More tales of the Sacred Band: Love in
war and realms beyond imagining….
The
Fish, the Fighters and the Song Girl, by Janet Morris and Chris Morris.
Revised Author’s Cut, published by Perseid Press, copyright © 2010 by Janet
Morris. 386 pages. Cover art: Peter Paul Rubens, “The Consequences of War”
(detail), 1637-1638. Image copyright © The
Perseid Press, 2012. Reviewed by Joe Bonadonna.
“Your commander reaches for yonder stars
and gods do eye him. And there are more Fates in the wide worlds of men than those
whom he has aided.” – from The Fish, the
Fighters and the Song Girl.
The team of Janet Morris and Chris Morris
once again grace us with another excellent anthology of Homeric Heroic Fantasy,
featuring Tempus, Niko and their Sacred Band of Stepsons. This compilation is
comprised of both new stories and earlier tales, herein revised from the
original Thieves’ World® series, stories
such as “What Women Do Best,” “Power Play,” and “Sanctuary is for Lovers.”
Brand-new tales, written especially for this book, include “Shelter from the
Storm,” “Lemnian Deed,” “Ravener, Where Art Thou?” and the title story. All the
magic, action, adventure, humor and human drama I’ve come to expect from Janet
and Chris Morris are here in spades, and there are enough revelations and plot
twists along the way to keep you on your toes.
This collection takes place after the Morris’
masterpiece, The Sacred Band, and gives
us more of the history of the Sacred Band as Tempus takes his Stepsons and
Thebans north, a world away, into unexplored regions and a mythic country. Though
they are courageous, these fighters, they are no strangers to fear. Though they
are warriors, hard and tough, they are not immune to love and compassion, to
decency and common humanity. And though the gods at times play their part,
there is never a chance that Deus ex
machina will overwhelm these wonderful characters and seize control of the
stories. In fact, at times it seems that the gods are really no match for the
human and mortal characters. As in Greek mythology, which is the heart and soul
of all the tales of the Sacred Band, the gods are as weak, as fallible, as
jealous, and as imperfect as mortals – and sometimes even more so.
The
Fish, the Fighters and the Song Girl is a highly intelligent and extremely
complex collection of tales that reads very much like a novel, and is built on
a large and strong cast of characters who live and breathe, sweat and bleed. We
meet new characters and revisit old, familiar ones. And, while we travel
through unknown territory with Tempus, Niko and the Sacred Band, most of these
stories are centered in good old Sanctuary®, where war is brewing between the
empire of Ranke and the Beysibs of Harka Bey over control of that infamous town
of rogues and thieves, whores and priests, mages and mercenaries. Tempus and
the Stepsons, the 3rd Commandos under Sync, and the Rankan Empire
all want to rid Sanctuary of the Beysibs, install an interim ruler, and make
Sanctuary an independent state. So that’s the background on what’s going on and
the hub around which these stories revolve. Now, let me tell you a little about
the players involved.
Once again we encounter Molin
Torchholder, Vashanka the Storm God’s priest; he’s always trying to curb the
actions of the Sacred Band, and this time out strikes a bargain with Tempus for
his own secret agenda. We learn more about the Stepson Straton and his love
affair with Ischade the necromant; they set out to rescue Strat’s partner Sync,
who’s been totally enthralled and held captive by Roxane, the Nisibisi witch
who played such a large role in The
Sacred Band and the Beyond Sanctuary
Trilogy; her demon-familiar, Snapper Jo, now tends bar at the Vulgar
Unicorn® and dreams of being human. Herein we get tangled up with Zip, the
Death Squad guerilla leader who introduced Sync to Roxane; he also gets
romantically involved with Kama, daughter of Tempus, and becomes a player in
the war for Sanctuary’s independence. Randal, the shape-shifting, jug-eared
mage is here, too, and he’s still allergic to animal forms, especially when he
changes into one. We also meet Cassander the Healer, a gifted horse doctor who
buys a live fish, a kite-ray that he needs to heal a young girl named Seriti. (Interesting
thing about this fish: it’s used to create a sort of “organic battery,” which
is then used for healing and purposes of interrogation. Cassander is like a
heroic fantasy version of television’s MacGyver.)
Niko, right-side companion to Tempus,
has been immortalized and is now the avatar of Harmonia, the Theban goddess of
Balance and Justice. He has his hands full taking care of two children: Arton,
who at times can see the future, and Gyskouras (Kouras), who is the god
Vashanka’s son, through Tempus who actually fathered him. Jihan, Froth Daughter
of the god Stormbringer, shows her maternal side when she and Niko defend the
boys against deadly snakes sent by the witch Roxane to slay the lads.
As for Tempus the Sleepless One…as
always, he has a full plate. When the two gods – Father Enlil (Lord Storm) and
Vashanka the Pillager – vie for space and attention inside the head of an
exhausted Tempus, Abarsis the Slaughter Priest, founder and now patron shade of
the Sacred Band, comes to his aid and grants him one full night of rest. And
Tempus will need that rest, for even more trials and tribulations await him:
Kama, his daughter, is on a covert
mission and becomes apprenticed to Hakiem the storyteller, who claims to be
neutral in this war but seems to have all the right connections. New to the
Stepsons is Gayle, a foul-mouthed mercenary who can build a string of profanity
around a single word; he’s been assigned to protect Kama, even from those who
are trying to help her. But then Kama is framed – implicated in, and about to
be indicted for sedition and attempted murder. Meanwhile, Molin Torchholder
wants to save and marry her, and Jihan claims to be in love with young Randal,
the Hazard Class and shape-shifting mage. So Tempus decides it’s best to stop
the marriage between Randal and Jihan; with Randal’s permission he then sets out
to woo Jihan away from the young mage for many reasons of his own, not to
mention for the sake of romance. But first Tempus must send out teams of
Stepsons to find the traitor who framed Kama for murder and sedition.
There is so much more to this anthology
and to these stories, so many levels and layers, and the fun is in the reading
and discovering how all the many threads tie together to create a tapestry of
great storytelling. As in all Janet and Chris Morris’ stories of Tempus and his
Sacred Band, their writing is crisp and spot on. Their use of present-tense to
grab the reader with a sense of immediacy and urgency is always well-played and
never jarring. There is a balance and simplicity, a beauty and poignancy in
their prose that is not overdone, not overplayed; they write with a deep
insight into the human soul, with compassion and humanity. Here’s a favorite
passage of mine that takes place when the ghost of Abarsis the Slaughter Priest
appears to take Niko’s former partner to heaven:
She
knew ghosts when she saw them; this one was a spirit of supernal power, a
fabled strength, a glossy being of such beauty that tears came to Ischade’s
eyes when it sat down beside Niko, ruffling his hair with a fawn-colored hand.
“I
am Abarsis,” it smiled in introduction, and she saw the wizard blood there,
ancient lineage, and love so strong it made her head hurt; she’d given up such
options as this ghost thrived on, long ago.
“We
need Janni’s soul in heaven; it’s earned its peace…”
I like that passage a lot. For me it’s writing
that aims for the heart, as well as the brain. The philosophy, the credo of the
Sacred Band will make you pause to think, but the way the characters are
written, whether heroic, villainous or something in between, will make you feel.
One thing I’d like to mention is the
women characters. In a review of one of the Sacred Band books, the reviewer
brought up the point that the female characters are either witches or
goddesses. Now, part of that statement rings true to history, true to a time when
women controlled most religions, when women ruled as queens. But women play
much more diverse roles in the Sacred Band mythos than witches, goddesses,
priestesses and even whores. First, there is Kama, a Sacred Band warrior as
deadly, as proficient in the art of killing as any man. There are the two
Lemnians, Breisis and Ditki, who once fought against the Band but have now
joined with them. And then there’s Madame Bomba, a shrewd business woman who
has her hands in everything, her eyes on everything, and her heart in the right
place. These women are all empowered – they are forces to be reckoned with,
such as: a witch that even the gods fear; a necromant who feels love and compassion;
a goddess who wants to be human; veteran warriors who have not sacrificed
femininity and gentility, tenderness and caring.
To talk more in depth about the plots of
each story would be to give too much away. I think, I hope that what I have given you here is tease enough and has piqued
your interest enough to have you seek out this volume and lose yourself in the
wondrously magical and yet all too gritty and real world of the Sacred Band. And
for those of you who haven’t read my Black Gate and Amazon reviews of The Sacred Band, Beyond Sanctuary, Beyond the Veil, and Beyond Wizardwall, please check them out. I think you’ll like the
realms of wonder created by Janet and Chris Morris.
Life to you all, and everlasting glory.
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