I observed, “He hasn’t had time to get set up.”
“That means jack shit. There’s any to be stolen, he’ll find that. You know anyone else who’d suddenly start a fight for no good reason?”
“Ain’t nobody in this outfit like that,” One-Eye insisted. “Unless you count Goblin. Sometimes he... He in this outfit anymore, Captain?”
Croaker ignored him. He asked me, “You planning to take Smoke back out now?”
“No.” That had not occurred to me. Food had.
Croaker grunted. “I need to talk to my staff wizard, here. One-Eye?”
I moved out. What now?
That food.
I ate till the cooks began to grumble about some folks thinking they were special.
After I finished I strolled across the snowy slopes trying to calm the storm inside me. The sky promised more snow. We had been lucky so far, I suspected. None of the snows had been heavy and none had stuck long. I spied Thai Dei and his mother, the latter offering a piece of her mind. Still.
It kept them at a distance.
I glimpsed Swan and Blade, far off, trotting somewhere in a big hurry. That meant Lady had come in, or at least would arrive soon. Her advance force had a camp under construction.
South, beyond Kiaulune, a spear of sunlight broke through the overcast, struck Overlook. The whole vast fortress gleamed like some religions’ notion of heaven. I needed to take Smoke over there and get caught up. But not right away. One-Eye and the Old Man still had their heads together. Maybe talking about me.
I strolled downhill toward where Lady’s soldiers were building their camp.
I wondered how Lady and Blade were getting along. He had been her main helper before his defection. He had not let her know what was happening when he did that. I could not see her forgiving him the deceit, however successful its end result.
Crows fluttered over the camp. Maybe Lady was there.
Croaker was right. We had to be paranoid. All the time. If it was not the Shadowmaster spying it would be Soulcatcher or the Deceivers or the Howler. Or Kina herself. Or the Nyueng Bao. Or the Radisha’s agents. Or spies for the priests, or...
42
Lady had come in without me being told. I had no trouble getting in to see her. That made me wonder if it was going to be easy to get out.
She had questions of her own. “What are we doing now, Murgen? What’s his game this time?”
I halted one step into the presence, mouth open. There had been changes since last I saw her. This was not the Lady with whom I had ridden south. This was not the woman who had seemed so haunted in front of the Dandha Presh. This creature was the Lady of olden times resurrected, a being of such terrible power it had trouble constraining itself in a presentable form.
“What the hell happened?”
“Murgen.”
“What?” I squeaked. I reminded myself that I was the Annalist. The Annalist is fearless. He stands aside from squabbles within the Company. He is not intimidated by his brothers. He records the truth.
She scared me anyway.
“I want to know—”
“Anything you want to know, you’d better ask the Old Man. I couldn’t tell you even if I was as goofy as Willow Swan. He don’t tell me anything, either. He’s still keeping it all inside his head. You seen that place over there? Worse than the Tower at Charm. He hasn’t paid any attention to it since we got here. I haven’t seen him do much of anything. Longshadow and Howler haven’t done much, either, though.”
“It’s frustrating.”
“Yeah. And maybe not even very smart considering what shape we’d be in if the Stranglers got him.”
“Less likely than you think.”
“Because of Soulcatcher?”
“Yes.”
“She can’t be everywhere any more than you can. And they call them the Deceivers for a reason.” I hoped my voice was not squeaking. I was trying to play the fearless man.
“None of that is why you wanted to see me.”
“No. I’ve got a problem. My dreams are getting worse! They’re really bad now. I want to know how to shut them out.”
“I haven’t found a way. You have to learn to remember what they are. Has Kina been calling you?”
“I don’t think so. It’s more like she’s passing through my dreams and doesn’t notice me if I lie real still. Or maybe I’m eavesdropping on someone else’s nightmares.”
“Tell me about them.”
I told her.
“Those are pretty much the dreams I’ve always had. Mostly I’m on the plain anymore.”
“Are there crows there?”
“Crows? No. There isn’t anything alive there.”
I considered. “Actually, what I said before isn’t quite true. She does seem to be aware of me specifically. The other night I got led through a version of the plain dream where I saw my wife. I talked to Sarie. The implication was there that I could get her back.”
“That’s new. For me the horrors just get worse. I think they’re supposed to overwhelm me eventually.”
I had a feeling she was not telling the whole truth, either. I said, “I find it hard to believe that she could feed me anything worse than what I’ve seen in real life. Knowing what she’s trying to do—”
“She managed to use me, Murgen. Because I thought I knew what she was doing. But I didn’t. She is the Queen of Deceivers. I wasn’t her Daughter of Night at all. I was just a brood mare who was going to carry a Deceiver messiah for her. Don’t make the mistake I made. If she really has noticed you, you be very, very careful. And keep me posted.”
I grunted.
“Did you keep track of times when you thought you sensed Kina?”
“Uh...” I had. But most of the time she came near me I was out with Smoke. “Not very well.” I gave her a couple of times that seemed harmless.
“That isn’t much help. Control your emotions. Your wife would be an obvious way to manipulate you. You have any idea why?”
“I’d guess the standard.”
“Of course. Hints pile up but we never get the story. The Lance of Passion. Only the thing’s never shown any special properties.”
It had, but in a time and manner I could not explain without exposing Smoke. Croaker stuck Howler with it once, just a flesh wound, but the little wizard almost died. “Maybe we don’t really have the Lance. People might just think we do.”
She murmured, “Is this another complicated deceit?”
I asked, “How do I stop the dreaming?”
“Weren’t you listening? You don’t.”
“I don’t think I’m strong enough just to live with them.”
“You learn. Mine went away after the baby was born. But not for long. I think Kina forgot to sever the connection.”
“Maybe Narayan was supposed to do that when he took your daughter.”
“Of course he was.”
“I didn’t mean to remind you of—”
