“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 grinned, waved One-Eye forward, pointed. He grinned too.
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...”
“I have my limits, friend. I’m not going to get myself killed for Meadenvil. I’m not going to get my outfit scrubbed for people I don’t know. Maybe we owe a moral debt. But I don’t think it’s that big.”
He grunted, understanding without accepting. I was surprised. Without his having said as much, I sensed that he had launched a crusade. A grand villain trying to buy redemption. I did not begrudge him in the least. But he could do it without the Company and me.
I watched One-Eye and Asa walk Kingpin through everything Raven had done the day he died. From where I sat I could see no flaw in Asa’s story. I hoped One-Eye had a better view. He, if anyone, could find the angle. He was as good at stage magic as at true wizardry.
I recalled that Raven had been pretty good with tricks.
His biggie had been making knives appear out of thin air. But he had had other tricks with which he had entertained
Darling.
Hagop said, “Look here, Croaker.”
I looked. I did not see anything abnormal. “What?”
“Going through the grass toward the lump. It’s almost gone now, but it’s there. Like a trail.” He held blades of grass parted.
It took me a while to see it. Just the faintest hint of a sheen, like an old snail track. A closer scrutiny showed that it should have started roughly where the corpse’s heart would have lain. It took a little work to figure, because scavengers had torn the remains.
