Seem like
there’s much point dragging my weary ass over there?” I
asked Lady. There was just enough dawn-light to show the vague
outline of the slope leading up to the shadowgate. Which was still
miles and miles from where we had spent the night. This part of the
journey was one of those where you spend the whole day trying not
to look ahead because every time you do it seems you have not
gotten ten feet closer. Way to our left a smoky haze concealed the
New City and the lower half of ruined Overlook. A lot of unpleasant
memories connected us with those places.
“What do you mean?” My sweetheart was as tired and
morning-cranky as I was. And her bones were a lot older than
mine.
“Well, we didn’t get killed last night. That means
the gate hasn’t collapsed yet. Old Longshadow’s still
holding out.”
“Evidently.”
“Wouldn’t that mean Tobo’s got everything
under control? So why beat ourselves up getting on over
there?”
Lady smirked at me. She did not have to tell me. We would cross
the valley because, in the end, I would want to see everything for
myself. Because I would want to get it all into the Annals, right.
She had chided me fifty times during the ride south because I was
trying to work out a way to write on horseback. I could get so much
more done if I could do it while we were traveling.
Then she chirped, “You are getting old.”
“What?”
“A sign of advancing age. You start obsessing about how
much you have to get done in the time that you have
left.”
I made noises in the back of my throat but did not argue.
That kind of thinking was familiar. So was being unable to fall
asleep because I was tracking my heartbeat, trying to tell if
something was wrong.
You would think a guy in my line of work would make his peace
with death at an early age.
We ran into several locals while crossing the valley, the bottom
land of which was decent farmland and pasture. We did not receive
one friendly greeting. I did not see one welcoming smile. Nobody
raised a hand in defiance but I had no trouble feeling the abiding
resentment of a tormented nation. There had been no serious
fighting in these parts for years but the adult population were all
survivors of the terrible times, whether they were natives or
immigrants who had come in to settle the depopulated lands and to
escape even worse horrors elsewhere. They did not want the evils of
the past to return.
This land had suffered grotesquely under the Shadowmaster
Longshadow. It had continued to suffer after his defeat. The
Kiaulune wars devoured most everything that Longshadow and the
Shadowmaster wars had not. And now the Black Company had returned.
Out of the place of glittering stone, an abode of devils. The
season of despair appeared to be threatening again.
“Can’t say I blame them,” I told Lady.
“What?”
I explained.
“Oh.” Indifferently. Some attitudes never wither.
She had been a powerful lord a lot longer than she had been just
another tick on the underbelly of the world. Compassion is not one
of the qualities that endeared her to me.
We found Tobo impatient with our dawdling. “I see the old
gal’s still here,” I said of the shadowgate. Lady and I
produced our keys and let the crew cross over, Murgen first so he
could make sure his boy still had all his arms and legs and fingers
and toes.
“It is,” the wonder child confessed. “But
probably only because Longshadow still hasn’t left the
plain.”
“What?” Lady was irritated. “We made promises.
We owe the Children of the Dead.”
“We do,” Tobo said. “But we won’t be
allowed to kill ourselves. Shivetya knew we forgot to disarm
Longshadow’s booby trap so he kept Longshadow from
leaving.”
“How do you know that?”
“I sent messengers. That was the news they brought
back.”
Lady’s mood had not improved. “The File of Nine will
be smoking. We don’t need them as enemies. We may have to
flee to the Land of Unknown Shadows again.”
“Shivetya will release Longshadow the second we finish
refurbishing our gate.”
My companions were nervous. Willow Swan was pale, sweating,
dancing with anxiety and, most of all, un-Swanlike, silent. He had
not, in fact, spoken all day.
Thinking about the shadows can do that to you if you have
witnessed one of their attacks.
Tobo asked, “You two ready to go to work?”
I shook my head. “Are you kidding?”
Lady said, “No.”
Tobo told us, “I can’t finish this alone.”
I replied, “And you can’t finish it with assistants
so tired they’re guaranteed to make mistakes. I have a
premonition. Longshadow will keep till tomorrow.”
Tobo admitted that he would. Shivetya would see to it. But he
did so with poor grace.
Lady said, “Let’s go set up camp.” Murgen,
Swan and the others probably should have been doing that instead of
standing around being anxious.
Once we crossed the barrier Lady wondered, “Why is Tobo in
such a hurry?”
I snickered. “I think it might have to do with Booboo. He
hasn’t seen her for a long time. Sleepy says he was
completely smitten.”
While I spoke her expression transformed from curious to
completely appalled. “I’d hope not.”
Murgen suggested, “There were two rather attractive
Voroshk girls. One of them might have something to do with
it.”
Seem like
there’s much point dragging my weary ass over there?” I
asked Lady. There was just enough dawn-light to show the vague
outline of the slope leading up to the shadowgate. Which was still
miles and miles from where we had spent the night. This part of the
journey was one of those where you spend the whole day trying not
to look ahead because every time you do it seems you have not
gotten ten feet closer. Way to our left a smoky haze concealed the
New City and the lower half of ruined Overlook. A lot of unpleasant
memories connected us with those places.
“What do you mean?” My sweetheart was as tired and
morning-cranky as I was. And her bones were a lot older than
mine.
“Well, we didn’t get killed last night. That means
the gate hasn’t collapsed yet. Old Longshadow’s still
holding out.”
“Evidently.”
“Wouldn’t that mean Tobo’s got everything
under control? So why beat ourselves up getting on over
there?”
Lady smirked at me. She did not have to tell me. We would cross
the valley because, in the end, I would want to see everything for
myself. Because I would want to get it all into the Annals, right.
She had chided me fifty times during the ride south because I was
trying to work out a way to write on horseback. I could get so much
more done if I could do it while we were traveling.
Then she chirped, “You are getting old.”
“What?”
“A sign of advancing age. You start obsessing about how
much you have to get done in the time that you have
left.”
I made noises in the back of my throat but did not argue.
That kind of thinking was familiar. So was being unable to fall
asleep because I was tracking my heartbeat, trying to tell if
something was wrong.
You would think a guy in my line of work would make his peace
with death at an early age.
We ran into several locals while crossing the valley, the bottom
land of which was decent farmland and pasture. We did not receive
one friendly greeting. I did not see one welcoming smile. Nobody
raised a hand in defiance but I had no trouble feeling the abiding
resentment of a tormented nation. There had been no serious
fighting in these parts for years but the adult population were all
survivors of the terrible times, whether they were natives or
immigrants who had come in to settle the depopulated lands and to
escape even worse horrors elsewhere. They did not want the evils of
the past to return.
This land had suffered grotesquely under the Shadowmaster
Longshadow. It had continued to suffer after his defeat. The
Kiaulune wars devoured most everything that Longshadow and the
Shadowmaster wars had not. And now the Black Company had returned.
Out of the place of glittering stone, an abode of devils. The
season of despair appeared to be threatening again.
“Can’t say I blame them,” I told Lady.
“What?”
I explained.
“Oh.” Indifferently. Some attitudes never wither.
She had been a powerful lord a lot longer than she had been just
another tick on the underbelly of the world. Compassion is not one
of the qualities that endeared her to me.
We found Tobo impatient with our dawdling. “I see the old
gal’s still here,” I said of the shadowgate. Lady and I
produced our keys and let the crew cross over, Murgen first so he
could make sure his boy still had all his arms and legs and fingers
and toes.
“It is,” the wonder child confessed. “But
probably only because Longshadow still hasn’t left the
plain.”
“What?” Lady was irritated. “We made promises.
We owe the Children of the Dead.”
“We do,” Tobo said. “But we won’t be
allowed to kill ourselves. Shivetya knew we forgot to disarm
Longshadow’s booby trap so he kept Longshadow from
leaving.”
“How do you know that?”
“I sent messengers. That was the news they brought
back.”
Lady’s mood had not improved. “The File of Nine will
be smoking. We don’t need them as enemies. We may have to
flee to the Land of Unknown Shadows again.”
“Shivetya will release Longshadow the second we finish
refurbishing our gate.”
My companions were nervous. Willow Swan was pale, sweating,
dancing with anxiety and, most of all, un-Swanlike, silent. He had
not, in fact, spoken all day.
Thinking about the shadows can do that to you if you have
witnessed one of their attacks.
Tobo asked, “You two ready to go to work?”
I shook my head. “Are you kidding?”
Lady said, “No.”
Tobo told us, “I can’t finish this alone.”
I replied, “And you can’t finish it with assistants
so tired they’re guaranteed to make mistakes. I have a
premonition. Longshadow will keep till tomorrow.”
Tobo admitted that he would. Shivetya would see to it. But he
did so with poor grace.
Lady said, “Let’s go set up camp.” Murgen,
Swan and the others probably should have been doing that instead of
standing around being anxious.
Once we crossed the barrier Lady wondered, “Why is Tobo in
such a hurry?”
I snickered. “I think it might have to do with Booboo. He
hasn’t seen her for a long time. Sleepy says he was
completely smitten.”
While I spoke her expression transformed from curious to
completely appalled. “I’d hope not.”
Murgen suggested, “There were two rather attractive
Voroshk girls. One of them might have something to do with
it.”