done more than lose my talent at the Barrowland. I'd given up. So I'd lost my edge during the year-plus since.
Croaker's fault. His weakness. He'd been too understanding, too tolerant, too willing to give second chances. He'd been too optimistic about people. He couldn't believe there is an essential darkness shadowing the human soul. For all his cynicism about motives he'd believed that in every evil person there was good trying to surface.
I owe my life to his belief but that doesn't validate it.
Narayan came, sneaky as a cat. He gave me his grin.
"We've gained ground, Narayan. They took that well enough. But we have a long way to go."
"The religion problem, Mistress?"
"Some. But that's not the worst hurdle. I've overcome such before." I smiled at his surprise. "I see doubts. But you don't know me. You know only what you've heard. A woman who abandoned a throne to follow the Captain? Eh? But I wasn't the spoiled, heartless child you imagine. Not a brat with a pinch of talent who fell heir to some petty crown she didn't want. Not a dunce who ran off with the first adventurer who'd have her."
"Little is known except that you were the Captain's Lady," he admitted. "Some think as you suggest. Your companions scarcely hinted at your antecedents. I think you're much more, but how much more I dare not guess."
"I'll give you a hint." I was amused. For all Narayan seemed to want me to be something untraditional he was startled whenever I didn't behave like a Taglian woman. "Sit, Narayan. It's time you understood where you're placing your bets."
He looked me askance but settled. The crow watched him. His fingers teased at that fold of black cloth.
"Narayan, the throne I gave up was the seat of an empire so broad you couldn't have walked it east to west in a year. It spanned two thousand miles from north to south. I built it from a beginning as humble as this. I started before your grandfather's grandfather was born. And it wasn't the first empire I created."
He grinned uneasily. He thought I was lying.
"Narayan, the Shadowmasters were my slaves. Powerful as they are. They disappeared during a great battle twenty years ago. I believed them dead till we unmasked the one we killed in Dejagore.
"I'm weakened now. Two years ago there was a great battle in the northernmost region of my empire. The Captain and I put down a wakening evil left over from the first empire I created. To succeed, to prevent that evil from breaking loose, I had to allow my powers to be neutralized. Now I'm winning them back, slowly and painfully."
Narayan couldn't believe. He was the son of his culture. I was a woman. But he wanted to believe. He said, "But you're so young."
"In some ways. I never loved before the Captain. This shell is a mask, Narayan. I entered this world before the Black Company passed this way the first time. I'm old, Narayan. Old and wicked. I've done things no one would believe. I know evil, intrigue, and war like they're my children. I nurtured them for centuries.
"Even as the Captain's lover I was more than a paramour. I was the Lieutenant, his chief of staff.
"I'm the Captain now, Narayan. While I survive the Company survives. And goes on. And finds new life. I'm going to rebuild, Narayan. It may wear another name for a while but behind the domino it will be the Black Company. And it will be the instrument of my will."
Narayan grinned that grin. "You may be Her indeed."
"I may be who?"
"Soon, Mistress. Soon. It's not yet time. Suffice it to say that not everyone greeted the return of the Black Company with despair." His eyes went shifty.
"Say that, then." I decided not to press him. I needed him pliable. "For the moment. We're building an army. We're woefully beggared of an army's most precious resource, veteran sergeants. We have no one who can teach.
"Tonight, before they eat, sort the men by religion. Organize them in squads of ten, three from each cult plus one non-Taglian. Assign each squad a permanent place in
Croaker's fault. His weakness. He'd been too understanding, too tolerant, too willing to give second chances. He'd been too optimistic about people. He couldn't believe there is an essential darkness shadowing the human soul. For all his cynicism about motives he'd believed that in every evil person there was good trying to surface.
I owe my life to his belief but that doesn't validate it.
Narayan came, sneaky as a cat. He gave me his grin.
"We've gained ground, Narayan. They took that well enough. But we have a long way to go."
"The religion problem, Mistress?"
"Some. But that's not the worst hurdle. I've overcome such before." I smiled at his surprise. "I see doubts. But you don't know me. You know only what you've heard. A woman who abandoned a throne to follow the Captain? Eh? But I wasn't the spoiled, heartless child you imagine. Not a brat with a pinch of talent who fell heir to some petty crown she didn't want. Not a dunce who ran off with the first adventurer who'd have her."
"Little is known except that you were the Captain's Lady," he admitted. "Some think as you suggest. Your companions scarcely hinted at your antecedents. I think you're much more, but how much more I dare not guess."
"I'll give you a hint." I was amused. For all Narayan seemed to want me to be something untraditional he was startled whenever I didn't behave like a Taglian woman. "Sit, Narayan. It's time you understood where you're placing your bets."
He looked me askance but settled. The crow watched him. His fingers teased at that fold of black cloth.
"Narayan, the throne I gave up was the seat of an empire so broad you couldn't have walked it east to west in a year. It spanned two thousand miles from north to south. I built it from a beginning as humble as this. I started before your grandfather's grandfather was born. And it wasn't the first empire I created."
He grinned uneasily. He thought I was lying.
"Narayan, the Shadowmasters were my slaves. Powerful as they are. They disappeared during a great battle twenty years ago. I believed them dead till we unmasked the one we killed in Dejagore.
"I'm weakened now. Two years ago there was a great battle in the northernmost region of my empire. The Captain and I put down a wakening evil left over from the first empire I created. To succeed, to prevent that evil from breaking loose, I had to allow my powers to be neutralized. Now I'm winning them back, slowly and painfully."
Narayan couldn't believe. He was the son of his culture. I was a woman. But he wanted to believe. He said, "But you're so young."
"In some ways. I never loved before the Captain. This shell is a mask, Narayan. I entered this world before the Black Company passed this way the first time. I'm old, Narayan. Old and wicked. I've done things no one would believe. I know evil, intrigue, and war like they're my children. I nurtured them for centuries.
"Even as the Captain's lover I was more than a paramour. I was the Lieutenant, his chief of staff.
"I'm the Captain now, Narayan. While I survive the Company survives. And goes on. And finds new life. I'm going to rebuild, Narayan. It may wear another name for a while but behind the domino it will be the Black Company. And it will be the instrument of my will."
Narayan grinned that grin. "You may be Her indeed."
"I may be who?"
"Soon, Mistress. Soon. It's not yet time. Suffice it to say that not everyone greeted the return of the Black Company with despair." His eyes went shifty.
"Say that, then." I decided not to press him. I needed him pliable. "For the moment. We're building an army. We're woefully beggared of an army's most precious resource, veteran sergeants. We have no one who can teach.
"Tonight, before they eat, sort the men by religion. Organize them in squads of ten, three from each cult plus one non-Taglian. Assign each squad a permanent place in
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