The Black Company 9 страница

" Yeah. I didn't figure Raven would go cut his throat. '

" Where's Soulcatcher? "

" Hasn't been back. " He grinned. " I'll get the wagon Don't tell anybody else. Too many big mouths. " He flung his cloak about his shoulders, stamped out.

My hands and feet felt halfway human. I scooted over and nabbed Otto's boots. He was about my size, and hi did not need them.

Out into the night again. Morning, almost. Dawn was due soon.

If I expected any remonstrance from Raven I was disappointed. He just looked at me. I think he actually shivered. I remember thinking, maybe he is human after all. " Had to change my boots. Elmo is getting the wagon The rest of them are passed out. "

Soulcatcher? "

" Not back yet. "

" Let's plant this seed. " He strode into the swirling flakes. I hurried after him.

The snow had not collected on our trap. It sat then glowing gold. Water puddled beneath it and trickled away to become ice.

" You think Soulcatcher will know when this thing get: discharged? " I asked.

" It's a good bet. Goblin and One-Eye, too. "

" The place could burn down around those two and they wouldn't turn over. "

" Nevertheless... . Sshh! Somebody out there. Go that way. " He moved the other direction, circling.

What am I doing this for? I wondered as I skulked through the snow, weapon in hand. I ran into Raven. " Set anything? "

He glared into the darkness. " Somebody was here. " H« sniffed the air, turned his head slowly right and left. He took a dozen quick steps, pointed down.

He was right. The trail was fresh. The departing half looked hurried. I stared at those marks. " I don't like it, Raven. " Our visitor's spoor indicated that he dragged his right foot. " The Limper. "

" We don't know for sure. "

" Who else? Where's Elmo? "

We returned to the Raker trap, waited impatiently. Raven paced. He muttered. I could not recall ever having seen him this unsettled. Once, he said, " The Limper isn't Soulcatcher. "

Really. Soulcatcher is almost human. Limper is the sort that enjoys tormenting babies.

A jangle of traces and squeak of poorly greased wheels entered the plaza. Elmo and the wagon appeared. Elmo pulled up and jumped down.

" Where the hell you been? " Fear and weariness made me cross.

" Takes time to dig out a stableboy and get a team ready. What's the matter? What happened? "

" The Limper was here. "

" Oh, shit. What did he do? "

" Nothing. He just... . "

" Let's move, " Raven snapped. " Before he comes back. " He took the head to the stone. The wardspells might not have existed. He fitted our trophy into the waiting declivity. The golden glow winked out. Snowflakes began accumulating on head and stone.

" Let's go, " Elmo gasped. " We don't have much time. "

I grabbed a sack and heaved it into the wagon. Thoughtful Elmo had laid out a tarp to keep loose coins from dribbling between the floorboards.

Raven told me to rake up the loose stuff under the table. " Elmo, dump some of those sacks out and give them to Croaker. "

They heaved bags. I scrambled after loose coins.

" One minute gone, " Raven said. Half the bags were in the wagon.

" Too much loose stuff, " I complained.

" We'll leave it if we have to. "

" What're we going to do with it? How will we hide it? "

" In die hay in the stable, " Raven said. " For now. Later we put a false bed in the wagon. Two minutes gone. "

" What about wagon tracks? " Elmo asked. " He could follow them to the stable. "

" Why should he care in the first place? " I wondered aloud.

Raven ignored me. He asked Elmo, " You didn't conceal them coming here? "

" Didn't think of it. "

" Damn! "

All the sacks were aboard. Elmo and Raven helped with the loose stuff.

" Three minutes, " Raven said, then, " Quiet! " He listened. " Soulcatcher couldn't be here already, could he? No. The Limper again. Come on. You drive, Elmo. Head for a thoroughfare. Lose us in traffic. I'll follow you. Croaker, go try to cover Elmo's backtrail. "

" Where is he? " Elmo asked, staring into the falling snow.

Raven pointed. " We'll have to lose him. Or he'll take it away. Go on, Croaker. Get moving. Elmo. "

" Get up! " Elmo snapped his traces. The wagon creaked away.

I ducked under the table and stuffed my pockets, then ran away from where Raven said the Limper was.

I do not know that I had much luck obscuring Elmo's backtrail. I think we were helped more by morning traffic than by anything I did. I did get rid of the stableboy. I gave him a sock full of gold and silver, more than he could make in years of stable work, and asked him if he could lose himself. Away from Roses, preferably. He told me, " I won't even stop to get my things. " He dropped his pitchfork and headed out, never to be seen again.

I hied myself back to our room.

Everyone was sleeping but Otto. " Oh, Croaker, " he said. "

" Bout time. "

" Pain? "

" Yeah. "

" Hangover? "

" That too. "

" Let's see what we can do. How long you been awake? "

" An hour, I guess. "

" Soulcatcher been here? "

" No. What happened to him, anyway? "

" I don't know. "

" Hey. Those are my boots. What the hell do you think you're doing, wearing my boots? "

" Take it easy. Drink this. "

He drank. " Come on. What're you doing wearing my boots? "

I removed the boots and set them near the fire, which had burned quite low. Otto kept after me while I added coal. " If you don't calm down you're going to rip your stitches. "

I will say this for our people. They pay attention when my advice is medical. Angry as he was, he lay back, forced himself to lie still. He did not stop cussing me.

I shed my wet things and donned a nightshirt I found lying around. I do not know where it came from. It was too short. I put on a pot of tea, then turned to Otto. " Let's take a closer look. " I dragged my kit over.

I was cleaning around the wound and Otto was cursing softly when I heard the sound. Scrape-clump, scrape clump. It stopped outside the door.

Otto sensed my fear. " What's the matter? "

" It's... . " The door opened behind me. I glanced back. I had guessed right.

The Limper went to the table, dropped into a chair surveyed the room. His gaze skewered me. I wondered I: he recalled what I had done to him in Oar.

Inanely, I said, " I just started tea. "

He stared at the wet boots and cloak, then at each man in the room. Then at me again.

The Limper is not big. Meeting him in the street, no knowing what he is, you would not be impressed. Like Soulcatcher, he wears a single color, a dingy brown. Ht was ragged. His face was concealed by a battered leather mask which drooped. Tangled threads of hair protrude* from under his hood and around his mask. It was grey peppered with black.

He did not say a word. Just sat there and stared. No knowing what else to do, I finished tending Otto, then made the tea. I poured three tin cups, gave one to Otto, se one before the Limper, took the third myself.

What now? No excuse to be busy. Nowhere to sit but a that table. ... Oh, shit!

The Limper removed his mask. He raised the tin cup... .

I could not tear my gaze away.

His was the face of a dead man, of a mummy improperly preserved. His eyes were alive and baleful, yet directly beneath one was a patch of flesh which had rotted, Beneath his nose, at the right corner of his mouth, a square inch of lip was missing, revealing gum and yellowed teeth,

The Limper sipped tea, met my eye, and smiled.

I nearly dribbled down my leg.

I went to the window. There was some light out there now, and the snowfall was weakening, but I could not see the stone.

The stamp of boots sounded on the stair. Elmo and Raven shoved into the room. Elmo growled, " Hey, Croaker, how the hell did you get rid of that... " His words grew smaller as he recognized the Limper.

Raven gave me a questioning look. The Limper turned. I shrugged when his back was to me. Raven moved to one side, began removing his wet things.

Elmo got the idea. He went the other way, stripped beside the fire. " Damn, it's good to get out of those. How's the boy, Otto? "

" There's fresh tea, " I said.

Otto replied, " I hurt all over, Elmo, "

The Limper peered at each of us, and at One-Eye and Goblin, who had yet to stir. " So. Soulcatcher brings the Black Company's best" His voice was a whisper, yet it filled the room. " Where is he? "

Raven ignored him. He donned dry breeches, sat beside Otto, double-checked my handiwork. " Good job of stitching, Croaker. "

" I get plenty of practice with this outfit. "

Elmo shrugged in response to the Limper. He drained his cup, poured tea all around, then filled the pot from one of the pitchers. He planted a boot in One-Eye's ribs while the Limper glared at Raven.

" You! " the Limper snapped. " I haven't forgotten what you did in Opal. Nor during the campaign in Forsberg. "

Raven settled with his back against the _ wall. He produced one of his more wicked knives and began cleaning his fingernails. He smiled. At the Limper, he smiled, and there was mockery in his eyes.

Didn't anything scare that man?

" What did you do with the money? That wasn't Soulcatcher's. The Lady gave it to me. "

I took courage from Raven's defiance. " Aren't you supposed to be in Elm? The Lady ordered you out of the Salient. "

Anger distorted that wretched face. A scar ran down his forehead and left cheek. It stood out. Supposedly it continued down his left breast. The blow had been struck by the White Rose herself.

The Limper rose. And that damned Raven said, " Got the cards, Elmo? The table is free. "

The Limper scowled. The tension level was rising fast. He snapped, " I want that money. It's mine. Your choice is to cooperate or not. I don't think you'll enjoy it if you don't. "

" You want it, you go get it, " Raven said. " Catch Raker. Chop off his head. Take it to the stone. That ought to be easy for the Limper. Raker is only a bandit. What chance would he stand against the Limper? "

I thought the Taken would explode. He did not. For an instant he was baffled.

He was not off balance long. " All right. If you want it the hard way. " His smile was wide and cruel.

The tension was near the snapping point.

A shadow moved in the open doorway. A lean, dark figure appeared, stared at the Limper's back. I sighed in relief.

The Limper spun. For a moment the air seemed to crackle between the Taken.

From the corner of one eye I noted that Goblin was sitting up. His fingers were dancing in complex rhythms. One-Eye, facing the wall, was whispering into his bedroll. Raven reversed his knife for a throw. Elmo got a grip on the tea pot, ready to fling hot water.

There was no missile within grabbing distance of me.

What the hell could I contribute? A chronicle of die blowup afterward, if I survived?

Soulcatcher made a tiny gesture, stepped around the Limper, deposited himself in his usual chair. He flung a toe out, hooked one of the chairs away from the table, put his feet up. He stared at the Limper, his fingers steepled before his mouth. " The Lady sent a message. In case I ran into you. She wants to see you. " Soulcatcher used only one voice throughout. A hard female voice. " She wants to ask you about the uprising in Elm. "

The Limper jerked. One hand, extended over the table, twitched nervously. " Uprising? In Elm? "

" Rebels attacked the palace and barracks. "

The Limper's leathery face lost color. The twitching of his hand became more pronounced.

Soulcatcher said, " She wants to know why you weren't there to head them off. "

The Limper stayed about three seconds more, In that time his face became grotesque. Seldom have I seen such naked fear. Then he spun and fled.

Raven flipped his knife. It stuck in the doorframe. The Limper did not notice.

Soulcatcher laughed. This was not the laugh of earlier days, but a deep, harsh, solid, vindictive laughter. He rose, turned to the window. " Ah. Someone has claimed our prize? When did that happen? "

Elmo masked his response by going to close the door. Raven said, " Toss me my knife, Elmo. " I eased up beside Soulcatcher, looked out. The snowfall had ceased. The stone was visible. Cold, unglowing, with an inch of white on top.

" I don't know. " I hoped I sounded sincere. " The snow was heavy all night. Last time I looked-before he showed up-I couldn't see a thing. Maybe I'd better go down there. "

" Don't bother. " He adjusted his chair so he could watch the square. Later, after he had accepted tea from Elmo and finished it-concealing his face by turning away-he mused, " Raker eliminated. His vermin in panic. And, sweeter still, the Limper embarrassed again. Not a bad job. "

" Was that true? " I asked. " About Elm? "

" Every word, " in a fey, merry voice. " One does wonder how the Rebel knew the Limper was out of town. And how Shapeshifter caught wind of the trouble quickly enough to show up and quash the uprising before it amounted to anything. " Another pause. " No doubt the Limper will ponder that while he is recuperating. " He laughed again, more softly, more darkly.

Elmo and I busied ourselves preparing breakfast. Otto usually handled the cooking, so we had an excuse for breaking routine. After a time, Soulcatcher observed, " There's no point to you people staying here. Your Captain's prayers have been answered. "

" We can go? " Elmo asked.

" No reason to stay, is there? "

One-Eye had reasons. We ignored them.

" Start packing after breakfast, " Elmo told us.

" You're going to travel in this weather? " One-Eye demanded.

" Captain wants us back. "

I took Soulcatcher a platter of scrambled eggs. I do not know why. He did not eat often, and breakfast almost never. But he accepted it, turned his back.

I looked out the window. The mob had discovered the change. Someone had brushed the snow off Raker's face. His eyes were open, seemed to be watching. Weird.

Men were scrambling around under the table, fighting over the coins we had left behind. The pileup seethed like maggots in a putrid corpse. " Somebody ought to do him honor, " I murmured. " He was a hell of an opponent. "

" You have your Annals, " Soulcatcher told me. And, " Only a conqueror bothers to honor a fallen foe. "

I was headed for my own plate by then, I wondered what he meant, but a hot meal was more important at the moment.

They were all down at the stable except me and Otto. They were going to bring the wagon around for the wounded soldier. I had given him something to get him through the rough handling to come.

They were taking their time. Elmo wanted to rig a canopy to shield Otto from the weather. I played solitaire while I waited.

Out of nowhere, Soulcatcher said, " She's very beautiful, Croaker. Young-looking. Fresh. Dazzling. With a heart of flint. The Limper is a warm puppy by comparison. Pray you never catch her eye. "

Soulcatcher stared out the window. I wanted to ask questions, but none would come at that moment. Damn. I really wasted a chance then.

What color was her hair? Her eyes? How did she smile? It all meant a lot to me when I could not know.

Soulcatcher rose, donned his cloak. " If only for the Limper, it's been worth it, " he said. He paused at the door, pierced me with his stare. " You and Elmo and Raven. Drink a toast to me. Hear? "

Then he was gone.

Elmo came in a minute later. We lifted Otto and started back to Meystrikt. My nerves were not worth a damn for a long time.

Chapter Four: WHISPER

The engagement gave us the most gain for least effort of any I can remember. It was pure serendipity that went one hundred percent our way. It was a disaster for the Rebel.

We were in flight from the Salient, where the Lady's defenses had collapsed almost overnight. Running with us were five or six hundred regulars who had lost their units. For speed's sake, the Captain had chosen to cut straight through the Forest of Cloud to Lords, instead of following the longer southern road around.

A Rebel mainforce battalion was a day or two behind us. We could have turned and whipped them, but the Captain wanted to give them the slip instead. I liked his thinking. The fighting around Roses had been grim. Thousands had fallen. With so many extra bodies attaching themselves to the Company, I had been losing men for lack of time to treat them.

Our orders were to report to Nightcrawler at Lords. Soulcatcher thought Lords would be the target of the next

Rebel thrust. Tired as we were, we expected to see more bitter fighting before winter slowed the war's pace.

" Croaker! Lookee here! " Whitey came charging toward where I sat with the Captain and Silent and one or two others. He had a naked woman draped over his shoulder. She might have been attractive had she not been so thoroughly abused.

" Not bad, Whitey. Not bad, " I said, and went back to my journal. Behind Whitey the. whooping and screaming continued. The men were harvesting the fruits of victory.

" They're barbarians, " the Captain observed without rancor.

" Got to let them cut loose sometimes, " I reminded him. " Better here than with the people of Lords. "

The Captain agreed reluctantly. He just does not have much stomach for plunder and rape, much as they are part of our business. I think he is a secret romantic, at least when females are involved.

I tried to soften his mood. " They asked for it, taking up arms. "

Bleakly, he asked me, " How long has this been going on, Croaker? Seems like forever, doesn't it? Can you even remember a time when you weren't a soldier? What's the point? Why are we even here? We keep winning battles, but the Lady is losing the war. Why don't they just call the whole thing off and go home? "

He was partially right. Since Forsberg it has been one retreat after another, though we have done well. The Salient had been secure till Shapeshifter and the Limper got into the act.

Our latest retreat had brought us stumbling into this Rebel base camp. We presumed it was the main training, and staging center for the campaign against Nightcrawler. Luckily, we spotted the Rebel before he spotted us. We surrounded the place and roared in before dawn. We were badly outnumbered, but the Rebel did not put up much of a fight. Most were green volunteers. The startling aspect was the presence of an amazon regiment.

We had heard of them, of course. There were several in the east, around Rust, where the fighting is more bitter and sustained than here. This was our first encounter. It left the men disdainful of women warriors, despite their having fought better than their male compatriots.

Smoke began drifting our way. The men were firing the barracks and headquarters buildings. The Captain muttered, " Croaker, go make sure those fools don't fire the forest. "

I rose, picked up my bag, ambled down into the din.

There were bodies everywhere. The fools must have felt completely safe. They hadn't put up a stockade or trenched around the encampment. Stupid. That is the first thing you do, even when you know there is no enemy within a hundred miles. You put a roof over your head later. Wet is better than dead.

I should be used to this. I have been with the Company a long time. And it does bother me less than it used to. I have hung armor plate over my moral soft spots. But I still try to avoid looking at the worst.

You who come after me, scribbling these Annals, by now realize that I shy off portraying the whole truth about our band of blackguards. You know they are vicious, violent, and ignorant. They are complete barbarians, living out their cruelest fantasies, their behavior tempered only by the presence of a few decent men. I do not often show that side because these men are my brethren, my family, and I was taught young not to speak ill of kin. The old lessons die hardest.

Raven laughs when he reads my accounts. " Sugar and spice, " he calls them, and threatens to take the Annals away and write the stories the way he sees them happen.

Hardass Raven. Mocking me. And who was that out there roaming around the camp, breaking it up wherever the men were amusing themselves with a little torture? Who had a ten year old girl trailing him on an old jack mule? Not Croaker, brothers. Not Croaker. Croaker isn't no romantic. That is a passion reserved for the Captain and Raven.

Naturally, Raven has become the Captain's best friend. They sit around together like a couple of rocks, talking about the same things boulders do. They are content just to share one another's company.

Elmo was leading the arsonists. They were older Company men who had sated their less intense hungers for flesh. Those still mauling the ladies were mostly our young regular hangers-on.

They had given the Rebel a good fight at Roses, but he had been too strong. Half the Circle of Eighteen had ranged themselves against us there. We had had only the Limper and Shapeshifter on our side. Those two spent more time trying to sabotage one another than trying to repel the Circle. Result, a debacle. The Lady's most humiliating defeat in a decade.

The Circle pulls together most of the time. They do not spend more energy abusing one another than they spend on their enemies.

" Hey! Croaker! " One-Eye called. " Join the fun. " He tossed a burning brand through a barracks doorway. The building promptly exploded. Heavy oaken shutters blew off the windows. A gout of flame enveloped One-Eye. He came charging out, kinky hair smoldering below the band of his weird, floppy hat. I wrestled him down, used that hat to slap his hair. " All right. All right, " he growled. " You don't have to enjoy yourself so damned much. "

Unable to stifle a grin, I helped him up. " You all right? "

" Singed, " he said, assuming that air of phony dignity cats adopt after some particularly inept performance. Something like, " That's what I meant to do all along. "

The fire roared. Pieces of thatch soared and bobbed over the building. I observed, " The Captain sent me to make sure you clowns didn't start a forest fire. " Just then Goblin ambled around the side of the flaming building. His broad mouth stretched in a smirk.

One-Eye took one look and shrieked. " You maggot brain! You set me up for that. " He let out a spine-tingling howl and started dancing. The roar of the flames deepened, became rhythmic. Soon it seemed I could see something prancing among the flames behind the windows.

Goblin saw it too. His smirk vanished. He gulped, went white, began a little dance of his own. He and One-Eye howled and squawked and virtually ignored one another.

A watering trough disgorged its contents, which arced through the air and splashed the flames. The contents of a water barrel followed. The roar of the fire dwindled.

One-Eye pranced over and took a poke at Goblin, trying to break his concentration. Goblin weaved and bobbed and squeaked and kept on dancing. More water hit the fire.

" What a pair. "

I turned. Elmo had come over to watch. " A pair indeed, " I replied. Fussing, feuding, whining, they could be an allegory of their bigger brethren in the trade. Except their conflict does not run half to the bone, like that between Shifter and the Limper, When you slice through the fog, you find that these two are friends. There are no friends among the Taken.

" Got something to show you, " Elmo said. He would not say anything more. I nodded and followed him.

Goblin and One-Eye kept at it. Goblin appeared to be ahead. I stopped worrying about the fire.

" You figured how to read these northern chicken tracks? " Elmo asked. He had led me into what must have been the headquarters for the whole camp. He indicated a mountain of papers his men had piled on the floor, evidently as tinder for another fire.

" I think I can puzzle it out. "

" Thought you might find something in this stuff. "

I selected a paper at random. It was a copy of an order directing a specific Rebel mainforce battalion to filter into Lords and disappear into the homes of local sympathizers till called to strike at Lords' defenders from within. It was signed Whisper. A list of contacts was appended.

" I'll say, " I said, suddenly short of breath. That one order betrayed a half-dozen Rebel secrets, and implied several more. " I'll say. " I grabbed another. Like the first, it was a directive to a specific unit. Like the first, it was a window into the heart of current Rebel strategy. " Get the Captain, " I told Elmo. " Get Goblin and One-Eye and the Lieutenant and anybody else who maybe ought to be... . "

I must have looked weird. Elmo wore a strange, nervous expression when he interrupted. " What the hell is it, Croaker? "

" All the orders and plans for the campaign against Lords. The complete order of battle. " But that was not the bottom line. That I was going to save for the Captain himself. " And hurry. Minutes might be critical. And stop them from burning anything like this. For Hell's sake, stop them. We've hit paydirt. Don't send it up in smoke. "

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