'I don't know. I was born in the wrong place and time. No doubt if I was amoral enough to murder my father and sell my sisters into prostitution.' One of the heroes of Brothen antiquity had done just that.
Rogoz chuckled wickedly. 'Brothens aren't nastier than other people. You just hear about the ones who do the nastiest shit.'
'I suppose.'
'I'm just asking. Like I said, the Don is failing.'
'Which one of the Bruglioni do you suppose the Don admires the most?'
'The Principatй. Divino was almost as close to Draco as Freido was.'
'That makes sense. But we are in a war here.' Meaning that a senior member of the Collegium was not an asset to be wasted while Brothe's enemies remained standing.
'I understand. I'm just seeing if you remember my father and the Don.'
'You have no worries. I won't forget their generosity.'
A sentry challenged them. Else gave the countersign.
'Hey! Pipe? Is that you, you old pudthumper?'
'Bo Biogna. Bo, this is Captain Sayag of House Arniena. Bo went into the Connec with us when Captain Ghort and I were trudging around behind Grade Drocker. Bo is a good man. I hear he's even shown flashes of having what it takes to be a good soldier.'
Bo had grown since last Else had seen him. 'Thank you, Pipe. Uh, Colonel.'
Before Else could get inside the little wine-pressing building Polo had turned into comfortable quarters, Bronte Doneto and several Collegium allies swooped down.
'Principatй,” Else said, 'however much I owe you, and however important you are to the faith, I can't help right now. I'm exhausted. I need sleep. Now.'
Doneto said, 'I'm sorry. But there may be an important new angle. We've only begun to see it this past hour. There may be something deeper than the old war between faiths at work.'
Else refrained from informing the Principatй that he was a major repository for camel dung. 'You need to be more specific.'
'Bluntly, Hecht, to the east of us somewhere, in or around the Emperor's camp, there's an interested power that could be a fully fledged Instrumentality of the Night.'
'You have the advantage of me, Principatй. I don't understand.'
'Recall the thing in the Ownvidian Knot. The one we survived because you thought fast enough to wake me up.'
'Yes?'
'There's a power out there, perhaps following the Emperor, that makes that bogon look as dangerous as a pet weasel.'
Else stared at Doneto, wondering if the man's sanity had become suspect
Doneto said, “Times like this strain the faith of God's most devout Children, Colonel. This thing out there — Primitive peoples might consider it a lesser god.'
Else nodded and shrugged and twitched. 'And you're telling me about this because?'
'Because, like it or not, we'll have to deal with it. You and me. If it has an interest in this struggle.'
Else indulged in several seconds of deeply felt wishing that the nonsense would go away. 'Say you're right. Why is this awful godling here? If it isn't Praman or Chaldarean, why does it care?'
'You'd have to take that up with it. It's one more symptom of the agitation among the Instrumentalities of the Night'
'Maybe I should be glad I'm not sensitive to that'
'Most people drift through life indifferent to the Night until the Night reaches out and smacks them.'
'Like that thing in the Ownvidian Knot.'
'Like that. I still don't know what that was about. I have no enemies who'd go to that much trouble. Far easier to have me murdered in the Emperor's prison.'
'Maybe you offended the Adversary Himself.'
'Hardly. There was a human agency behind that bogon.'
'What's that noise?' He knew what it was, though. The racket raised by men unexpectedly attacked.
Doneto went pale. 'That can't be … We'd know ahead of time if they sent troops out.'
The Praman sorcerers were attacking the Brotherhood. Which suggested lapses in their intelligence in both senses of that word. The Brotherhood contingent was no major threat to al-Khazen.
The uproar ended before Else reached the scene. Something like the monster from Esther's Wood had been driven off by the Principatйs. Three Brothers fell to the thing's fury. None died. Plainly not what those who sent it intended.
Else spotted several key Devedians watching. Was it coincidence that the first blow fell on those who had done the Deves so much hurt? They controlled what both sides knew. Or thought they knew.
The foe tried again, launching point attacks meant to spread terror.
Else asked Doneto, 'Is this the thing you warned me about?'
'No. It's a lesser bogon. Entirely foreign.'
'Foreign?'
'The overseas Pramans must have brought it. There's nothing like it in Calzir anymore.'
'So. Is it the point? Or a diversion?'
'Diversion?'
'What else is going on while we're watching the loud show?' That would be traditional Sha-lug strategy. A fireworks display here while the critical attack went in elsewhere.
'Good thinking, Hecht. I'll look into it Meanwhile, you should see to your troops.'
The city regiment needed no seeing to. The men were nervous but disciplined. Sitting at the center of the sprawl of Patriarchal forces, the regiment enjoyed a moat of human flesh. The probes never came close.
Nevertheless, fear remained an abiding presence through the night.
Grade Drocker opined, 'Last night was a setback for the Pramans.' The Patriarchal commanders had lost the habit of calling their enemies Calzirans. The Calzirans were no longer in charge. 'The Night bent to our will instead of theirs.'
Else learned that small, cruel things had been sent to still the hearts of Patriarchal commanders. Those deadly clots of shadow had been exterminated. The Principatйs had been waiting. Especially clever men like Bronte Doneto turned some back on al-Khazen's native Pramans.
The soldier's life consisted mainly of waiting, or of marching somewhere in order to wait. Siege work meant concentrated waiting. Else found himself growing impatient. But never so impatient that he lost sight of the fact that impatience was the mother of stupid decisions.
Ghort turned up. 'You get the casualty report for last night, Pipe?'
'Not yet. I didn't think we had any. Did we?'
'I'm not sure. I've seen a few men who say they were but it looked more like they had too much liberated wine and got hurt running around in a panic. Then there's that guy who runs the Arniena company. Sayag. He's your pal, isn't he?'
'Not really. We worked together. I saw him last night. What happened?'
'I'm not sure. He isn't, either. He thinks something tried to get him. Yet that doesn't seem likely.'
No, it did not. Unless Divino Bruglioni had found out that the Arniena had it in for the Bruglioni. 'I don't know. It's a world full of cold miseries, Pinkus.'
'And getting colder fast. Everywhere. You don't want to go back home. That end of the world will be under the ice in our lifetimes.'
“The whole world will be under the ice, Pinkus. In our lifetimes. If half the rumors are true.'
From the observation house, later, Else stared across the snowscape at the walls and roofs and towers of al-Khazen. They seemed darker and more dangerous this morning. Those were his people. But he could summon no sympathy. He was sure there was no sympathy for Else Tage stashed behind those walls, either.
Would the whole world go under the ice? Or would the Wells of Ihrian start to flow more strongly, as might
