned to jelly. He shook his head violently, forced the apparition away, hurriedly set about checking his defenses.
He found a pinhole through which some wicked spirit could have oozed. Or a shadow, for that matter.
He plugged it. Then he worked a spell that pressed his limits. It would conceal his whereabouts till he became the object of a very determined search. Secure, he filled a small silver bowl from a mercury flask, working as swiftly as he dared. Before he was finished he feared that he had been too slow.
Someone tried the door. He jumped but concentrated on opening the path to Overlook. It came. It came. More quickly than he expected, it came. The Shadowmaster had been thinking of him, too.
The racket at the door became pounding and shouting. He ignored it.
The dread face appeared on the surface of the mercury, amazed. It mouthed words. There was no sound. The Shadowmaster was too far, Smoke’s power too feeble. The little wizard gestured violently, Pay attention! He was startled by his own temerity. But this was a desperate hour. Desperate measures were necessary.
Smoke grabbed paper and ink and scribbled. They were trying to break down the door. Damn, the woman had reacted quickly.
He held his message up for Longshadow. The Shadowmaster read. He reread. Then Longshadow looked him in the eye and nodded. He appeared bewildered. Carefully, he mouthed words so Smoke could read his lips.
The door began to give. And something else was trying to get in now, clawing and tearing at the plugged pinhole.
The door gave a little more.
Smoke got half the message before the pinhole plug broke. Dense smoke boiled into the room. A face glared out of it. Hideous and fanged and filled with grim purpose, it came for him. He squealed, jumped up, overturned table and bowl.
The door gave way as the demon caught him. He screamed and tumbled down into an abyss of terror.
* * *
The guards took one look, cursed, dropped the ram and fled. The prince stepped inside, saw the thing ripping at Smoke. The Radisha crowded up behind him. “What the hell is that?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think you ought to stay to find out.” He looked for a weapon, recognized the absurdity of the impulse as he grabbed a swordlike sliver split from the doorframe.
The monster looked up, startled. It stared. Apparently this situation was beyond its instructions. It hung there, motionless.
The Prahbrindrah threw the sliver like a spear.
The thing shrank away into an upper corner of the room, swiftly and dramatically, leaving behind an odor like cinnamon and mustard and wine all mixed.
“What the hell was it?” the Radisha demanded again. She was petrified. The Prahbrindrah jumped over to the wizard. Smoke’s blood was everywhere, along with shreds of clothing. The thing had driven him into a corner. What was left of him had drawn itself into a tight fetal ball.
The prince dropped to his knees. “He’s alive. Get some help. Fast. Or he won’t be for long.” He started doing what he could.
52
Longshadow let out one long scream of rage that echoed throughout Overlook. It brought toadies running, bent with fear he would take it out on them. Whatever it was. “Get out! Get out and stay … Wait! Get in here!”
Calm returned suddenly. He’d always had a facility for gaining control when the crisis was tight. That was when he thought his best, responded most quickly. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise.
“Bring the big sending bowl. Bring mercury. Bring that fetish that belongs to my guest and ally. I must contact him.”
They scurried around in terror. That was good to see. They held him in high fear. Fear was the power. What you feared ruled you.… He thought of shadows and a plain of glittering stone. The rage boiled up. He rejected it, as he rejected fear. One day, when the distractions were eliminated, that plain would bend to him. He would conquer it, end the fear of it forever.
They had everything set before he was ready himself. “Now get out. Stay out till I call.”
He activated the bowl and reached for his man. He touched nothing. He tried again. Again. Four times. Five. The rage was about to break through again.
The Howler responded.
“Where have you been?”
“Aloft.” Scant whisp
er, barely perceptible. “I had to set down first. Bad news. She’s tricked our friend again. Slaughtered another several thousand men.”
That went past Longshadow. Shadowspinner’s travails were nothing. “Is she there? At all?”
“Of course she is.”
“Are you positive? Have you seen her? My shadows can’t find her. Last night they couldn’t do more than suggest she might be in a given general area.”
“Not with my own eyes,” Howler admitted. “I’m tracking her forces, though, waiting for the chance to strike. Late tonight, I think.”
“I’ve just had a report from the wizard in Taglios. A desperate effort on his part. All our agents there have been strangled. He says she’s there. With her Shadar shadow. And she knows he’s ours. Before he finished, something demonic burst in and tore him apart.”
“That’s impossible. She was here two days ago.”
“Have you seen her? With your own eyes?”
“No.”
“Recall. She always favored illusion and misdirection. There was evidence she was regaining her powers. Maybe much faster than she let on. Maybe she’s tricked us into believing she was one place when she was another. The Taglian said our agents were killed to keep them from reporting her presence.”
The Howler did not respond.
Both men thought. Longshadow finally said, “I can’t fathom why she’d send an army to make us believe she was in our territories. But I know her. You know her. If it’s that important to her that we believe her somewhere she isn’t, then it’s lethally important to us. There’s something in Taglios she doesn’t want us to discover. Perhaps she’s on the track of the Lance. Someone carried it away from the battlefield. It hasn’t been seen since.”
“If I go we’re liable to lose Dejagore and Spinner. His skills are impaired. His mind is as dull as a knife used to chop rock.”
Longshadow cursed softly. Yes. Pray come the day when Shadowspinner was no longer needed. When there was no need for a bulwark against the north. But somebody had to bear the brunt now. “Do something. Then go.” The runt could understand that. “Collect her quick. Hell will be a pleasure compared to what we’ll face if she stays loose till all her powers are restored.”
“Consider it done,” the Howler whispered. “Consider her taken.”
“I take nothing for granted where Senjak is concerned. Get her, dammit! Get her!” He slammed a fist into the mercury. That killed the connection.
He let the rage roar through him. He hurled things, broke things, till it was appeased. Then he went up into his tower and glowered his hatred at the night-hidden plain.
“Why must you torment me? Why? Turn away. Let me be.” If that was not out there, ready to burst its bonds, he would be free to deal with these things himself. He would make short work of these problems if he could see to them himself. But he needs must rely on incompetents and agents with insufficient power to get the job done.
He thought of the Taglian wizard. That tool had not done the job for which it had been forged but it had served. Pity it had been destroyed so quickly.
A pity.
53
The cavalry rejoined us two days north of Dejagore, where I made camp. The general mood was positive. The men resented having been withdrawn. They did not want to believe they had just been lucky, not invincible. I wanted them to know their luck could turn. They did not believe me. Most people believe only what they want to believe.
Their confidence had infected Narayan and Blade. Those two would have turned south again without question had I ordered it. I was tempted. I considered myself lucky to be sick. It kept me thinking rationally.
They presented a plan for harassing Shadowspinner into another trap. I told them, “Spinner won’t charge into traps. If we separate him from his men maybe we can trap them. But not him.”
Narayan leaned close. “It wasn’t luck, Mistress. It was Kina. Her spirit is loose. It is the time of foreshadowing. The Year of the Skulls approaches. She passes her hand over the eyes of her enemies. She is with us.”
I wanted to tell him that the man who counts on the aid of a god deserves the help he doesn’t get but I reconsidered. The Deceivers were true believers. Whatever else, however bloodthirsty and criminal their enterprises, they believed in their goddess and mission. Kina was not just a convenient fiction excusing their crimes.
After months of dreams I had trouble not believing in Kina myself. Maybe not as Narayan’s kind of goddess but as a potent force that fed on death and destruction.
Blade asked, “Why not take Shadowspinner out of the picture?”
“Right. A stroke of genius, Blade. Maybe if we all wish hard enough he’ll come floating belly up.”
He smiled. His smile was no fawning grin like Narayan’s but it was powerful because he used it so seldom. He offered me a hand up. “Take a walk with me, please.”
Right on the edge there, Blade. He was not sufficiently impressed, I feared. I reminded myself to remember he probably had his own agenda and I did not have the foggiest what it might be.
We walked away from the others. Narayan and Ram and Swan all watched, each with his particular breed of jealousy.
“Well?”
“Shadowspinner is the main enemy. Kill him and his army would collapse.”
“Probably.”
“I have eyes and ears. My brain works. When I’m curious I ask questions. I know what Narayan is. I know what you are to him. And I think I know what they want you to become.”
No great surprise, that. Probably half the army had some notion, though they might not believe Ram and Narayan deserved their legendary reputation. “So?”
“I’ve seen Sindhu in action. I understand Narayan is better.”
“True.”
“Then point him at Shadowspinner. He could have the Shadowmaster dead before he knew what hit him.”
Strangling a sorcerer is a good way of disposing of him. One of Spinner’s magnitude relies heavily on voice spells and, secondarily, gesture spells. Stick him with a knife or sword or missile and he can still use both voice and hands unless you kill him instantly. A Narayan could take away the voice. Assuming he could break a neck as fast as he claimed, gestures would not matter.
“Stipulated. I think. Leaving one small problem. Moving Narayan near enough to use his rumel.”
“Uhm.”
“Narayan, of his kind, is what I used to be of mine. The pinnacle. The acme. I’ve watched him. He’s death incarnate. But he lacks the skills needed to get close to Shadowspinner. He just never learned how to turn invisible.”
Blade chuckled. “Bet that’s a trick he’d love you to teach him.”
“No doubt. You’ve thought this through. You’ve seen the difficulties. You think you’ve seen ways around them. So tell me how we do it. I don’t think it’s practical but I’ll listen.”
“There are distinct kinds of assassins. A lone crazy who doesn’t care if he gets killed himself. A cabal grasping for power, ready to turn on itself when its target is eliminated. And the professional.”
I saw no point. I said so.
“To be successful we have to avoid the weaknesses of various kinds of assassins. I’ve watched you. Your skills aren’t what they were but you sell yourself short. You could disguise a strike team sneaking up on Shadowspinner. If we create the illusion that our goals are impersonal he won’t guard against personal attack. Right?”
“To a point.”
“To a point. Shadowspinner shouldn’t know you have problems with Mogaba. So go after ways to relieve the city. While a handful work on killing Shadowspinner.”
“Tell me how.”
“Narayan should do the actual killing. You will have to disguise the attack group or make it invisible. Ram goes because he must. I go because no one else is better with a weapon. Swan goes because his presence implies the involvement of the Taglian state. Mather would be better because there’s a personal involvement with the Woman, but Cordy needs to hold the
reins here. He’s steady. He thinks. Willow is all passion, action without thought. Add however many specialists Narayan needs.”
“Two arm-holders.” I said it in Stranglers’ cant. Blade gave me a quick glance. He was surprised I was that far into that world. We walked in silence. Then I said, “You’ve just talked more than I’ve heard since I met you.”
“I talk when I have something to say.”
“Do you know card games?” I had seen none south of the equator. Here the well-to-do played dominoes or board games, the impoverished games with dice or sticks you shook in a canister and tossed.
“Some. Cordy and Mather had cards but they wore out.”
“Know what a wild card is?”
He nodded.
I stopped, bent my head, closed my eyes, concentrated, conjured a ferocious illusion. It took form high above, a flying lizard twice the size of an eagle. It dove.
Crows have sharp eyes. They have brains, for birds, but they are not geniuses. They panicked. The panic would make their reports of the event incomprehensible.
Blade said, “You did something.” He watched the crows flee.
“The birds are spies for one of the wild cards in our game.” I told him what I had found in the grove and what I thought it meant.
“Mather and Swan have mentioned this Howler and Soulcatcher. They did not speak well of them. But they didn’t speak well of you, either, as you were. What’s their interest here?”
I talked about them till the crows returned. Blade had no trouble grasping the intricacies of scheming in the old empire. He must have had experience.
The crows reestablished their watch. I did not disturb it. Too often would generate suspicion. Blade wore a thin, pleased smile. As we approached the others, waiting silently, watching intently, each with his concerns too evident, Blade whispered, “For the first time I’m glad Cordy and Willow dragged me out.”
I glanced at him quickly. Yes. He seemed completely alive for the first time since I’d met him.
54
The Prahbrindrah Drah turned slowly before a mirror, admiring himself. “What do you think?”