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Back Bleak Seasons Save as PDF
Chapters (102)
  1. Title page
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My guys enjoyed Mogabas situation. And he could not squawk about their attitudes. We gave him exactly what he asked. We saved his ass and set him up so all he had to do was chase a few Shadowlanders out of town.

I had to see him almost every day at staff meetings. Again and again we showed ourselves to the soldiers, pretending to be brothers marching shoulder to shoulder against our evil foe.

Not once was anybody fooled except maybe Mogaba.

I never took it personal. I took a stance I believed the Annalists of the past would approve, just picturing Mogaba as not one of us.

We are the Black Company. We have no friends. All others are the enemy, or at best not to be trusted. That relationship with the world does not require hatred or any other emotion. It requires wariness.

Perhaps our refusal to remonstrate, or even to acknowledge Mogabas treachery, was the final straw, or perhaps the back-breaker was his awareness that even his Nar compatriots now believed the real Captain might still live. Whatever, the ultimate and perfect warrior drifted across a boundary from beyond which he could not return. And we did not discover the truth until we had paid in treasures of pain.

It took ten days for Dejagore to return to normal if normal was our state before the great attack. Both sides had suffered terribly. I believed Shadowspinner would now just lick his wounds and let us get hungry for a while.

42

42

Got something for you, Kid. I started awake. What...? What happened? I dont drift off that way.

One-Eye had a big shit-eating grin on but it evaporated when he looked at me closer. He darted in, grabbed my chin, turned my head right and left. You just have one of your spells?

Spells?

You know what I mean.

Not exactly. I just had their word for the fact that I went spooky sometimes.

Youve got a kind of psychic shimmer. Maybe I caught you just in time.

He and Goblin kept talking about doing experiments to find out what is happening but there never seemed to be time to actually do anything. What do you have?

The work parties broke into the old catacombs this morning.

Longo told me.

Everybodys charging around in there, all excited.

I can imagine. Find any treasure yet?

One-Eye looked put-upon. For such a blackhearted toad he can manage a truly impressive show of self-righteous injury.

I take it not.

We found some books. A whole pile. All sealed up neat and everything. Looks like theyve been there since the Shadowmasters first came.

Makes sense since they always burned the books and the priests. You find any priests lurking down there?

Not hardly. Look, I got to get back. Before somebody grabbed a treasure out from under him, no doubt. I got a couple guys lugging them books up for you.

Gods forfend you should have lifted anything yourself.