Book 1 - Bleak Seasons Read Online Free PDF Page B

hold his attention there till he
gets tired or until you sneak up and cut his throat. Sneakups
aren’t practical here. This time Spinner will protect himself
better. He might not even come out of his camp if we don’t
make him.”
    Mogaba nodded, unsurprised. “Sindawe?”
    Sindawe is Mogaba’s oldest and closest friend. They go
back to early childhood. Sindawe is now Mogaba’s second in
command and leader of the Taglian First Legion, which is the best
of the Taglian formations. And the oldest. Croaker put Mogaba in
charge of training when first we arrived in Taglios and the First
is the juggernaut Mogaba built.
    Sindawe can pass as Mogaba’s brother. Sometimes he acts
like Mogaba’s conscience. Mogaba values his good opinion
possibly more than he should.
    Sindawe said, “We could try to outrun
them . . . Whoa, Ga! I’m
joking.”
    Mogaba didn’t get it. Or if he did he failed to see the
humor.
    I offered, “Use artillery to distract him, wherever he is.
And if we do catch him in range we can hope we get
lucky.”
    We did that during the big battle that ended with us trapped.
And it worked. We even got lucky, some, which was why we were alive
to be in deep shit now. But we did not come near eliminating
Shadowspinner.
    “We will include motion in everything,” Mogaba
decided. “Our artillerymen will shoot and run. Wherever the
Shadowmaster attacks directly we will fade away instantly. We will
cover with enfilading fire till his attention is drawn elsewhere.
We will not look him in the eye.”
    Mogaba looked me in the eye. He wanted help from Goblin and
One-Eye but his pride would not let him ask. He is on record as
saying he cannot abide sorcery, that sorcery has no place in the
Black Company. It is wicked, dishonorable, the alternative of
rogues. The man just cannot lay off the flattery. He spreads that
stuff all over those two clowns every time he sees them, too. He
has made them some big offers intended to get them to retire from
“his” Company.
    Help? Ain’t it funny how flexible you get when absolute
destruction looks you right in the eye?
    Sort of flexible. Mogaba never addressed the matter
directly.
    I did not twist his tail. I never do. And I hope that drives him
crazy. I said, “We will all exercise all our talents to their
limit. If we don’t get through this, our differences
don’t mean shit.”
    Mogaba winced. Among the many things a Nar warrior does not do
is employ colorful language. Whatever language he uses.
    Good thing we were using the Beryl dialect. Our discussion had
gone on long enough that the Taglian officers were beginning to
doubt Sindawe’s bland translations. We tried to show the
outside world a single face. It was especially important to deceive
our employers. In the tradition of these things they are, likely,
already figuring out how to screw us as soon as we save their royal
butts.
    Counting sworn brothers taken in since our advent in this
forsaken end of the world, the Nar and Old Crew factions together
total sixty-nine men. Dejagore’s main defenders are ten
thousand inadequately trained Taglian legionaires, some willing but
ineffective former Shadowlander slaves, and some even less
effective Jaicuri. Each day snaps our numbers. Old wounds and
current diseases thin our ranks as swiftly as enemy attacks.
Croaker tried to teach good field hygiene but it has not stuck
anywhere outside the Company proper.
    Mogaba awarded me a small bow, the way honors are paid in these
parts. He would not thank me outright.
    Sindawe and Ochiba now had their heads together over some unit
reports that had just come in. Sindawe announced, “No time
left for talk. They are about to attack.” He spoke Taglian.
Unlike Mogaba, he made a grand effort to get beyond pidgin. He
strove to understand the culture and thinking of the several
Taglian peoples weird though they are.
    Mogaba said, “Then let’s go to our posts. We
don’t want to disappoint Shadowspinner.” You could see
the edge on the