Tides Elba Read Free

already knew. This unkempt, poorly maintained mess belonged to the Limper.
    “I found that folded thing right here.”
    Right here would be the place where the Taken sat while the carpet was aloft. The carpet there was especially frayed, stretched, and loose.
    Hagop’s finger indicated a fold of material torn away from the wooden frame underneath. “It was mostly covered. It was hung up on that brad.”
    A small nail had worked loose maybe three-sixteenths of an inch. A wisp of parchment remained stuck to it. I removed that with my knife, careful to make no personal contact.
    “I picked it up. Before I could even look at it the Captain came out and told me to go get you guys.”
    “All right. Stay out of sight. We’ll talk later.” I was going to be last inside if I did not hustle.
    “It’s bad, isn’t it?”
    “It could be bad. Scoot on into town. Don’t tell anybody about this.”
    The mess hall was the nearest thing to an assembly hall we had. The cooks had been run off. The place reeked of unhappiness. Half the guys lived in town, now, including me. Some had women. A few even had common-law stepchildren they did not mind supporting.
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    Those guys would pray that carpet meant the Lady had sent somebody out with the payroll. Only, in Aloe, our pay came from gentle taxes on the people we protected. No need to fly it in from a thousand miles away.
    The Captain did his trained-bear shuffle up to the half-ass stage. A creepy brown bundle of rags followed. It dragged one leg. The hall filled with a hard silence.
    The Limper. The most absurdly nasty of the Taken. A dedicated enemy of the Black Company. We had screwed him over good back when he tried going against the Lady.
    He was back in favor now. But so were we. He could not have his revenge just yet. But he was patient.
    The Captain rumbled, “The tedium is about to end, gentlemen. We now know why the Lady put us here.
    We’re supposed to take out a Rebel captain called Tides Elba.”
    I checked the spelling later. It was not a name we knew. He pronounced it “Teadace Elba.”
    The Captain said that Tides Elba had enjoyed some successes west of us, but none of her victories had been big enough to catch our attention.
    An interesting line of bullshit, some of which might be true.
    The Limper climbed up with the Captain. That was a struggle. He had that bad leg and he was a runt—in stature. In wickedness and talent for sorcery he was the baddest of the bad. A reek of dread surrounded him. So did a reek of reek. On his best day, he smelled like he had been in a grave for a long time. He considered us from behind a brown leather mask.
    Folks with weaker stomachs jostled for space in the back.
    The Limper said nothing. He just wanted us to know he was around. Important to remember. And something foretelling interesting times.
    The Captain told the Company commanders and platoon leaders to tell their men that we might be making movement soon. Pending investigatory work here in Aloe. They should settle their debts and personal issues. Ideally, they should shut down their Aloe lives and return to the compound.
    We might see some desertions.
    Elmo jabbed me in the ribs. “Pay attention.”
    The Old Man dismissed everybody but me and the magic-users. He invoked me directly. “Croaker, stay with me.” The wizards he told to stick with the Limper.
    The Captain herded me over to Admin. In theory, I owned a corner space there where I was supposed to work on these Annals. I did not often take advantage.
    “Sit.” A command, not an invitation. I sat in one of two crude chairs facing the ragged table he uses as a bulwark against the world. “Limper is here. He hasn’t said so but we know that means we’re headed into the shit. He hasn’t said much of anything yet, actually. That may mean he doesn’t know anything himself, yet. He’s following orders, too.”
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    I nodded.
    “This isn’t good, Croaker. This is the Limper. There’ll be more going on than