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early age.
We ran into several locals while crossing the valley, the bottom land of which
was decent farmland and pasture. We did not receive one friendly greeting. I
did not see one welcoming smile. Nobody raised a hand in defiance but I had no
trouble feeling the abiding resentment of a tormented nation. There had been
no serious fighting in these parts for years but the adult population were all
survivors of the terrible times, whether they were natives or immigrants who
had come in to settle the depopulated lands and to escape even worse horrors
elsewhere. They did not want the evils of the past to return.
This land had suffered grotesquely under the Shadowmaster Longshadow. It had
continued to suffer after his defeat. The Kiaulune wars devoured most
everything that Longshadow and the Shadowmaster wars had not. And now the
Black Company had returned. Out of the place of glittering stone, an abode of
devils. The season of despair appeared to be threatening again.
"Can't say I blame them," I told Lady.
"What?"
I explained.
"Oh." Indifferently. Some attitudes never wither. She had been a powerful lord
a lot longer than she had been just another tick on the underbelly of the
world. Compassion is not one of the qualities that endeared her to me.
We found Tobo impatient with our dawdling. "I see the old gal's still here," I
said of the shadowgate. Lady and I produced our keys and let the crew cross
over, Murgen first so he could make sure his boy still had all his arms and
legs and fingers and toes.
"It is," the wonder child confessed. "But probably only because Longshadow
still hasn't left the plain."
"What?" Lady was irritated. "We made promises. We owe the Children of the
Dead."
"We do," Tobo said. "But we won't be allowed to kill ourselves. Shivetya knew
we forgot to disarm Longshadow's booby trap so he kept Longshadow from
leaving."
"How do you know that?"
"I sent messengers. That was the news they brought back."
Lady's mood had not improved. "The File of Nine will be smoking. We don't need
them as enemies. We may have to flee to the Land of Unknown Shadows again."
"Shivetya will release Longshadow the second we finish refurbishing our gate."
My companions were nervous. Willow Swan was pale, sweating, dancing with
anxiety and, most of all, un-Swanlike, silent. He had not, in fact, spoken all
day.
Thinking about the shadows can do that to you if you have witnessed one of
their attacks.
Tobo asked, "You two ready to go to work?"
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I shook my head. "Are you kidding?"
Lady said, "No."
Tobo told us, "I can't finish this alone."
I replied, "And you can't finish it with assistants so tired they're
guaranteed to make mistakes. I have a premonition. Longshadow will keep till
tomorrow."
Tobo admitted that he would. Shivetya would see to it. But he did so with poor
grace.
Lady said, "Let's go set up camp." Murgen, Swan and the others probably should
have been doing that instead of standing around being anxious.
Once we crossed the barrier Lady wondered, "Why is Tobo in such a hurry?"
I snickered. "I think it might have to do with Booboo. He hasn't seen her for
a long time. Sleepy says he was completely smitten."
While I spoke her expression transformed from curious to completely appalled.
"I'd hope not."
Murgen suggested, "There were two rather attractive Voroshk girls. One of them
might have something to do with it."
Chapter 44
The Shadowlands: Gate Repairs
The dreamwalkers came during the night. Their presence was so powerful that
even Swan, Panda Man and Spook saw them. I heard them speak clearly although I
never understood a word.
Lady and Tobo did get something out of them.
They put their heads together over breakfast. They decided that the Nef wanted
to warn us about something.
"You think so?" I sneered. "There's a new interpretation."
"Hey!" Tobo chided me. "It has something to do with Khatovar."
"Like what, for example?"
The youth shrugged. "Your guess is better than mine. I've never been there."
"Last time we saw the dreamwalkers they were headed out into Khatovar in the
middle of all the shadows on the plain. You think they saw something they
think we ought to know?"
"Absolutely. Any idea what?"
Lady asked, "Have you had your Unknown Shadow friends try to talk to the Nef?"
"I have. It doesn't work. The Nef don't communicate with the plain shadows,
either."
"Then what was the Unknown Shadows' problem last night? The Black Hounds kept
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