one
ever fallen, though many have been gnawed deeply by the teeth of
the hungry winds.
In the lightning flares, or in the dawns and sunsets when light
steals beneath the edges of the sky, tiny golden characters blaze
upon the faces of the columns.
It is immortality of a sort.
After dark the wind dies. After dark silence rules the
glittering stone.
----
----
18
. . . sliding
away . . .
A vast whirlpool pulling me down.
Perhaps a force pushing. Was that a lying promise of an end to
pain?
I cannot resist.
All lies. Endless lies.
Brown pages, torn pages stiff with blood. Agony. Hard to ride
that anchor through the storm.
----
----
19
There you are! Were you lost? Welcome back. Come! Come! The
great adventure is about to begin. The players are all in place.
The engines are wound tight. The spells are collected and ready, in
arsenal number. Oh, it will be a grand night of doom.
Look there! Look there. Remember them? Goblin and One-Eye, the
wizards? But is that really them? There are two more just like them
right over there. And see this. And that. And there. One, two,
three Murgens.
No. Definitely not. You can’t teach those two to suck
eggs. They have been in the fooled you business since your
granny’s greatgranny was a stinky little surprise for your
however-many-greats grandpa. They have set glamors all over this
part of the city. If you are a Shadowlander soldier you won’t
be able to tell the figments from the real thing till one of them
sticks a knife in you.
Look there! Raven and Silent. They have been gone for years. And
there. That is the old Captain, dead since Juniper. No, they
won’t scare any Shadowlanders with who they might be. Not
right away. The southerners never heard of them.
What?
You are right. Absolutely right. Nobody here but Otto and Hagop
will know them, either. But that doesn’t matter. What matters
is they can be seen and hardly anyone will know which ones are
dangerous and which are illusions.
This is a first trial. A big experiment, saved up special for
the night of Shadowspinner’s big attack.
Yes. Yes. He did hit hard not that long ago. But he wasn’t
really going for a knockout then. He would have taken it, but that
was really a reconnaissance in force, meant to support planning for
this attack.
It is going to be a grand show.
Oh, no, there isn’t one ghost anywhere else in Dejagore.
Mogaba wouldn’t have it. He has no grasp of illusion as a
weapon. He has no idea how the Company really worked. He clings to
his grand notion of chivalrous warfare, the great deadly game, all
honor and set rules. He would settled this mess in a trial by
combat between him and any champion the Shadowlanders care to send
out.
Oh! Look! That one is interesting. That ugly sucker is
Toad-killer Dog. He was a real nasty devil dog. And the Limper! Oh,
yes. Brilliant. If the man behind Shadowspinner’s mask is
anyone the Company has faced before those illusions are
provocations he will have to test. He will betray himself.
No, of course the Shadowmasters would not risk an entire kingdom
on the outcome of a fight between two men. Their champion might
lose.
Yes. Mogaba is naive about some things. He is an arrogant,
cruel, unsympathetic general, too.
Ooh. Hear those trumpets. The Company has its own personal bunch
of bad guys down front. Let’s go to the ramparts and watch
from close up.
No. They aren’t really bright. Well, you could say that if
they were bright they wouldn’t be in that army in the first
place but that wouldn’t be fair. Not many of those guys had a
choice about signing up. Their only real motivation is their fear
of the Shadowmasters.
Sure. No argument. That makes them no less deadly. Hell, a rock
can fall out of the sky and kill you.
Yes, this definitely is the big one. Shadowspinner is set to
send every man. Maybe shadows have come up from Overlook to
help.
Bats! Ha. And crows. Which is chasing which? Duck! Almost got
you. They are all over. Never
ever fallen, though many have been gnawed deeply by the teeth of
the hungry winds.
In the lightning flares, or in the dawns and sunsets when light
steals beneath the edges of the sky, tiny golden characters blaze
upon the faces of the columns.
It is immortality of a sort.
After dark the wind dies. After dark silence rules the
glittering stone.
----
----
18
. . . sliding
away . . .
A vast whirlpool pulling me down.
Perhaps a force pushing. Was that a lying promise of an end to
pain?
I cannot resist.
All lies. Endless lies.
Brown pages, torn pages stiff with blood. Agony. Hard to ride
that anchor through the storm.
----
----
19
There you are! Were you lost? Welcome back. Come! Come! The
great adventure is about to begin. The players are all in place.
The engines are wound tight. The spells are collected and ready, in
arsenal number. Oh, it will be a grand night of doom.
Look there! Look there. Remember them? Goblin and One-Eye, the
wizards? But is that really them? There are two more just like them
right over there. And see this. And that. And there. One, two,
three Murgens.
No. Definitely not. You can’t teach those two to suck
eggs. They have been in the fooled you business since your
granny’s greatgranny was a stinky little surprise for your
however-many-greats grandpa. They have set glamors all over this
part of the city. If you are a Shadowlander soldier you won’t
be able to tell the figments from the real thing till one of them
sticks a knife in you.
Look there! Raven and Silent. They have been gone for years. And
there. That is the old Captain, dead since Juniper. No, they
won’t scare any Shadowlanders with who they might be. Not
right away. The southerners never heard of them.
What?
You are right. Absolutely right. Nobody here but Otto and Hagop
will know them, either. But that doesn’t matter. What matters
is they can be seen and hardly anyone will know which ones are
dangerous and which are illusions.
This is a first trial. A big experiment, saved up special for
the night of Shadowspinner’s big attack.
Yes. Yes. He did hit hard not that long ago. But he wasn’t
really going for a knockout then. He would have taken it, but that
was really a reconnaissance in force, meant to support planning for
this attack.
It is going to be a grand show.
Oh, no, there isn’t one ghost anywhere else in Dejagore.
Mogaba wouldn’t have it. He has no grasp of illusion as a
weapon. He has no idea how the Company really worked. He clings to
his grand notion of chivalrous warfare, the great deadly game, all
honor and set rules. He would settled this mess in a trial by
combat between him and any champion the Shadowlanders care to send
out.
Oh! Look! That one is interesting. That ugly sucker is
Toad-killer Dog. He was a real nasty devil dog. And the Limper! Oh,
yes. Brilliant. If the man behind Shadowspinner’s mask is
anyone the Company has faced before those illusions are
provocations he will have to test. He will betray himself.
No, of course the Shadowmasters would not risk an entire kingdom
on the outcome of a fight between two men. Their champion might
lose.
Yes. Mogaba is naive about some things. He is an arrogant,
cruel, unsympathetic general, too.
Ooh. Hear those trumpets. The Company has its own personal bunch
of bad guys down front. Let’s go to the ramparts and watch
from close up.
No. They aren’t really bright. Well, you could say that if
they were bright they wouldn’t be in that army in the first
place but that wouldn’t be fair. Not many of those guys had a
choice about signing up. Their only real motivation is their fear
of the Shadowmasters.
Sure. No argument. That makes them no less deadly. Hell, a rock
can fall out of the sky and kill you.
Yes, this definitely is the big one. Shadowspinner is set to
send every man. Maybe shadows have come up from Overlook to
help.
Bats! Ha. And crows. Which is chasing which? Duck! Almost got
you. They are all over. Never
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