Midnight Tides

‘And so you ask, what’s your point, Tehol? To which I reply with a shrug. Did I say my discourse was a valuable means of using this time? I did not. No, you assumed it was. Thus proving my point!’



‘I’m sorry, master,’ Bugg said, ‘but what was that point again?’



‘I forget. But we’ve arrived. Behold, gentlemen, the poor.’



They stood at the edge of an old market round, now a mass of squalid shelters seething with humanity. A few communal hearths smouldered. The area was ringed in rubbish – mostly dog and cat bones – which was crawling with rats. Children wandered in the dazed, lost fashion of the malnourished. Newborns lay swaddled and virtually unattended. Voices rose in arguments and somewhere on the opposite side was a fight of some sort. Mixed-bloods, Nerek, Faraed, Tarthenal, even the odd Fent. A few Letherii as well, escapees from Indebtedness.



Bugg looked on in silence for a half-dozen heartbeats, then said, ‘Master, transporting them out to the Isles won’t solve anything.’



‘No?’



‘These are broken spirits.’



‘Beyond hope of recovery?’



‘Well, that depends on how paternalistic you intend to be, master. The rigours of past lifestyles are beyond these people. We’re a generation or more too late. They’ve not old skills to fall back on, and as a community this one is intrinsically flawed. It breeds violence and neglect and little else.’



‘I know what you’re saying, Bugg. You’re saying you’ve had better nights and the timing wasn’t good, not good at all. You’re miserable, you’ve got a chill, you should be in bed.’



‘Thank you, master. I was wondering myself.’



‘Your issue of paternalism has some merit, I admit,’ Tehol said, hands on hips as he studied the grubby shanty-town. ‘That is to say, you have a point. In any case, doom is about to sweep through this sad place. Lether is at war, Bugg. There will be… recruitment drives.’



‘Press-ganging,’ the manservant said, nodding morosely.



‘Yes, all that malignant violence put to good use. Of course, such poor soldiers will be employed as fodder. A harsh solution to this perennial problem, admittedly, but one with long precedent.’



‘So, what have you planned, master?’



‘The challenge facing myself and the sharp minds of the Rat Catchers’ Guild, was, as you have observed, how does one reshape an entire society? How does one convert this impressive example of the instinct to survive into a communally positive force? Clearly, we needed to follow a well-established, highly successful social structure as our inspiration-’



‘Rats.’



‘Well done, Bugg. I knew I could count on you. Thus, we began with recognizing the need for a leader. Powerful, dynamic, charismatic, dangerous.’



‘A criminal mastermind with plenty of thugs to enforce his or her will.’



Tehol frowned. ‘Your choice of words disappoints me, Bugg.’



‘You?’



‘Me? Of course not. Well, not directly, that is. A truly successful leader is a reluctant leader. Not one whose every word is greeted with frenzied cheering either – after all, what happens to the mind of such a leader, after such scenes are repeated again and again? A growing certainty, a belief in one’s own infallibility, and onward goes the march into disaster. No, Bugg, I won’t have anyone kissing my feet-’



‘I’m relieved to hear that, master, since those feet have not known soap in a long, long time.’



‘The body eventually resumes its own natural cleansing mechanisms, Bugg.’



‘Like shedding?’



‘Exactly. In any case, I was speaking of leadership in a general sort of way-’



‘Who, master?’



‘Why, the Waiting Man, of course. Occasional priest, healer, consorter with demons…’



‘That’s probably not such a good idea, master,’ Bugg said, rubbing his bristled jaw. ‘I am rather… busy at the moment.’



‘A leader should be busy. Distracted. Preoccupied. Prepared to delegate.’



‘Master, I really don’t think this is a good idea. Really.’



‘Perfectly reluctant, perfect! And look! You’ve been noticed! See those hopeful faces-’



‘That’s hunger, master.’



‘For salvation! Word’s gone out, you see. They’re ready for you, Bugg. They’ve been waiting…’



‘This is very bad, master.’



‘Your expression is perfect, Bugg. Sickly and wan with dismay, deeply troubled and nervous, yes indeed. I couldn’t have managed better myself.’