Book 1 - The Black Company Read Online Free PDF Page A

go back."
     
     
    Someone hammered on the door. "What?" the Captain snapped.
    A voice muted by thick wood responded. I said, "It's
One-Eye."
    "Open up."
    I opened. One-Eye, Tom-Tom, Goblin, Silent, and a dozen others
pushed inside. The room got hot and tight. Tom-Tom said, "The
man-leopard is in the Bastion, Captain." He forgot to punctuate
with his drum. It seemed to droop at his hip.
    Another scream from the Syndic's quarters. My imagination had
tricked me.
    "What're we going to do?" One-Eye asked. He was a wrinkled
little black man no bigger than his brother, usually possessed by a
bizarre sense of humor. He was a year older than Tom-Tom, but at
their age no one was counting. Both were over a hundred, if the
Annals could be believed. He was terrified. Tom-Tom was on the edge
of hysteria. Goblin and Silent, too, were rocky. "It can take us
off one by one."
    "Can it be killed?"
    "They're almost invincible, Captain."
    "Can
they be killed?" The Captain put a hard edge on his voice. He was
frightened too.
    "Yes," One-Eye confessed. He seemed a whisker less scared than
Tom-Tom. "Nothing is invulnerable. Not even that thing on the black
ship. But this is strong, fast, and smart. Weapons are of little
avail. Sorcery is better, but even that isn't much use." Never
before had I heard him admit limitations.
    "We've talked enough," the Captain growled. "Now we act." He was
difficult to know, our commander, but was transparent now. Rage and
frustration at an impossible situation had fixed on the forvalaka.
Tom-Tom and One-Eye protested vehemently. "You've been thinking
about this since you found out that thing was loose," the Captain
said. "You decided what you'd do if you had to. Let's do it."
    Another scream. "The Paper Tower must be an abattoir," I
muttered. "The thing is hunting down everybody up there."
    For a moment I thought even Silent would protest. The Captain
strapped on his weapons. "Match, assemble the men. Seal all the
entrances to the Paper Tower. Elmo, pick some good halberdiers and
crossbowmen. Quarrels to be poisoned."
    Twenty minutes fled. I lost count of the cries. I lost track of
everything but a growing trepidation and the question, why had the
forvalaka invaded the Bastion? Why did it persist in its hunt? More
than hunger drove it.
    That legate had hinted at having a use for it. What? This? What
were we doing working with someone who could do that?
    All four wizards collaborated on the spell that preceded us,
crackling. The air itself threw blue sparks. Halberdiers followed.
Crossbowmen backed them. Behind them another dozen of us entered
the Syndic's quarters.
    Anticlimax. The antechamber to the Paper Tower looked perfectly
normal. "It's upstairs," One-Eye told us.
    The Captain faced the passageway behind us. "Match, bring your
men inside." He planned to advance room by room, sealing all exits
but one for retreat. One-Eye and Tom-Tom did not approve. They said
the thing would be more dangerous cornered. Ominous silence
surrounded us. There had been no cries for several minutes.
    We found the first victim at the base of the stair leading into
the Tower proper. "One of ours," I grumbled. The Syndic always
surrounded himself with a squad from the Company. "Sleeping
quarters upstairs?" I'd never been inside the Paper Tower.
    The Captain nodded. "Kitchen level, stores level, servants'
quarters on two levels, then family, then the Syndic himself.
Library and offices at the top. Wants to make it hard to get to him."
    I examined the body. "Not quite like the ones at the tomb.
Tom-Tom. It didn't take the blood or organs. How come?"
    He had no answer. Neither did One-Eye.
    The Captain peered into the shadows above. "Now it gets tricky.
Halberdiers, one step at a time. Keep your points low. Crossbows,
stay four or five steps behind. Shoot anything that moves. Swords
out, everybody. One-Eye, run your spell ahead."
    Crackle. Step, step, quietly. Stench of fear. Quang! A man
discharged his crossbow accidentally. The Captain