by Glen Cook
“Later.”
“Yeah.”
At that moment I was ready to give up. Despair overwhelmed me. That damned fool Raven-I knew exactly what he was doing. Getting together a fat bunch of running money by selling bodies and plundering graves. His conscience wouldn’t bother him. In his part of the world, such things were of much less consequence. And he had a cause: Darling.
I couldn’t get away from Bullock. I wanted desperately to run to Elmo, but I had to trudge hither and yon asking questions.
I looked up the northern slope, at the black castle, and thought of it as the fortress Raven had built.
I was going off the deep end. I told myself that. The evidence wasn’t yet conclusive.... But it was. Enough. My employers did not wait on legal niceties or absolute evidence.
Elmo was rattled, too. “We could kill him. No risk him giving anything away then.”
“Really, Elmo!”
“I didn’t mean it. But you know I’d do it if the choice got narrow enough.”
“Yeah.” We all would. Or we’d try. Raven might not let us. He was the toughest son-of-a-bitch I’d ever known. “If you ask me, we ought to find him and just tell him to get the hell out of Juniper.”
Elmo gave me a disgusted look. “Haven’t you been paying attention? Right now the only way in or out is the one we took. The harbor is frozen. The passes are snowed in. You think we could get Whisper to fly some civilian out for us?”
“Civilians. Goblin says Darling is still with him.”
Elmo looked thoughtful. I started to say something else. He waved a hand for silence. I waited. He finally asked, “What would he do if he saw you? If he’s been hanging around with the Crater bunch?”
I clicked my tongue. “Yeah. I didn’t think of that. Let me go check something.”
I hunted Bullock up. “You or the Duke got somebody inside the Crater bunch?’’
He looked puzzled. “Maybe? Why?”
“Let’s have a sit-down with them. An idea. It might help us break our thing here.”
He looked at me a long moment. Maybe he was sharper than he pretended. “All right. Not that they would’ve learned much. The only reason they haven’t run our guys off is we don’t bother them. They just get together and talk about the old days. They don’t have any fight left.”
“Let’s give it a look anyway. Maybe they’re less innocent than they look.”
“Give me a half-hour.”
I did. And when that time was up, he and I sat down with two secret policemen. He and I took turns asking questions, each coming from his own private slant.
Neither knew Raven, at least not by that name. That was a relief. But there was something there, and Bullock sensed it immediately. He hung on till he had something to chew.
“I’m going to my boss,” I told him. “She’ll want to know about this.” I had come up with a diversion. It seemed it would suit Bullock.
He said, “I’ll take it up with Hargadon. Didn’t occur to me this might be foreigners. Political. That could be why the money didn’t show up. Maybe they’re selling bodies, too.”
“Rebellions do take money,” I observed.
We moved next evening, at Whisper’s insistence, over the objections of the Duke, but with the support of the chief Custodian. The Duke still did not want us seen. The Custodians didn’t give a damn. They just wanted to salvage their reputation.
Elmo came slinking through the evening shadows. “Ready here?” he whispered.
I glanced at the four men with me. “Ready.” Every Company man in Juniper was there, with the Duke’s secret police and a dozen of Bullock’s men. I’d thought his job silly, but even so had been astonished to discover how few men his office actually employed. All but one were there. The one was legitimately sick.
Elmo made a sound like a cow mooing, repeated three times.
The one-time Rebels were all together for their regular confab. I snickered, thinking of the surprise they were going to get. They thought they were safe from the Lady by fifteen hundred miles and seven years.
It took less than a minute. No one was injured. They just looked at us dumbly, arms hanging slack. Then one even recognized us, and groaned, “The Black Company. In Juniper.”
Then another: “It’s over. It’s the end. She’s really won.”
They didn’t seem to care much. Some, in fact, looked relieved.
We pulled it off so smoothly there was hardly any notice from the neighbors. The slickest raid I’d ever seen. We marched them up to Duretile, and Whisper and Feather went to work.
I just hoped one of them wouldn’t know too much.
I’d made a long bet, hoping Raven would not have told them who Darling was. If he had, I’d pulled the roof down instead of misdirecting attention.
I did not hear from Whisper, so I guessed I’d won.
Chapter Nineteen: JUNIPER: FEAR
Raven slammed through the door of the Lily. Shed looked up, startled. Raven leaned against the door frame, panting. He looked like he’d just stared his death in the face. Shed put his rag aside and hurried over, a stoneware bottle in hand.
“What happened?”
Raven stared over his shoulder, at Darling, who was waiting on Shed’s lone paying customer. He shook his head, took several deep breaths, shuddered.
He was scared! By all that was holy, the man was terrified! Shed was aghast. What could have gotten him into this state? Even the black castle did not shake him.
“Raven. Come over here and sit.” He took Raven’s arm. The man followed docilely. Shed caught Darling’s eye, signed for two mugs and another stoneware bottle.
Darling took one look at Raven and forgot her customer. She was there with mugs and bottle in seconds, her fingers flashing at Raven.
Raven did not see.
“Raven!” Shed said in a sharp whisper. “Snap out of it, man! What the hell happened?”
Raven’s eyes focused. He looked at Shed, at Darling, at the wine. He tossed off a mug in one gulp, slapped it down. Darling poured again.
Her customer protested at being abandoned.
“Get it yourself,” Shed told him.
The man became abusive.
“Go to hell, then,” Shed said. “Raven, talk. Are we in trouble?”
“Uh.... No. Not we, Shed. Me.” He shuddered like a dog coming out of water, faced Darling. His fingers started talking.
Shed caught most of it.
Raven told her to pack. They had to run again.
Darling wanted to know why.
Because they’ve found us, Raven told her.
Who? Darling asked.
The Company. They’re here. In Juniper.
Darling did not seem distressed. She denied the possibility.
The Company? Shed thought. What the hell was this?
They are here, Raven insisted. I went to the meeting. I was late. Lucky. I got there after it started. The Duke’s men. The Custodians. And the Company. I saw Croaker and Elmo and Goblin. I heard them call each other by name. I heard them mention Whisper and Feather. The Company is in Juniper, and the Taken are with them. We have to go.
Shed had no idea what in hell this was about. Who were these people? Why was Raven scared? “How you going to run anywhere, Raven? You can’t get out of town. The harbor’s still frozen.”
Raven looked at him as if he were a heretic.
“Settle down, Raven. Use your head. I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I can tell you this. Right now you’re acting more like Marron Shed than like Raven. Old Shed is the guy who panics. Remember?”
Raven managed a feeble grin. “You’re right. Yeah. Raven uses his brain.” He snickered sourly. “Thanks, Shed.”
“What happened?”
“Let’s just say the past came back. A past I didn’t expect to see again. Tell me about this sidekick you said Bullock’s been pulling around lately. Word I’ve heard, Bullock is a loner.”
Shed described the man, though he could not rec
all him
well. His attention had been on Bullock. Darling positioned herself so she could read his lips. She formed a word with hers.
Raven nodded. “Croaker.”
Shed shivered. The name sounded sinister when Raven translated it. “He some kind of hired killer?”
Raven laughed softly. “No. Actually, he’s a physician. Halfway competent, too. But he has other talents. Like being crafty enough to come around looking for me in Bullock’s shadow. Who would pay attention to him? They’d be too worried about the damned Inquisitor.”
Darling flashed signs. She went too fast for Shed, but he thought she was admonishing Raven, telling him Croaker was his friend and would not be hunting him. It was coincidence that their paths had crossed.
“Not coincidence at all,” Raven countered, both aloud and by sign. “If they aren’t hunting me, why are they in Juniper? Why are two of the Taken here?”
Again Darling responded too fast for Shed to catch everything. She seemed to be arguing that if someone called the Lady had gotten to this Croaker or another someone called Silent, Croaker would not be here.
Raven stared at her a good fifteen seconds, still as stone. He downed another mug of wine. Then he said, “You’re right. Absolutely right. If they were looking for me, they would have had me. And you. The Taken themselves would have been all over us. So. Coincidence, after all. But coincidence or not, the Lady’s top thugs are in Juniper. And they’re looking for something. What? Why?”
This was the old Raven. Cool and hard and thinking.
Darling flashed, Black castle.
Shed’s humor vanished. Raven looked at the girl for several seconds, glanced in the general direction of the black castle. Then he looked at Darling again. “Why?”
Darling shrugged. She flashed, There is nothing else about Juniper that would bring Her here.
Raven thought a few minutes more. Then he turned to Shed. “Shed, have I made you rich? Have I gotten your ass far enough out of trouble?’’
“Sure, Raven.”
“Your turn to give me a hand, then. Some very powerful enemies of mine are in Juniper. They’re working with the Custodians and the Duke, and are probably here because of the black castle. If they spot me, I’m in trouble.”
Marron Shed had a full belly. He had a warm place to sleep. His mother was safe. He had no debts and no immediate threats hanging over his head. The man opposite him was responsible. Also responsible for saddling him with an agonized conscience, but that he could forgive. “Ask. I’ll do what I can.”
“You’ll be helping yourself, too, if they’re looking into the castle. You, me, and Asa. We made a mistake, raiding the Catacombs. Never mind. I want you to find out whatever you can about what’s going on in Duretile. If you need bribe money, tell me. I’ll cover it.”
Puzzled, Shed said, “Sure. Can’t you tell me a little more?’’
“Not till I know a little more. Darling, get your stuff together. We have to disappear.”
For the first time, Shed protested. “Hey! What’re you doing? How am I supposed to run this place without her?”
“Get that girl Lisa in here. Get your cousin. I don’t care. We have to disappear.”
Shed frowned.
Raven said, “They want her more than they want me.”
“She’s just a kid.”
“Shed.”
“Yes, sir. How do I get in touch, sir?”
“You don’t. I’ll get in touch with you. Darling, go. Those are Taken up there.”
“What’re Taken?” Shed asked.
“If you have gods, Shed, pray that you never find out. Pray hard.” And, when Darling returned with her meager belongings, Raven said, “I think you ought to reconsider leaving Juniper with me. Things are going to start happening around here, and you won’t like them.”
“I have to take care of my mother.”
“Think about it anyway, Shed. I know what I’m talking about. I used to work for those people.”
Chapter Twenty: JUNIPER: SHADOW TALK
Raven vanished on us. Even Goblin could find no trace. Feather and Whisper worked on our prisoners till each was drained, and got nothing on our old friend. I concluded that Raven had used an assumed name when dealing with them.
Why hadn’t he used one down in the Buskin? Folly? Pride? As I recall, Raven had too much of that.
Raven was not his real name, any more than Croaker is mine. But that was the name we knew him by the year he served with us. None of us, unless maybe the Captain, knew his real one. He had been a man of substance once, in Opal. That I knew. He and the Limper became bitter enemies when the Limper used his wife and her lovers to do him out of his rights and titles. That I knew. But not who he was before he became a soldier of the Black Company.
I dreaded telling the Captain what we had found. He was fond of Raven. Like brothers, the two of them. The Captain, I think, was hurt when Raven deserted. He would be hurt more deeply when he learned what his friend had done in Juniper.
Whisper called us in to announce the results of the interrogations. She said roughly, “We did not exactly score a triumph, gentlemen. All but a couple of those men were dabblers. We knocked the fight out of them at Charm. But we did learn that the black castle has been buying corpses. Its denizens even buy live bodies. Two of our captives have sold to them. Raising money for the Rebel.”
The idea of trading in corpses was repellent, but not especially wicked. I wondered what use the black castle people had for them.
Whisper continued, “They were not responsible for the raid on the Catacombs. In fact, they are of no interest to us. We’re turning them over to the Custodians to do with as they please. You gentlemen will now go out into the city and resume digging.”
“Excuse me, ma’am?” Elmo said.
“Somewhere in Juniper there is someone who is feeding the black castle. Find him. The Lady wants him.”
Raven, I thought. Had to be Raven. Just had to be. We had to find that son-of-a-bitch, yes. And get him out of town or dead.
You have to understand what the Company means. For us, it is father, mother, family. We are men with nothing else. Raven getting caught would kill the family, figuratively and literally. The Lady would disband what remained of the outfit after she’d mauled us for not turning Raven in back when.
I told Whisper: “It might help if we knew what we’re dealing with. It’s hard to take something serious when nobody tells you anything. What’s the point of the exercise? That castle is damned bizarre, I grant you. But why should we care?”
Whisper seemed to think about it. For several seconds her eyes were blank. She had taken the matter to higher authority. She was in communion with the Lady. When she returned, she said, “The black castle has its roots in the Barrowland.”
That got our attention. I croaked, “What?”
“The black castle is the Dominator’s escape hole. When it reaches a certain size and certain set of circumstances, the creatures who live there, who are his creatures, heart and soul, will conjur him out of the Great Barrow. Here.”
Several men snorted in disbelief. It did seem far-fetched, for all the weirdness and sorceries we have seen.
Whisper said, “He foresaw his defeat by the White Rose, though not his betrayal by the Lady. Even before the Domination fell, he started preparing his return. He sent a faithful follower here with the seed of the black castle. Something went wrong. He never planned to spend so long waiting. Maybe he did not know of Juniper’s preoccupation with preserving the dead. What are they waiting for? A ship that will carry them to paradise?”
“Roughly,” I agreed. “I studied it, but the whole business is still monkey chatter to me. Go on. The Domina-tor is going to pop out on us here?”
“Not if we can stop him. But we may have gotten here too late. This man. If we don’t take him soon, it will be too late. The portal is almost ready to open.”
I looked at Elmo. He looked at me. Oh boy, I thought. If Raven knew wh
at he was doing.... I still couldn’t get upset. He did it for Darling. He couldn’t have known he was doing the Dominator’s work. He had that much conscience. He would have found another way.... What the hell was he going to do with so much money?
We had to find him. That was all there was to it. Whatever we did from now on, our main goal, for the sake of the Company, had to be to warn him off.
I glanced at Elmo. He agreed. From this moment forward we would be fighting for the survival of the outfit. Somewhere, somehow, Raven must have smelled trouble. Goblin looked under every rock in the Buskin, watched every alley, practically lived in the Iron Lily, and still found a big bunch of nothing. Time ground past. Warmer weather threatened. And we became ever more panicky.
Chapter Twenty-One: JUNIPER
Raven departed soon after the outer channel opened. Shed went down to say good-bye-and only then discovered the nature of Raven’s shipping investment. He had had a ship built and crewed. A whole new ship, and as big a vessel as Shed had seen. “No wonder he needed a fortune,” he mused. How many bodies to build that?
He returned to the Lily numbed. He poured himself some wine, sat staring into nothing. “That Raven was a man of vision,” he mumbled. “Glad he’s gone, though. Asa, too. Maybe things can get back to normal.”
Shed bought a cottage near the Enclosure. He installed his mother with a staff of three. It was a relief to be rid of her evil, blind stare.
He had workmen into the Lily every day. They interfered with business, but business remained good. The harbor was busy. There was work for anyone who wanted it.
Shed could not handle prosperity. He hared after every impulse he had known during his impoverishment. He bought fine clothing he dared not wear. He went places frequented only by the wealthy. And he bought the attentions of beautiful women.
Women cost a lot when you pretended to be somebody off the high slope.
One day Shed went to his secret cash box and found it empty. All that money gone? Where? The improvements on the Lily weren’t finished. He owed the workmen. He owed the people caring for his mother. Damn! Was he back where he started?
Hardly. He had his profits.