There was the town, Vejagedhya. It might once have been home to as many as a thousand people. Now it was even more spooky than the abandoned farms. Out there, at least, we had encountered wildlife. In the town I saw nothing but a few crows fluttering from roof to roof.
The townsfolk had not locked their doors. We checked maybe two dozen buildings. “It would do for a headquarters,” I told Goblin.
He grunted. After a while, he asked, “You making up your mind?”
“Beginning to look made up for me. Right? But we’ll see what the others have to say.”
We headed north. Goblin did not have much to say after that. That gave me time to dwell on and invent deeper meanings to my roles as Captain and potential warlord.
If there was no choice but to fight, and to lead a nation, I was going to make demands. I was not going to let the Taglians put me in a position where they could second-guess and override my every decision. I had watched my predecessors get half crazy dealing with that. If the Taglians hooked me, I was going to hook them right back.
We might call it something prettier, but by damn I was going to be a military dictator.
Me. Croaker. The itinerant military physician and amateur historian. Able to indulge in all the abuses I’d damned in princes for so long. It was a sobering notion.
If we bought it, and took the commission, and I got what I would demand, I might have Wheezer follow me around and remind me that I’m mortal. He wasn’t good for much else.
The rain let up as we were riding into town.
Now I knew the gods loved me.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Smoke’s hideout
Smoke was perched on a tall stool, bent over a huge old book. The room was filled with books. It looked like a wave of books had swept in and left tidal pools behind. Not only were there shelves dripping books, there were books stacked hip-high on the floor, books on tables and chairs, even books piled on the sill of the room’s one small, high window. Smoke read by the light of a single candle. The room was sealed so tight the smoke had begun to irritate his nose and eyes.
From time to time he grunted, made a note on a piece of paper to his left. He was left-handed.
In all the Palace that room was the best protected from spying eyes. Smoke had woven webs and walls of spells to secure it. No one was supposed to know about it. It did not show on any plan of the Palace.
Smoke felt something touch the outermost of the protective spells, something as light as a mosquito’s weight as it lands. Before he could swing his attention to it it was gone and he was not sure he had not imagined it. Since the incident of the crows and bats he had been almost paranoid.
Intuition told him he had reason. There were forces at work that were way beyond him. His best weapon was the fact that no one knew he existed.
He hoped.
He was a very frightened man these days. Terror lurked in every shadow.
He jumped and squeaked when the door opened.
“Smoke?”
“You startled me, Radisha.”
“Where are they, Smoke? There’s been no word from Swan. Have they gotten away?”
“Leaving most of their people behind? Radisha, be patient.”
“I have no patience left. Even my brother is becoming unsettled. We have only weeks left before the rivers fall.”
“I’m aware of that, madam. Concentrate on what you can do, not what you wish you could do. Every force possible is being bent upon them. But we cannot compel them to help.”
The Radisha kicked over a pile of books. “I’ve never felt so powerless. I don’t like the feeling.”
Smoke shrugged. “Welcome to the world where the rest of us live.”
In a high corner of the room a point no bigger than a pinprick oozed something like a black smoke. The smoke slowly filled out the shape of a small crow. “What are the rest of them doing?”
“Making preparations for war. In case.”
“I wonder. That black officer. Mogaba. Could he be the real captain?”
“No. Why?”
“He’s doing the things I want them to do. He’s acting like they’re going to serve us.”
“It makes sense, Radisha. If their captain comes back convinced they can’t sneak away, they’ll be that much farther ahead.”
“Has he made preparations to run back north?”
“Of course.”
The Radisha looked vexed.
Smoke smiled. “Have you considered being forthright with them?”
She gave him a look to chill the bones.
“I thought not. Not the way of princes. Too simple. Too direct. Too logical. Too honest.”
“You grow too daring, Smoke.”
“Perhaps I do. Though as I recall my mandate from your brother is to remind you occasionally-”
“Enough.”
“They are what they pretend to be, you know. Wholly
ignorant of their past.”
“I’m aware of that. It makes no difference. They could become what they were if we let them. Sooner bend the knee to the Shadowmasters than endure that again.”
Smoke shrugged. “As you will. Maybe.” He smiled slyly. “And as the Shadowmasters will, perhaps.”
“You know something?”
“I am constrained by my need to remain unnoticed, But I’ve been able to catch glimpses of our northern friends. They have fallen afoul of more of our little friends from the river. Ferocious things are happening down near the Main.”
“Sorcery?”
“High magnitude. Recalling that which manifested during their passage through the pirate swamps. I no longer dare intrude.”
“Damn! Damn-damn-damn! Are they all right? Have
we lost them?”
“I no longer dare intrude. Time will tell.”
The Radisha kicked another pile of books. Smoke’s bland expression cracked, became one of intense irritation. She apologized. “It’s frustration.”
“We’re all frustrated. Perhaps you would be less so if you adjusted your ambitions.”
“What do you mean?”
“Perhaps if you followed the course your brother has charted and aimed to climb but one mountain at a
time-” “Bah! Am I, a woman, the only rooster around here?”
“You, a woman, will not be required to pay the price of failure. That will come out of your brother’s purse.”
“Damn you, Smoke! Why are you always right?”
“That is my commission. Go to your brother. Talk. Recalculate. Concentrate on the enemy of the moment. The Shadowmasters must be turned now. The priests will be here forever. Unless you want shut of them badly enough to let the Shadowmasters win, of course.”
“If I could frame just one High Priest for treason ... All right. I know. The Shadowmasters have shown they know what to do with clerics. Nobody would believe it. I’m going. If you dare, find out what’s happening down there. If we’ve lost them we’ll have to move quickly. That damned Swan had to go after them, didn’t he?”
“You sent him.”
