I might find. The current had had ample time to carry bodies and wreckage down to the delta swamps.
Or perhaps not.
There is a miles-long sandbar just off the curve of the north bank. It has been there so long that it is an island now, with grass on its flanks, brush above that and trees along its highest parts. The channel on its north side is narrow, shallow and choked with mud. An overturned boat lay in the mouth of that channel. One dead man sprawled in the mud. A dozen Taglians clad only in loincloths were trying to right the boat preparatory to dragging it off the bar. None of those men showed the least interest in the corpse. But it was obviously Shadar and they were all Gunni.
The scavengers had a definite interest in not being anywhere around when people came swooping out of the sky in a billowing black cloud. A couple jumped into the channel and swam for the north bank. Others ran into the growth on the island’s spine. A few tried to make it back to the boat that had brought them. It had beached a hundred yards down the bar.
The dead Shadar appeared to have been an officer of the Greys. I discovered a second corpse underneath the boat, also Shadar. There were disturbed crows in and above the nearby trees, which was interesting because we saw so few of those birds anymore.
I made a couple of lazy passes overhead, to finish scaring the birds away, before dropping carefully through the branches.
Mogaba was recognizable only because of the unique color of the bits of skin left to him. Ghopal Singh I identified only by deduction. They had been tortured. Terribly, and for a long time. Mogaba maybe for days. His corpse was not that old.
I slid downstream behind the island and eventually rejoined my own people. I searched out Arkana. “We need to talk, adopted daughter.” I jerked a thumb. Somewhere up high, in the brilliant noonday sun.
She picked up on my concern. She drove upward a thousand feet, tending south, as though we were going to check on the Prahbrindrah Drah’s progress. In fact, a sizable dust cloud could be seen to the south.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I think Tobo may be out of control. Or so close to it as makes no difference. If we’re not careful we might all be sorry his mother isn’t here to scold him. And that Sleepy and Murgen are gone. He may be a grown man but he still needs direction.” I told her what I had found on the sandbar.
“Why tell me? You don’t let anybody in on anything, Pop.”
“Because I’ve seen you making moon eyes at General Singh. And he was a partner with the Great General and Ghopal Singh. If Tobo’s really unhinged he might go after Aridatha next.”
“Why do you blame Tobo?”
I led her through my reasoning, which relied heavily on my assessment of the character of the Great General. “Mogaba knew Aridatha wanted to spare Taglios from the fighting. He wanted that himself. He couldn’t surrender, though. And Aridatha’s sense of honor wouldn’t let him desert Mogaba. So Mogaba decided to arrange it so Aridatha wouldn’t be encumbered. And Tobo got him.”
“You didn’t say why you blame Tobo.”
“Because only Tobo could’ve known what Mogaba was doing and where he would be doing it. There was something badly wrong on the river that night. All the waterfront people felt it and ran off to hide in the city.”
“All right. Suppose it’s true. What’re you going to do?”
“I just did it. I told you to be careful. And now I’m going to see if my wife’s gotten any better since this morning.” I knew Lady would not have done so. I had begun to lose hope for her.
125
Taglios:
An Afternoon Off
I took Lady out for a picnic. With a little help from my adopted daughters. In the vain hope that some sunlight and fresh air would make a difference when even Tobo’s best effort could not shake the enchantment holding her. According to the boy wizard I was supposed to consider myself lucky. If she had not been Lady, had been some ordinary person, she would have been long dead. He assured me this was not the spell that had claimed Sedvod and still gripped Soulcatcher. I could not see any obvious difference—except that Lady was getting no worse.
His best advice was to take my questions to the perpetrator once we found him.
The girls left me alone with my honey. I held her hand and rambled on about a thousand things: recollections, current affairs, hopes. I shared my suspicions and concerns about Tobo, too, which might have been dangerous since I had no idea what might be listening.
Nothing I did helped her even a little, nor did it seem to do me any good. I fought the good fight against despair.
A squeaky clean, thoroughly polished corporal from Hsien trotted up. “Captain’s compliments, sir, and could you come to the Palace? They think they may have located the Khadidas and the Daughter of Night.”
“Damn! Yes. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Tell them not to mess with anything. Tell them to be very careful. Those two are extremely dangerous.”
They knew that, of course. And Tobo would be right there to remind them. But repetition never hurts. Not when it helps get you through the deadly times.
Shukrat and Arkana came running. “What’s up?” Shukrat asked.
As I explained I reflected on how much better the girls were getting along. They seemed to have shed the conflicts they had brought into Captivity.
As we three got Lady ready to go back to my tent I asked Arkana, “Will you want to go home someday?”
“What?”
“Home. Where you were born. The world I used to call Khatovar. Do you want to go back? I think I could make it happen.”
“But it’s all destroyed.”
“Not really. The First Father and Nashun the Researcher said so, but that was just to excuse their cowardice.”
“I’m not sure I want to believe that.”
“Good. Excellent. That’s the way I want my kids to be. Skeptical. That’s the truth according to Shivetya. And I’m not a hundred percent sure of our demonic friend myself.”
“Why didn’t you ask me if I want to go?” Shukrat demanded.
“Because you don’t want to go. You just want to be where Tobo is.”
“That isn’t exactly a secret. It isn’t a crime, either. But I’m not bereft of my senses. You’ll sure never see me do some die-for-love kind of thing. If you guys do go, tell me. I’ll decide what I want to do then.”
126
Taglios:
Royal Return
I did not make it to the Palace. Shukrat beat me there and came right back with instructions to head for the South Gate. The Prahbrindrah Drah was about to arrive and Suvrin wanted somebody there to greet the man we had been touting as the city’s legitimate ruler.
Per instructions I rounded up a few men from the City Battalions, along with a handful of their officers, and off I went, grumbling all the way. I expected the Prince’s home-coming would be a huge disappointment for him and his sister.
Taglios did not care.
I told several people to spread the word, to try to get something going.
