[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

"What else did you find?" I still smelled of beer.
"All kinds of treasures. And circumstantial evidence that One-Eye wasn't
planning to stay away forever."
Croaker grunted. It was getting too dark to read his expressions well. Was he
irked because I had figured something out? Or was he considering the
possibilities?
I said, "I can't believe that finding Sleepy would cause so much excitement."
"Lady hoped we could catch Catcher all goofed up, too."
"But we already knew she was all right. She was sending shadows down. She was
messing with me." Maybe she was just tickling me because I was there when her
big sister yanked her pigtails.
"We didn't know. We suspected. If Sleepy had been her prisoner and wandered
away, then maybe she wasn't in control after all. There isn't anybody around
here who wouldn't love to add Catcher to our zoo. And, too, there was the
chance that... the girl... "
Yeah. There was the chance they could grab their daughter back. Maybe when
nobody was looking. "Where's Lady?"
"Still out there." His tone told me I had used my quota of questions in that
area.
"Sleepy said anything useful?" I asked.
"He hasn't said anything. He doesn't act like he's all there."
"Just what this outfit needs. Another goofball."
"You finding One-Eye's stash reminds me. You stumbled over either one of our
prodigal conjuremen lately?"
"I don't dream that much, boss. When I do, it's always in real time. Which
means only after dark, when they can hide a lot better. And they do have to be
hiding if they're still in this part of the world. I don't even find campfire
traces anymore."
"One-Eye would know who was looking and how," Croaker mused. "Tell you the
truth, Murgen, I don't miss them that much nowadays. It was a stroke of
genius, if I do say so myself, to split them up. I couldn't have survived the
last couple of years, working twenty-hour days, with them squabbling around me
all the time."
"You'd think if they'd joined forces there would've been forest fires and
Page 265
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
avalanches to mark the occasion."
"We do keep having earthquakes."
"I'm worried about them, boss. Because of the spear."
"Spear? What spear?"
"The black spear. I told you I found it. The one One-Eye made while we were in
Dejagore. He didn't take it with him. But he hasn't come back for it."
"And?"
"He would. Using some sneak spell if he had to. It was important to him. He
didn't brag but he considered it his masterpiece. He wouldn't just throw it
away--no matter how many times he's been through the Company having to cut and
run."
"You saying he's coming back?"
"I'm saying I think he planned to. He might not have been one hundred percent
serious about eloping. Wouldn't be the first time a man wasn't completely
honest with a woman."
Croaker looked at me like he was trying to figure out what was really going on
inside my head. Then he shrugged, said, "Could be. You men. Take Sleepy into
my shelter. Leave him on the examining table."
"Good idea," I said. "See how bad he's been treated."
Croaker grunted. "You stay out here," he told Thai Dei, who was standing over
his captives with his beer-drinking hand tucked up behind him. "You come with
me, Murgen." Like Thai Dei needed reminding that the Old Man did not want him
in his house. "Jamadar Subadir. See that those prisoners are put away
properly. And make certain that the rest of our guests haven't exceeded
themselves, too."
I said, "The Prince never tried anything." The Prahbrindrah Drah did not have
to suffer the indignity of shackles. Our Taglians would not have tolerated
that.
I spied Uncle Doj watching from some shadows, arms crossed. I wondered why he
stayed with us. Narayan Singh? Hardly. His persistence nudged my paranoia
level whenever I thought about him.
Croaker, of course, was more enduringly suspicious than I was.
We descended into the Old Man's dugout.
He told the men carrying Sleepy, "That's good. The Standardbearer and I will
take care of him now. Hold on, Sparkle. I want you to double-check on those
men I told to deal with the prisoners. We haven't given enough consideration
to the possibility of treachery amongst our own people."
Sparkle asked, "You want I should look for anything in particular?"
"Just keep your eyes open." Croaker turned to me. "I agree with you. We need
to drown the whole bunch of them."
"But Lady has a use for them."
Page 266
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Waste not, want not. She says. I keep reminding myself that she's supposed to
be smarter and more experienced than me. Let's get him undressed. You start at
that end."
Sleepy was awake but showed no interest in conversation. Or in anything else.
I asked, "Where's my horse, Sleepy?"
Croaker chuckled. "Good question, Murgen. You might want to pursue it. Unless
you prefer to walk to Khatovar."
I asked Sleepy several questions. He answered none of them. His eyes would
track me and the Old Man but I could not tell if he understood anything.
Croaker said, "We could use Smoke to backtrack him and find out where he's
been and how he lost the beast."
I grunted. We could have Lady sock the little shit with a knockout spell and
make him useful for a while. The hard part would be getting her to agree not
to hog him all for herself. "He was wide awake today. Smoke was. You might
better make sure she knows."
Croaker began poking and prodding Sleepy. "Lot of bruises. Must've gotten
pounded around good." Sleepy took it silently, without flinching.
"If he was in Catcher's cave... I saw it happen from ten miles away. It was--"
"I saw enough." Something was bothering him. He had that air people get when
they have something difficult to say and are not morally convinced of their
right to say it. Which troubled me. Croaker had no trouble barking at anybody
but his old lady. "Been catching up on your Annals, Murgen."
Oh-oh.
"And I hate to say this, but I don't like them very much."
"As I recall, you weren't going to dictate what I write."
"That's right. I'm not going to now. You got the job. You do it. I'm just
saying I don't like what I've been reading. Though you have gotten a lot
better in some ways. You seen this man naked before?"
"No. Why? Should I have?" I had a feeling he was harboring a big beef with my
Annals. Since he was one of probably no more than three people who would read
them during my lifetime I supposed I could get into closer touch with the
needs of my audience. Or at least pretend to. He could not fire me. Unless he
wanted the job back himself. The only candidate lay before us, still
untrained, unpolished, unclothed and quite probably unsane. "So what am I
doing wrong?"
"You could start by not being so being polite. Look at your pal. What's
missing?"
Sleepy was not a boy.
I forgot about the Annals. "I'll be damned."
"You didn't know?"
"Never suspected. I thought he was kind of short and skinny... But he always
Page 267
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
was. He was barely out of diapers when he latched on to us in Dejagore. I
figured him for maybe thirteen. He wasn't as sane as he is now. I remember
Bucket throwing one of his uncles off the wall for raping him." I kept right
on saying "him" because it was hard to think of Sleepy as anything else
despite the lack of evidence right there in front of me.
"Good soldier?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]