“Right.” I wondered how much his information could be trusted. “Tracker. You and Toadkiller Dog go stand lookout.”
“One problem,” One-Eye said. “Before we do anything, we need Bomanz’s map.”
“Oh, boy.” I slipped into the hallway, to the exit, peeped out. The headquarters building was afire, sputtering halfheartedly in the rain. Most of the Guard were fighting the fire. I shuddered. Our documents were in there. If the Lady’s luck held, they would burn. I returned to the room. “One-Eye, you have a more immediate problem. My documents. You better get after them. I’ll try for the chart.”
“Tracker, you watch the door here. Keep the kid in and everybody else out. All right?” He nodded. He needed no special coaching while Toadkiller Dog was around.
I slipped out, into the confusion. No one paid me any heed. I wondered if this was not the time to take Raven out. I exited the compound unchallenged, dashed through the drizzle to Blue Willy. The proprietor seemed astounded to see me. I did not pause to tell him what I thought of his hospitality, just went upstairs, groped around inside the concealment spell till I found the spear with the hollow shaft. Back down. One vituperous look for the landlord, then into the rain again.
By the time I returned, the fire was under control. Soldiers had begun to pull the rubble apart. Still no one challenged me. I slipped into the building where Raven lay, handed One-Eye the spear. “You do anything about those papers?”
“Not yet.”
“Damn it...”
“They’re in a box in the Colonel’s office, Croaker. What the hell do you want?”
“Ah. Tracker. Take the kid into the hallway. You guys. I want a spell where he has to do what he’s told whether he wants to or not.”
“What?” One-Eye asked.
“I want to send him after those papers. Can you fix it so he’s got to do it and come back?”
Case was in the doorway, listening bleakly.
“Sure. No problem.”
“Do it. Son, you understand? One-Eye will put a spell on you. You go help clean up that mess till you can get the box. Bring it back and we’ll take the spell off.”
He looked like getting stubborn again.
“You have a choice, of course. You can die an unpleasant death instead.”
“I don’t think he believes you, Croaker. I’d better give him a taste.”
Case’s expression told me he did believe. The more he thought about who we were, the more terrified he became.
How had we developed such a fierce reputation? I guess stories grow in the retelling. “I think he’ll cooperate. Right, son?”
He nodded, stubbornness dead.
He looked like a good kid. Too bad he had given his loyalty to the other side.
“Do it, One-Eye. Let’s get on with this.”
While One-Eye worked, Goblin asked, “What do we do after we finish here, Croaker?”
“Hell, I don’t know. Play it by ear. Right now don’t worry about the mules, just load the wagon. Step at a time.. Step at a time.”
“Ready,” One-Eye said.
I beckoned the youth, opened the outside door. “Get out there and do it, kid.” I patted his behind. He went, but with a look that could have curdled milk.
“He’s not happy with you. Croaker.”
“Screw it. Get in there with Raven. Do what you have to do. Time is wasting. Come daylight this place will see some life.”
I watched Case. Tracker guarded the door to the room. No one interrupted us. Case eventually found what I wanted, slipped away from the work detail. “Good job, son,” I told him, taking the box. “In the room with your friend.”
We entered moments before One-Eye came out of a trance. “Well?” I asked.
He took a moment to orient himself. “Going to be harder than I thought. But I think we can bring him out.” He indicated the chart Goblin had spread atop Raven’s stomach. “He’s about here, caught, just inside the inner circle.” He shook his head. “You ever hear him tell about having any background in the trade?”
“No. But there were times I wondered. Like in Roses, when he tracked Raker through a snowstorm.”
“He learned something somewhere. Weren’t no parlor trick, what he did. But it was too big for his skills.” For a moment he was thoughtful. “It’s weird in there. Croaker. Really weird. He isn’t alone by a long shot. Won’t be able to give you any details till we go in ourselves but...”
“What? Wait. Go in yourselves? What’re you talking about?”
“Figured you understood Goblin and I would have to follow him in. In order to bring him out.”
“Why both of you?”
“One to cover in case the point man gets in trouble.”
Goblin nodded. They were all business now. Meaning they were scared crapless.
“How long is all this going to take?”
“No telling. Quite a while. We ought to get out of here first. Out in the woods.”
I wanted to argue but did not. Instead, I went and checked the compound.
They had begun bringing the bodies out of the rubble. I watched a while, got an idea. Five minutes later Case and I stepped out carrying a litter. A blanket covered what appeared to be a large broken body. Goblin’s face lay exposed. He did a great corpse. One-Eye’s feet stuck out the other end. Tracker carried Raven.
The documents were under the blanket with Goblin and One-Eye.
I did not expect to pull it off. But the grim business around the collapsed building preoccupied the Guard. They had reached the cellars.
I did get challenged at the compound gate. Goblin used his sleep spell. I doubted we would be remembered. Civilians were all over, helping and hindering the rescue effort.
That was the bad news. A few down in that cellar were still alive.
“Goblin, you and One-Eye get our gear. Take the kid. Tracker and I will get the wagon.”
All went well. Too well, I thought, being naturally pessimistic after the way things had been going. We put Raven in the wagon and headed south.
The moment we entered the forest One-Eye said, “So we’ve made our getaway. Now. About Raven?”
I was without a single idea. “You call it. How close do you have to be?”
“Very.” He saw I was thinking about getting out of the country first. “Darling?”
The reminder was unnecessary.
I won’t say Raven was the center of her life. She will not discuss him except in the most general way. But there are nights she cries herself to sleep, remembering something. If it is for loss of Raven, we could not bring him home like this. It would break her heart all the way.
Anyway, we needed him now. He knew better than we what the hell was going on.
I appealed to Tracker for suggestions. He had none. He did not, in fact, appear pleased with what we planned. Like he expected Raven to become competition, or something.
“We’ve got him,” One-Eye said, indicating Case, whom we had dragged along rather than leave dead. “Let’s use him.”
Good idea.
Twenty minutes later we had the wagon well off the road, up on rocks so it would not sink into the soggy earth. One-Eye and Goblin wound spells of concealment around it and camouflaged it with brush. We piled gear into packs, placed Raven on the litter. Case and I carried him. Tracker and Toadkiller Dog led us through the woods.
It could not have been more than three miles, yet I ached everywhere before we finished. Too old. Too out of shape. And the weather was one-hundred-ninety-proof misery. I had had enough rain to last me the rest of my life. Tracker led us to a place just east of the Barrowland. I could walk downhill a hundred yards and see its remnants. I could walk a hundred yards the other way and see the Great Tragic. Only the one narrow stretch of high ground barred it from reaching the Barrowland.