Dome:

Soulcatcher returned from Taglios with a few books and one terrified looking scholar. She also had a bamboo tube, which she'd stolen from a Black Company soldier and which she showed to Painter and Oracle. She demonstrated how it worked, pointing one end at the ground and turning a crank at the other end; a fireball flew at the ground and actually dug its way in a bit.

"The fireballs are very inaccurate, but they do a lot of damage. My sister designed them for use against shadows, and they are especially damaging to such foes. The fireballs are also attracted to shadows, making the lack of accuracy less of an issue."

"Impressive!" Painter said. "Should we have the priests make some of our own?"

"We talked before about the wisdom of providing magical weapons to non-wizards. These are no exception. On the other hand, a shadow-seeking fireball seems like a fairly useful spell; we should probably have everybody learn that. Well, everybody who's going to be getting into fights. I'm not sure if the priests should learn this one."

"Hmmm. Since the fireballs are magically guided in flight, it ought to be possible to misdirect them," Oracle suggested.

"Good thought. Another minor enchanting project, then. Amulets or something that will divert fireballs like these away from the wearer, in case anybody ever tries to use weapons like this against us. In any event, my sister is producing these in great quantities, and they are drastically reducing the effectiveness of the shadows. I expect that they're going to make a lot of progress once the rainy season ends and they start campaigning again."

"Well, unless Longshadow and Howler devise some way to counter these weapons," Painter commented.

"It seems like the sort of job Longshadow would delegate to Howler. To devise an effective counter himself, Longshadow would probably have to go out and observe how the weapons were being used in action, and he isn't going to leave Overlook to do that. And, of course, Howler doesn't want to find a way to counter the weapons, since he's on our side. The weapons give him a good excuse for losing."

"Good news, then."

"How are the students doing?"

"Fine. They're all quite enthusiastic."

"And what of Shapeshifter, Oracle? He and Shadowcat can both move pretty quickly. Have they reached Cho'n Delor?"

"Yes, and that's made it harder to watch them, as the crows don't like the place. But I'll report whatever I am able to learn."

Cho'n Delor:

The ruin was heavily overgrown, though Shapeshifter and Shadowcat saw few animals. Apparently even animals wouldn't stay there at night, and only a few brave ones would wander in during the daytime. Shapeshifter found an old stone building that hadn't completely collapsed. It had originally been a huge, probably important structure, and it had a basement. He was able to locate a large room with only one entrance. He ordered Shadowcat to clear out the room while he set up wards.

When night fell, ghostly presences began to circulate. They were very hard to see, and hard to describe even when they could be seen. Shapeshifter didn't sleep the first few nights, as he had to hold them off himself while he was setting up his defenses. Shadowcat didn't sleep much either, at least during the night. Shapeshifter had her work on cleaning the place out and making it into a usable work area.

Once he was satisfied with the wards, Shapeshifter set up a trap, and brought one of the ghosts into his protective chamber. He spent several days tormenting the spirit with a wide array of spells, and eventually broke and bound it to his satisfaction. He set the spirit as a guard to his improvised base, and finally got some rest himself.

By this time, they were running low on food, so now that their improvised home was protected to Shapeshifter's satisfaction, the two went to Idon. In addition to gathering supplies, Shapeshifter sought people to do some of the menial work setting up his new home. Offered the choice of death or Cho'n Delor, a surprising proportion of people from Idon chose death, but Shapeshifter was able to draft a few. They helped him restore the building he and Shadowcat occupied, as he worked on expanding the wards and compelling more spirits to serve. It usually didn't take long for one of the human servants to make a mistake and be killed by one of the dangerous local spirits or magics, but they were, of course, easily replaced.

After several weeks, the building looked a lot less ruined, and Shapeshifter had several spirit guardians isolating the place from the surrounding dangers. Shadowcat still found it a bit lonely, with the low survival rate of the human servants, but it had become a secure base from which to conduct further exploration of the vast ruined city.

Howler:

Although Soulcatcher was focused on the plain and on the Shapeshifter revival, and the Black Company was distracted by the campaign against the Deceivers, the war did continue. In the west, Croaker's forces faced the defensive network Howler had set up. In Taglios, the priesthood had reconstituted itself, and the replacements of the priests Lady had killed were recruiting their own forces to operate independently of the Black Company, which they continued to view with hostility. The forces recruited by the priests had taken to operating in the east, where they could be away from the Black Company, and where they could fight Blade, whose attitude toward priests was well known. In the center, Lady most frequently directed the Black Company's efforts, and faced forces under the command of various minor shadowland officers. Willow Swan and Cordy Mather continued to expand and strengthen a personal guard for the Radisha, which they kept back in Taglios as a reserve.

Blade had successfully put down most of the rebellions in the east, but the distraction they provided had prevented him from advancing. On the other hand, the armies led by the priests hadn't had much luck against him either. In the west, Howler's fortifications held up well against Croaker's probes, and he kept making them stronger. Of course, Croaker's forces kept growing larger and more experienced as well. In the center, Lady's forces had made some slight progress during the previous dry season, whenever she'd taken time away from the Deceiver hunt to lead them, so there was a small Black Company salient protruding into the central shadowlands.

The campaigning had slowed further with the coming of the rainy season, but Howler had noticed another very disturbing development. Losses of shadows had increased dramatically, both around the salient and in the skirmishing near Howler's fortified line. Reports from Blade's units suggested that they had not been experiencing anything similar. It was clear that the Black Company must have some new anti-shadow weapon, probably devised by Lady, whose powers continued to increase.

Howler discussed the developments with Mogaba. "This needs to be reported to Longshadow. Without shadows, the situation will deteriorate quickly, and he won't take it well if he finds out we didn't report the problem."

"You think Lady is the source of the new anti-shadow weapon?"

"She's the only really major wizard they have."

"What about Soulcatcher? Could she be helping them?"

Howler thought that if it was Soulcatcher, she'd have told him about the new weapon. But he wasn't quite yet ready to try to recruit Mogaba for the anti-Longshadow conspiracy. "That's also possible, of course. She's been elusive; our scouts have encountered no sign of her. Regardless, the reports suggest that the weapon has its limits; it should be possible to overwhelm it with numbers. We just need to persuade Longshadow to provide me with more shadows. It would help if you would join me; both of us together may have a slightly better chance of bringing him to see reason."

"I suppose. I still don't like those shadows, but I admit that things haven't been going well even with them. But if Lady is the problem, what we really need is to eliminate her. If Blade and I attacked the salient from opposite sides, I'm sure we could encircle and destroy Lady's division, and you and your shadows could hunt down Lady herself. But Longshadow won't give me any authority over Blade, and Blade insists on wasting his time slaughtering priests in the east."

"I will, of course, support your recommendation, so long as you support mine. We should proceed to Overlook at once."

Mogaba reluctantly joined Howler for the carpet ride, and soon they had their audience with the shadowmaster.

"I suppose it must be bad news, or you wouldn't have come here," Longshadow commented. "Before we get to that, I have some good news, though. Some of the top Deceivers have offered their services to us, in hopes that we can offer them refuge, and that together we can defeat the Black Company. They should provide us with better intelligence, as well as possibly enabling us to take out a few key enemy leaders."

"Their dwindling numbers may diminish their effectiveness," Mogaba commented.

"Their leader has their Daughter of Night with him. Lady and Croaker's girl. She shows signs of powerful magic. There may eventually be a way to exploit her," Longshadow continued, undeterred by Mogaba's pessimism.

"All right, so we've acquired a magical baby, and a dwindling number of spies and assassins." Howler howled before continuing. "On the subject of dwindling numbers of spies and assassins, I'm sure you've heard that we're losing shadows at an alarming rate. I suspect Lady has developed a new weapon."

"Didn't I tell you to eliminate her?" Longshadow asked testily.

"Her powers continue to return, and she has an increasingly experienced army protecting her. And you continue to refuse to provide me with the quantity of shadows I've said are needed. I hope you will at least deign to provide replacements for our recent losses."

"If you provide us with the shadows, and allow me to coordinate with Blade in a joint counter-attack on the salient, we can regain lost territory, and if we're lucky we may catch Lady in a trap," Mogaba offered.

"The track record of failures suggests that it would be very foolish to put all our eggs in one basket. If we were to devote the majority of our forces to a single objective, there's the danger that the Black Company will do as they've done over and over again, and take the opportunity to destroy the majority or entirety of the committed forces."

"None of the disasters have been under my leadership," Mogaba patiently pointed out.

"I think Mogaba's plan looks reasonable," Howler offered, "though I think we would need a lot of shadows to have a good shot at Lady. She seems to be getting disturbingly close to her old self. And I also was not involved in the earlier disasters."

"Your overconfidence does nothing to increase my trust in you. But I will increase the supply of shadows to replace the losses. It would help, of course, if you could figure out some way to counter the anti-shadow weapon, whatever it is. And keep looking for chances to deal with Lady. Mogaba, your job is to make sure our armies are strong enough to keep the Black Company away until Overlook is completed. Continue with the raising and training of armies at Shadowlight."

Mogaba and Howler continued to discuss matters after returning to Shadowlight. "It's almost as if he doesn't want to win the war," Mogaba complained. "He seems to offer a plan for losing slowly. What good will Overlook do him if he has no armies or territories left?"

"I'm afraid I have a thought," Howler said. "Overlook is designed to hold off any kind of attack, but it is especially focused on keeping out shadows. When all the walls are up, and all of the enchantments on them are completed, no shadows, no matter how large or how numerous, will have any chance of getting in. I suspect that once Overlook is finished, he plans to open the shadowgate, and let all the hordes of shadows from the plain destroy all of his enemies at once."

"But that would leave him ruler of a wasteland, at best."

"Indeed. And even if you were one of those he allowed to hide in Overlook with him, who would remain to remember your military prowess?"

"I hope you are wrong about what he plans."

Dome:

The translation of the texts proceeded very slowly, and as Soulcatcher had feared, they didn't seem to contain much information. They did learn that the giant at the center of the fortress was called Shivetya by some, but none of the texts had anything useful to offer about his nature.

The most interesting thing the translators discovered was that there were apparently other shadow gates on the plain, and they all lead to different worlds. There was one mention of 16 gates, but only two other worlds seemed to be described anywhere in the texts Soulcatcher had brought back. One was supposed to be home to a powerful Kina cult; perhaps it was the location of the Khatovar from which the Free Companies were supposed to have originated. Another was called, at least by one author, "the land of unknown shadows;" there was no explanation of what this name might mean.

The enchanting projects, on the other hand, went well, and Painter approached Soulcatcher with another idea.

"The progress with Dagger has me thinking about magical ways to enhance people generally," Painter began. "The Taken seem to be vastly more powerful than ordinary humans. How exactly was that done? And is there any way to bestow similar powers to new people?"

"You want to be Taken?"

"I wouldn't mind being immortal, no. And if it increased my magical power, I would be able to do more for you, of course."

"And you wouldn't be able to defy me. I'd have power over you eternally."

"I've chosen my side."

"I see. Well, unfortunately, it is not at all easy. Dominator was far more powerful than I am. I could not give anyone the kind of power that he gave me."

"But you said Lady made some Taken."

"True. Second-rate Taken. And Longshadow made Smoke into a third-rate Taken. In the case of Smoke, I think the only effect was that he could not defy Longshadow. Apart from that, he was probably weaker after Longshadow's efforts rather than stronger."

"Surely you can do better than Longshadow. What were Lady's Taken like?"

"They were all very powerful wizards before she performed her ritual. I actually never encountered any of them in person, but from the reports I've heard, I didn't see any evidence that she made them more powerful magically. They might have been harder to kill, but then powerful wizards generally are hard to kill, and they certainly did not compare in that respect to Taken. The Black Company's description of Feather's death made it sound like she was easier to kill than Shadowspinner or Moonshadow."

"Do you think you could do better than Lady?"

"Boldly phrased! But that's what I keep you around for. Honesty is valuable. I do not think that I am more powerful than my sister was at her height. Still, she was not Taken. That might give me an advantage in performing the ritual. And perhaps making the subjects stronger wasn't actually a goal of hers. Over time, we Taken did find ways to loosen the Dominator's grip on us, and to defy him in small, or eventually even in not so small, ways. She expected to live forever, so she may have deliberately wanted to make weaker Taken in order to reduce the risk of them ever turning against her."

"I take it that you've never attempted to make any new Taken yourself."

"That's true, that isn't something I have attempted. This calls for experimentation. Since it does produce improved loyalty, can you recommend one of the priests who is above average in magical talent and also above average in terms of concerns about possible disloyalty?"

"Hmmm. Summer, er, the Elder Adept of the Bright Noon Summer Sun is, I think, his full title, might be what you are looking for."

Soulcatcher took several days to prepare, and also discussed the project with Oracle, who had a few suggestions based on her unusually keen magical perceptions. Eventually she had Painter summon Summer, on the pretense that he was needed for a task that would take some time.

The ritual took several days, with Painter stopping in to watch whenever he could. It was fairly disturbing; Soulcatcher had surrounded the room with silence spells to prevent the screams from troubling the rest of the compound. It seemed like Summer died and was brought back to life more than once in the course of the procedure. He was certainly brought very close to death over and over again. And he was not allowed any rest at all; if he ever passed out, he was always awakened before the ritual continued. Apparently he needed to be conscious for every agonizing instant in order for it to work properly.

Finally, Summer was sent back to his fellow priests to rest, after being told not to talk about what had happened. Soulcatcher explained the results to Painter. "At the end, he was standing up to the abuse quite a bit better than he had been at the start. So I think I did make him tougher, though I'm sure he's not immortal. His magical talent may also have improved slightly; you'll have to keep him under observation to see if there are any signs of that. But I don't think the effects were dramatic."

"I see."

"Don't look so disappointed! It was probably worth it to have at least one priest that we can actually be sure is trustworthy. And it was the first time I've done this. I have some thoughts on how the ritual might be strengthened, though mostly they would involve more preparation and probably access to some additional resources. Of course, you wouldn't want it used on you until we're sure we can do it right."

"Of course." What he'd seen of the ritual made him wonder if it would be worth it even for immortality, but he had been the one to bring it up. And he would only have to go through it once.

"We'll try another experiment when I've had time to think about what to do differently next time."

A/N: People asked about Soulcatcher making Taken. There doesn't seem to be any canonical reason why she couldn't, when even Longshadow could (kind of), so I'm pursuing that a bit. I like my fictions logical; if there's a useful tactic someone should be using, then I want to either have them use it, or come up with some really good justification for why they aren't.