Shadows Linger Read Free Page B

agony. Men fell down
     in writhing heaps, clawing their noses and throats. I was careful to keep my
     face in the wool.
    The tall, thin man came out of his shadows. Calmly, he began despatching
     guerrillas with a fourteen-inch, silvery blade. He spared those customers we had
     not bound to their chairs.
    He signed, “It's safe to breathe now.”
    “Watch the door,” Candy told me. He knew I had an aversion to this kind of
     slaughter. “Otto, you take the kitchen. Me and Pawnbroker will help Silent.”
    The Rebel outside tried to get us by speeding arrows through the doorway. He had
     no luck. Then he tried firing the place. Madle suffered paroxysms of rage.
    Silent, one of the three wizards of the Company, who had been sent into Tally
     weeks earlier, used his powers to squelch the fire. Angrily, the Rebel prepared
     for a siege.
    “Must have brought every man in the province,” I said.
    Candy shrugged. He and Pawnbroker were piling corpses into defensive barricades.
    “They must have set up a base camp near here.” Our intelligence about the Tally
     guerrillas was extensive. The Lady prepares well before she sends us in. But we
     hadn't been told to expect such strength available at short notice.
    Despite our successes, I was scared. There was a big mob outside, and it sounded
     like more were arriving regularly. Silent, as an ace in the hole, hadn't much
     more value.
    “You send your bird?” I demanded, assuming that had been the reason for his trip
     upstairs. He nodded. That provided some relief. But not much.
    The tenor changed. They were quieter outside. More arrows zipped through the
     doorway. It had been ripped off its hinges in the first rush. The bodies heaped
     in it would not slow the Rebel long. “They're going to come,” I told Candy.
    “All right.” He joined Otto in the kitchen. Pawnbroker joined me. Silent,
    looking mean and deadly, stationed himself in the center of the common room. A
     roar went up outside. “Here they come!”
    We held the main rush, with Silent's help, but others began to batter the window
     shutters. Then Candy and Otto had to concede the kitchen. Candy killed an
     overzealous attacker and spun away long enough to bellow, “Where the hell are
     they, Silent?”
    Silent shrugged. He seemed almost indifferent to the proximity of death. He
     hurled a spell at a man being boosted through a window.
    Trumpets brayed in the night. “Ha!” I shouted. “They're coming!” The last gate
     of the trap had closed.
    One question remained. Would the Company close in before our attackers finished
     us?
    More windows gave. Silent could not be everywhere. “To the stair!” Candy
     shouted. “Fall back to the stair.” We raced for it. Silent called up a noxious
     fog. It was not the deadly thing he had used before. He could not do that again,
    now. He hadn't time to prepare.
    The stair was easily held. Two men, with Silent behind them, could hold it
     forever.
    The Rebel saw that. He began setting fires. This time Silent could not
     extinguish all the flames.

Black Company N 2 - Shadows Linger

Chapter Seven:
    JUNIPER: KRAGE
     The front door opened. Two men shoved into the Lily, stamped their feet and beat
     the ice off themselves. Shed scuttled over to help. The bigger man pushed him
     away. The smaller crossed the room, kicked Asa away from the fire, squatted with
     his hands extended. Shed's guests stared into the flames, seeing and hearing
     nothing.
    Except Raven, Shed noted. Raven looked interested, and not particularly
     disturbed.
    Shed sweated. Krage finally turned around. "You didn't stop by yesterday, Shed.
    I missed you."
    "I couldn't, Krage. I didn't have anything to bring you. Look in my coin box.
    You know I'll pay you. I always do. I just need a little time."
    "You were late last week, Shed. I was patient. I know you're having problems.
    But you were late the week before that, too. And the week before that. You're
     making me look bad. I know you mean it when you