wanted to bed her. I wanted to murder her. I wanted to run away, begging for mercy. It took an exercise of will to remind myself that Kina and her children were not evil in the sense that northerners or even my Vehdna co- religionists understood evil.
Nevertheless... she was the darkness.
I stepped back, tossed the tent flap open so my ally, daylight, could come inside. The girl lost her smile. She backed to the far side of her cage. I could think of nothing to say. There was really nothing we could say to one another. I had no inclination to gloat and little news of the world outside to report, which might motivate her to do something besides wait.
She had her spiritual mother’s patience, that was sure.
A blow from behind rocked me. I clawed at my stubby little sword.
White wings mussed my nattily arranged hair. Talons dug into my shoulder. The Daughter of Night stared at the white crow and revealed real emotion for the first time in a long time. Her confidence wavered. Fear leaked through. She pressed back against the bars behind her.
“Have you two met?” I asked.
The crow said something like, “Wawk! Wiranda!”
The girl began to shake. If possible, she became even paler. Her jaw seemed clenched so tight her teeth ought to be cracking. I made a mental note to discuss this with Mur-gen. He knew something about the crow.
What could rattle the girl so badly?
The crow laughed. It whispered, “Sister, sister,” and launched itself back into the sunlight, where it startled some passing brother into a fit of curses.
I stared at the girl, watched the inner steel reassert itself. Her gaze met mine. I felt the fear within her evaporate. I was nothing to her, less than an insect, certainly less than a stubbed toe at the beginning of her long trek across the ages.
Shuddering, I broke eye contact.
That was a scary kid.
66
Our days began before sunrise. They ended after sunset. They included a great deal of training and exercise of the sort that had been let slide for too long. Tobo worked with almost fanatic devotion to improve his skills as an illusionist. I insisted upon daily readings from the Annals in an effort to reinforce the depth and continuity of brotherhood that were so much the foundation of what the Company was. There was resistance at first, of course, but the message sank in at a pace not unrelated to a growing realization that we were going to go up onto the glittering plain really! Or we’re going to die here in front of the Shadow-gate when Soulcatcher chose to write our final chapter.
The renewed training paid dividends quickly. Eight days after we reduced the fort below the Shadowgate, another mob like Suvrin’s, but much larger, trudged in out of the country west of the New Town. Thanks to Murgen, we had plenty of warning. With Tobo and Goblin assisting, we sprang a classic Company ambush using illusions and nuisance spells that confused and disorganized a force that had had almost no idea what it was doing already. We hit fast and hard and mercilessly and the threat evaporated in a matter of minutes. In fact, the relief force fell apart so fast we could not take as many prisoners as I wanted, though we did round up most of the officers. Suvrin generously identified those he recognized.
Suvrin was practically an apprentice Company man by now, so desperate was he to belong to something and to gain the approval of those around him. I felt halfway guilty exploiting him the way I did.
The prisoners we did take became involuntary laborers in our preparations for the future. Most jumped on the opportunity because I promised to release those who did work hard before we went up onto the plain. Those who failed to work hard would go along as porters. Somehow a rumor got started amongst the prisoners that human sacrifice might be involved in what we were going to be doing once we passed the Shadowgate.
I found Goblin in with One-Eye, whose recovery seemed to have been sped by Gota’s presence. Possibly because he needed to be well enough to get away from her and her cooking. I do not know. They had the Key laid out on a small table between them. Doj, Tobo and Gota watched. Even Mother Gota kept her mouth shut.
Sahra was conspicuously absent.
She was carrying her snit over Tobo too far. I expect there was more to it than what she admitted, though. A big part would center on her fear of the near future.
“Right there,” One-Eye said just as I leaned forward to see what Goblin was doing. The little bald man had a light hammer and a chisel. He tapped the chisel. A piece of iron flipped off the Key. This had been going on for a while, evidently, because about half the iron was gone, revealing something made of gold. I was so surprised at the wizard’s lack of greed that I almost forgot to worry about what they were doing to the Key.
I opened my mouth. Without looking up, One-Eye told me, “Don’t shit your knickers yet, Little Girl. We ain’t hurting a thing. The Key is this thing inside. This golden hammer. You want to bend down a little closer? Maybe you can read what’s inscribed on it.”
I bent. I scanned the characters made visible by removal of the iron. “Looks like the same alphabet as the first book of the Annals.” Not to mention the first Book of the Dead. Which I did not mention.
Goblin used the tip of his chisel to indicate a prominent symbol that appeared in several places. “Doj says he saw this sign at the temple in the Grove of Doom.”
“It should be there.” I knew that one. Master Santaraksita had taught me its meaning. “It’s the personal sign of the goddess. Her personal chop, if you want.” I did not name a name. I suggested, “Don’t speak the name. Not in any of its forms. In the presence of this thing, that would be guaranteed to attract her attention.” Everyone stared at me. I asked, “You didn’t do that already, did you? No? Uncle, you don’t know what this thing might really be, do you?” I had an intuition it was something Narayan Singh might never have surrendered had he been aware that it was in his possession. I thought it might exist solely so that the priest who carried it could obtain the attention of his goddess instantly. Even in my own religion, people had had a much more immediate and scary relationship with the godhead in ancient times. The scriptures told us so. But no such golden hammer played any part in the Kina mythology, insofar as I could recall. Curious. Maybe Master Santaraksita could tell me more.
Goblin continued chipping away. I continued watching. The process went faster as each fragment fell.
“That isn’t any hammer,” I said. “That’s a kind of pickax. It’s a Deceiver cult thing. And older than dirt. It has to be something of huge religious significance.” I suggested, “Show it to the girl. See how she responds.”
“You’re as close to a Kina expert as we’ve got, Sleepy. What could it be?”
“There’s actually a name for that kind of tool but I can’t remember what it is. Every Deceiver band had a pickax like this. Not made out of gold, though. They used them in the burial ceremonies after their murders. To break the bones of their victims so they would fold up into a smaller wad. Sometimes they used them to help dig graves. All with the appropriate ceremonies aimed at pleasing Kina, of course. I really do think somebody should show this to the Daughter of Night and see what she says.”
It seemed like a thousand pairs of eyes were staring at me, waiting for me to volunteer. I told them, “I’m not doing it. I’m going to bed.”
All those eyes kept right on staring. I had put myself in charge. This was something nobody but the guy in charge ought to handle.
“All right. Uncle. Tobo. Goblin. You back me up on this. That child has talents we can’t guess at yet.” I had been warned that she still tried to walk away from her flesh at night, despite all the constraints surrounding her. She was both her mothers’ daughter and there was no telling what might happen when she had to suffer too much stress.
Tobo protested. “I don’t like to be around her. She gives me the creeps.”
Goblin beat me to it. “Kid, she gives everybody the creeps. She’s the creepiest thing I’ve run into in a hundred fifty years. Get used to it. Deal with it. It’s part of the job. Which they say you were born to do and which you did ask for.”
Curious. Goblin the mentor and instructor seemed much more articulate than Goblin the want-to-be-layabout and slacker.
