Glen Cook - Shadows Linger

“Sure. Look, the trail goes that way. Let’s get it done.” The man turned to examine Raven’s tracks. Shed drew his knife and hit him hard. The man let out a yell, twisted. The knife broke. Shed almost pitched off the roof. His victim did. People shouted questions. Krage and his men all seemed to be on the rooftops now.

When Shed stopped shaking, he started moving again, trying to recall the layout of the neighborhood. He wanted to get down and head home. Raven could finish this insanity.

Shed ran into Krage on the next roof. “Krage!” he whined. “God! Let me out of here! He’ll kill us all!”

“I’ll kill you, Shed. It was a trap, wasn’t it?”

“Krage, no!” What could he do? He didn’t have the butcher knife now. Fake. Whine and fake. “Krage, you got to get out of here. He already got Luke and Milt and somebody else. He would’ve gotten me when he got Luke, except he fell down and I got away-only he caught up again when I was talking to one of your guys right over there. They got fighting, and one of them went off the edge; I don’t know which, but I bet it wasn’t Raven. We got to get down from here, on account of we can’t tell who we’re running into so we got to be careful. I could have had him this last time, only I didn’t have a weapon and we didn’t know it wasn’t one of our own guys coming. Raven don’t have that problem. Anybody he sees he knows is an enemy, so he don’t have to be so careful...”

“Shut up, Shed.”

Krage was buying it. Shed talked a little louder, hoping Raven would hear, come, and finish it.

There was a cry across the rooftops. “That’s Teskus,” Krage growled. “That’s four. Right?”

Shed bobbed his head. “That we know about. Maybe there’s only you and me now. Krage, we should get out of here before he finds us.”

“Might be something to what you say, Shed. Might be. We shouldn’t have come up here. Come on.”

Shed followed, keeping up the chatter. “It was Luke’s idea. He thought he’d make points with you. See, we saw him at the top of this drain-spout and he didn’t see us, so Luke said why don’t we go after him and get him, and old Krage will...”

“Shut up, Shed. For God’s sake, shut up. Your voice sickens me.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Krage. Only I can’t. I’m so scared...”

“If you don’t, I’ll shut you up permanent. You won’t have to worry about Raven.”

Shed stopped talking. He had pushed as far as he dared.

Krage halted a short time later. “We’ll set an ambush near his wagon. He’ll come back for it, won’t he?”

“I expect so, Mr. Krage. But what good will I be? I mean, I don’t have a weapon, and wouldn’t know how to use one if I did.”

“Shut up. You’re right. You’re not much good, Shed. But I think you’ll do fine as a distraction. You get his attention. Talk to him. I’ll hit him from behind.”

“Krage...”

“Shut up.” Krage rolled over the side of the building, clung to the parapet while getting a solid foothold. Shed leaned forward. Three storeys to the ground.

He kicked Krage’s fingers. Krage cursed, scrabbled for a fresh hold, missed, dropped, yelled, hit with a muted thump. Shed watched his vague shape twitch, become still.

“I did it again.” He started shaking. “Can’t stay here. His men might find me.” He swung over the parapet and monkeyed down the side of the building, more afraid of being caught than of falling.

Krage was still breathing. In fact, he was conscious but paralyzed. “You were right, Krage. It was a trap. You shouldn’t have pushed me. You made me hate you more than I was scared of you.” He looked around. It wasn’t as late as he had thought. The rooftop hunt hadn’t lasted long. Where was Raven, anyway?

Somebody had to clean up. He grabbed Krage, dragged him toward Raven’s wagon. Krage squealed. For a moment Shed was afraid someone would investigate. No one did. This was the Buskin.

Krage screamed when Shed hoisted him into the wagon. “Comfy, Krage?”

He retrieved Luke next, then went seeking other bodies. He found another three. None were Raven. He muttered, “If he doesn’t show in a half hour, I’ll take them up myself and the hell with him.” Then: “What’s come over you, Marron Shed? Letting this go to your head? So you found some guts. So what? That don’t make you no Raven.”

Someone was coming. He snatched a booty dagger, faded into a shadow.

Raven tumbled a body into the wagon. “How the hell?”

“I collected them,” Shed explained.

“Who are they?”

“Krage and his men.”

“I thought he ran for it. Figured I had to go through it all again. What happened?”

Shed explained. Raven shook his head in disbelief. “You? Shed?”

“I guess there’s only so much they can scare you.”

“True. But I never thought you’d figure it out. Shed, you amaze me. Disappoint me, too, some. I wanted Krage myself.”

“That’s him making the noise. He’s got a broken back or something. Kill him if you want.”

“He’s worth more alive.”

Shed nodded. Poor Krage. “Where are the rest of them?”

“There’s one on the roof. Guess the other one got away.”

“Damn. That means it’s not over.”

“We can get him later.”

“Meanwhile, he goes and gets the others and we have them all after us.”

“You think they’d risk their lives to avenge Krage? No way. They’ll be fighting among themselves. Trying to take over. Wait here. I’ll get the other one.”

“Hurry up,” Shed said. The reaction was catching up. He had survived. The old Shed was coming back, dragging all his hysteria with him.

Coming down from the castle, with pink and purple strands of dawn smearing the gaps between the Wolanders, Shed asked, “Why is he screaming?”

The tall being had laughed and paid a hundred twenty leva for Krage. His shrieks could still be heard.

“I don’t know. Don’t look back, Shed. Do what you have to and move on.” And, a moment later: “I’m glad it’s over.”

“Over? What do you mean?”

“That was my last visit.” Raven patted his pocket. “I have enough.”

“Me, too. I’m out of debt. I can refurbish the Lily, set my mother up in her own place, and have plenty to make it next winter, no matter what business is like. I’m going to forget that castle exists.”

“I don’t think so, Shed. You want to get away from it, better come with me. It’ll always be calling when you want some fast money.”

“I couldn’t leave. I have to look out for my mother.”

“AH right. I warned you.” Then Raven asked, “What about Asa? He’s going to be a problem. The Custodians are going to keep looking till they find the people who raided the Catacombs. He’s the weak link.”

“I can handle Asa.”

“I hope so, Shed. I hope so.”

Krage’s disappearance was the talk of the Buskin. Shed played a baffled role, claiming he knew nothing, despite rumors to the contrary. His story held up. He was Shed the coward. The one man who knew differently did not contradict him.

The hard part was facing his mother. Old June said nothing, but her blind stare was accusing. She made him feel evil, an infidel, and disowned in the secret reaches of her mind. The gap had become unbridgable.

Bullock looked me up next time he wanted to go downhill. Maybe he just wanted company. He had no local friends.

“What’s up?” I asked when he barged into my tiny office cum dispensary.

“Get your coat. Buskin time again.”

His eagerness excited me for no reason other than that I was bored with Duretile. I pitied my comrades. They hadn’t yet had a chance to get out. The place was a drudge.