Fair weather and good winds carried us to Meadenvil in good
time. The ship’s master was pleased. He had been well-paid
beforehand for his trouble, but was eager to shed a manifest of
such vile temper. We had not been the best of passengers. One-Eye
was terrified of the sea, a grand victim of seasickness, and
insisted everyone else be as scared and sick as he. He and Goblin
never let up on one another, though the Lieutenant threatened to
throw the pair of them to the sharks. The Lieutenant was in such a
foul temper himself that they took him half seriously.
In accordance with the Captain’s wishes, we elected the
Lieutenant our commander and Candy to become second. That position
should have fallen to Elmo . . . We did not
call the Lieutenant Captain. That seemed silly with the outfit so
diminished. There weren’t enough of us left to make a good
street gang.
Last of the Free Companies of Khatovar. Four centuries of
brotherhood and tradition reduced to this. A band on the run. It
did not make sense. Did not seem right. The great deeds of our
forebrethren deserved better of their successors. The treasure
chest was lost, but the Annals themselves had, somehow, found their
way aboard. I expect Silent brought them. For him they were almost
as important as for me. The night before we entered Meadenvil
harbor, I read to the troops, from the Book of Woeg, which
chronicled the Company’s history after its defeat and near
destruction in the fighting along the Bake, in Norssele. Only a
hundred four men survived that time, and the Company had come back.
They were not ready for it. The pain was too fresh. I gave it up
halfway through.
Fresh. Meadenvil was refreshing. A real city, not a colorless
berg like Juniper. We left the ship with little but our arms and
what wealth we’d carried in Juniper. People watched us
fearfully, and there was no little trepidation on our part, too,
for we were not strong enough to make a show if the local Prince
took exception to our presence. The three wizards were our greatest
asset. The Lieutenant and Candy had hopes of using them to pull
something that would provide the wherewithal to move on, aboard
another ship, with further hopes of returning to lands we knew on
the southern shore of the Sea of Torments. To do that, though,
meant an eventual overland journey at least partly through lands
belonging to the Lady. I thought we would be wiser to move down the
coast, confuse our trail, and hook on with someone out here, at
least till the Lady’s armies closed in. As they would
someday.
The Lady. I kept thinking of the Lady. It was all too likely
that her armies now owed allegiance to the Dominator. We located
both Pawnbroker and Kingpin within hours of going ashore.
Pawnbroker had arrived only two days before us, having faced
unfavorable seas and winds during his journey. The Lieutenant
started on Kingpin immediately. “Where the hell you been,
boy?” It was a sure thing Kingpin had turned his assignment
into an extended vacation. He was that sort. “You were
supposed to come back when . . . ”
“Couldn’t, sir. We’re witnesses in a murder
case. Can’t leave town till after the trial.”
“Murder case?”
“Sure. Raven’s dead. Pawn says you know that. Well,
we fixed it so that Bullock guy took the rap. Only we’ve got
to hang around and get him hanged.”
“Where is he?” I asked.
“In jail.”
The Lieutenant reamed him good, cussing and fussing while
passersby nervously eyed the hard guys abusing each other in a
variety of mystery tongues.
I suggested, “We ought to get off the street. Keep a low
profile. We got trouble enough without attracting attention.
Lieutenant, if you don’t mind, I’d like a chat with
Kingpin. Maybe these other guys can show you places to hole up.
King, come with me. You, too.” I indicated Silent, Goblin and
One-Eye.
“Where we going?” Kingpin asked.
“You pick it.
Someplace where we can talk. Serious like.”
“Right.” He led the way, setting a brisk pace,
wanting to put distance between himself and the Lieutenant.
“That really true? What happened up there? The Captain dead
and everything?”
“Too damned true.”
He shook his head, awed by the idea of the Company having been
destroyed. Finally, he asked, “What do you want to know,
Croaker?”
“Just everything you found out since you been here.
Especially about Raven. But also about that guy Asa. And the
tavern-keeper.”
“Shed? I saw him the other day. At least I think I did.
Didn’t realize it was him till later. He was dressed
different. Yeah. Pawn told me he got away. The Asa guy, too. Him I
think I know where to find. The Shed guy,
though . . . Well, if you really want him,
you’ll have to start looking where I thought I saw
him.”
“He see you?”
That idea caught Kingpin by surprise. Apparently, it
hadn’t occurred to him to wonder. He isn’t the
brightest fellow sometimes. “I don’t think
so.”
We went into a tavern favored by foreign sailors. The customers
were a polyglot lot and as ragged as we were. They spoke a dozen
languages. We settled in at a table, used the language of the Jewel
Cities. Kingpin did not speak it well, but understood it. I doubted
that anyone else there could follow our discussion.
“Raven,” I said. “That’s what I want to
know about, Kingpin.”
He told us a story which matched Asa’s closely, the edges
being about as uneven as you would expect from someone who
hadn’t been an eyewitness.
“You still think he faked it?” One-Eye asked.
“Yeah. It’s half hunch, but I think he did. Maybe
when we go look the place over, I’ll change my mind. There a
way you guys could tell if he’s in town?”
They put their heads together, returned a negative opinion.
“Not without we had something that belonged to him to start
with,” Goblin opined. “We don’t got
that.”
“Kingpin. What about Darling? What about Raven’s
ship?”
“Huh?”
“What happened to Darling after Raven supposedly died?
What happened to his ship?”
“I don’t know about Darling. The ship is tied up
down at its dock.”
We exchanged glances around the table. I said, “That ship
gets visited if we have to fight our way aboard. Those papers I
told you about. Asa couldn’t account for them. I want them to
turn up. They’re the only thing we got that can get the Lady
off our back.”
“If there is a Lady,” One-Eye said.
“Won’t be much pumpkin if the Dominator broke
through.”
“Don’t even think that.” For no sound reason I
had convinced myself that the Lady had won. Mostly, it was wishful
thinking, I’m sure. “Kingpin, we’re going to
visit that ship tonight. What about Darling?”
“Like I said. I don’t know.”
“You were supposed to look out for her.”
“Yeah. But she kind of vanished.”
“Vanished? How?”
“Not how, Croaker,” One-Eye said, in response to
vigorous signing from Silent. “How is irrelevant now.
When.”
“All right. When, Kingpin?”
“I don’t know. Nobody’s seen her since the
night before Raven died.”
“Bingo,” Goblin said in a soft, awed voice.
“Damn your eyes, Croaker, your instincts were
right.”
“What?” Kingpin asked.
“There’s no way she would have disappeared
beforehand unless she knew something was going to
happen.”
“Kingpin,” I said, “did you go look at the
place they were staying? Inside, I mean.”
“Yeah. Somebody got there before me.”
“What?”
“The place was cleaned out. I asked the innkeeper. He said
they didn’t move out. They was paid up for another month.
That sounded to me like somebody knew about Raven getting croaked
and decided to clean his place out. I figured it was that Asa. He
disappeared right after.”
“What did you do then?”
“What? I figured you guys didn’t want Bullock back
in Juniper, so we got him charged with Raven’s murder. There
was plenty of witnesses besides us saw them fighting. Enough to
maybe convince a court we really saw what we said.”
“You do anything to trace Darling?”
Kingpin had nothing to say. He stared at his hands. The rest of
us exchanged irritated glances. Goblin muttered, “I told Elmo
it was dumb to send him.”
I guess it was. In minutes we had come up with several loose
ends overlooked by Kingpin.
“How come you’re so damned worried about it, anyway,
Croaker?” Kingpin demanded. “I mean, it all looks like
a big so-what to me.”
“Look, King. Like it or not, when the Taken turned on us,
we got pushed over to the other side. We’re White Rose now.
Whether we want it or not. They’re going to come after us.
The only thing the Rebel has going is the White Rose.
Right?”
“If there is a White Rose.”
“There is. Darling is the White Rose.”
“Come on, Croaker. She’s a deaf-mute.”
One-Eye observed, “She’s also a magical
null-point.”
“Eh?”
“Magic won’t work around her. We noticed that clean
back at Charm. And if she follows true for her sort, the null will
get stronger as she gets older.”
I recalled noting oddities about Darling during the battle of
Charm, but hadn’t made anything of it then. “What are
you talking about?”
“I told you. Some people are negatives. Instead of having
a talent for sorcery, they go the other way. It won’t work
around them. And when you think about it, that’s the only way
the White Rose makes sense. How could a deaf and dumb kid grow up
to challenge the Lady or Dominator on their own ground? I’ll
bet the original White Rose didn’t.”
I didn’t know. There had been nothing in the histories
about her powers or their noteworthy absence. “This makes it
more important to find her.”
One-Eye nodded.
Kingpin looked baffled. It was easy to fuddle King, I decided. I
explained. “If magic won’t work around her, we’ve
got to find her and stay close. Then the Taken won’t be able
to hurt us.”
One-Eye said, “Don’t forget that they have whole
armies they can send after us.”
“If they want us that bad . . . Oh
my.”
“What?”
“Elmo. If he didn’t get killed. He knows enough to
put the whole empire on our trail. Maybe not so much for us as in
hopes we’ll lead them to Darling.”
“What’re we going to do?”
“Why’re you looking at me?”
“You’re the one seems to know what’s going on,
Croaker.”
“Okay. I guess. First we find out about Raven and Darling.
Especially Darling. And we ought to catch Shed and Asa again, in
case they know something useful. We got to move fast and get out of town before the empire closes
in. Without upsetting the locals. We better have a sit-down with
the Lieutenant. Get everything on the table for everybody, then
decide exactly what we’ll do.”
Fair weather and good winds carried us to Meadenvil in good
time. The ship’s master was pleased. He had been well-paid
beforehand for his trouble, but was eager to shed a manifest of
such vile temper. We had not been the best of passengers. One-Eye
was terrified of the sea, a grand victim of seasickness, and
insisted everyone else be as scared and sick as he. He and Goblin
never let up on one another, though the Lieutenant threatened to
throw the pair of them to the sharks. The Lieutenant was in such a
foul temper himself that they took him half seriously.
In accordance with the Captain’s wishes, we elected the
Lieutenant our commander and Candy to become second. That position
should have fallen to Elmo . . . We did not
call the Lieutenant Captain. That seemed silly with the outfit so
diminished. There weren’t enough of us left to make a good
street gang.
Last of the Free Companies of Khatovar. Four centuries of
brotherhood and tradition reduced to this. A band on the run. It
did not make sense. Did not seem right. The great deeds of our
forebrethren deserved better of their successors. The treasure
chest was lost, but the Annals themselves had, somehow, found their
way aboard. I expect Silent brought them. For him they were almost
as important as for me. The night before we entered Meadenvil
harbor, I read to the troops, from the Book of Woeg, which
chronicled the Company’s history after its defeat and near
destruction in the fighting along the Bake, in Norssele. Only a
hundred four men survived that time, and the Company had come back.
They were not ready for it. The pain was too fresh. I gave it up
halfway through.
Fresh. Meadenvil was refreshing. A real city, not a colorless
berg like Juniper. We left the ship with little but our arms and
what wealth we’d carried in Juniper. People watched us
fearfully, and there was no little trepidation on our part, too,
for we were not strong enough to make a show if the local Prince
took exception to our presence. The three wizards were our greatest
asset. The Lieutenant and Candy had hopes of using them to pull
something that would provide the wherewithal to move on, aboard
another ship, with further hopes of returning to lands we knew on
the southern shore of the Sea of Torments. To do that, though,
meant an eventual overland journey at least partly through lands
belonging to the Lady. I thought we would be wiser to move down the
coast, confuse our trail, and hook on with someone out here, at
least till the Lady’s armies closed in. As they would
someday.
The Lady. I kept thinking of the Lady. It was all too likely
that her armies now owed allegiance to the Dominator. We located
both Pawnbroker and Kingpin within hours of going ashore.
Pawnbroker had arrived only two days before us, having faced
unfavorable seas and winds during his journey. The Lieutenant
started on Kingpin immediately. “Where the hell you been,
boy?” It was a sure thing Kingpin had turned his assignment
into an extended vacation. He was that sort. “You were
supposed to come back when . . . ”
“Couldn’t, sir. We’re witnesses in a murder
case. Can’t leave town till after the trial.”
“Murder case?”
“Sure. Raven’s dead. Pawn says you know that. Well,
we fixed it so that Bullock guy took the rap. Only we’ve got
to hang around and get him hanged.”
“Where is he?” I asked.
“In jail.”
The Lieutenant reamed him good, cussing and fussing while
passersby nervously eyed the hard guys abusing each other in a
variety of mystery tongues.
I suggested, “We ought to get off the street. Keep a low
profile. We got trouble enough without attracting attention.
Lieutenant, if you don’t mind, I’d like a chat with
Kingpin. Maybe these other guys can show you places to hole up.
King, come with me. You, too.” I indicated Silent, Goblin and
One-Eye.
“Where we going?” Kingpin asked.
“You pick it.
Someplace where we can talk. Serious like.”
“Right.” He led the way, setting a brisk pace,
wanting to put distance between himself and the Lieutenant.
“That really true? What happened up there? The Captain dead
and everything?”
“Too damned true.”
He shook his head, awed by the idea of the Company having been
destroyed. Finally, he asked, “What do you want to know,
Croaker?”
“Just everything you found out since you been here.
Especially about Raven. But also about that guy Asa. And the
tavern-keeper.”
“Shed? I saw him the other day. At least I think I did.
Didn’t realize it was him till later. He was dressed
different. Yeah. Pawn told me he got away. The Asa guy, too. Him I
think I know where to find. The Shed guy,
though . . . Well, if you really want him,
you’ll have to start looking where I thought I saw
him.”
“He see you?”
That idea caught Kingpin by surprise. Apparently, it
hadn’t occurred to him to wonder. He isn’t the
brightest fellow sometimes. “I don’t think
so.”
We went into a tavern favored by foreign sailors. The customers
were a polyglot lot and as ragged as we were. They spoke a dozen
languages. We settled in at a table, used the language of the Jewel
Cities. Kingpin did not speak it well, but understood it. I doubted
that anyone else there could follow our discussion.
“Raven,” I said. “That’s what I want to
know about, Kingpin.”
He told us a story which matched Asa’s closely, the edges
being about as uneven as you would expect from someone who
hadn’t been an eyewitness.
“You still think he faked it?” One-Eye asked.
“Yeah. It’s half hunch, but I think he did. Maybe
when we go look the place over, I’ll change my mind. There a
way you guys could tell if he’s in town?”
They put their heads together, returned a negative opinion.
“Not without we had something that belonged to him to start
with,” Goblin opined. “We don’t got
that.”
“Kingpin. What about Darling? What about Raven’s
ship?”
“Huh?”
“What happened to Darling after Raven supposedly died?
What happened to his ship?”
“I don’t know about Darling. The ship is tied up
down at its dock.”
We exchanged glances around the table. I said, “That ship
gets visited if we have to fight our way aboard. Those papers I
told you about. Asa couldn’t account for them. I want them to
turn up. They’re the only thing we got that can get the Lady
off our back.”
“If there is a Lady,” One-Eye said.
“Won’t be much pumpkin if the Dominator broke
through.”
“Don’t even think that.” For no sound reason I
had convinced myself that the Lady had won. Mostly, it was wishful
thinking, I’m sure. “Kingpin, we’re going to
visit that ship tonight. What about Darling?”
“Like I said. I don’t know.”
“You were supposed to look out for her.”
“Yeah. But she kind of vanished.”
“Vanished? How?”
“Not how, Croaker,” One-Eye said, in response to
vigorous signing from Silent. “How is irrelevant now.
When.”
“All right. When, Kingpin?”
“I don’t know. Nobody’s seen her since the
night before Raven died.”
“Bingo,” Goblin said in a soft, awed voice.
“Damn your eyes, Croaker, your instincts were
right.”
“What?” Kingpin asked.
“There’s no way she would have disappeared
beforehand unless she knew something was going to
happen.”
“Kingpin,” I said, “did you go look at the
place they were staying? Inside, I mean.”
“Yeah. Somebody got there before me.”
“What?”
“The place was cleaned out. I asked the innkeeper. He said
they didn’t move out. They was paid up for another month.
That sounded to me like somebody knew about Raven getting croaked
and decided to clean his place out. I figured it was that Asa. He
disappeared right after.”
“What did you do then?”
“What? I figured you guys didn’t want Bullock back
in Juniper, so we got him charged with Raven’s murder. There
was plenty of witnesses besides us saw them fighting. Enough to
maybe convince a court we really saw what we said.”
“You do anything to trace Darling?”
Kingpin had nothing to say. He stared at his hands. The rest of
us exchanged irritated glances. Goblin muttered, “I told Elmo
it was dumb to send him.”
I guess it was. In minutes we had come up with several loose
ends overlooked by Kingpin.
“How come you’re so damned worried about it, anyway,
Croaker?” Kingpin demanded. “I mean, it all looks like
a big so-what to me.”
“Look, King. Like it or not, when the Taken turned on us,
we got pushed over to the other side. We’re White Rose now.
Whether we want it or not. They’re going to come after us.
The only thing the Rebel has going is the White Rose.
Right?”
“If there is a White Rose.”
“There is. Darling is the White Rose.”
“Come on, Croaker. She’s a deaf-mute.”
One-Eye observed, “She’s also a magical
null-point.”
“Eh?”
“Magic won’t work around her. We noticed that clean
back at Charm. And if she follows true for her sort, the null will
get stronger as she gets older.”
I recalled noting oddities about Darling during the battle of
Charm, but hadn’t made anything of it then. “What are
you talking about?”
“I told you. Some people are negatives. Instead of having
a talent for sorcery, they go the other way. It won’t work
around them. And when you think about it, that’s the only way
the White Rose makes sense. How could a deaf and dumb kid grow up
to challenge the Lady or Dominator on their own ground? I’ll
bet the original White Rose didn’t.”
I didn’t know. There had been nothing in the histories
about her powers or their noteworthy absence. “This makes it
more important to find her.”
One-Eye nodded.
Kingpin looked baffled. It was easy to fuddle King, I decided. I
explained. “If magic won’t work around her, we’ve
got to find her and stay close. Then the Taken won’t be able
to hurt us.”
One-Eye said, “Don’t forget that they have whole
armies they can send after us.”
“If they want us that bad . . . Oh
my.”
“What?”
“Elmo. If he didn’t get killed. He knows enough to
put the whole empire on our trail. Maybe not so much for us as in
hopes we’ll lead them to Darling.”
“What’re we going to do?”
“Why’re you looking at me?”
“You’re the one seems to know what’s going on,
Croaker.”
“Okay. I guess. First we find out about Raven and Darling.
Especially Darling. And we ought to catch Shed and Asa again, in
case they know something useful. We got to move fast and get out of town before the empire closes
in. Without upsetting the locals. We better have a sit-down with
the Lieutenant. Get everything on the table for everybody, then
decide exactly what we’ll do.”