Bleak Seasons Read Online Free PDF

superiority is. I try to maintain good form.
    Croaker quickly elevated Mogaba to third in the Company, after himself and Lady,
    because of his exceptional talents. But that did not automatically entitle
     Mogaba to assume command if Croaker and Lady were gone. New Captains are
     supposed to be elected. In a situation like the one here in Dejagore the custom
     is to poll the soldiers to see if they think an immediate election is necessary.
    If they think the old Captain has become mad, senile, dead, incompetent, or
     otherwise in need of permanent replacement then a election will be held.
    I cannot recall any instance in the Annals when the senior candidate was
     rejected by the soldiers, but if an election were held today a precedent might
     be set. In a secret ballot even many of the Nar might declare no confidence in
     Mogaba.
    There will be no vote while we are besieged. I will oppose any effort to hold
     one. Mogaba may be mad and I may not be able to go along with him in areas he
     considers religious, but only he has the will to control thousands of skittish
     Taglian legionnaires while keeping the Jaicuri in line. If he should fall his
     assistant Sindawe would step up, then Ochiba, and only then, maybe, if I can’t
     hide fast enough, me.
    Soldiers and civilians both fear Mogaba more than they respect him after all
     this time besieged. And that troubles me. The Annals demonstrate over and over
     that fear is the most fertile soil for treachery.

Black Company GS 6 - Black Seasons
    11
    Mogaba holds staff conferences in the citadel. There is a war room there, once
     the toy of the sorceress Stormshadow. Mogaba considers meeting there a great
     concession to the distances us underlings must hike. He does not like leaving
     his own part of the action. For that reason I could count on this being short.
    He was polite enough, though it was a strained courtesy obvious to all. He said,
    “I received your message. It was not entirely clear.”
    “I garbled it intentionally. I didn’t want the messenger telling everybody on
     his way to see you.”
    “It is not good news, then, I assume.” He spoke the Jewel Cities dialect the
     Company picked up when it was in service to the Syndic of Beryl. Most of us used
     it only when we did not want the natives to understand what we were saying.
    Mogaba used it because he did not yet have enough Taglian to get by without
     interpreters. Even his Jewel Cities dialect was badly accented.
    “Definitely not good news,” I said. Mogaba’s friend Sindawe translated for the
     Taglian officers present. I continued, “Goblin and One-Eye tell me Shadowspinner
     is completely healthy again and means tonight to be his big comeback show. So
     tonight won’t be just another raid, it will be a big punchout for the whole
     works.”
    A dozen pairs of eyes stared, praying I was making the sort of bad joke Goblin
     and One-Eye would find hilarious. Mogaba’s own eyes were icy. He wanted to make
     me recant by sheer weight of his gaze.
    Mogaba has no use for One-Eye or Goblin. They are one of the big sources of
     contention between him and the Old Crew. He is sure that real wizards, however
     puny, have no place among real warriors, who are supposed to rely on their
     strength, their wit, their will, and even maybe their superior steel if they
     have it.
    Goblin and One-Eye, besides being wizards, besides being sloppy and
     undisciplined and rowdy, worst of all fail to agree that Mogaba is the best
     thing that could have happened to the Black Company.
    Mogaba hates Shadowspinner in part because he knows the Shadowmaster will never
     meet him in a trial by combat that can be sung about down through the ages.
    Mogaba wants his place in the Annals. He lusts after a major place in the
     Annals. And he is going to get that, but not the way he wants.
    “Do you have a suggestion about how to deal with this threat?” Mogaba showed no
     emotion, though Shadowspinner getting well meant the date of our