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eager informants, that suggests this activity is
anything but a low-grade nuisance. Even if Black Company survivors
are behind it—and even with tonight’s escalation.”
    Soulcatcher said, “They’ll
never
be anything but a
nuisance.” Her voice was that of a plucky teenage girl.
“They’re going through the motions. They lost heart
when I buried all their leaders.” That was all spoken in a
powerful male voice, by someone accustomed to unquestioning
obedience. But those words amounted to an oblique admission that
Company members might, after all, still be alive, and the final few
words included in a rising inflection betraying potential
uncertainty. There were questions about what had happened on the
plain of glittering stone that Soulcatcher herself could not
answer. “I’ll worry when they call them back from the
dead.”
    She did not know.
    In truth, little had gone according to anyone’s plan out
there. Her escape, with Swan, had been pure luck. But Soulcatcher
was the sort who believed Fortune’s bright countenance was
her born due.
    “Probably true. And only marginally significant if I
understood your summons.”
    “There are Other Forces Afoot,” Soulcatcher said.
This voice was a sybil’s, rife with portent.
    “The Deceivers have been heard from,” the Radisha
announced, causing a general startled reaction that included the
disembodied spy. “Lately we’ve had reports from
Dejagore, Meldermhai, Ghoja and Danjil about men having been slain
in classic Strangler fashion.”
    Swan had recovered. “In classic Strangler work, only the
killers know that it happened. They aren’t assassins. The
bodies would go through their religious rites and be buried in some
holy place.”
    The Radisha ignored his remarks. “Today there was a
strangling here. In Taglios. Perhule Khoji was the victim. He died
in a joy house, an institution specializing in young girls. Such
places aren’t supposed to exist anymore, yet they
persist.” That was an accusation. The Greys were charged with
crushing that sort of exploitation. But the Greys worked for the
Protector and the Protector did not care. “I gather that
anything you can imagine can still be found for sale.”
    Some people blamed a national moral collapse on the Black
Company. Others blamed the ruling family. A few even blamed the
Protector. Fault did not matter, nor did the fact that most of the
nastier evils had existed almost since the first mud hut went up
alongside the river. Taglios had changed. And desperate people will
do what they must to survive. Only a fool would expect the results
to be pretty.
    Swan asked, “Who was this Perhule Khoji?” He glared
over his shoulder. He had a scribe of his own recording the meeting
back there in the darkness. Plainly, he wondered why the Radisha
was familiar with this particular murder when he was not.
“Sounds like the guy got something he had coming. You sure it
wasn’t just his adventure with the little girls gone
bad?”
    “Quite possibly Khoji did deserve what happened,”
the Radisha said with bitter sarcasm. “He was Vehdna, so
he’ll be talking it over with his god about now, I would
imagine. His morals don’t interest us, Swan. His position
does. He was one of the Inspector-General’s leading
assistants. He collected taxes in the Checca and east waterfront
areas. His death will cause problems for months. His areas were
some of our best revenue producers.”
    “Maybe somebody who owed—”
    “His child companion survived. And
he did call for help. The sort of men who handle troublemakers in
those places arrived while it was happening. Stranglers did it. It
was an initiation killing. The Strangler candidate was inept.
Nevertheless, with the help of his arm-holders, he managed to break
Khoji’s neck.”
    “So they were captured.”
    “No. The one they call Daughter of Night was there.
Overseeing the initiation.”
    So the strong-arm guys would have been scared witless once they
recognized her. No