Riverwalker was a master sergeant of the Black Company. He was one of Sleepy's most trusted officers and advisors by the time of Water Sleeps, and a veteran of the Kiaulune wars which preceded those events. He was a Gunni presumably from Taglios, or less likely, somewhere in the Shadowlands. Sleepy did not know River by any other name, which was not an uncommon occurence in the history of the Company. Unlike Slink, another of Sleepy's veteran sergeants, "River did not have much talent for lightfooting it."[1]
Water Sleeps[]
Like all members of the underground Company at the time of Water Sleeps, River worked diligently at a day job in Taglios, and handled Company affairs during off-hours. River's specific job was unspecified but, like Slink, he might have been a laborer for Banh Do Trang, their Nyueng Bao collaborator whose warehouse was the Company's secret headquarters.
Hiding from the unsuspecting Protectorate regime within Taglios, Riverwalker conducted a number of abductions for Sleepy, including the kidnappings of Taglian Royal Library employees Surendranath Santaraksita and Baladitya.
River also helped arrange the meeting with Aridatha Singh and Sleepy, during which Aridatha met his biological father, Narayan Singh, for the first time in his life. After Aridatha was also introduced to the Radisha Drah, Sleepy had River returned Aridatha to his City Battalion. River praised Aridatha as a "bedrock-decent guy. Only smart. And still young enough to be unspoiled by life," and even joked that Sleepy might want to sleep with him.
River was part of the first Company group to secretly depart Taglios, headed south, which also included Sleepy, Uncle Doj, Ky Gota, Iqbal Singh with his family, and Runmust Singh, as well as 3 valuable prisoners: the Radisha and Willow Swan from the Protectorate, and Narayan. The group left the day their benefactor Banh Do Trang died. They passed Mogaba and his Third Territorial Division on the road north of the Grove of Doom, but avoided the enemy's attention. He then accompanied the entire band through the Shadowgate, across the lethal glittering plain, and into Shivetya's fortress. The prehistoric stone golem Shivetya supplied food called manna to the Company at the ground level, and River, Iqbal, and Runmust brought some of the food down to Sleepy and Willow after the two had incinerated the Books of the Dead in a subterranean chamber. Later, the first 5 members of the Captured were liberated from the Cave of the Ancients. They all exited the plain into the world of Hsien, where they began building the Abode of Ravens.
Soldiers Live[]
Riverwalker was present when the Company, with the help of their allies the Unknown Shadows, captured and occupied Gharhawnes during the Protectorate war. This was a stout manor in the former Shadowlands where Protectorate loyalists had holed up. There, River and a Company cavalry officer named Tea Nung quietly interrupted the reawakening ceremony of the Howler to inform Sleepy that their new ally Aridatha Singh had arrived.
River was one of the many noteworthy fatalities of the costly, bloody battle which took place near the Shadowlander military cemetery in Soldiers Live. Sleepy mourns his death after the battle, along with the losses of these other highly valued and trustworthy Company soldiers and allies: Willow Swan, Blade, Iqbal Singh, Li Wan, Pham Huu Clee, the two Chun brothers, Cletus, and Loftus.
References[]
- ↑ Water Sleeps, ch. 44