From Glen Cook, the godfather of Grimdark, comes The Books of the South , an omnibus comprising of Shadow Games, Dreams of Steel, and The Silver Spike ―the second omnibus volume of the bestselling fantasy epic Chronicles of the Black Company, with millions of copies in print. Marching south after the ghastly battle at the Tower of Charm, the Black Company is hounded by shadowy figures every inch of the way. The game is on: the Company versus the Shadowmasters, deadly creatures that deal in darkness and sorrow. When hope dies, there's still survival. And there's still the Black Company. “With the Black Company series Glen Cook single-handedly changed the face of fantasy.”― New York Times bestselling author Steven Erikson Chronicles of The Black Company The Black Company (The First Chronicle) Shadows Linger (The Second Chronicle) The White Rose (The Third Chronicle) The Silver Spike Shadow Games (The First Book of the South) Dreams of Steel (The Second Book of the South) 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 Lies Weeping (Book One of A Pitiless Rain) Omnibus editions: 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 Many Deaths of the Black Company (comprising Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live ) “With the Black Company series Glen Cook singlehandedly changed the face of fantasy―something a lot of people didn’t notice and maybe still don’t. He brought the story down to a human level, dispensing with the cliché archetypes of princes, kings, and evil sorcerers. Reading his stuff was like reading Vietnam War fiction on peyote.” ― Steven Erikson, author of Gardens of the Moon GLEN COOK grew up in northern California, served in the U.S. Navy, attended the University of Missouri, and was one of the earliest graduates of the well-known Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop. Since 1971 he has published a large number of Science Fiction and fantasy novels, including the occult-detective "Garrett" novels, and the very popular "Black Company" sequence that began with the publication of The Black Company in 1984. After working many years for General Motors, Cook now writes full-time. He lives near St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife Carol. The Books of the South Tales of the Black Company By Glen Cook Tom Doherty Associates Copyright © 2008 Glen Cook All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-7653-2066-7 Contents Title Page, Copyright Notice, Shadow Games, Acknowledgments, 1. The Crossroads, 2. The Road South, 3. A Tavern in Taglios, 4. The Dark Tower, 5. Chains of Empire, 6. Opal, 7. Smoke and the Woman, 8. Opal: Crows, 9. Across the Screaming Sea, 10. Shadowmasters, 11. A March into Yesteryear, 12. The Shaggy Hills, 13. Willow's Last Night Little, 14. Through D'loc Aloc, 15. The Savannah, 16. Willow's War, 17. Gea-Xle, 18. The Barge, 19. The River, 20. Willow up the Creek, 21. Thresh, 22. Taglios, 23. Willow, Bats, and Things, 24. Taglios: A Princely Pressure, 25. Taglios: Scouting Southward, 26. Overlook, 27. Night Strife, 28. Back to Scouting, 29. Smoke's Hideout, 30. Taglios Aroused, 31. Taglios: a Boot-Camp City, 32. Shadowlight, 33. Taglios: Drunken Wizards, 34. To Ghoja, 35. Before Ghoja, 36. Ghoja, 37. Shadowlight: Coal-Dark Tears, 38. Invaders of the Shadowlands, 39. Stormgard (formerly Dejagore), 40. Dejagore (formerly Stormgard), 41. Lady, 42. That Stump, 43. Overlook, 44. Glittering Stone, Dreams of Steel, Dedication, Envoi: Down There, The Silver Spike, Epilogue, Tor Books by Glen Cook, Copyright, CHAPTER 1 The Crossroads We seven remained at the crossroads, watching the dust from the eastern way. Even irrepressible One-Eye and Goblin were stricken by the finality of the hour. Otto's horse whickered. He closed her nostrils with one hand, patted her neck with the other, quieting her. It was a time for contemplation, the final emotional milemark of an era. Then there was no more dust. They were gone. Birds began to sing, so still did we remain. I took an old notebook from my saddlebag, settled in the road. In a shaky hand I wrote: The end has come. The parting is done. Silent, Darling, and the Torque brothers have taken the road to Lords. The Black Company is no more. Yet I will continue to keep the Annals, if only because a habit of twenty-five years is so hard to break. And, who knows? Those to whom I am obliged to carry them may find the account interesting. The heart is stilled but the corpse stumbles on. The Company is dead in fact but not in name.