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presented myself that way.
The water level was just eight feet below the ramparts, higher than Hong
Tray's prediction. "Any flooding inside?"
"Mogaba sealed the gates somehow. He has Jaicuri working parties bucket-
brigading what seepage there is."
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"Good for him. How about down below?"
"There's some seepage in the catacombs. Not a lot. We could keep up by hauling
it up in buckets."
I grunted. I stared at Shadowspinner's lake. I saw more corpses than I could
count. "Those didn't float up from the mounds, did they?"
Goblin told me, "Mogaba threw people off the wall during the riots. And some
might be from rafts that turned over or broke up."
I squinted. I could just make out a mounted patrol beyond the water. A raft
with Jaicuri piled high had been caught by daylight. The people aboard were
trying to move away from the waiting patrol by paddling with their hands.
Thai Dei turned up so we knew his people were watching. I figured he would
want me to visit the Speaker. But he said nothing. I told my bearers, "Take me
to his worship."
As we approached I observed, "The citadel looks like something out of a spook
story." And it did, with the sky overcast behind it and crows swarming around.
Dejagore was a paradise for crows. They were going to get too fat to fly.
Maybe we would get fat eating them.
The Nar at the entrance would not let One-Eye and Goblin inside. "So take me
home," I told them.
"Wait!"
"Stick it, buddy. I got no need to put up with Mogaba's crap. The Lieutenant
is alive. So is the Captain, probably. Mogaba ain't shit nowhere but inside
his own head anymore."
"You could have at least argued until we were rested up."
One-Eye started shuffling sideways so he could turn and head back down the
steps.
Ochiba caught us before we reached street level. He was cast in the same mold
as all Nar. His face remained neutral. "Apologies, Standardbearer. Won't you
reconsider?"
"Reconsider what? I don't especially want to see Mogaba. He's been eating
magic mushrooms or chewing lucky weed or something. I been shitting my guts
out for over a week. I ain't in no shape to play games with no homicidal
lunatic."
Something fluttered behind Ochiba's dark eyes. Maybe he agreed. Maybe there
was another war going on inside him, a struggle between keeping faith with
Gea-Xle's greatest Nar ever and keeping faith with his own humanity.
I was not going to pursue it. Any hint of outside interest would push waverers
in the direction of "That's the way it's always been."
That was the top two, then, quietly questioning Mogaba's way. If these guys
doubted him things were probably worse than I thought.
"As you wish." Ochiba told the sentries, "Let the litterbearers in."
Nobody missed the significance of who my litterbearers were. It was a pretty
direct statement.
I felt comfortably confrontational.
Chapter 63
Was Mogaba happy to see Goblin and One-Eye, and them looking so fit? You
better believe he wasn't. But he did not pursue his displeasure. He just
ticked something on his mental get-even slate. He would make me even more
unhappy than he had planned. Later.
"Can you sit up?" he asked, almost like he cared.
"Yeah. I made sure. That's partly why I took so long. That and I wanted to
make sure I'd stay rational."
"Oh?"
"I've been suffering severe fevers and dysentery for over a week. Last night
they took me out and threw me in the water to cool me down. That worked."
"I see. Come to the table, please."
Goblin and One-Eye helped me into a chair. They put on a fine show.
There were just six people in the conference chamber, us three and Mogaba,
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Ochiba and Sindawe. Through the window behind Mogaba I saw water and hills.
And crows. They squabbled over space on the window sill, though none would
come inside. An albino turned an especially baleful pink eye my way.
I suppose we looked too hungry.
For one instant I saw that same room in another time, with Lady and some of
the same faces around the same table. Mogaba was not among them. The window
behind them opened on greyness.
One-Eye pinched my earlobe. "Kid, now ain't the time."
Mogaba watched intently.
"Less recovered than I thought," I explained. I wondered what the vision
meant. And vision it was because it was too fully realized for imagination.
Mogaba settled into a chair opposite me. He pretended solicitousness, avoided
his usual assertiveness.
"We face numerous grave problems, Standardbearer. They are out there and
indifferent to whatever animosities we have developed amongst ourselves." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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