“We need rest,” One-Eye protested.
“There won’t be any rest till we’re
dead,” I countered. “We’re on the other side now,
One-Eye. We did what the Rebel couldn’t. We’ve done in
the Limper, the last of the original Taken. She’ll be after
us hard as soon as she’s cleaned up these black castle
leavings. She has to. If she doesn’t get us fast, every Rebel
in five thousand miles will get worked up to try something. There
are only two Taken left, and only Whisper worth much.”
“Yeah. I know. Wishful thinking. Can’t stop a man
wishing, Croaker.”
I stared at the necklace Shed had worn. I had to leave it for
the Lady, yet the silver in it might become a lifesaver down the
long road we had to travel. I screwed up my courage and began
digging out the eyes.
“What the hell you doing?”
“Going to leave these with the Limper. Going to feed them
to him. I figure they’ll hatch.”
“Ha!” Goblin said. “Ironic.
Fitting.”
“I thought it an interesting turn of justice. Give him
back to the Dominator.”
“And the Lady will have to destroy him. I like
it.”
Grudgingly, One-Eye agreed.
“Thought you guys would. Go see if they’ve got
everybody buried.”
“Only been ten minutes since they got back with the
bodies.”
“All right. Go help.” I levered myself up and went
to check on the men I had patched up. I don’t know if
everyone Hagop and Otto brought back from the ambush site was dead
when they got there. They certainly were now. Kingpin had been dead
for a long time, though they had brought him to me to examine.
My patients were doing fine. One was aware enough to be
frightened. I patted his arm and limped outside.
They had King in the ground now, beside Shed and Bullock and the
Limper’s boy they had buried earlier. Only two corpses
remained unburied. Asa was making the dirt fly. Everyone else stood
and watched. Till they saw me glowering.
“What’s the take?” I asked the fat man.
I’d had him strip the dead of valuables.
“Not a lot.” He showed me a hat filled with odds and
ends.
“Take what you need to cover the damages.”
“You guys will need it more than me.”
“You’re out a wagon and a team, not to mention the
dogs. Take what you need. I can always rob somebody I don’t
like.” No one knew that I had filched Shed’s purse. Its
weight had surprised me. It would be my secret reserve. “Take
a couple horses, too.”
He shook his head. “I’m not getting caught with
somebody else’s animals after the dust settles and the Prince
starts looking for scapegoats.” He selected a few silver
coins. “I got what I wanted.”
“Okay. You’d better hide in the woods for a while.
The Lady will come here. She’s nastier than the
Limper.”
“Will do.”
“Hagop. If you’re not going to dig, go get the
horses ready. Move!” I beckoned Silent. He and I dragged the
Limper to a shade tree out front. Silent tossed a rope over a limb.
I forced the eyes of the serpents down the Taken’s throat. We
hoisted him up. He turned slowly in the chill moonlight. I rubbed
my hands together and considered him. “Took a while, guy, but
somebody finally got you.” For ten years I had wanted to see
him go down. He had been the most inhuman of the Taken.
Asa came to me. “All buried, Croaker.”
“Good. Thanks for the help.” I started toward the
barn.
“Can I go with you guys?”
I laughed.
“Please, Croaker? Don’t leave me here
where . . . ”
“I don’t give a damn, Asa. But don’t expect me
to look out for you. And don’t try any slick tricks.
I’d as soon kill you as look at you.”
“Thanks, Croaker.” He raced ahead, hastily saddled
another horse. One-Eye looked at me and shook his head.
“Mount up, men. Let’s go find Raven.”
Though we pushed hard, we were not twenty miles south of the inn
when something hit my mind like a fighter’s fist. A golden
cloud materialized, radiating anger. “You have exhausted my
patience, physician.”
“You exhausted mine a long time ago.”
“You’ll rue this murder.”
“I’ll exult in it. It’s the first decent thing
I’ve done this side of the Sea of Torments. Go find your
castle eggs. Leave me alone. We’re even.”
“Oh, no. You will hear from me again. As soon as I close
the last door on my husband.”
“Don’t press your luck, old witch. I’m ready
to get out of the game. Push and I’ll learn
TelleKurre.”
That caught her from the blind side. “Ask Whisper what she
lost in the Forest of Cloud and hoped to recover in Meadenvil. Then
reflect upon what an angry Croaker could do with it if he knew
where to find it.”
There was a vertiginous moment as she withdrew.
I found my companions looking at me weirdly. “Just saying
good-bye to my girl,” I told them. We lost Asa in Shaker. We
took a day off there, to prepare for the next leg, and when it came
time to leave, Asa was not to be seen. Nobody bothered looking for
him. On Shed’s behalf I left him with a wish for luck.
Judging from his past, he probably had it, and all bad. My farewell
to the Lady did not take. Three months to the day after the
Limper’s fall, as we were resting prior to hazarding the last
range of hills between us and Chimney, the golden cloud visited me
again. This time the Lady was less belligerent. In fact, she seemed
mildly amused.
“Greetings, physician. I thought you might want to know,
for the sake of your Annals, that the threat of the black castle no
longer exists. Every seed has been located and destroyed.”
More amusement. “There is no way my husband can rise short of
exhumation. He is cut off, totally incapable of communicating with
his sympathizers. A permanent army occupies the
Barrowland.”
I could think of nothing to say. It was no less than I had
expected, and had hoped she would accomplish, for she was the
lesser evil, and, I suspect, remained possessed of a spark that had
not committed itself to the darkness. She had shown restraint on
several occasions when she could have indulged her cruelty. Maybe
if she felt unchallenged, she would drift toward the light rather
than farther toward the shadow.
“I interviewed Whisper. With the Eye. Stand clear,
Croaker.”
Never before had she called me by name. I sat up and took
notice. There was no amusement in her now.
“Stand clear?”
“Of those papers. Of the girl.”
“Girl? What girl?”
“Don’t come the innocent. I know. You left a wider
trail than you thought. And even dead men answer questions for one
who knows how they must be asked. Such of your Company as remained
when I returned to Juniper told most of the story. If you wish to
live out your days in peace, kill her. If you don’t, I will.
Along with anyone near her.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking
about.”
Amusement again, but a hard sort. A malignant sort.
“Keep your Annals, physician. I will be in touch. I will keep
you apprised of the advance of the empire.”
Puzzled, I asked,
“Why?”
“Because it amuses me. Behave yourself.” She faded
away.
We went down into Chimney, tired men three-quarters dead. We
found the Lieutenant and the ship and—Lo!—Darling, who was living
aboard with the Company. The Lieutenant had taken employment with
the private constabulary of a mercantile factor. He added our names
to the roll as soon as we recuperated. We did not find Raven. Raven
had evaded reconciliation or confrontation with his old comrades by
cheating his way out. Fate is a fickle bitch who dotes on irony.
After all he had been through, all he had done, all he had
survived, the very morning the Lieutenant arrived he slipped on a
wet marble diving platform in a public bath, split his head open,
fell into the pool, and drowned.
I refused to believe it. It could not be true, after what he had
pulled up north. I dug around. I poked. I pried. But there were
scores of people who had seen the body. The most reliable witness
of all, Darling, was absolutely convinced. In the end, I had to
give in. This time no one would hear my doubts. The Lieutenant
himself claimed to have seen and recognized the corpse as the
flames of a pyre had risen about it the morning of his arrival. It
was there he had encountered Darling and had brought her back into
the keeping of the Black Company.
What could I say? If Darling believed, it must be true. Raven
could never lie to her. Nineteen days after our arrival in Chimney,
there was another arrival, which explained the Lady’s
nebulous remark about interviewing only those she could find when
she returned to Juniper. Elmo rode into town with seventy men, many
brethren from the old days, whom he had spirited out of Juniper
while all the Taken were absent but Journey, and Journey was in
such a state of confusion due to conflicting orders from the Lady
that he let slip the true state of affairs in Meadenvil. He
followed me down the coast.
So, in two years, the Black Company had crossed the breadth of
the world, from the nethermost east to the farthest west, close to
four thousand miles, and in the process had come near destruction,
and had found a new purpose, a new life. We were now the champions
of the White Rose, a bedraggled joke of a nucleus for the force
legend destined to bring the Lady down.
I did not believe a word of that. But Raven had told Darling
what she was, and she, at least, was ready to play her part.
We could but try.
I hoisted a glass of wine in the master’s cabin. Elmo,
Silent, One-Eye, Goblin, the Lieutenant and Darling raised theirs.
Above, men prepared to cast off. Elmo had brought the Company
treasure chest. We had no need to work. I proposed my toast.
“To the twenty-nine years.” Twenty-nine years.
According to legend it would be that long before the Great Comet
returned and fortune would smile upon the White Rose.
They responded, “The twenty-nine years.”
I thought I detected the faintest hint of gold in the corner of
my eye, felt the faintest hint of amusement.
“We need rest,” One-Eye protested.
“There won’t be any rest till we’re
dead,” I countered. “We’re on the other side now,
One-Eye. We did what the Rebel couldn’t. We’ve done in
the Limper, the last of the original Taken. She’ll be after
us hard as soon as she’s cleaned up these black castle
leavings. She has to. If she doesn’t get us fast, every Rebel
in five thousand miles will get worked up to try something. There
are only two Taken left, and only Whisper worth much.”
“Yeah. I know. Wishful thinking. Can’t stop a man
wishing, Croaker.”
I stared at the necklace Shed had worn. I had to leave it for
the Lady, yet the silver in it might become a lifesaver down the
long road we had to travel. I screwed up my courage and began
digging out the eyes.
“What the hell you doing?”
“Going to leave these with the Limper. Going to feed them
to him. I figure they’ll hatch.”
“Ha!” Goblin said. “Ironic.
Fitting.”
“I thought it an interesting turn of justice. Give him
back to the Dominator.”
“And the Lady will have to destroy him. I like
it.”
Grudgingly, One-Eye agreed.
“Thought you guys would. Go see if they’ve got
everybody buried.”
“Only been ten minutes since they got back with the
bodies.”
“All right. Go help.” I levered myself up and went
to check on the men I had patched up. I don’t know if
everyone Hagop and Otto brought back from the ambush site was dead
when they got there. They certainly were now. Kingpin had been dead
for a long time, though they had brought him to me to examine.
My patients were doing fine. One was aware enough to be
frightened. I patted his arm and limped outside.
They had King in the ground now, beside Shed and Bullock and the
Limper’s boy they had buried earlier. Only two corpses
remained unburied. Asa was making the dirt fly. Everyone else stood
and watched. Till they saw me glowering.
“What’s the take?” I asked the fat man.
I’d had him strip the dead of valuables.
“Not a lot.” He showed me a hat filled with odds and
ends.
“Take what you need to cover the damages.”
“You guys will need it more than me.”
“You’re out a wagon and a team, not to mention the
dogs. Take what you need. I can always rob somebody I don’t
like.” No one knew that I had filched Shed’s purse. Its
weight had surprised me. It would be my secret reserve. “Take
a couple horses, too.”
He shook his head. “I’m not getting caught with
somebody else’s animals after the dust settles and the Prince
starts looking for scapegoats.” He selected a few silver
coins. “I got what I wanted.”
“Okay. You’d better hide in the woods for a while.
The Lady will come here. She’s nastier than the
Limper.”
“Will do.”
“Hagop. If you’re not going to dig, go get the
horses ready. Move!” I beckoned Silent. He and I dragged the
Limper to a shade tree out front. Silent tossed a rope over a limb.
I forced the eyes of the serpents down the Taken’s throat. We
hoisted him up. He turned slowly in the chill moonlight. I rubbed
my hands together and considered him. “Took a while, guy, but
somebody finally got you.” For ten years I had wanted to see
him go down. He had been the most inhuman of the Taken.
Asa came to me. “All buried, Croaker.”
“Good. Thanks for the help.” I started toward the
barn.
“Can I go with you guys?”
I laughed.
“Please, Croaker? Don’t leave me here
where . . . ”
“I don’t give a damn, Asa. But don’t expect me
to look out for you. And don’t try any slick tricks.
I’d as soon kill you as look at you.”
“Thanks, Croaker.” He raced ahead, hastily saddled
another horse. One-Eye looked at me and shook his head.
“Mount up, men. Let’s go find Raven.”
Though we pushed hard, we were not twenty miles south of the inn
when something hit my mind like a fighter’s fist. A golden
cloud materialized, radiating anger. “You have exhausted my
patience, physician.”
“You exhausted mine a long time ago.”
“You’ll rue this murder.”
“I’ll exult in it. It’s the first decent thing
I’ve done this side of the Sea of Torments. Go find your
castle eggs. Leave me alone. We’re even.”
“Oh, no. You will hear from me again. As soon as I close
the last door on my husband.”
“Don’t press your luck, old witch. I’m ready
to get out of the game. Push and I’ll learn
TelleKurre.”
That caught her from the blind side. “Ask Whisper what she
lost in the Forest of Cloud and hoped to recover in Meadenvil. Then
reflect upon what an angry Croaker could do with it if he knew
where to find it.”
There was a vertiginous moment as she withdrew.
I found my companions looking at me weirdly. “Just saying
good-bye to my girl,” I told them. We lost Asa in Shaker. We
took a day off there, to prepare for the next leg, and when it came
time to leave, Asa was not to be seen. Nobody bothered looking for
him. On Shed’s behalf I left him with a wish for luck.
Judging from his past, he probably had it, and all bad. My farewell
to the Lady did not take. Three months to the day after the
Limper’s fall, as we were resting prior to hazarding the last
range of hills between us and Chimney, the golden cloud visited me
again. This time the Lady was less belligerent. In fact, she seemed
mildly amused.
“Greetings, physician. I thought you might want to know,
for the sake of your Annals, that the threat of the black castle no
longer exists. Every seed has been located and destroyed.”
More amusement. “There is no way my husband can rise short of
exhumation. He is cut off, totally incapable of communicating with
his sympathizers. A permanent army occupies the
Barrowland.”
I could think of nothing to say. It was no less than I had
expected, and had hoped she would accomplish, for she was the
lesser evil, and, I suspect, remained possessed of a spark that had
not committed itself to the darkness. She had shown restraint on
several occasions when she could have indulged her cruelty. Maybe
if she felt unchallenged, she would drift toward the light rather
than farther toward the shadow.
“I interviewed Whisper. With the Eye. Stand clear,
Croaker.”
Never before had she called me by name. I sat up and took
notice. There was no amusement in her now.
“Stand clear?”
“Of those papers. Of the girl.”
“Girl? What girl?”
“Don’t come the innocent. I know. You left a wider
trail than you thought. And even dead men answer questions for one
who knows how they must be asked. Such of your Company as remained
when I returned to Juniper told most of the story. If you wish to
live out your days in peace, kill her. If you don’t, I will.
Along with anyone near her.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking
about.”
Amusement again, but a hard sort. A malignant sort.
“Keep your Annals, physician. I will be in touch. I will keep
you apprised of the advance of the empire.”
Puzzled, I asked,
“Why?”
“Because it amuses me. Behave yourself.” She faded
away.
We went down into Chimney, tired men three-quarters dead. We
found the Lieutenant and the ship and—Lo!—Darling, who was living
aboard with the Company. The Lieutenant had taken employment with
the private constabulary of a mercantile factor. He added our names
to the roll as soon as we recuperated. We did not find Raven. Raven
had evaded reconciliation or confrontation with his old comrades by
cheating his way out. Fate is a fickle bitch who dotes on irony.
After all he had been through, all he had done, all he had
survived, the very morning the Lieutenant arrived he slipped on a
wet marble diving platform in a public bath, split his head open,
fell into the pool, and drowned.
I refused to believe it. It could not be true, after what he had
pulled up north. I dug around. I poked. I pried. But there were
scores of people who had seen the body. The most reliable witness
of all, Darling, was absolutely convinced. In the end, I had to
give in. This time no one would hear my doubts. The Lieutenant
himself claimed to have seen and recognized the corpse as the
flames of a pyre had risen about it the morning of his arrival. It
was there he had encountered Darling and had brought her back into
the keeping of the Black Company.
What could I say? If Darling believed, it must be true. Raven
could never lie to her. Nineteen days after our arrival in Chimney,
there was another arrival, which explained the Lady’s
nebulous remark about interviewing only those she could find when
she returned to Juniper. Elmo rode into town with seventy men, many
brethren from the old days, whom he had spirited out of Juniper
while all the Taken were absent but Journey, and Journey was in
such a state of confusion due to conflicting orders from the Lady
that he let slip the true state of affairs in Meadenvil. He
followed me down the coast.
So, in two years, the Black Company had crossed the breadth of
the world, from the nethermost east to the farthest west, close to
four thousand miles, and in the process had come near destruction,
and had found a new purpose, a new life. We were now the champions
of the White Rose, a bedraggled joke of a nucleus for the force
legend destined to bring the Lady down.
I did not believe a word of that. But Raven had told Darling
what she was, and she, at least, was ready to play her part.
We could but try.
I hoisted a glass of wine in the master’s cabin. Elmo,
Silent, One-Eye, Goblin, the Lieutenant and Darling raised theirs.
Above, men prepared to cast off. Elmo had brought the Company
treasure chest. We had no need to work. I proposed my toast.
“To the twenty-nine years.” Twenty-nine years.
According to legend it would be that long before the Great Comet
returned and fortune would smile upon the White Rose.
They responded, “The twenty-nine years.”
I thought I detected the faintest hint of gold in the corner of
my eye, felt the faintest hint of amusement.