Very much to my amazement, Shed overtook us ten miles south of
Meadenvil. And he was not alone.
“Holy shit!” I heard One-Eye yell from the rear,
and: “Croaker, come and look at this.”
I turned back. And there was Shed. With a bedraggled Bullock.
Shed said, “I promised to get him out if I could. Had to
bribe some people, but it wasn’t that hard. It’s every
man for himself up there right now.”
I looked at Bullock. He looked at me. “Well?” I
said.
“Shed gave me the word, Croaker. I guess I’m in with
you guys. If you’ll take me. I don’t have anywhere else
to go.”
“Damn. Asa shows up, I’ll lose my faith in human
nature. Also blow an idea I have. Okay, Bullock. What the hell.
Just remember we’re not in Juniper. None of us. We’re
on the run from the Taken. And we don’t have time to fuss
over who did what to whom. You want a fight, save it for
them.”
“You’re the boss. Just give me a shot at evening
things up.” He followed me back to the head of the column.
“Not much difference between your Lady and somebody like
Krage, is there?”
“Matter of proportion,” I said. “Maybe
you’ll get your shot sooner than you think.”
Silent and Otto came trotting out of the darkness. “You
did good,” I said. “Dogs never barked.” I had
sent Silent because he handled animals well.
“They’re all back out of the woods and tucked in
their beds,” Otto reported.
“Good. Let’s move in. Quietly. And I don’t
want anybody hurt. Understand? One-Eye?”
“I hear you.”
“Goblin. Pawnbroker. Shed. You watch the horses.
I’ll signal with a lantern.”
Occupying the inn was easier than planning it. We caught
everyone asleep because Silent had fuddled their dogs. The
innkeeper wakened puffing and blowing and terrified. I took him
downstairs while One-Eye watched everybody else, including some
northbound travelers who represented a complication, but who caused
no trouble.
“Sit,” I told the fat man. “You have tea or
beer in the morning?”
“Tea,” he croaked.
“It’s making. So. We’re back. We didn’t
expect to be, but circumstances dictated an overland trip. I want
to use your place a couple days. You and me need to make an
accommodation.”
Hagop brought out tea so strong it reeked. The fat man drained a
mug the size of that from which he drank his beer.
“I don’t want to hurt anybody,” I continued,
after taking a sip myself. “And I’ll pay my way. But if
you want it that way, you’ll have to cooperate.”
He grunted.
“I don’t want anybody to know we’re here. That
means no customers leave. People who come through have to see
things looking normal. You get my drift?”
He was smarter than he looked. “You’re waiting for
somebody.” None of the men had figured that out, I
don’t think.
“Yes. Somebody who will do unto you as you expect me to,
just for being here. Unless my ambush works.” I had a crazy
idea. It would die if Asa turned up.
I think he believed me when I claimed no wicked plans for his
family. Now. He asked, “That the same somebody who kicked up
the ruckus in the city yesterday?”
“News travels fast.”
“Bad news does.”
“Yes. The same somebody. They killed about twenty of my
people. Busted the city up pretty good, too.”
“I heard. Like I said, bad news travels fast. My brother
was one of the people they killed. He was in the Prince’s
guard. A sergeant. Only one of us ever amounted to anything. He was
killed by something that ate him, I heared. Sorcerer sicced it on
him.”
“Yeah. He’s a bad one. Nastier than my friend who
can’t talk.” I did not know who would come after us. I
was counting on someone doing so, with Asa to point the way. I also
figured the pursuit would develop quickly. Asa would tell them the
Lady was on her way to Meadenvil.
The fat man eyed me cautiously. Hatred smouldered behind his
eyes. I tried to direct it. “I’m going to kill
him.”
“All right. Slow? Like my brother?”
“I don’t think so. If it isn’t fast and
sneaky, he wins. Or she. There’s two of them, actually. I
don’t know which one will come.” I figured we could buy
a lot of time if we could take out one of the Taken. The Lady would
be damned busy with black castles for a while with only two pairs
of hands to help her. Also, I had an emotional debt to pay, and a
message to make clear.
“Let me send the wife and kids away,” he said.
“I’ll stand in with you.”
I let my gaze flick to Silent. He nodded slightly. “All
right. What about your guests?”
“I know them. They’ll sit tight.”
“Good. Go take care of your part.” He left. Then I
had it out with Silent and the others. I had not been elected to
command. I was running on momentum as senior officer present. It
got angry for a while. But I won my point. Fear is a wonderful
motivator. It moved Goblin and One-Eye like nothing I’ve ever
seen. Moved the men, too. They set up every gimmick they could
imagine. Booby traps. Hiding places prepared from which an attack
could be carried out, each glossed with a concealing spell. Weapons
prepared with fanatical attention.
The Taken are not invulnerable. They’re just hard to
reach, and more so when they’re ready for trouble. Whoever
came would be.
Silent went into the woods with the fat man’s family. He
returned with a hawk that he tamed in record time, and cast it
aloft to patrol the road between Meadenvil and the inn. We would be
forewarned.
The landlord prepared dishes tainted with poison, though I
advised him that the Taken seldom eat. He petitioned Silent for
advice concerning his dogs. He had a whole pack of savage mastiffs
and wanted them in on the action. Silent found them a spot in the
plan. We did everything we could, and then settled in to wait. When
my shift came, I took my turn getting some rest.
She came. Almost the moment my eyes closed, it seemed. I was in
a panic for a moment, trying to banish my location and plan from my
mind. But what was the point? She had found me already. The thing
to conceal was the ambush.
“Have you reconsidered?” she asked. “You
cannot outrun me. I want you, physician.”
“That why you sent Whisper and the Limper? To return us to
the fold? They killed half our men, lost most of theirs, wrecked
the city, and didn’t make a single friend. Is that how you
win us back?”
She had not been party to that, of course. Pawnbroker had said
the Taken were acting on their own. I wanted her angry and
distracted. I wanted to know her reaction.
She said, “They’re supposed to be headed back to the
Barrowland.”
“Sure they are. They just go off on their own any time
they feel like it, to settle grudges ten years old.”
“Do they know where you are?”
“Not yet.” I now had the feeling she could not
locate me precisely. “I’m outside the city, lying
low.”
“Where?”
I let an image seep through. “Near the place where the new
castle is growing. It was the nearest place we could put up.”
I figured a strong thread of truth was in order. Anyway, I wanted
her to find the gift I meant to leave.
“Stay where you are. Do not attract attention. I will be
there soon.”
“Thought so.”
“Do not test my patience, physician. You amuse me, but you
are not invulnerable. I am short of temper these days. Whisper and
Limper have pressed their luck one time too many.”
The door of the room opened. One-Eye said, “Who you
talking to, Croaker?”
I shuddered. He stood on the far side of the glow without seeing
it. I was awake. I replied, “My girlfriend,” and
giggled.
An instant later I endured a moment of intense vertigo.
Something parted from me, leaving a flavor both of amusement and
irritation. I recovered, found One-Eye kneeling, frowning.
“What’s the matter?” he demanded.
I shook my head. “Head feels like it’s on backwards.
Shouldn’t have had that beer. What’s up?”
He scowled suspiciously. “Silent’s hawk came in.
They’re coming. Come on downstairs. We need to redo the
plan.”
“They?”
“The Limper and nine men. That’s what I mean, we
need to redo. Right now the odds look too good for the other
side.”
“Yeah.” Those would be Company men. The inn
wouldn’t fool them. Inns are the axes of life in the
hinterlands. The Captain used them frequently to draw the
Rebel.
Silent did not have much to add, except that we had only as long
as it would take our pursuers to cover six miles.
“Hey!” The old comes-the-dawn. Suddenly I knew why
the Taken had come to Meadenvil. “You got a wagon and
team?” I asked the innkeeper. I still did not know his
name.
“Yeah. Use it to haul supplies down from Meadenvil, from
the miller’s, from the brewer’s. Why?”
“Because the Taken are looking for those papers I’ve
been on about.” I had to reveal their provenance.
“The same ones we dug up in the Forest of Cloud?”
One-Eye asked.
“Yes. Look. Soulcatcher told me they have the
Limper’s true name in them. They also include the wizard
Bomanz’s secret papers, where the Lady’s true name is
supposedly encoded.”
“Wow!” Goblin said.
“Right.”
One-Eye demanded, “What’s that got to do with
us?”
“The Limper wants his name back. Suppose he sees a bunch
of guys and a wagon light out of here? What’s he going to
figure? Asa gave him bum dope about them being with Raven. Asa
doesn’t know everything we’ve been up to.”
Silent interjected, in sign, “Asa is with the
Limper.”
“Fine. He did what I wanted. Okay. The Limper figures
that’s us making a run for it with the papers.
’Specially if we let a few pieces go fluttering
around.”
“I get it,” One-Eye said. “Only we don’t
have enough men to work it. Only Bullock and the landlord that Asa
don’t know about.”
Goblin said, “I think you better stop talking and start
doing. They’re getting closer.”
I called the fat man. “Your friends from the South have to
do us a favor. Tell them it’s their only chance of getting
out of this alive.”
Very much to my amazement, Shed overtook us ten miles south of
Meadenvil. And he was not alone.
“Holy shit!” I heard One-Eye yell from the rear,
and: “Croaker, come and look at this.”
I turned back. And there was Shed. With a bedraggled Bullock.
Shed said, “I promised to get him out if I could. Had to
bribe some people, but it wasn’t that hard. It’s every
man for himself up there right now.”
I looked at Bullock. He looked at me. “Well?” I
said.
“Shed gave me the word, Croaker. I guess I’m in with
you guys. If you’ll take me. I don’t have anywhere else
to go.”
“Damn. Asa shows up, I’ll lose my faith in human
nature. Also blow an idea I have. Okay, Bullock. What the hell.
Just remember we’re not in Juniper. None of us. We’re
on the run from the Taken. And we don’t have time to fuss
over who did what to whom. You want a fight, save it for
them.”
“You’re the boss. Just give me a shot at evening
things up.” He followed me back to the head of the column.
“Not much difference between your Lady and somebody like
Krage, is there?”
“Matter of proportion,” I said. “Maybe
you’ll get your shot sooner than you think.”
Silent and Otto came trotting out of the darkness. “You
did good,” I said. “Dogs never barked.” I had
sent Silent because he handled animals well.
“They’re all back out of the woods and tucked in
their beds,” Otto reported.
“Good. Let’s move in. Quietly. And I don’t
want anybody hurt. Understand? One-Eye?”
“I hear you.”
“Goblin. Pawnbroker. Shed. You watch the horses.
I’ll signal with a lantern.”
Occupying the inn was easier than planning it. We caught
everyone asleep because Silent had fuddled their dogs. The
innkeeper wakened puffing and blowing and terrified. I took him
downstairs while One-Eye watched everybody else, including some
northbound travelers who represented a complication, but who caused
no trouble.
“Sit,” I told the fat man. “You have tea or
beer in the morning?”
“Tea,” he croaked.
“It’s making. So. We’re back. We didn’t
expect to be, but circumstances dictated an overland trip. I want
to use your place a couple days. You and me need to make an
accommodation.”
Hagop brought out tea so strong it reeked. The fat man drained a
mug the size of that from which he drank his beer.
“I don’t want to hurt anybody,” I continued,
after taking a sip myself. “And I’ll pay my way. But if
you want it that way, you’ll have to cooperate.”
He grunted.
“I don’t want anybody to know we’re here. That
means no customers leave. People who come through have to see
things looking normal. You get my drift?”
He was smarter than he looked. “You’re waiting for
somebody.” None of the men had figured that out, I
don’t think.
“Yes. Somebody who will do unto you as you expect me to,
just for being here. Unless my ambush works.” I had a crazy
idea. It would die if Asa turned up.
I think he believed me when I claimed no wicked plans for his
family. Now. He asked, “That the same somebody who kicked up
the ruckus in the city yesterday?”
“News travels fast.”
“Bad news does.”
“Yes. The same somebody. They killed about twenty of my
people. Busted the city up pretty good, too.”
“I heard. Like I said, bad news travels fast. My brother
was one of the people they killed. He was in the Prince’s
guard. A sergeant. Only one of us ever amounted to anything. He was
killed by something that ate him, I heared. Sorcerer sicced it on
him.”
“Yeah. He’s a bad one. Nastier than my friend who
can’t talk.” I did not know who would come after us. I
was counting on someone doing so, with Asa to point the way. I also
figured the pursuit would develop quickly. Asa would tell them the
Lady was on her way to Meadenvil.
The fat man eyed me cautiously. Hatred smouldered behind his
eyes. I tried to direct it. “I’m going to kill
him.”
“All right. Slow? Like my brother?”
“I don’t think so. If it isn’t fast and
sneaky, he wins. Or she. There’s two of them, actually. I
don’t know which one will come.” I figured we could buy
a lot of time if we could take out one of the Taken. The Lady would
be damned busy with black castles for a while with only two pairs
of hands to help her. Also, I had an emotional debt to pay, and a
message to make clear.
“Let me send the wife and kids away,” he said.
“I’ll stand in with you.”
I let my gaze flick to Silent. He nodded slightly. “All
right. What about your guests?”
“I know them. They’ll sit tight.”
“Good. Go take care of your part.” He left. Then I
had it out with Silent and the others. I had not been elected to
command. I was running on momentum as senior officer present. It
got angry for a while. But I won my point. Fear is a wonderful
motivator. It moved Goblin and One-Eye like nothing I’ve ever
seen. Moved the men, too. They set up every gimmick they could
imagine. Booby traps. Hiding places prepared from which an attack
could be carried out, each glossed with a concealing spell. Weapons
prepared with fanatical attention.
The Taken are not invulnerable. They’re just hard to
reach, and more so when they’re ready for trouble. Whoever
came would be.
Silent went into the woods with the fat man’s family. He
returned with a hawk that he tamed in record time, and cast it
aloft to patrol the road between Meadenvil and the inn. We would be
forewarned.
The landlord prepared dishes tainted with poison, though I
advised him that the Taken seldom eat. He petitioned Silent for
advice concerning his dogs. He had a whole pack of savage mastiffs
and wanted them in on the action. Silent found them a spot in the
plan. We did everything we could, and then settled in to wait. When
my shift came, I took my turn getting some rest.
She came. Almost the moment my eyes closed, it seemed. I was in
a panic for a moment, trying to banish my location and plan from my
mind. But what was the point? She had found me already. The thing
to conceal was the ambush.
“Have you reconsidered?” she asked. “You
cannot outrun me. I want you, physician.”
“That why you sent Whisper and the Limper? To return us to
the fold? They killed half our men, lost most of theirs, wrecked
the city, and didn’t make a single friend. Is that how you
win us back?”
She had not been party to that, of course. Pawnbroker had said
the Taken were acting on their own. I wanted her angry and
distracted. I wanted to know her reaction.
She said, “They’re supposed to be headed back to the
Barrowland.”
“Sure they are. They just go off on their own any time
they feel like it, to settle grudges ten years old.”
“Do they know where you are?”
“Not yet.” I now had the feeling she could not
locate me precisely. “I’m outside the city, lying
low.”
“Where?”
I let an image seep through. “Near the place where the new
castle is growing. It was the nearest place we could put up.”
I figured a strong thread of truth was in order. Anyway, I wanted
her to find the gift I meant to leave.
“Stay where you are. Do not attract attention. I will be
there soon.”
“Thought so.”
“Do not test my patience, physician. You amuse me, but you
are not invulnerable. I am short of temper these days. Whisper and
Limper have pressed their luck one time too many.”
The door of the room opened. One-Eye said, “Who you
talking to, Croaker?”
I shuddered. He stood on the far side of the glow without seeing
it. I was awake. I replied, “My girlfriend,” and
giggled.
An instant later I endured a moment of intense vertigo.
Something parted from me, leaving a flavor both of amusement and
irritation. I recovered, found One-Eye kneeling, frowning.
“What’s the matter?” he demanded.
I shook my head. “Head feels like it’s on backwards.
Shouldn’t have had that beer. What’s up?”
He scowled suspiciously. “Silent’s hawk came in.
They’re coming. Come on downstairs. We need to redo the
plan.”
“They?”
“The Limper and nine men. That’s what I mean, we
need to redo. Right now the odds look too good for the other
side.”
“Yeah.” Those would be Company men. The inn
wouldn’t fool them. Inns are the axes of life in the
hinterlands. The Captain used them frequently to draw the
Rebel.
Silent did not have much to add, except that we had only as long
as it would take our pursuers to cover six miles.
“Hey!” The old comes-the-dawn. Suddenly I knew why
the Taken had come to Meadenvil. “You got a wagon and
team?” I asked the innkeeper. I still did not know his
name.
“Yeah. Use it to haul supplies down from Meadenvil, from
the miller’s, from the brewer’s. Why?”
“Because the Taken are looking for those papers I’ve
been on about.” I had to reveal their provenance.
“The same ones we dug up in the Forest of Cloud?”
One-Eye asked.
“Yes. Look. Soulcatcher told me they have the
Limper’s true name in them. They also include the wizard
Bomanz’s secret papers, where the Lady’s true name is
supposedly encoded.”
“Wow!” Goblin said.
“Right.”
One-Eye demanded, “What’s that got to do with
us?”
“The Limper wants his name back. Suppose he sees a bunch
of guys and a wagon light out of here? What’s he going to
figure? Asa gave him bum dope about them being with Raven. Asa
doesn’t know everything we’ve been up to.”
Silent interjected, in sign, “Asa is with the
Limper.”
“Fine. He did what I wanted. Okay. The Limper figures
that’s us making a run for it with the papers.
’Specially if we let a few pieces go fluttering
around.”
“I get it,” One-Eye said. “Only we don’t
have enough men to work it. Only Bullock and the landlord that Asa
don’t know about.”
Goblin said, “I think you better stop talking and start
doing. They’re getting closer.”
I called the fat man. “Your friends from the South have to
do us a favor. Tell them it’s their only chance of getting
out of this alive.”