Few of the original Ten survived that battle.
But what of Tides Elba? The real, original, ginger-haired Tides Elba who came and went and in no reasonable man’s mind could have been an actual avatar of Mischievous Rain?
Clearly, Tides Elba did not participate in the Ghost Country campaign, nor would she be mentioned again, under that name, in any recorded recollection of the Lady’s empire. She ceased to be, disappeared. Perhaps she and all the copy girls, of whichever sort, joined the cat Ankou and the twins when they went wherever they went, never to be heard from again. Perhaps Buzzard Neck Tesch accompanied them. He was heard from no more forever as well.
The granite castle remains, damaged, empty, its fields gone feral. No one lives there anymore.
* * *
The most reliable information about the late empire is not reliable at all. It, too, is consensus guesswork woven from untrustworthy fragmentary records and hand-me-down oral histories. The memory problems suffered by the Black Company were not unique to them. The Company was just most intensely targeted. Nowhere in the Annals captured after Queen’s Bridge is there any mention of the Company’s time in Aloe. There is a grand blank there, and it spans almost four full years.
Bottom line, someone in the Tower felt existentially threatened by something hidden in plain sight within the record of the everyday facts of the Black Company’s Aloen sojourn. Certainly they tied up loose ends by the hundred.
* * *
So, weigh what has been recovered, consider the sources, form your conclusions, then come to the discussion prepared to argue.
TOR BOOKS BY GLEN COOK
THE INSTRUMENTALITIES OF THE NIGHT
The Tyranny of the Night
Lord of the Silent Kingdom
Surrender to the Will of the Night
In Working God’s Mischief
An Ill Fate Marshalling
Reap the East Wind
The Swordbearer
The Tower of Fear
THE BLACK COMPANY
The Black Company (The First Chronicle)
Shadows Linger (The Second Chronicle)
The White Rose (The Third Chronicle)
Shadow Games (The First Book of the South)
Dreams of Steel (The Second Book of the South)
Chronicles of the Black Company (comprising The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose)
The Books of the South (comprising Shadow Games, Dreams of Steel, and The Silver Spike)
Return of the Black Company (comprising Bleak Seasons and She Is the Darkness)
The Silver Spike
The Many Deaths of the Black Company (comprising Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live)
Bleak Seasons (Book One of Glittering Stone)
She Is the Darkness (Book Two of Glittering Stone)
Water Sleeps (Book Three of Glittering Stone)
Soldiers Live (Book Four of Glittering Stone)
Port of Shadows
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GLEN COOK is the author of dozens of novels of fantasy and science fiction, including the Black Company series, the Garrett Files, and the Instrumentalities of the Night. Cook was born in 1944 in New York City. He attended the Clarion Writers Workshop in 1970, where he met his wife, Carol. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri. You can sign up for email updates here.
Thank you for buying this
Tom Doherty Associates ebook.
To receive special offers, bonus content,
and info on new releases and other great reads,
sign up for our newsletters.
Or visit us online at
us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup
For email updates on the author, click here.
CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Prologue
1. Once Upon a Time, in Dusk
2. Long Ago and Far Away: Sometimes Called Bathdek
3. In Modern Times: Tides Elba
4. Once Upon a Time: The Necromancer at Home
5. Long Ago and Far Away: The Frightened Princess
6. In Modern Times: Smelling Danger
7. Once Upon a Time: All Objectivity Fled
8. Long Ago and Far Away: Sisters
9. In Modern Times: Bone Candy
10. Once Upon a Time: Stormy Night
11. Long Ago and Far Away: Oblivion Fall
12. In Modern Times: Mischievous Rain
13. Once Upon a Time: Gone Without an Echo
14. Long Ago and Far Away: A Far Piece
15. In Modern Times: Honnoh
16. Long Ago and Far Away: The Far Country
17. Once Upon a Time: Shadow of the Moon
18. In Modern Times: Dark Water Rising
19. Once Upon a Time: A Deeper Shade of Horror
20. Once Upon a Time: An Absence of Pain
21. In Modern Times: Shadow Soup
22. Once Upon a Time: Papa’s Girls
23. Long Ago and Far Away: New Hope for the Dead
24. In Modern Times: Lost Treasure Rediscovered
25. Once Upon a Time: Baby Time
26. Long Ago and Far Away: Generations Drift
27. In Modern Times: Twisting Fate
28. Once Upon a Time: Shambling Toward Oblivion
29. In Modern Times: No Peace, No Rest
30. In Modern Times: Dayfall
The Last: In Modern Times: Croaker in the Vertiginous Shade
Postscript: In This Age of Shadow-Soaked Days
Tor Books by Glen Cook
About the Author
Copyright Acknowledgments
Copyright
COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Portions of this work, in somewhat different form, have appeared previously.
The chapter “Tides Elba” initially appeared in the anthology Swords & Dark Magic, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders, HarperCollins, 2010. Preceded by a limited-edition hardcover from Subterranean Press.
The chapter “Smelling Danger” initially appeared in the anthology Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 2, edited by William Schafer, Subterranean Press, 2011.
The chapter “Bone Candy” initially appeared in the anthology Shattered Shields, edited by Jennifer Brozek and Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Baen Books, 2014.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
PORT OF SHADOWS
Copyright © 2018 by Glen Cook
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Raymond Swanland
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-17457-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-17456-7 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250174567
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at
[email protected] First Edition: September 2018
Glen Cook, Port of Shadows
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends