Bleak Seasons Read Free Page B

choices.
    Mogaba cannot fathom why his military genius isn’t universally hailed.
    He doesn’t mess with the Nyueng Bao. Not yet. They haven’t contributed much to
     Dejagore’s defense but they don’t sap resources, either. Their babies are
     getting fat while the rest of us tighten our belts.
    You don’t see many dogs or cats now. Horses manage only because they are
     militarily protected, and then only a handful of them. We’re going to eat hearty
     when the last fodder is gone.
    Small game like rats and pigeons are becoming scarce. Sometimes you hear the
     outraged protest of a crow taken by surprise.
    The Nyueng Bao are survivors.
    They are a race possessed of a single impassive face.
    Mogaba does not bother them mainly because when anybody does the whole bunch
     gets pissed off. And they consider fighting a really serious, holy business.
    They stay out of the way when they can but they aren’t pacifists. A couple of
     times the Shadowlanders have regretted trying to push through their part of
     town.
    The Nyueng Bao generated an amazing amount of carnage both times.
    Rumor among the Jaicuri says they eat their enemies.
    It is true, human bones showing evidence of butchery and cookery have been
     found. Jaicuri are mainly of the Gunni religion. Gunni are vegetarians.
    I do not believe the Nyueng Bao are responsible, but Ky Dam refuses to deny even
     the blackest allegation against his people.
    Maybe he will accept any canard that makes the Nyueng Bao seem more dangerous.
    Maybe he wants that kind of talk so fear will build.
    Survivors grasp the tools at hand.
    I wish they would talk. I’d bet they could tell stories that would curl your
     toes and straighten your hair.
    Ah! Dejagore! Those halcyon days, slouching through hell with a smile on.
    How long before all the fun goes out of the town?

Black Company GS 6 - Black Seasons
    7
    Bone tired, just as I had been every night for as long as I could remember, I
     went to take my turn on the wall. I had no ambition at all and even less energy.
    Seated in a crenel, I heaped aspersions on the ancestors of all my bitty
     Shadowlander buddies. I am afraid I lacked creativity but I made up for that
     with virulence. They were up to something out there. You could hear rattlings
     and mutterings and see torches moving around.
    There were all the harbingers of a night without sleep. Couldn’t these people be
     normal and handle their business during regular hours?
    It didn’t sound like they were more enthusiastic than me. I caught the
     occasional sharp remark about me or my foredaddies, like this mess was all my
     fault. I guess they were motivated mainly by their sure knowledge that they
     would never go home if they didn’t recapture Stormgard.
    Maybe nobody on either side would get out of this one alive.
    A crow called, mocking us all. I didn’t bother throwing a rock at it.
    It was misty out. A half-hearted drizzle came and went. Lightning stalked beyond
     the hills to the south. It had been hot and humid all day, then had turned
     viciously stormy toward evening. Lakes of water stood in the streets.
    Stormshadow’s engineers had not made good drainage a high priority, despite the
     natural advantages available.
    It would not be a good night for attacking tall walls. And not much easier for
     anyone defending them.
    Still, I almost felt sorry for the little buggers down below.
    Candles and Red Rudy finished the long climb from the street, groaning. Each
     carried a heavy leather sack. Candles grumbled, “I’m too old for this shit.”
    “If it works out we’ll all get to get old.”
    Both men leaned on merlons while they caught their wind. Then they dumped their
     sacks into the darkness. Somebody down there swore in a Shadowlander dialect.
    “Serves you right, asshole,” Rudy growled back. “Go home. Let me sleep.”
    All of the Old Crew invested time hauling dirt.
    “I know,” Candles told me. “I know. But what good is alive if you’re too damned