BooksBarbecue
Back Bleak Seasons Save as PDF
Chapters (102)
  1. Title page
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89
  90. 90
  91. 91
  92. 92
  93. 93
  94. 94
  95. 95
  96. 96
  97. 97
  98. 98
  99. 99
  100. 100
  101. 101
  102. 102

Because you are not Nyueng Bao. Thai Dei will not leave you now. He is the oldest male. He owes you six lives. His baby will not leave him. Sahra will not leave because she must remain under her brothers protection until she marries. And, as you can see, she may be a while getting through the horror. In this city, upon this pilgrimage she never wanted to make, she has lost everything that ever meant anything to her. Except her mother.

A man might almost think the gods had it in for her, I said, then hoped that did not sound too much like a wisecrack.

One might. Standardbearer, the only good thing she recalls about that hellnight is you. She will cling to you the way a desperate swimmer will cling to a rock in a rushing stream.

It was time to be careful. A big part of me wished her clinging was more than metaphorical. How about Ky Gota and those other kids?

The children can be adopted into the families of their mothers. Gota, surely, can move. Doj continued muttering under his breath, which was uncharacteristic. Sounded like something about wanting to move her a couple thousand miles. Though she will not take it well.

Dont tell me youre less than enchanted with Ky Gota too?

No one is enchanted with that ill-tempered lizard.

And I once thought that you two were married.

He stopped cold, stunned. Youre mad!

I changed my mind, didnt I?

Hong Tray, old witch, what hast thou wished upon me?

What?

Talking to myself, Standardbearer. Engaging in the debate I cannot lose. That woman, Hong Tray, my mothers cousin, was a witch. She could see into the future sometimes and if what she saw failed to please her she wanted it changed. And she had some strange ideas about that.

I trust you know what youre talking about.

He did not get it. Not entirely. The witch toyed with all our destinies but never explained. Perhaps she was blind to her own fate.

I let myself be distracted. What will your people do now?

We will survive, Standardbearer. Like you Soldiers of Darkness, that is what we do.

If you really think you owe me for stumbling in there with Thai Dei, tell me what that means. Soldiers of Darkness. Stone Soldier. Bone Warrior. What do they mean?

One might almost accept your protestations.

Look at it this way. If I do know what youre talking about you have nothing to lose by telling me what I already know.

In that light it was hard to tell but I believe Uncle Doj smiled again. For the second time in one day. Clever, he said. And did not explain a thing.

74

74