Read She Is the Darkness: Book Two of Glittering Stone: A Novel of the Black Company for Free Online Page B

each
     other. We made us a baby together. Any two fools can do that by accident, of
     course, but it’s usually a benchmark in a relationship. But what we have as man
     and woman, father and mother, doesn’t mean I trust Lady even a little in any but
     that one way. And she can’t trust me. It’s the way she’s made. It’s the life she
     lived.”
    “Sahrie never had any ambitions, boss. Except maybe to get me to actually go
     into the farming I’m always talking about so I wouldn’t get skragged gloriously
     in some typically heroic military manner like falling off a horse and drowning
     while I was crossing a creek during the rainy season.”
    “Sahra never worried me, Murgen. What bothers me is this uncle who doesn’t act
     like any other Nyueng Bao I’ve ever seen.”
    “Hey, he’s one old guy who has a thing about swords. He’s a priest and his
     scripture is sharp steel. And he’s got a grudge. Just keep him pointed toward
     the Shadowmaster.”
    Croaker nodded grimly. “Time will tell.” He did grim very well.
    We crossed the great stone bridge Lady had ordered built at Ghoja. Crows filled
     the trees on the southern bank. They squabbled and carried on and seemed to find
     us highly amusing.
    I said, “I worry more about those things.”
    Croaker did not respond. He did order a halt to rest the animals. So many had
     gone south ahead of us that there were no well rested remounts available. Amidst
     all the saluting and hasty turning out of an honor guard and whatnot, I stared
     southward and said, “That little clown is making damned good time.” I had asked
     already and had learned that One-Eye was still a day ahead.
    “We’ll catch him before we get to Dejagore.” Croaker eyed me as though he feared
     the city name would strike me with the impact of some terrible spell. I
     disappointed him. Thai Dei, who could follow the conversation because we were
     speaking Taglian, showed no reaction, either, though the siege had been as
     terrible for his people as for the Company. Nyueng Bao seldom betray any emotion
     in the presence of outsiders.
    I told Thai Dei, “Give your horse to the groom and let’s see if we can’t find
     something decent to eat.” Living on horseback is not a gourmet’s delight.
    For the same reason there were no fresh remounts, there were very few delicacies
     at the Ghoja fortress, but because we belonged to the Liberator’s party we were
     given a newly taken gamecock that was so full of juice and substance my stomach
     nearly rebelled at taking it in. After eating we got to stay inside, out of the
     cold, and get some sleep. I should have stuck to Croaker in case his talks with
     local commanders turned up anything that belonged in the Annals, but after a
     short interior debate I chose sleep instead. If he heard anything worthwhile the
     Old Man would tell me. If necessary I could come back with Smoke later.
    I dreamed but did not remember the dreams long enough to note them down. They
     were unpleasant but not overpowering or so terrible Thai Dei had to awaken me.
    We were back on the road before sunrise.
    We overtook One-Eye passing through the hills that surround Dejagore. When I
     first glimpsed his wagon and realized it had to be him I started to shudder and
     had to fight an urge to kick my mount into a faster pace. I wanted to get to
     Smoke.
    Maybe I had more of a problem than I wanted to admit.
    I did not show it enough to be noticed, though.
    One-Eye never slowed down a bit.
    There had been some changes since my days of hell in Dejagore or Jaicur, as its
     natives called it, or Stormgard, as it was named while it was the seat of the
     deceased Shadowmaster Stormshadow. Poor witch, she had been totally unable to
     guard the Shadowlands against the storm of the Black Company.
    The plain outside the city had been drained of all water and cleared of wreckage
     and corpses, though I thought I could still smell death in the air. Prisoners of
     war from the