Shadows Linger

I indicated Hagop and Kingpin. “Get him up.”

“Hey!” Asa yelped. “I told you. What more do you want?”

“I want you to come along. Just in case.”

“In case what?”

“In case you’re lying and I want to lay hands on you fast.”

One-Eye added, “We don’t believe Raven died.”

“I saw him.”

“You saw something,” I countered. “I don’t think it was Raven. Let’s go.” We grabbed his arms. I told Hagop to see about rounding up horses and provisions. I sent Kingpin to tell the Lieutenant we wouldn’t be back till tomorrow. Hagop  gave a fistful of silver from Raven’s chest. Asa’s eyes widened slightly. He recognized the mintage, if not the immediate source.

“You guys can’t push me around here,” he said. “You’re not anything more than I am. We go out in the street, all I have to do is yell and ...”

“And you’ll wish you hadn’t,” One-Eye said. He did something with his hands. A soft violet glow webbed his fingers, coalesced into something serpent-like that slithered over and under his digits. “This little fellow here can crawl into your ear and eat out your eyes from behind. You can’t yell loud enough or fast enough to keep me from siccing him on you.”

Asa gulped and became amenable.

“All I want is for you to show me the place,” I said. “Quickly. I don’t have much time.”

Asa surrendered. He expected the worst of us, of course. He had spent too much time in the company of villains nastier than us.

Hagop had the horses within half an hour. It took Kingpin another half-hour to rejoin us. Being Kingpin, he dawdled, and when he appeared, One-Eye gave him such a look he blanched and half drew his sword.

“Let’s get moving,” I growled. I did not like the way the Company was turning upon itself, like a wounded animal snapping at its own flank. I set a stiff pace, hoping to keep everybody too tired and busy to fuss.

Asa’s directions proved sound and were easily followed. I was pleased, and when he saw that, he asked permission to turn back.

“How come you’re so anxious to stay away from this place? What’s out there that’s got you scared?”

It took a little pressure, with One-Eye conjuring his violet snake again, to loosen Asa’s jaw.

“I came out here right after I got back from Juniper. Because you guys didn’t believe me about Raven. I thought maybe you were right and he’d fooled me somehow. So I wanted to see how he maybe did it. And...”

“And?”

He checked us over, estimating our mood. “There’s another of those places out there. It wasn’t there when he died. But it is now.”

“Places?” I asked. “What kind of places?”

“Like the black castle. There’s one right where he died. Out in the middle of the clearing.”

“Tricky,” One-Eye snarled. “Trying to send us into that. I’m going to cut this guy, Croaker.”

“No, you’re not. You let him be.” Over the next mile I questioned Asa closely. He told me nothing more of importance.

Hagop was riding point, being a superb scout. He threw up a hand. I joined him. He indicated droppings in the trail. “We’re following somebody. Not far behind.” He swung down, poked the droppings with a stick, duck walked up the trail a way. “He was riding something big. Mule or plowhorse.”

“Asa!”

“Eh?” the little man squeaked.

“What’s up ahead? Where is this guy headed?”

“Nothing’s up there. That I know of. Maybe it’s a hunter. They sell a lot of game in the markets.”

“Maybe.”

“Sure,” One-Eye said, sarcastic, playing with his violet snake.

“How about you put a little silence on the situation, One-Eye? No! I mean so nobody can hear us coming. Asa. How far to go?”

“Couple miles, anyway. Why don’t you guys let me head back now? I can still get to town before dark.”

“Nope. You go where we go.” I glanced at One-Eye. He was doing as I had requested. We would be able to hear one another talk. That was all. “Saddle up, Hagop. He’s only one guy.”

“But which guy, eh, Croaker? Suppose it’s one of them creepy things? I mean, if that place in Juniper had a whole battalion that came out of nowhere, why shouldn’t this place have some?”

Asa made sounds that indicated he had been having similar thoughts. Which explained why he was anxious to get back to town.

“You see anything when you were there, Asa?” “No.  But I seen where the grass was trampled like something was coming and going.”

“You pay attention when we get there, One-Eye. I don’t want no surprises.”

Twenty minutes later Asa told me, “Almost there. Maybe two hundred yards up the creek. Can I stay here?”

“Quit asking stupid questions.” I glanced at Hagop, who pointed out tracks. Somebody was ahead of us still. “Dismount. And stow the chatter. Finger talk from here on in. You, Asa. don’t open your mouth for nothing. Understand?”

We dismounted, drew our weapons, went forward under cover of One-Eye’s spell. Hagop and I reached the clearing first. I gri

I waited a couple of minutes, for the right time, then strode out, stepped up behind the man, and grabbed his shoulder. “Marron Shed.”

He shrieked and tried to pull a knife, tried to run at the same time. Kingpin and Hagop headed him off and herded him back. By that time I was kneeling where he had knelt, examining the scatter of bones.

Chapter Forty-Four

Meadenvil

The clearing

I looked up at Shed.  He looked resigned.  “Caught up faster than you expected, eh?”

He babbled. I could make little sense of what he said because he was talking about several things at once. Raven. Black castle creatures. His chance to make a new life.

What-not.

“Calm down and be quiet. Shed. We’re on your side.” I explained the situation, telling him we had four days to find Darling. He found it difficult to believe that the girl who had worked in the Iron Lily could be the Rebel’s White Rose. I did not argue, just presented the facts. “Four days. Shed. Then the Lady and Taken could be here. And I guarantee you she’ll be looking for you. too. By now they know we faked your death. By now they’ve probably questioned enough people to have an idea what was going on. We’re fighting for our lives, Shed.” I looked at the big black lump and said to no one in particular. “And that thing don’t help one damned bit.”

I looked at the bones again. “Hagop, see what you can make of this. One-Eye, you and Asa go over exactly what he saw that day. Walk through it. Kingpin, you play Raven for them. Shed, come here with me.”

I was pleased. Both Asa and Shed did as they were told. Shed, though shaken by our return to the stage of his life, did not seem likely to panic. I watched him as Hagop examined the ground inch by inch. Shed seemed to have grown, to have found something in himself that had not had a chance in the sterile soil of Juniper.

He whispered, “Look, Croaker. I don’t know about that stuff about the Lady coming and how you got to find Darling. I don’t much care.” He indicated the black lump. “What’re you going to do about that?”

“Good question.” He did not have to explain what it meant. It meant the Dominator had not endured final defeat in Juniper. He had hedged his bet beforehand. He had another gateway growing here, and growing fast. Asa was right to be afraid of castle creatures. The Dominator knew he had to hurry-though I doubted he had expected to be found out so soon. “There isn’t much we can do, when you get down to it.”

“You got to do something. Look, I know. I dealt with those things. What they did to me and Raven and Juniper... Hell, Croaker, you can’t let that happen again here.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to do something. I said I can’t. You don’t ask a man with a penknife to chop down a forest and build a city. He doesn’t have the tools.” “Who does?” “The Lady.” “Then...”