Shadows Linger (38 page)

“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 comer of my eye, felt the
faintest hint of amusement.