Book 1 - The Black Company by Glen Cook Page B

wildest
hopes. Before the dust settled the purge had taken virtually every
committed Rebel in Oar. Shifter stayed in the thick of it. He gave
us invaluable assistance and had a grand time smashing things up.
He was as happy as a child starting fires.
    Then he disappeared as utterly as if he had never existed. And
we, so exhausted we were crawling around like lizards, assembled
outside Cornie's stable. Elmo took the roll.
    All accounted for but one. "Where's Raven?" Elmo asked.
    I told him, "I think he got buried when that house fell in. Him
and Zouad both."
    One-Eye observed, "Kind of fitting. Ironic but fitting. Hate to
see him go, though. He played a mean game of Tonk."
    "The Limper is down there too?" Elmo asked.
    I grinned. "I helped bury him."
    "And Shifter is gone."
    I had begun to sense a disturbing pattern. I wanted to know if
it was just my imagination. I brought it up while the men were
getting ready to return to Deal. "You know, the only people who saw
Shifter were on our side. The Rebel and the Limper saw a lot of us.
Especially of you, Elmo. And me and Raven. Cornie will turn up
dead. I have a feeling Shifter's finesse didn't have much to do
with getting Zouad or wiping out the local Rebel hierarchy. I think
we were put on the spot where the Limper is concerned. Very
craftily."
    Elmo likes to come across as a big, dumb country boy turned
soldier, but he is sharp. He not only saw what I meant, he
immediately connected it with the broader picture of politicking
among the Taken. "We've got to get the hell away from here before
the Limper digs his way out. And I don't mean just away from Oar. I
mean Forsberg. Soulcatcher has put us on the board as his frontline
pawns. We're liable to get caught between a rock and a hard place."
He chewed his lip for a second, then started acting like a
sergeant, bellowing at anybody not moving fast enough to suit
him.
    He was in a near panic, but was a soldier to the bone. Our
departure was no rout. We went out escorting the provision wagons
Candy's patrol had come to collect. He told me, "I'll go crazy
after we get back. I'll go out and chew down a tree, or
something." And after a few miles, thoughtfully, "Been trying to
decide who ought to break the news to Darling. Croaker, you just
volunteered. You've got the right touch."
    So I had me something to keep my mind occupied during the ride.
Damn that Elmo!
     
     
    The great brouhaha in Oar was not the end of it. Ripples spread.
Consequences piled up. Fate shoved its badfinger in.
    Raker launched a major offensive while the Limper was digging
his way out of the rubble. He did so unaware that his enemy was
absent from the field, but the effect was the same. The Limper's
army collapsed. Our victory went for naught. Rebel bands whooped
through Oar, hunting the Lady's agents.
    We, thanks to Soulcatcher's foresight, were moving south when
the collapse came, so we avoided becoming involved. We went into
garrison at Elm credited with several dramatic victories, and the
Limper fled into the Salient with the remnants of his force,
branded as an incompetent. He knew who had done him in, but there
wasn't anything he could do. His relationship with the Lady was too
precarious. He dared do nothing but remain her faithful lapdog. He
would have to come up with some outstanding victories before he
thought about settling with us or Soulcatcher.
    I did not feel that comforted. The worm has a way of turning,
given time.
    Raker was so enthusiastic over his success that he did not slow
down after he conquered Forsberg. He turned southward. Soulcatcher
ordered us out of Elm only a week after we had settled in.
    Did the Captain get upset about what had happened? Was he
displeased because so many of his men had gone off on their own,
exceeding or stretching his instructions? Let's just say the extra
duty assignments were enough to break the back of an ox. Let's say
the madonnas of the night in Elm were severely disappointed in the
Black Company. I do not