Water Sleeps by Glen Cook is the ninth and penultimate book of the Black Company series and the third novel in the Books of Glittering Stone tetralogy. It begins 15 years after the closing of the prior novel, She Is the Darkness.
From the back cover
| “ | Regrouping in Taglios, the surviving members of the Black Company are determined to free their fellow warriors held in stasis beneath the glittering plain. Journeying there under terrible conditions, they arrive just in time for a magical conflagration in which the bones of the world will be revealed, the history of the Company unveiled, and new world gained and lost... all at a terrible price. | ” |
Summary
The setup
Immediately after the events of She Is the Darkness, many of the senior members of the Black Company disappeared after traveling through the Shadowgate onto the glittering plain. They were presumed dead by everyone they had left behind. But, while some were indeed dead, most had actually been trapped by Soulcatcher in an enchanted stasis in a supernatural ice cave beneath the fortress with no name. Only a handful of people would come to learn that "the Captured" were still alive, albeit frozen and virtually unreachable.
The ranking officer of the Company's remnants was Sleepy, a young Jaicuri Vehdna woman who was the group's Annalist. She and her close ally Ky Sahra led the Company and their Shadowlander allies in the Kiaulune wars, which lasted for 5 years. Against the superior Company-trained Taglian forces of the Great General Mogaba, it ended with their defeat. This is how Soulcatcher became the "Protector" of a newly-consolidated, massive empire. Taglios and its new territories – now often called the Protectorate – were still ostensibly ruled by the Radisha Drah, but the power behind the throne was Soulcatcher. Willow Swan, who helped her trap the Captured, was now part of the Privy Council as the head of the Greys, the city force in charge of maintaining order.
Fifteen years after She Is the Darkness, the Company was mostly forgotten and publicly declared to be extinct. But a remnant survived as an underground organization... united in purpose but largely powerless. They blended into society by working diligently by day in common jobs: each member had at least one new identity. Their headquarters was a waterfront warehouse owned by their ally Banh Do Trang, in the Nyueng Bao neighborhood inside Taglios. Unwanted visits to the structure were deterred by webs of subtle magic placed by the elderly Company wizards One-Eye and Goblin.
The main job of the members of the Company was to distract Soulcatcher while finding ways to be able to rescue the Captured on the glittering plain. To do so, Sleepy and Ky Sahra elaborated the plans to make the Company presence alive inside Taglios. That included using Murgen's son, Tobo, to distribute graffiti and magic trinkets which caused disarray and distress among the Taglian people.
While Sleepy focused on the military aspect of their small group, Sahra (Murgen's wife) took over the administrative tasks and made contact with her husband to gather information. Murgen, despite being one of the Captured, was still able to dream-travel around the world and report back via the mental link with his wife.
Actions in Taglios
As the old wizards of the Company become weaker and more afflicted by age the actions they executed become bolder. They directly attacked the Palace and captured Willow Swan (although everyone thought he had died). Disguised as daily workers Sleepy, Sahra and Tobo entered the Palace and successfully captured tow members of the Privy Council. Later Goblin replaced Tobo and they achieved to Kidnap the Radisha Drah which only aggravate Soulcatcher's irritation.
At the same time that the Company was acting the Deceivers appeared in Taglios, both the Daughter of Night and Narayan Singh were tracked by the Company wizards and captured by one of Sleepy's plans.
While the Company succeeds to sequestrate the Radisha, Goblin was trapped inside the palace and had to outsmart Soulcatcher to be able to run. In the process, he was able to creep her.
Soulcatcher planned a trap at the library, a place where Sleepy worked as Dorabee (a fictional persona). Soulcatcher wasn't aware of Sleepy presence in there, she only wanted to catch the responsible for swipe old documents of the library, documents that should have been destroyed long ago. Sleepy escapes the trap due to the unusual movement (or lack of it) on the street. Surendranath Santaraksita, the man responsible for the library, and a copyist Baladitya also escaped death. They were captured by Sleepy the night before the trap.
Mogaba and his troops arrived in the city and started to try to find the members of the Company, but they were already running towards the ShadowGate.
Traveling south
On their way to the Shadowgate the Company divided into two main groups.
Sleepy was with Uncle Doj, Singh the deceiver, and some others. She had bargained with Singh: He would receive their edition of the book of the Dead and he would guide them to the key he had stolen from Soulcatcher that previously had stolen it from the Nyueng Bao.
They followed Singh indications to the deceivers ritual place. Sleepy being naturally suspicious sent a small team to get to the place before her. Her friends had found a group of deceivers and got rid of them, she found out about it by stumbling on their clothes and weapons in the dark night. Singh tried to lure the group to wait until his friends arrived without knowing they would never come. After a while, he surrendered the key, a small but heavy hammer. In exchange, he received the book and his freedom.
With the key in hands, the group followed their plan and proceed to Kiaulune where the Shadowgate was located.
Kiaulune and the Shadowgate
In Kiaulune the old wizards attached many magic tricks and traps to a cage to keep the Daughter of Night restrained. The harder she attempted to escape from the cage, the more pain and corruption would be brought to her body. The cage shared the same destiny as her, which means that she could not attack it directly. Only magic from outside could be able to free her.
Goblin and One-Eye also were able to reveal the true nature of the Shadowgate key. After they removed the external metal that made it look like a hammer they discovered that it was actually a golden pickax. A tool used by Deceivers to handle victims' corpses.
The Company relieved the regional army leader – Suvrin – from his command, and captured a fort from Khusavir Pete. But a small shadow escaped to warn Soulcatcher. Soon Murgen confirmed that Soulcatcher was coming: she left Taglios aboard a flying carpet and would be there quickly.
The group of refugees that now formed the Company abandoned their camping and prepared an ambush for Soulcatcher. Uncle Doj sneaked and destroyed Catcher's carpet. After that, he ran through the Shadowgate where his companions were waiting. Catcher saw him entering the gate but had not the time to pursue him: Khusavir Pete, who was restrained nearby, opened fire with a fireball projector and nearly killed her.
After all the Company members crossed the gate, Lady's sister got there and saw by herself that her enemies had the golden pickax from the Deceivers. She was once more attacked by a former member of the Company but due to her high state of stress was able to react fast enough to elude death. The poor man not so much...
Across the glittering plain
Sleepy's group started their journey through glittering plain, it elapsed almost undisturbed. Along the path, they found the desiccated bodies of Sindawe, Bucket, and his bodyguard Suyen Dinh Duc, and several others. They also were delayed by snow which concealed the trail that they should follow. It was necessary for Goblin and Tobo (now a wizard apprentice) to unveil the way.
After arriving at the fortress with no name, the group was amazed to see Shivetya, the gigantic golem that protected Kina's tomb. He was stuck to a wooden throne by daggers. The throne was overturned over a crack in the ground and Sleepy ordered the group to stand it upright again. While people were occupied by her tasks she started to follow Swan down, into the guts of the plain. They followed a staircase down for a long time until they found an opening, a crude cave. Into the cave were several men, forgotten by time itself. They were petrified, frozen and unable to die in stasis, unable to live too.
Among the men were the old crew of the Black Company: Murgen, Lady, Croaker, the prince Prahbrindrah Drah, Murgen's brother in law - Thai Dei, Otto, Hagop, Blade, Cordy Mather and some more. The black wizards Howler and Longshadow were there too.
One-Eye and Tobo started to revive a selected few of the Captured: Croaker, Lady, and Murgen. Thai Dei is awakened as well, since he is Sahra's brother, and the Prahbrindrah Drah is also chosen for political reasons. The corpse of Cordy Mather is discovered: they learn he was not successfully frozen in stasis like the others. Worse, he tried to communicate with some other Captured, like Wheezer and Candles, and they also died after being touched. But what killed Cordy was not starvation; he had fallen into an ancient mechanic trap in a deeper part of the cavern.
While the group was transporting the rescued members of the Company upstairs, Sleepy decided to go deeper in the caverns. There Goblin disabled magical traps and they found the Books of the Dead. Sleepy discovered that Tobo had kept going downstairs and went searching for him together with Goblin.
They descended with the Lance of Passion until they discovered the final chamber: Kina's tomb. There, Tobo was enchanted by the dark goddess's beauty. But her form changed, and Kina attacked the intruders with evil sorcery in the form of smoke rising from her nostrils. Goblin fought back with the Lance, but he got surrounded and in despair decided to sacrifice himself for the benefit of the others. He ran with the spear and struck for her heart. The demoniac smoke set Goblin aflame, the ground shook, and the terrified survivors ran upstairs.
Tobo got to the top first and asked for help. Eventually, Sleepy found Swan and despite their exhaustion, they both incinerated the Books of the Dead. After that, they reunited with Uncle Doj in Shivetya's prehistoric throne room.
Shivetya communicated with Sleepy, revealing to her what had happened in the past when Soulcatcher first visited the fortress, and also, how she trapped the Captured in the first place. Then he sent them away, levitating them safely over the dangerous plain until they reach the other members of their group that had already departed. They followed the path to the next Shadowgate.
Land of Unknown Shadows
The group, now reunited, crossed the gate into an alien world. But what they saw was a land eerily reminiscent to their own homeworld. The geography resembled the landscape around Kiaulune but without the towers of Overlook and the associated construction.
As the group followed the path exiting the Shadowgate, they met some natives: the monks of Khang Phi. The monks communicate with Uncle Doj in a tongue that resembled the Nyueng Bao language. The Company learns that the monks were there to look for sorcerers that have come from the gate before, specifically, Longshadow and his kin, who were once the hated tyrants of this land.
The Company was allowed to make a camp in those fields, and soon built the Abode of Ravens. They made several expeditions back to the fortress with no name to rescue the other Captured that were initially left behind. Tobo started to practice and study with Lady, One-Eye, Master Santaraksita, and even Longshadow. One-Eye survived four more years, but in the meantime, he suffered strokes and became increasingly debilitated.
This is how the Company reached the Land of Unknown Shadows instead of their original destination, the fabled Khatovar.
List of editions
Water Sleeps was published as a standalone novel in the following editions, translations, and formats. They are listed in order of publication, earliest first; some reappearances of the same translation may be grouped together. See also Books of Glittering Stone for the list of omnibuses in which Water Sleeps appeared.
Polish
- Title: Woda śpi
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: Polish
- Translator: Jan Karłowski
- Publisher: Rebis
- Pub date: 2000
- Cover art by: Boris Vallejo
- ISBN: 9788371209529 / 8371209525 (paperback)
Russian (2000 AST Dragon Age Chronicles)
This edition was part of the publisher's Dragon Age Chronicles (Век Дракона Хроники / Vek Drakona Khroniki) series.
- Title: Воды спят
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Глен Кук (Glen Cook)
- Language: Russian
- Translator: Беллы Жужунавы (Bella Zhuzhunava)
- Publisher: АСТ (AST) and Terra Fantastica
- Pub date: 2000
- Cover art by: Luis Royo
- ISBN: Hardcovers: 5-237-05205-3 (ACT); 5-7921-0278-3 (TF)
Russian (2001 AST Golden Fantasy)
This hardcover was part of the publisher's Golden Fantasy series (Золотая серия фэнтези / Zolotaya seriya fentezi).
- Title: Воды спят
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Глен Кук (Glen Cook)
- Language: Russian
- Translator: Беллы Жужунавы (Bella Zhuzhunava)
- Publisher: АСТ (AST); АСТ Москва (AST Moscow); Terra Fantastica; Харвест (Harvest)
- Pub date: 2001
- Cover art by: Luis Royo (left and lower); Gary Ruddell (upper)
- ISBN: All hardcovers:
year 2001: 5-17-005183-2 (АСТ)
year 2002: 5-17-010917-2 (АСТ); 5-7921-0278-3 (TF)
year 2008: 978-5-17-052698-7 (ACT); 978-5-9713-8084-9 (АСТ Москва); 978-985-16-5133-3 (Harvest)
French (2005 L'Atalante)
The French translation, first published by L'Atalante, was divided into two books and features original artwork by Didier Graffet throughout.
- Title: L'eau dort, I
- Page shown: Front & back covers
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: French
- Translator: Frank Reichert
- Publisher: L'Atalante
- Pub date: 27 January 2005
- Cover art by: Didier Graffet
- ISBN: 9782841722938 (paperback [broché])
- Title: L'eau dort, II
- Page shown: Front & back covers
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: French
- Translator: Frank Reichert
- Publisher: L'Atalante
- Pub date: 27 January 2005
- Cover art by: Didier Graffet
- ISBN: 9782841722945 (paperback [broché])
Russian (2008 AST Dragon Age 2)
This hardcover was part of the publisher's Dragon Age 2 series (Век дракона 2 / Vek Drakona 2).
- Title: Воды спят
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Глен Кук (Glen Cook)
- Language: Russian
- Translator: Беллы Жужунавы (Bella Zhuzhunava)
- Publisher: АСТ (AST); АСТ Москва (AST Moscow); Харвест (Harvest)
- Pub date: 2008
- Cover art by: Luis Royo
- ISBN: Hardcovers: 978-5-17-050445-9 (ACT); 978-5-9713-8083-2 (АСТ Москва); 978-985-16-5134-0 (Harvest)
Spanish
- Title: El agua durmiente. Un libro de La Compañía Negra. Tercer libro de Piedra reluciente
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: Spanish
- Translator: Raquel Faes Díaz
- Publisher: La Factoría de Ideas
- Pub date: 10 April 2009 (paperback); December 2014 (e-book)
- Cover art by: Jan Patrik Krasny
- ISBN: 9788498004625 (paperback); 9788490183892 (e-book)
French (2010 J'ai lu)
The same French translation previously published by L'Atalante (scroll farther up) was republished in 2010 by J'ai lu in smaller paperback format [poche] with cover art by Johan Camou. It was also divided into two books. These artworks were replaced in 2019 by the more abstract art of Slava Gerj (right) when the publisher refreshed the covers.
- Title: Les Annales de la Compagnie Noire 10: L'eau dort, Première partie
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: French
- Translator: Frank Reichert
- Publisher: J'ai lu
- Pub date: 10 March 2010
- Cover art by: Johan Camou (left); Slava Gerj (right)
- ISBN: 9782290022856 (small paperback [poche])
- Title: Les Annales de la Compagnie Noire 11: L'eau dort, Deuxième partie
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: French
- Translator: Frank Reichert
- Publisher: J'ai lu
- Pub date: 13 October 2010
- Cover art by: Johan Camou (left); Slava Gerj (right)
- ISBN: 9782290022863 (small paperback [poche])
Bulgarian
- Title: Водата спи: Трета книга за Блестящия камък (Хрониките на Черния отряд IX)
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Глен Кук (Glen Cook)
- Language: Bulgarian
- Translator: Пепа Соколова (Pepa Sokolova)
- Publisher: Лира Принт (Lira Print)
- Pub date: 2012
- Cover art by: Nicholas Jainschigg
- ISBN: 9789548610889 (paperback)
Persian
- Title: سرگذشت گروهان سیاه - جلد 8 - سکوت آب
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: Persian
- Translator: آيدا کشوري (Aida Keshvari)
- Publisher: کتابسرای تندیس، (Tandis Publishing)
- Pub date: 2020
- Cover art by: Nicholas Jainschigg
- ISBN: 9786001826351 (paperback)