Shadows Linger

“Nobody gets it without asking. It costs more.”

“I’ll take this from now on.” Raven locked gazes with Asa, tapped his own cheek with his knife blade.

No, Raven wouldn’t have to live frugally. The body business would be lucrative. He invested? In shipping? Odd the way he said that. Where the money went might be as interesting as whence it came. “You threatened my friend,” Raven said. “Oh. Excuse me, Shed. A misstatement. It’s partner, not friend. Partners don’t have to like each other. Little man. You have something to say for yourself?” Shed shuddered. Damn Raven. He’d said that so Asa would spread it around. Bastard was taking control of his life. Nibbling away at it like a mouse slowly destroying a head of cheese. “Honest, Mr. Raven. I didn’t mean nothing. I was scared. Krage thinks I tipped you. I got to hide, and Shed’s scared to put me up. I was just trying to get him to...”

“Shut up. Shed, I thought he was your friend.”

“I just did him some favors. I felt sorry for him.”

“You’d shelter him from weather, but not from enemies. You’re a real gutless wonder, Shed. Maybe I made a mistake. I was going to make you a full partner. Going to give you the whole business eventually. Thought I’d do you a favor. But you’re a yellow-dog creep. Without the guts to deny it.” He whirled. “Talk, little man. Tell me about Krage. Tell me about the Enclosure.” Asa went white. He didn’t open up till Raven threatened to call the Custodians.

Shed’s knees racketed off one another. The hilt of his butcher knife was sweat-moist and slippery. He could not have used the blade, but Asa was too scared to see that. He just squeaked at his team and started rolling. Raven followed them in his own wagon. Shed glanced across the valley. The black castle brooded on the northern skyline, casting its dread shadow across Juniper. Why was it there? Where had it come from? He rejected the questions. Best to ignore it.

How had he gotten into this? He feared the worst. Raven had no sensibilities.

They left the wagons in the grove, entered the Enclosure. Raven examined Asa’s wood stash. “Move these bundles to the wagons. Stack them alongside for now.” “You can’t take my wood,” Asa protested. “Shut up.” Raven pushed a bundle through the wall.

“You first, Shed. Little man, I’ll hunt you down if you run off.”

They had moved a dozen bundles when Asa whispered, “Shed, one of Krage’s goons is watching us.” He was about to panic.

Raven was not displeased with the news. “You two go get bundles from the woods.”

Asa protested. Raven glared. Asa headed uphill. “How does he know?” he whined at Shed. “He never followed me. I’m sure of that.”

Shed shrugged. “Maybe he’s a sorcerer. He always

knows what I’m thinking.”

Raven was gone when they returned. Shed looked around, nervously decided, “Let’s get another load.”

Raven was waiting next trip. “Take those bundles to Asa’s wagon.”

“An object lesson,” Shed said, pointing into the wagon. Blood ran across the floorboards, seeping from under a pile of wood.

“See what kind of man he is?”

“Up the hill now,” Raven ordered when they returned. “Lead off, Asa. Collect your tools and torches to start.”

Suspicion nagged Shed as he watched Raven build a litter. But no. Even Raven wouldn’t stoop that low. Would he?

They stood looking down into the dark mouth of the underworld. “You first, Asa,” Raven said. Reluctantly, Asa descended.

“You’re next, Shed.”

“Have a heart, Raven.”

“Get moving.”

Shed moved. Raven came down behind him.

The Catacombs had a carnal smell, but weaker than Shed had anticipated. A draft stirred Asa’s torch.

“Stop,” Raven said. He took the brand, examined the gap through which they had entered, nodded, passed the torch back. “Lead on.” The cavern widened and joined a larger cave. Asa halted halfway across. Shed stopped, too. He was surrounded by bones. Bones on the cave floor, bones on racks on the walls, skeletons hanging from hooks. Loose bones in tumbles and piles, all mixed together. Skeletons sleeping amidst the clutter. Bones still within shreds of burial raiment. Skulls leering from wooden pegs on the far wall, empty eyes sinister in the torchlight. A passage urn shared each peg.

There were mummified bodies, too, though only a few. Only the rich demanded mummification. Here riches meant nothing. They were heaped with all the rest. Asa volunteered, “This is a real old place. The Custodians don’t come here anymore, unless maybe to get rid of loose bones. The whole cave is filled up up that way, like they just pushed them out of the way.”

“Let’s look,” Raven said. Asa was right. The cavern narrowed and its ceiling descended. The passageway was choked with bones. Shed noted the absence of skulls and urns. Raven chuckled. “Your Custodians aren’t as passionate about the dead as you thought, Shed. The chambers you see during Spring and Autumn Rites aren’t like this,” Shed admitted.

“I don’t guess anybody cares about the old ones anymore,” Asa said.

“Let’s go back,” Raven suggested. As they walked, he observed, “We all end up here. Rich or poor, weak or strong.” He kicked a mummy. “But the rich stay in better shape. Asa, what’s down the other way?”

“I only ever went about a hundred yards. More of the same.” He was trying to open a passage urn.

Raven grunted, took an um, opened it, dumped several coins onto his hand. He held them near the torch. “Uhm. How did you explain their age, Asa?”

“Money has no provenance,” Shed said.

Asa nodded. “And I made out like I’d found a buried treasure.”

“I see. Lead on.”

Soon Asa said, “This is as far as I ever went.”

“Keep going.”

They wandered till even Raven responded to the oppression of the cavern. “Enough. Back to the surface.” Once up top, he said, “Get the tools. Damn. I’d hoped for better.”

Soon they were back with a spade and ropes. “Shed, dig a hole over there. Asa, hang on to this end of the rope. When I yell, start pulling.” Raven descended into the Catacombs.

Asa remained rooted, as instructed. Shed dug. After a while, Asa asked, “Shed, what’s he doing?”

“You don’t know? I thought you knew everything he did.”

“I just told Krage that. I couldn’t keep up with him all night.”

Shed grimaced, turned another spadeful of earth. He could guess how Asa worked. By sleeping somewhere most of the time.

Spying would have interfered with wood-gathering and grave-robbing.

Shed was relieved. Asa didn’t know what he and Raven had done. But he would before long.

He looked inside himself and found little self-disgust. Damn! He was accustomed to these crimes already. Raven was making him over in his own image.

Raven shouted. Asa hauled away. He called, “Shed, give me a hand. I can’t get this by myself.”

Resigned, Shed joined him. Their catch was exactly what he expected, a mummy sliding out of the darkness like some denizen of the deeps of yesteryear. He averted his gaze. “Get his feet, Asa.”

Asa gagged. “My God, Shed. My God. What are you doing?”

“Be quiet and do what you’re told. That’s the best way. Get his feet.”

They moved the body into the brush near Shed’s pit. A passage urn rolled out of a bundle tied upon its chest. The bundle contained another two dozen urns. So. The hole was for burying empty urns. Why didn’t Raven fill his pockets down there?

“Let’s get out of here, Shed,” Asa whined.

“Back to your rope.” Ums took time to empty. And Raven had two men up top with little to do but think. So. They were busy-work. And an incentive, of course. Two dozen urns with each cadaver would build up quite a pile.

“Shed...”

“Where you going to run to, Asa?” The day was clear and unseasonably warm, but it was still winter. There was no way out of Juniper. “He’d find you. Go back to your rope. You’re in it now, like it or not.” Shed resumed digging.