"Yeah. Use it to haul supplies down from Meadenvil, from the miller's, from the brewer's. Why?"
"Because the Taken are looking for those papers I've been on about." I had to reveal their provenance.
"The same ones we dug up in the Forest of Cloud?" One-Eye asked.
"Yes. Look. Soulcatcher told me they have the Limper's true name in them. They also include the wizard Bomanz's secret papers, where the Lady's true name is supposedly encoded."
"Wow!" Goblin said.
"Right."
One-Eye demanded, "What's that got to do with us?"
"The Limper wants his name back. Suppose he sees a bunch of guys and a wagon light out of here? What's he going to figure? Asa gave him bum dope about them being with Raven. Asa doesn't know everything we've been up to."
Silent interjected, in sign, "Asa is with the Limper."
"Fine. He did what I wanted. Okay. The Limper figures that's us making a run for it with the papers. 'Specially if we let a few pieces go fluttering around."
"I get it," One-Eye said. "Only we don't have enough men to work it. Only Bullock and the landlord that Asa don't know about."
Goblin said, "I think you better stop talking and start doing. They're getting closer."
I called the fat man. "Your friends from the South have to do us a favor. Tell them it's their only chance of getting out of this alive."
Chapter Forty-Eight: THE INN: AMBUSH
The four southerners were shaking and sweating. They did not know what was going on, did not like what they saw. But they had become convinced that cooperation was their only hope. "Goblin!" I shouted upstairs. "Can you see them yet?"
"Almost time. Count to fifty, then turn it loose."
I counted. Slowly, forcing myself to keep the pace down. I was as scared as the southerners.
"Now!"
Goblin came boiling downstairs. We all roared out to the barn, where the animals and wagon were waiting, whooped out of there, stormed into the road, and went howling off south like eight men very nearly taken by surprise. Behind us the Limper's party halted momentarily, talked it over, then came after us. I noted that the Limper was setting the pace. Good. His men were not eager to tangle with their old buddies.
I brought up the rear, behind Goblin and One-Eye and the wagon. One-Eye was driving. Goblin kept his mount right beside the wagon.
We roared into a rising curve where the road began climbing a wooded hill south of the inn. The innkeeper said the forest went on for miles. He had gone ahead with Silent and Bullock and the men the southerners were pretending to be.
"Yo!" someone shouted back. A scrap of red cloth whipped past. One-Eye stood up on the wagon, clinging to the traces as he edged over. Goblin swung in close. One-Eye jumped.
For a moment I did not think he would make it. Goblin almost missed. One-Eye's feet trailed in the dust. Then he scrambled up, lay on his stomach behind his friend. He glared back at me, daring me to grin.
I grinned anyway.
The wagon hit the timber prepared, flung up, twisted. Horses screamed, fought, could not hold it. Wagon and team went thrashing off the road, crashed against trees, the animals screaming in pain and terror while the vehicle disintegrated. The men who had upset the wagon vanished immediately.
I spurred my mount forward, past Goblin and One-Eye and Pawnbroker, yelled at the southerners, gave them the sign to go on, keep riding, get the hell away.
A quarter mile father on I swung onto the track the fat man had told me about, got down into the woods far enough not to be seen, halted long enough for One-Eye to get himself seated. Then we moved on hurriedly, headed for the inn.
Above us, Limper and his bunch came pounding up to where the wrecked wagon lay, the animals still crying their distress.
It started.
Cries. Shrieks. Men dying. Hiss and howl of spells. I didn't think Silent stood a chance, but he had volunteered. The wagon was supposed to distract the limper long enough for the massed attack to reach him.
The clangor was still going on, muted by distance, when we reached open country. "Can't be going all wrong," I shouted. "Been going on a while."
I did not feel as optimistic as I pretended. I did not want it to go on. I'd wanted them to hit quick, hurt the Limper, and fade away, doing enough damage to make him retreat to the inn to lick his wounds.
We hustled the animals into the barn and headed for our hiding places. I muttered, "You know, we wouldn't be in
this spot if Raven had killed him when he had a chance." Way back, when I had helped capture Whisper, when she was trying to bring Limper over to her side, Raven had had a fantastic opportunity to finish him off. He had not been able, though he had had grievances against the Taken. His mercy had come back to haunt us all.
Pawnbroker went into the pig shed, where we had installed a crude, light ballista built as part of our earlier plan. Goblin cast a weak spell that made him seem like just another hog. I wanted him to stay out of it if possible. I doubted the ballista would get used.
Goblin and I raced upstairs to watch the road and the ridgeline to the east. Once he broke off, which he had not done when he was supposed to, Silent would fake in the direction taken by the southerners, retreat through the wood to that ridge, watch what happened at the inn. It was my hope that some of the Limper's men would keep after the southerners. I hadn't told those guys that. I hoped they had sense enough to keep running.
"Ho!" Goblin said. "There's Silent. He made it."
The men appeared briefly. I could not tell who was who. "Only three of them," I muttered. That meant four had not made it. "Damn!"
"It had to work," Goblin said. "Else they wouldn't be up there."
I did not feel reassured. I hadn't had many shots at field command. I hadn't learned to deal with the feelings that come when you know men have been killed trying to carry out your orders.
"Here they come."
Riders left the woods, coming up the Shaker Road amidst lengthening shadows. "I make it six men," I said. "No. Seven. They must not have gone after those guys."
"Looks like they're all hurt."
"Element of surprise. The Limper with them? Can you tell?"
"No. That one... . That's Asa. Hell, that's old Shed on the third horse, and the innkeeper next to last."
A slight positive, then. They were half as strong as they had been. I'd lost only two of seven committed.
"What do we do if the Limper ain't with them?" Goblin asked.
"Take what comes to us." Silent had vanished off the far ridge.
"There he is, Croaker. In front of the innkeeper. Looks like he's unconscious."
That was too much to hope. Yet it did indeed look like the Taken was out. "Let's get downstairs."
I watched through a cracked shutter as they turned into the yard. The only member of the group uninjured was Asa. His hands were bound to his saddle, his feet to his stirrups. One of the injured men dismounted, released Asa, held a knife on him while he helped the others. A variety of injuries were evident. Shed looked like he shouldn't be alive at all. The innkeeper was in better shape. Just seemed to have been knocked around a lot.
They made Asa and the fat man get the Limper off his animal. I nearly gave myself away then. The Taken was missing most of his right arm. He had several additional wounds. But, of course, he would recover if he remained protected by his allies. The Taken are tough.
Asa and the fat man started toward the door. Limper sagged like a wet rope. The man who had covered Asa pushed the door open.
The Limper wakened. "No!" he squeaked. "Trap!"
Asa and the innkeeper dropped him. Asa began heeling and toeing it, eyes closed. The innkeeper whistled shrilly. His dogs came raging out of the barn.