Dreams of Steel (27 page)

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.

Chapter Fifty-Two

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 whisper, 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.

Chapter Fifty-Three

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.

Chapter Fifty-Four

The Prahbrindrah Drah turned slowly before a mirror, admiring himself. "What do you think?"

The Radisha eyed his tailored dress, bright silk, and jewels. He cut a handsome figure. "When did you turn into a peacock?"

He half drew a sword he'd had forged as a symbol of the state. "Nice?"

It was as fine a weapon as could be produced by Taglian craftsmen, hilt and pommel a work of art incorporating gold, silver, rubies, and emeralds in a symbolic intertwining of the emblems of Taglian faiths. The blade was strong, sharp, practical, but its hilt was overweight and clumsy. Still, it was not a combat weapon, just a trapping of office.

"Gorgeous. And you're trying to make a fool of yourself."

"Maybe. But I'm having fun doing it. And you'd be having fun making a fool of you if Mather was here. Eh?"

The Radisha eyed him narrowly. He was not as open as he had been before Lady caught his eye. He was up to something and for the first time in their lives he was not sharing. That worried her. But she said only, "You're wasting your time. It's raining. Nobody goes to the gardens when it's raining."

"It won't last."

That was true. It was just a brief rain. They always were, this time of year. The real rains were more than a month away. But still... She felt he should avoid the gardens tonight, with no rational basis for her feeling.

"You're investing too much in it. Slow down. Make her work harder."

He grinned. Give the woman that. Murderess she might be but she did put a smile on his face. "Don't count me so smitten I'll give away the palace."

"I wasn't thinking that. But she's changed since she came back. It concerns me."

"I appreciate it. But I'm in control. Taglios is my first love. And hers is the Company. If she's up to anything it's trying to make sure we don't go back on our bargain."

"That could be enough." Regarding the Black Company she still hovered over the abyss between his position and Smoke's.