appropriations. A later painting, contemporary with Bomanz, shows the
countryside gone to seed, the limestone facings in disrepair, and the moat
becoming a swamp. Today you can't tell where the moat was. The limestone has
disappeared beneath brush. The elevations and barrows are nothing but humps.
That part of the Great Barrow where the Dominator lies remains in fair shape,
though it, too, is heavily overgrown. Some of the fetishes anchoring the spells
keeping his friends away still stand, but weather has devoured their features.
The edge of the Barrowland is now marked by stakes trailing red flags, put there
when the Lady announced she was sending outsiders to investigate. The Guards
themselves, having lived there always, need no markers to warn them off. I
enjoyed my month and a half there. I indulged my curiosities, and found Feather
and Whisper remarkably accessible.
That hadn't been true of the old Taken. Too, the commander of the Guard, called
the Monitor, bragged up his command's past, which stretches back as far as the
Company's. We swapped lies and tales over many a gallon of beer.
During the fifth week someone discovered something. We peons were not told what.
But the Taken got excited. Whisper started lifting in more of the Company. The
reinforcements told harrowing fables about the Plain of Fear and the Empty
Hills. The Company was at Lords now, only five hundred miles distant.
At the end of the sixth week Whisper assembled us and announced another move.
"The Lady wants me to take some of you out west. A force of twenty-five. Elmo,
you'll be in command. Feather and I, some experts, and several language
specialists will join you. Yes, Croaker. You're on the list. She wouldn't deny
her favorite amateur historian, would she?"
A thrill of fear. I didn't want her getting interested again.
“Where're we headed?” Elmo asked. Professional to the core, the son-of-a-bitch.
Not a single complaint.
“A city called Juniper. Way beyond the western bounds of the empire. It's
connected with the Barrowland somehow. It's a ways north, too. Expect it to be
cold and prepare accordingly.”
Juniper? Never heard of it. Neither had anyone else. Not even the Monitor. I
scrounged through his maps till I found one showing the western coast. Juniper
was way up north, near where the ice persists all year long. It was a big city.
I wondered how it could exist there, where it should be frozen all the time. I
asked Whisper. She seemed to know something about the place. She said Juniper
benefits from an ocean current that brings warm water north. She said the city
is very strange-according to Feather, who'd actually been there.
I approached Feather next, only hours before our departure. She couldn't tell me
much more, except that Juniper is the demense of a Duke Zimerlan, and he
appealed to the Lady a year ago (just a while before the Captain's courier
letter would have left Charm) for help solving a local problem. That someone had
approached the Lady, when the world's desire is to keep her far away, argued
that we faced interesting times. I wondered about the connection with the
Barrowland.
The negative was that Juniper was so far away. I was pleased that I would be
there when the Captain learned he was expected to head there after resting in
Oar, though.
Could be I'd hear his howl of outrage even from that far. I knew he wouldn't be
happy.
Black Company N 2 - Shadows Linger
Chapter Thirteen:
JUNIPER: THE ENCLOSURE
Shed slept badly for weeks. He dreamt of black glass walls and a man who hadn't
been dead. Twice Raven asked him to join a night hunt. Twice he refused. Raven
did not press, though they both knew Shed would jump if he insisted. Shed prayed
that Raven would get rich and disappear. He remained a constant irritant to the
conscience.
Damnit, why didn't Krage go after him?
Shed couldn't figure why Raven remained unperturbed by Krage. The man
countryside gone to seed, the limestone facings in disrepair, and the moat
becoming a swamp. Today you can't tell where the moat was. The limestone has
disappeared beneath brush. The elevations and barrows are nothing but humps.
That part of the Great Barrow where the Dominator lies remains in fair shape,
though it, too, is heavily overgrown. Some of the fetishes anchoring the spells
keeping his friends away still stand, but weather has devoured their features.
The edge of the Barrowland is now marked by stakes trailing red flags, put there
when the Lady announced she was sending outsiders to investigate. The Guards
themselves, having lived there always, need no markers to warn them off. I
enjoyed my month and a half there. I indulged my curiosities, and found Feather
and Whisper remarkably accessible.
That hadn't been true of the old Taken. Too, the commander of the Guard, called
the Monitor, bragged up his command's past, which stretches back as far as the
Company's. We swapped lies and tales over many a gallon of beer.
During the fifth week someone discovered something. We peons were not told what.
But the Taken got excited. Whisper started lifting in more of the Company. The
reinforcements told harrowing fables about the Plain of Fear and the Empty
Hills. The Company was at Lords now, only five hundred miles distant.
At the end of the sixth week Whisper assembled us and announced another move.
"The Lady wants me to take some of you out west. A force of twenty-five. Elmo,
you'll be in command. Feather and I, some experts, and several language
specialists will join you. Yes, Croaker. You're on the list. She wouldn't deny
her favorite amateur historian, would she?"
A thrill of fear. I didn't want her getting interested again.
“Where're we headed?” Elmo asked. Professional to the core, the son-of-a-bitch.
Not a single complaint.
“A city called Juniper. Way beyond the western bounds of the empire. It's
connected with the Barrowland somehow. It's a ways north, too. Expect it to be
cold and prepare accordingly.”
Juniper? Never heard of it. Neither had anyone else. Not even the Monitor. I
scrounged through his maps till I found one showing the western coast. Juniper
was way up north, near where the ice persists all year long. It was a big city.
I wondered how it could exist there, where it should be frozen all the time. I
asked Whisper. She seemed to know something about the place. She said Juniper
benefits from an ocean current that brings warm water north. She said the city
is very strange-according to Feather, who'd actually been there.
I approached Feather next, only hours before our departure. She couldn't tell me
much more, except that Juniper is the demense of a Duke Zimerlan, and he
appealed to the Lady a year ago (just a while before the Captain's courier
letter would have left Charm) for help solving a local problem. That someone had
approached the Lady, when the world's desire is to keep her far away, argued
that we faced interesting times. I wondered about the connection with the
Barrowland.
The negative was that Juniper was so far away. I was pleased that I would be
there when the Captain learned he was expected to head there after resting in
Oar, though.
Could be I'd hear his howl of outrage even from that far. I knew he wouldn't be
happy.
Black Company N 2 - Shadows Linger
Chapter Thirteen:
JUNIPER: THE ENCLOSURE
Shed slept badly for weeks. He dreamt of black glass walls and a man who hadn't
been dead. Twice Raven asked him to join a night hunt. Twice he refused. Raven
did not press, though they both knew Shed would jump if he insisted. Shed prayed
that Raven would get rich and disappear. He remained a constant irritant to the
conscience.
Damnit, why didn't Krage go after him?
Shed couldn't figure why Raven remained unperturbed by Krage. The man
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