by Glen Cook
The dogs boiled over the Limper’s men, mauling them
savagely. Several hit the Taken. He hammered them with his fist, each blow leaving an animal dead.
Goblin and One-Eye charged out, hit nim with everything they had. He shed their spells like rainwater, punched One-Eye, turned on Goblin.
Goblin ran. The Limper trundled after him, weaving, the surviving mastiffs snapping at his back.
Goblin raced toward the pig shed. He went sprawling before he reached it, twitched feebly in the mire. Limper rolled up behind him, fist raised for the kill.
Pawnbroker’s shaft split his breastbone, stood three feet out of his back. He stood there swaying, a ragged little man in brown picking at the shaft. His whole will seemed to focus upon that. Goblin wriggled away. Inside the shed Pawn cranked the ballista back and dropped another javelin into its trough.
Whomp! This one ripped all the way through the Limper. It knocked him off his feet. The dogs went for his throat.
I regained my breath. I looked for my sword. Vaguely, I was aware of screeching from a patch of blackberries along a ditch two hundred feet north. A lone dog trotted back and forth, snarling. Asa. He had ducked into the only cover available.
I got my feet under me. The fat man helped One-Eye get up, then snagged a fallen weapon. We three closed in on the Limper. He lay in the mire, twisted slightly sideways, his mask slipped so we could see the ruined face it had concealed. He could not believe what was happening. Feebly, he waved at the dogs.
“All for nothing,” I told him. “The papers haven’t been here for months.”
And the fat man: “This is for my brother.” He swung his weapon. He was so badly bruised, and getting so stiff, that he did not get much into it.
The Limper tried to strike back. He did not have anything left. He realized that he was going to die. After all those centuries. After having survived the White Roses, and the anger of the Lady after he had betrayed her in the battle at Roses and in the Forest of Cloud.
His eyes rolled up and he went away, and I knew he was yelling for Mama’s help.
“Kill him quick,” I said. “He’s calling the Lady.”
We hacked and slashed and chopped. The dogs snarled and bit. He would not die. Even when we ran out of energy, a spark of life remained.
“Let’s drag him around front.”
We did. And I saw Shed, lying on the ground with men who used to be brothers in the Black Company. I looked up at the waning light, saw Silent approaching, followed by Hagop and Otto. I felt a numb pleasure because those two had survived. They had been best friends for as long as I could recall. I could not picture one surviving without the other.
“Bullock’s gone, eh?”
The fat man said, “Yeah. Him and this Shed. You should have seen them. They jumped into the road and pulled the sorcerer off his horse. Bullock chopped his arm off. Between them they killed four men.”
“Bullock?”
“Somebody split his head open. Like hitting a melon with a cleaver.’’
“Kingpin?”
“Got trampled to death. But he got his licks in.”
I levered myself down beside Shed. One-Eye did the same. “How’d they catch you?” I asked the innkeeper.
“Too fat to run fast.” He managed a feeble smile. “Never was meant to be a soldier.”
I smiled. “What do you think, One-Eye?” A glance told me there was nothing I could do for Shed.
One-Eye shook his head.
Goblin said, “Two of these guys are still alive, Croaker. What you want we should do?”
“Take them inside. I’ll patch them up.” They were brothers. That the Taken had twisted them and made them enemies did not make them less deserving of my help.
Silent came up, looming tall in the twilight. He signed, “A maneuver worthy of the Captain, Croaker.”
“Right.” I stared at Shed, moved more than I thought I should be.
A man lay before me. He had sunk as low as any I’d ever known. Then he had fought his way back, and back, and had become worthy. A man far better than I, for he had located his moral polestar and set his course by it, though it had cost his life. Maybe, just a little, he had repaid his debt.
He did another thing by getting himself killed in a fight I did not consider his. He became a sort of patron saint of mine, an example for days to come. He set a high standard in his last few days.
He opened his eyes before the end. He smiled. “Did we do it?” he asked.
“We did it, Shed. Thanks to you and Bullock.”
“Good.” Still smiling, he closed his eyes.
Hagop hollered, “Hey, Croaker. What you want to do about this Asa creep?”
Asa was still in the blackberries, yelling for help. The dogs had the patch surrounded.
“Put a couple javelins in him,” One-Eye muttered.
“No,” Shed said in a tiny whisper. “Let him be. He was my friend. He tried to get back, but they caught him. Let him go.”
“AH right, Shed. Hagop! Dig him out and turn him loose.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” I looked back at Shed. “Okay, Shed?”
He didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. But he was smiling.
I got up and said, “At least somebody died the way he wanted. Otto. Get a damned shovel.”
“Aw, Croaker....”
“Get a goddamned shovel and get to work. Silent, One-Eye, Goblin, inside. We got plans to make.”
The light was nearly gone. By the Lieutenant’s estimate it would be but hours before the Lady reached Meadenvil.
Chapter Forty-Nine: ON THE MOVE
“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 S
hed’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.
