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Sahra said, "You just told him to find Narayan Singh and the Daughter of
Night."
"I didn't mean right this second. I wanted to know if he found out anything
about Chandra Gokhale we can use."
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"Pressure getting to you, Little Girl?" One-Eye's tone was so sweet I wanted
to pop him. "Relax. Now's the time when you don't want to force anything."
A couple of men from the duty crew, Runmust Singh and a Shadowlander dubbed
Kendo Cutter by his squad mates, invited themselves into the staff meeting.
Kendo reported, "There's all kinds of screaming going on out there tonight. I
sent out word everybody should hole up someplace where there's plenty of
light."
Sahra said, "The shadows are hunting."
I said, "We'll be all right here. But just to be safe, Goblin, why don't you
make the rounds with Kendo and Runmust? We don't want any surprise. Sahra,
will Soulcatcher let the shadows run completely wild?"
"To make her point? You're the Annalist. What do the books say about her?"
"They say she's capable of anything. She has no connection with the humanity
of anyone else. It must be very lonely to be her."
"What?"
"We agree our next target should be Chandra Gokhale?"
Sahra eyed me oddly. That had been decided already. Unless some better
opportunity fell into our laps, we would eliminate the Inspector-General,
without whom the tax system and the bureaucratic side of government would
stumble and stagger. He also seemed the most vulnerable of our enemies. And
his removal would leave the Radisha more isolated than ever, cut off by the
Protector on one hand, the priests on the other, and unable to turn anywhere
because she was the Radisha, the Princess unapproachable, in some respects a
demi-goddess.
It had to be lonely to be her, too.
Subtlety and finesse.
I asked, "What did we do today to frighten the world?" Then I realized that I
knew the answer. It had been part of the plan for capturing Swan. All the
brotherhood would have avoided any risks. Tonight there would be shows from
buttons previously planted. There would be more again tomorrow night.
Smoke-and-light shows proclaiming "Water sleeps," or "My brother unforgiven,"
or "All their days are numbered." There would be more, somewhere, every
evening from now on.
Sahra mused, "Someone who wasn't one of us brought in another prayer wheel and
mounted it on a memorial post outside the north entrance. It hadn't been
noticed yet when I left."
"Same message?"
"I presume."
"That's scary. That could be a potent one. Rajadharma."
"It has the Radisha thinking already. That monk burning himself definitely got
her attention."
Story of my life. Here I spend months working out every tiny detail of a
marvelous plan and I get upstaged by a lunatic with a fire fetish.
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"So those Bhodi nuts found a good message. You think we could steal some of
their thunder?"
One-Eye chuckled evilly.
"What?" I demanded.
"Sometimes I amaze myself."
Goblin, about to leave with Runmust and Kendo, observed, "You been amazed at
yourself for two hundred years. Mainly 'cause nobody else bothers to get
interested in insects."
"You better not go to sleep any time soon, Frogface--"
"Gentlemen?" Sahra said. Gently. Yet she grabbed the attention of both
wizards. "Can we stick to business? I need some sleep."
"Absolutely!" Goblin said. "Absolutely! If the old fart has an idea, let's get
it out here before it dies of loneliness."
"You may continue your assignment."
Goblin stuck out his tongue but left.
"Amaze the rest of us, One-Eye," I suggested. I did not want him dozing off
before he shared his wisdom.
"Next time one of those Bhodi loons lights himself up, we have the smoke and
flames carry our message. 'Water Sleeps.' And a new one I thunk up, 'Nor Even
Death Destroy.' You got to admit, that's got a nice religious ring to it."
"Indeed," I agreed. "What the heck does it mean?"
"Little Girl, don't you start in on me."
The ghost of evils past whispered, "I found them."
Murgen was back.
I did not ask who. "Where?"
"The Thieves' Garden."
"Chor Bagan? The Greys have it under siege."
And they were still serious about getting the place cleaned out, Murgen said.
Chapter 17
Sahra wakened me well before dawn, which is not my best time of day. When I
opted for a military career, we were besieged in my hometown. I just knew that
once we got out of there, we would sleep till noon, we would eat fresh food
all the time and there would be plenty of it and never, ever, would we have to
go out in the rain again. In the meantime, I took the best I could get, which
was the Black Company during the siege, with the water fifty feet deep. The
only thing resembling fresh food was the long pig Mogaba and his Nar friends
were enjoying. Unless you counted the occasional lame rat or slow-witted crow.
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