Shadows Linger: A Novel of the Black Company (Chronicles of The Black Company) Read Online Free PDF Page B

another mug, Shed.”
    “I’ll give you a mug. Over the noggin.”
    “I don’t need you, Shed. I made a connection. I can sleep over to Krage’s any time I want.”
    Shed grunted, made a mask of his face. “You win.” He poured wine.
    “He’s going to put you out of business, Shed. Whatever it takes. He’s decided you’re in it with Raven.” Wicked little smile. “Only he can’t figure where you got the guts to buck him.”
    “I’m not. I don’t have anything to do with Raven, Asa. You know that.”
    Asa enjoyed his moment. “I tried to tell Krage, Shed. He didn’t want to hear it.”
    “Drink your wine and get out, Asa.”
    “Shed?” The old whine filled Asa’s voice.
    “You heard me. Out. Back to your new friends. See how long they have a use for you.”
    “Shed!…”
    “They’ll throw you back into the street, Asa. Right beside me and Mom. Git, you bloodsucker.”
    Asa downed his wine and fled, shoulders tight against his neck. He had tasted the truth of Shed’s words. His association with Krage would be fragile and brief.
    *   *   *
    Shed tried to warn Raven. Raven ignored him. Shed polished mugs, watched Raven chatter with Darling in the utter silence of sign language, and tried to imagine some way of making a hit in the upper city. Usually he spent these early hours eying Darling and trying to imagine a way to gain access, but lately sheer terror of the street had abolished his customary randiness.
    A cry like that of a hog with a cut throat came from upstairs. “Mother!” Shed took the stairs two steps at a time.
    His mother stood in the doorway of the big bunkroom, panting. “Mom? What’s wrong?”
    “There’s a dead man in there.”
    Shed’s heart fluttered. He pushed into the room. An old man lay in the bottom right bunk inside the door.
    There had been only four bunkroom customers last night. Six gersh a head. The room was six feet wide and twelve long, with twenty-four platforms stacked six high. When the room was full, Shed charged two gersh to sleep leaning on a rope stretched down the middle.
    Shed touched the old-timer. His skin was cold. He had been gone for hours.
    “Who was he?” old June asked.
    “I don’t know.” Shed probed his ragged clothing. He found four gersh and an iron ring. “Damn!” He could not take that. The Custodians would be suspicious if they found nothing. “We’re jinxed. This is our fourth stiff this year.”
    “It’s the customers, son. They have one foot in the Catacombs already.”
    Shed spat. “I’d better send for the Custodians.”
    A voice said, “He’s waited this long, let him wait a little longer.”
    Shed whirled. Raven and Darling stood behind his mother. “What?”
    “He might be the answer to your problems,” Raven said. And immediately Darling began flashing signs so fast Shed could not catch one in twenty. Evidently she was telling Raven not to do something. Raven ignored her.
    Old June snapped, “Shed!” Her voice was heavy with admonition.
    “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll handle it. Go ahead with your work.” June was blind, but when her health permitted, she dumped the slops and handled what passed for maid service—mainly dusting beds between guests to kill fleas and lice. When her health confined her to bed, Shed brought in his cousin Wally, a ne’er-do-well like Asa, but with a wife and kids. Shed used him out of pity for the wife.
    He headed downstairs. Raven followed, still arguing with Darling. Momentarily, Shed wondered if Raven was diddling her. Be a damned waste of fine womanflesh if someone wasn’t.
    How could a dead man with four gersh get him out from under Krage? Answer: He could not. Not legitimately.
    Raven settled onto his usual stool. He scattered a handful of copper. “Wine. Buy yourself a mug, too.”
    Shed collected the coins, deposited them in his box. Its contents were pitiful. He wasn’t making expenses. He was doomed. His debt to Krage could miraculously be discharged and still