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"So you don't trust the librarian after all," One-Eye said. He chuckled.
"I think he's all right but why hand him a chance to break my heart if I can
avoid it by keeping an eye on him?"
"How come it's got to be my eye?"
"There's not a sharper one available, is there? And you already turned down a
chance to work on the Annals. I've got to do some heavy studying in those
tonight. I might be on the track of something."
The little wizard grunted.
"I think I found something at the library today. If Santaraksita doesn't trip
me up, I may have an outside view of the first coming of the Company by the
end of the week." An independent historical source has been a goal almost as
long as has been our desire for a look at uncontaminated editions of the
earliest three volumes of the Annals.
Sahra had something else on her mind. "Barundandi wants me to bring Sawa to
work, Sleepy."
"No. Sawa is on hiatus. She's sick. She has cholera, if that's what it takes.
I'm finally starting to make some real headway. I'm not going to let that
slide now."
"He's also been asking about Shiki." Back when Tobo had accompanied his mother
to the Palace occasionally, she had called him Shikhandini, which was a joke
Jaul Barundandi never got because he was not the sort to pay attention to
historical mythology. One of the kings of legendary Hastinapur had had a
senior wife who seemed to be barren. A good Gunni, he prayed and made
sacrifice faithfully, and eventually one of the gods stepped down from heaven
to tell him he could have what he wanted, which was a son, but he was going to
get it the hard way, for the son would be born a daughter. And, as they say,
it came to pass that the wife brought forth a daughter whom the king then
named Shikhandin, a name that also existed in the female form Shikhandini. It
is a long and not that interesting story, but the girl grew up to become a
mighty warrior.
The trouble started when it came time for the prince to take a bride.
Many of our public characters have obscure allusions or jokes built into them.
That helped make things more interesting for the brothers playing the roles.
I asked, "Do we have any reason to snatch Barundandi? Other than his general
sliminess?" I thought he was most useful right where he was. Any replacement
was sure to be as venal and unlikely to be as kind to Minh Subredil. "And
could we even get him out where we could touch him?"
Nobody suggested a strategic reason for grabbing the man. Sahra wanted to
know, "Why do you ask?"
"Because I do think we could lure him. If we dress Tobo up pretty, then refuse
to cooperate unless Barundandi meets him outside... "
Sahra was not offended. The ruse is a legitimate weapon of war. She looked
thoughtful. "Maybe Gokhale instead?"
"Perhaps. Though he might want someone younger. We can ask Swan. I was
thinking of catching Gokhale in that place where the Deceivers killed that
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other one." The enemy's leading personalities seldom left the Palace. Which
was why we had chosen to go get Willow Swan.
Sahra began to sing. Murgen was reluctant again tonight. I said, "Murgen
should look at that joy house, too. He'd be the best way for us to check it
out." Though, no doubt, we could find several brothers willing to risk
themselves in an extended recon.
Sahra nodded, did not break the rhythm of her lullaby.
"We might even... " No. We could not just burn the place once Gokhale had been
inside long enough to become seriously engaged. Nobody would understand why I
wanted to waste a perfectly good whorehouse--though a few might find a deadly
fire highly amusing.
One-Eye looked like he was sleeping again but was not. Without opening his
eyes, he asked, "You know where you're going, Little Girl? You got some kind
of overall plan?"
"Yes." I was surprised to find that I really believed that. Intuitively,
somewhere inside, though I had not known it consciously, I had engineered a
master plan for the liberation of the Captured and the resurrection of the
Company. And it was starting to come together. After all these years.
Murgen showed up muttering about a white crow. He was distracted. I asked the
wizards, "You figured out how to anchor him here yet?"
"Always some damned thing," One-Eye grumbled. "Whatever you do, it's never
enough."
"It can be done," Goblin admitted. "But I still don't see why we would want
to."
"He hasn't been very cooperative. He doesn't want to be here. He's losing his
connection to the real world. He'd rather sleep and wander those caverns." I
took a stab in the dark. "And put on his white wings. Be Khadi's messenger."
"White wings?"
They did not read the Annals. "The albino crow that turns up sometimes.
Sometimes Murgen is inside it. Because Kina puts him there. Or used to put him
there and now he keeps stumbling back in, the way he kept stumbling around in [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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