Shadows Linger Read Free

into anyone who entered the tavern, cleaning his nails
     endlessly with a knife honed razor-sharp, speaking a few cold, toneless words
     whenever anyone took a notion to drag Darling upstairs. . . . That baffled Shed.
    Though there was no obvious connection, Raven protected the girl as though she
     were his virgin daughter. What the hell was a tavern slut for, anyway? Shed
     shuddered, pushed it out of mind. He needed Raven. Needed every paying guest he
     could get. He was surviving on prayers.
    He delivered the wine. Raven dropped three coins into his palm. One was a silver
     leva. “Sir?”
    “Get some decent firewood in here, Shed. If I wanted to freeze, I'd stay
     outside.”
    “Yes, sir!” Shed went to the door, peeked into the street. Latham's wood yard
     was just a block away.
    The drizzle had become an icy rain. The mucky lane was crusting. “Going to snow
     before dark,” he informed no one in particular.
    “In or out,” Raven growled. “Don't waste what warmth there is.”
    Shed slid outside. He hoped he could reach Latham's before the cold began to
     ache.
    Shapes loomed out of the icefall. One was a giant. Both hunched forward, rags
     around their necks to prevent ice from sliding down their backs.
    Shed charged back into the Lily. “I'll go out the back way.” He signed,
    “Darling, I'm going out. You haven't seen me since this morning.”
    “Krage?” the girl signed.
    “Krage,” Shed admitted. He dashed into the kitchen, snagged his ragged coat off
     its hook, wriggled into it. He fumbled the door latch twice before he got it
     loose. An evil grin with three teeth absent greeted him as he leaned into the
     cold. Foul breath assaulted his nostrils. A filthy finger gouged his chest.
    “Going somewhere, Shed?”
    “Hi, Red. Just going to see Latham about firewood.”
    “No, you're not.” The finger pushed. Shed fell back till he was in the common
     room.
    Sweating, he asked, “Cup of wine?”
    “That's neighborly of you, Shed. Make it three.”
    “Three?” Shed's voice squeaked.
    “Don't tell me you didn't know Krage is on his way.”
    “I didn't,” Shed lied.
    Red's snaggle-toothed smirk said he knew Shed was lying.

Black Company N 2 - Shadows Linger

Chapter Six:
    TALLY MIX-UP
     You try your damnedest, but something always goes wrong. That's life. If you're
     smart, you plan for it.
    Somehow, somebody got away from Madle's, along about the twenty-fifth Rebel who
     stumbled into our web, when it really looked like Neat had done us a big favor,
    summoning the local hierarchy to a conference. Looking backward, it is hard to
     fix blame. We all did our jobs. But there are limits to how alert you stay under
     extended stress. The man who disappeared probably spent hours plotting his
     break. We did not notice his absence for a long time.
    Candy figured it out. He threw his cards in at the tail of a hand, said, “We're
     minus a body, troops. One of those pig farmers. The little guy who looked like a
     pig.”
    I could see the table from the corner of my eye. I grunted. "You're right. Damn.
    Should have taken a head count after each trip to the well."
    The table was behind Pawnbroker. He did not turn around. He waited a hand, then
     ambled to Madle's counter and bought a crock of beer. While his rambling
     distracted the locals, I made rapid signs with my fingers, in deaf-speech.
    “Better be ready for a raid. They know who we are. I shot my mouth off.”
    The Rebel would want us bad. The Black Company has earned a widespread
     reputation as a successful eradicator of the Rebel pestilence, wherever it
     appears. Though we are not as vicious as reputed, news of our coming strikes
     terror wherever we go. The Rebel often goes to ground, abandoning his
     operations, where we appear.
    Yet here were four of us, separated from our companions, evidently unaware that
     we were at risk. They would try. The question at hand was how hard.
    We did have cards up our sleeves. We never play fair if we can