Water Sleeps

51

T he baby continued to cry, burrowing into her mother's breast without looking for nourishment. The noise worried everyone. Anyone who wished to visit misfortune upon us would have no trouble tracking us. We would be unlikely to hear them sneaking up, because of the crying and the sound of drizzle falling from branch to branch in the waterlogged trees. River and the Company Singhs kept their hands on their weapons. Uncle Doj had recovered Ash Wand and was keeping it handy despite the risk of rust.

The animals were as thrilled as the infant was. The goats bleated and dragged their feet. The donkeys kept getting stubborn, but Mother Gota knew a trick or three for getting balky beasts of burden moving. A considerable ration of pain was involved.

The rain never ended.

Narayan Singh took the lead. He knew the way. He was home.

I felt the dread temple loom before us although I could not see it. Narayan's sandals whispered as they scattered soggy leaves. I listened intently but heard nothing new until Willow Swan started muttering, nagging himself for having followed up on the one original idea he had ever had. If he had ignored it, he could be rocking beside a fireplace in his own home, listening to his own grandkids cry, instead of tramping through the blue miseries on yet one more mystery quest where the best he could look forward to was to stay alive longer than the people dragging him around. Then he asked me, "Sleepy, you ever consider throwing in with that little turd?"

Somewhere, an owl screamed.

"Which one? And why?"

"Narayan. Bring on the Year of the Skulls. Then we could all finally sit back and relax and not have to slog around in the rain and shit anymore."

"No. I haven't."

The owl screamed again. It sounded frustrated.

What sounded like crow laughter answered it, taunting.

"But that's what the Company set out to do in the first place, isn't it? To bring on the end of the world?"

"A handful of the senior people did, apparently. But not the guys who actually had to do the work. There's a chance they didn't have any idea what it was all about. That they marched because staying home might be a less pleasant option."

"Some things never change. I know that story by heart. Careful. These steps are slicker than greased owl shit."

He had heard the birds conversing, too. That was a northern saying that lost something in translation.

Rain or no, the goats and donkeys flat refused to move any nearer the Deceiver shrine, at least until a light took life inside the temple doorway. That came from a single feeble oil lamp, but in the darkness it seemed almost bright.

Swan observed, "Narayan knows right where to look, don't he?"

"I'm watching him. Every minute." For what good keeping a close eye on a Deceiver would do.

To tell the truth, I was counting on Uncle Doj. Doj would be much harder to trick. He was an old trickster himself. As a trickmaster, I needed to stick to what I knew, which was designing wicked plots and writing about them after they ran their course.

Something flapped overhead as I entered the temple. Owl or crow, I did not turn quickly enough to discover the truth. I did tell Runmust and Iqbal, "Keep a close watch while I check this out. Doj. Swan. Come with me. You know more about this place than anyone else."

Below, River and Gota swore vilely as they strove to keep the goats under control. Iqbal's sons had fallen asleep where they stood, indifferent to the ongoing rain.

Narayan blocked my advance just steps inside the temple. "Not until I complete the rituals of sanctification. Otherwise you'll defile the holy place."

It was not my holy place. I did not care if I defiled it. In fact, that sounded like an amusement to be indulged—just before I had the place torn down yet again and this time plowed under. But I did have to get along. For the moment. "Doj. Keep an eye on him. Runmust. You, too." He could pick the living saint off with his bamboo if the Deceiver tried to be clever.

"We have an understanding," Narayan reminded me. He seemed troubled. And not by me. He kept poking around like he was looking for something that was supposed to be there but just was not.

"You make sure you hold up your end, little man." I stepped back outside, into a drizzle that had become more of a heavy, falling mist.

"Sleepy," Iqbal whispered from the base of the steps. "Check what I found."

I barely heard him. The baby continued to crank. Long-suffering Suruvhija rocked her and hummed a lullaby. She was not much more than a girl herself and, I suspected, not very bright. I could not imagine any woman being happy with her life, but Suruvhija seemed content to go where Iqbal led. A breeze stirred the branches of the grove. "What?" Of course I could not see. I descended the temple steps into the damp, chilly darkness.

"Here." He shoved something into my hands.

Pieces of cloth. Fine cloth, like silk, six or seven pieces, each with a weight in one corner.

I smiled into the face of the night. I snickered. My faith in God was restored. The demon had betrayed her children again. Slink had gotten to the grove in time. Slink had been sneakier than any Deceiver. Slink had done his job. He was out there somewhere right now, covering us, ready to offer Narayan another horrible surprise. I felt much more confident when I went back inside and yelled at Narayan, "Get your skinny ass moving, Singh. We've got women and children freezing out here."

Narayan was not a happy living saint. Whatever he was looking for, under cover of fortifying the temple against the defiling presence of unbelievers, just was not there to be found.

I was tempted to toss him the captured rumels. I forbore. That would only make him angry and tempt him to go back on his agreement. I did tell him, "You've had time enough to sanctify the whole darned woods against the presence of nonbelievers, don't you think? You forget how miserable it is out here?"

"You should cultivate patience, Annalist. It's an extremely useful trait in both our chosen careers." I forbore mentioning that we had been patient enough to get him tucked into our trick bag. Then his exasperation surfaced for a moment. He hurled something to the floor. He was not out of control by much but it was the first time I ever saw him less than perfectly composed when he was supposed to be the master of the situation. He whispered something as he beckoned me. I do believe he took his goddess's name in vain.

This new version of the temple was scarcely a shadow of what Croaker and Lady had survived. The present idol was wooden, not more than five feet tall and unfinished. The offerings before it were all old and feeble. The temple as a whole did not possess the sinister, grim air of a place where many lives had been sacrificed. These were lean times for Deceivers.

Narayan persisted in his search. I could not bring myself to break his heart by telling him the friends he expected to meet must have fallen foul of the friends I'd hoped to meet. You need to keep a certain amount of mystery in any relationship.

I said, "Tell me where it's all right to spread out and where you'd rather we didn't and I'll see that we do our best to honor your wishes."

Narayan looked at me like I'd just sprouted an extra head. I told him, "I've been thinking a lot lately. We're probably going to be working together for a while. It'd make things easier for everybody if we all made the effort to respect one another's customs and philosophies."

Narayan scooted off. He began the process of laying a fire and of telling people where they could homestead. The temple was not that big inside. There would not be much room to spread out there.

Singh would not turn his back on me.

"You spooked him good," Riverwalker told me. "He'll spend the whole night with his back to the wall, trying to stay awake."

"I hope my snoring helps. Iqbal, don't do that." The fool had actually started helping Mother Gota set up to do some cooking. That old woman was a menace around a cook fire. She was already under a ban throughout the Company. She could boil water and give it a taste to gag you.

Iqbal grinned a grin that told the world he needed to consult One-Eye about his teeth. "We're setting this up for me."

"All right." Much better. Much much better.

After she finished helping Iqbal, the old woman helped milk the goats. Now I understood how Narayan felt. Maybe I should keep my back to a wall and watch my dozing, too.

Gota was not even complaining.

And Uncle Doj had stayed outside, presumably to enjoy the refreshing weather and cheerful woods.