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deceit. There is naught left but to deprive the Rebel of their general."
I was confused. Divergent thoughts found their ways to my tongue and betrayed
themselves. "But shouldn't we try to break them here?" And, "This northern
campaign has been hard on the Circle. First Raker, then Whisper. Now Linger
and Moth."
"With Sidle and Harden to go. Yes. They beat us again and again, and each time
it costs them the heart of their strength." He gazed downhill, toward a small
company coming our way. Raven was in the lead. Catcher faced the wagon park.
The Hanged Man stopped gesturing and struck a pose: man listening.
Suddenly, Soulcatcher resumed talking. "Whisper has breached the walls of
Frost. Nightcrawler has negotiated the treacherous menhirs on the Plain of
Fear, and approaches the suburbs of Thud. The Faceless is on the Plain now,
moving toward Barns. They say Parcel committed suicide last night at Ade, to
avoid capture by Bonegnasher. Things aren't the disaster they seem, Croaker."
The hell they aren't, I thought. That's the east. This is here. I could not
get excited about victories a quarter of the world away. Here we were getting
stomped, and if the Rebel broke through to Charm, nothing that happened in the
east would matter.
Raven halted his group and approached me alone. "What do you want them to do?"
I assumed the Captain had sent him, so was sure the Captain had ordered the
withdrawal. He would not play games for Catcher. "Put the ones we've treated
into the wagons." The teamsters were arraying themselves in a nice line. "Send
a dozen or so walking wounded with each wagon. Me and One-Eye and the rest
will keep cutting and sewing. What?"
He had a look in his eye. I did not like it. He glanced at Soulcatcher. So did
I.
"I haven't told him yet," Catcher said.
"Told me what?" I knew I would not like it when heard I it. They had that
nervous smell about them. It screamed bad news.
Raven smiled. Not a happy smile, but a sort of gruesome rictus. "You and me,
we've been drafted again, Croaker.''
"What? Come on! Not again!" I still got the shakes thinking about helping do
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in the Limper and Whisper
"You have the practical experience," Catcher said.
I kept shaking my head.
Raven growled, "I have to go, so do you, Croaker. Besides, you'll want to get
it in the Annals, how you took out more of the Eighteen than any of the
Taken."
"Crap. What am I? A bounty hunter? No. I'm a physician. The Annals and
fighting are incidental."
Raven told Catcher, "This is the man the Captain had to drag off the line when
we were crossing the Windy Country." His eyes were narrow, his cheeks taut. He
did not want to go either. He was displacing his resentment by chiding me.
"There is no option, Croaker," Soulcatcher said in a child's voice. "The Lady
chose you." He tried to soften my disappointment by adding, "She rewards well
those who please her. And you have caught her fancy."
I damned myself for my earlier romanticism. That Croaker who had come north,
so thoroughly bemused by the mysterious Lady, was another man. A stripling,
filled with the foolish ignorances of youth. Yeah. Sometimes you He to
yourself just to keep going.
Catcher told me, "We're not going it alone this time, Croaker. We'll have help
from Crooked Neck, Shifter, and Stormbringer."
Sourly, I remarked, "Takes the whole gang to scrub one bandit, eh?"
Catcher did not take the bait. He never does. "The carpet is over there.
Collect your weapons and join me." He stalked away.
I took my ire out on my helpers, completely unfairly. Finally, when One-Eye
was ready to blow, Raven remarked, "Don't be an asshole, Croaker. We've got to
do it, let's do it."
So I apologized to everyone and marched down to join Soulcatcher.
Soulcatcher said, "Get aboard," indicating places. Raven and I assumed the
positions we had used before. Catcher handed us lengths of cord. "Tie
yourselves securely. This could get rough. I don't want you falling off. And [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]