Already there were
stories on the street about how the Great General had sacrificed
himself in order to void the strictures of all the oaths and vows
binding him and his allies. Because he had wanted to spare the city
further devastation by the invading rebels and outlanders. Amazing.
We had just started taking charge and already people were nostalgic
for the good old days of the Protectorate.
Hard to blame them, I suppose. It was a generation ago that the
Prahbrindrah Drah last saw the inside of his capital city.
Let them feel however they wanted. As long as they stayed out of
my way.
Tobo and I drifted above the Palace, studying the ruin. Smoke
still found its way out of the rock pile. Every few hours a little
more caved in. A third had collapsed already.
That third included almost all of the occupied modern sector.
Maybe the abandoned parts had been constructed from sterner stuff.
They had survived generations of neglect.
Even during the worst fighting Aridatha had used volunteers from
the City Battalions to keep sifting the ruins for survivors to
rescue and bodies to deliver to distraught relatives. He continued
in that role, now reinforced by units formerly committed to the
fighting. Elsewhere, whole battalions now engaged the more stubborn
fires instead of invaders.
I asked Tobo, “You really think they’re still in
there somewhere?” I meant Booboo and Goblin.
“I know they are. The hidden folk have seen them. They
just can’t remember how to get to them.”
“Strange as it may seem, I need them out of there alive.
Without them I can’t keep my promise to Shivetya.”
Tobo grunted. I had not included him in my planning. In fact,
the inner circle still consisted of a council of one. Me. And I
intended to keep it that way. Nothing spoken, nothing betrayed.
“I think Arkana’s in love.” Below, the Voroshk
girl had come up with another excuse to consult Aridatha Singh.
Tobo grunted again. He was better than he had been but victory
had given him no satisfaction. He would be a long time getting over
the loss of his mom and dad.
I asked, “Have you found any trace of Mogaba or Ghopal
Singh?” Aridatha said they were dead. He claimed to have been
told so by the white crow—not an entirely reliable witness.
The boy studied me before responding. “They drowned. While
trying to escape upriver. By boat. Evidently the boat
capsized.”
“I see.”
My tone made him stare at me intently. I could not see his
expression, of course. The Voroshk apparel concealed that. And mine
masked my features. We continued to dress up because some people
did not approve of our conquest. Incidents abounded.
Mostly, though, Taglios had heaved a huge collective sigh and
began getting on with the business of life. Thus far there had been
almost no retribution against those who had served the displaced
regime. Most people seemed of the opinion that the Greys had done
more good than harm, since they had repressed criminal behavior
with a ferocity greater than they had shown to enemies of the Great
General and the Protector.
In general, the masses of people were entirely indifferent to
who ruled Taglios and its dependencies. The who seldom touched
their lives deeply, one way or another.
The human species never ceases to amaze me. I would have bet
more people would have cared a lot more. But from the inside
nothing is ever what it looks like from without.
Rajadharma graffiti continued to appear. Some folks are never
satisfied. Thi kim is here was turning up now, too. I had not
pressed the kid on that. He did not want to talk about it.
I would let it ride even though that mystery was not yet solved
to my satisfaction. There had to be more to his relationship with
the Unknown Shadows than had become obvious so far.
I left the boy and circled the Palace. Our men had replaced the
City Battalions on that perimeter. They made a colorful line. City
troops were clearing rubble, particularly in areas where
Tobo’s friends believed people were trapped. A number
remained alive, caught inside interior rooms that had not
collapsed. Now thirst was their implacable enemy.
All was going as it should. It seemed. But I was not
comfortable. I had a sense of there being a wrongness somewhere.
Intuition. Based upon subconscious cues.
I drifted away from the Palace, waving in passing to Shukrat,
who just had to see Tobo after having completed a courier run to
the approaching Prahbrindrah Drah and
Radisha. Once out of sight I put on speed and headed for the
river.
I started at the downstream end of the waterfront. I drifted
upstream. The boats were out. As they would have been had the
fighting still been under way. I asked a few questions of terrified
fishermen, not at all sure what 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.
Already there were
stories on the street about how the Great General had sacrificed
himself in order to void the strictures of all the oaths and vows
binding him and his allies. Because he had wanted to spare the city
further devastation by the invading rebels and outlanders. Amazing.
We had just started taking charge and already people were nostalgic
for the good old days of the Protectorate.
Hard to blame them, I suppose. It was a generation ago that the
Prahbrindrah Drah last saw the inside of his capital city.
Let them feel however they wanted. As long as they stayed out of
my way.
Tobo and I drifted above the Palace, studying the ruin. Smoke
still found its way out of the rock pile. Every few hours a little
more caved in. A third had collapsed already.
That third included almost all of the occupied modern sector.
Maybe the abandoned parts had been constructed from sterner stuff.
They had survived generations of neglect.
Even during the worst fighting Aridatha had used volunteers from
the City Battalions to keep sifting the ruins for survivors to
rescue and bodies to deliver to distraught relatives. He continued
in that role, now reinforced by units formerly committed to the
fighting. Elsewhere, whole battalions now engaged the more stubborn
fires instead of invaders.
I asked Tobo, “You really think they’re still in
there somewhere?” I meant Booboo and Goblin.
“I know they are. The hidden folk have seen them. They
just can’t remember how to get to them.”
“Strange as it may seem, I need them out of there alive.
Without them I can’t keep my promise to Shivetya.”
Tobo grunted. I had not included him in my planning. In fact,
the inner circle still consisted of a council of one. Me. And I
intended to keep it that way. Nothing spoken, nothing betrayed.
“I think Arkana’s in love.” Below, the Voroshk
girl had come up with another excuse to consult Aridatha Singh.
Tobo grunted again. He was better than he had been but victory
had given him no satisfaction. He would be a long time getting over
the loss of his mom and dad.
I asked, “Have you found any trace of Mogaba or Ghopal
Singh?” Aridatha said they were dead. He claimed to have been
told so by the white crow—not an entirely reliable witness.
The boy studied me before responding. “They drowned. While
trying to escape upriver. By boat. Evidently the boat
capsized.”
“I see.”
My tone made him stare at me intently. I could not see his
expression, of course. The Voroshk apparel concealed that. And mine
masked my features. We continued to dress up because some people
did not approve of our conquest. Incidents abounded.
Mostly, though, Taglios had heaved a huge collective sigh and
began getting on with the business of life. Thus far there had been
almost no retribution against those who had served the displaced
regime. Most people seemed of the opinion that the Greys had done
more good than harm, since they had repressed criminal behavior
with a ferocity greater than they had shown to enemies of the Great
General and the Protector.
In general, the masses of people were entirely indifferent to
who ruled Taglios and its dependencies. The who seldom touched
their lives deeply, one way or another.
The human species never ceases to amaze me. I would have bet
more people would have cared a lot more. But from the inside
nothing is ever what it looks like from without.
Rajadharma graffiti continued to appear. Some folks are never
satisfied. Thi kim is here was turning up now, too. I had not
pressed the kid on that. He did not want to talk about it.
I would let it ride even though that mystery was not yet solved
to my satisfaction. There had to be more to his relationship with
the Unknown Shadows than had become obvious so far.
I left the boy and circled the Palace. Our men had replaced the
City Battalions on that perimeter. They made a colorful line. City
troops were clearing rubble, particularly in areas where
Tobo’s friends believed people were trapped. A number
remained alive, caught inside interior rooms that had not
collapsed. Now thirst was their implacable enemy.
All was going as it should. It seemed. But I was not
comfortable. I had a sense of there being a wrongness somewhere.
Intuition. Based upon subconscious cues.
I drifted away from the Palace, waving in passing to Shukrat,
who just had to see Tobo after having completed a courier run to
the approaching Prahbrindrah Drah and
Radisha. Once out of sight I put on speed and headed for the
river.
I started at the downstream end of the waterfront. I drifted
upstream. The boats were out. As they would have been had the
fighting still been under way. I asked a few questions of terrified
fishermen, not at all sure what 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.