Shed grabbed Asa's hands and yanked him forward, against the counter. As if
cued, Raven stepped up behind the little man. Shed glimpsed a knife. Raven
pricked Asa's back, whispered, “Let's go to my room.”
Asa went pallid. Shed forced a smile. “Yeah.” He released Asa, took a stoneware
bottle from beneath the counter. “I want to talk to you, Asa.” He collected
three mugs. Shed went up last, intensely aware of his mother's blind stare. How
much had she heard? How much had she guessed? She had been cool lately. His
shame had come between them. He no longer felt deserving of her respect. He
clouted his conscience. I did it for her!
Raven's room had the only door left on the upper floors. Raven held it for Asa
and Shed. “Sit,” he told Asa, indicating his cot. Asa sat. He looked scared
enough to wet himself. Raven's room was as Spartan as his dress. It betrayed no
hint of wealth. “I invest it, Shed,” Raven said, wearing a mocking smile. “In
shipping. Pour the wine.” He began cleaning his nails with a knife. Asa downed
his wine before Shed finished pouring the rest. “Fill him up,” Raven said. He
sipped his own wine. “Shed, why have you been giving me that sour cat's piss
when you had this?”
“Nobody gets it without asking. It costs more.”
“I'll take this from now on.” Raven locked gazes with Asa, tapped his own cheek
with his knife blade.
No, Raven wouldn't have to live frugally. The body business would be lucrative.
He invested? In shipping? Odd the way he said that. Where the money went might
be as interesting as whence it came. “You threatened my friend,” Raven said.
"Oh. Excuse me, Shed. A misstatement. It's partner, not friend. Partners don't
have to like each other. Little man. You have something to say for yourself?''
Shed shuddered. Damn Raven. He'd said that so Asa would spread it around.
Bastard was taking control of his life. Nibbling away at it like a mouse slowly
destroying a head of cheese. “Honest, Mr. Raven. I didn't mean nothing. I was
scared. Krage thinks I tipped you. I got to hide, and Shed's scared to put me
up. I was just trying to get him to. ...”
“Shut up. Shed, I thought he was your friend.”
“I just did him some favors. I felt sorry for him.”
"You'd shelter him from weather, but not from enemies. You're a real gutless
wonder, Shed. Maybe I made a mistake. I was going to make you a full partner.
Going to give you the whole business eventually. Thought I'd do you a favor. But
you're a yellow-dog creep. Without the guts to deny it.“ He whirled. ”Talk,
little man. Tell me about Krage. Tell me about the Enclosure." Asa went white.
He didn't open up till Raven threatened to call the Custodians.
Shed's knees racketed off one another. The hilt of his butcher knife was
sweat-moist and slippery. He could not have used the blade, but Asa was too
scared to see that. He just squeaked at his team and started rolling. Raven
followed them in his own wagon. Shed glanced across the valley. The black castle
brooded on the northern skyline, casting its dread shadow across Juniper. Why
was it there? Where had it come from? He rejected the questions. Best to ignore
it.
How had he gotten into this? He feared the worst. Raven had no sensibilities.
They left the wagons in the grove, entered the Enclosure. Raven examined Asa's
wood stash. “Move these bundles to the wagons. Stack them alongside for now.”
“You can't take my wood,” Asa protested. “Shut up.” Raven pushed a bundle
through the wall.
“You first, Shed. Little man, I'll hunt you down if you run off.”
They had moved a dozen bundles when Asa whispered, “Shed, one of Krage's goons
is watching us.” He was about to panic.
Raven was not displeased with the news. “You two go get bundles from the woods.”
Asa protested. Raven glared. Asa headed uphill. “How does he know?” he whined at
Shed. “He never followed me. I'm sure of that.”
Shed shrugged. “Maybe he's a sorcerer. He always
knows what I'm thinking.”
Raven was gone when they returned. Shed looked around, nervously decided, “Let's
get another load.”
Raven was waiting next trip. “Take those bundles to Asa's wagon.”
“An object lesson,” Shed said, pointing into the wagon. Blood ran across the
floorboards, seeping from under a pile of wood.
“See what kind of man he is?”
“Up the hill now,” Raven ordered when they returned. “Lead off, Asa. Collect
your tools and torches to start.”
Suspicion nagged Shed as he watched Raven build a litter. But no. Even Raven
wouldn't stoop that low. Would he?
They stood looking down into the dark mouth of the underworld. “You first, Asa,”
Raven said. Reluctantly, Asa descended.
“You're next, Shed.”
“Have a heart, Raven.”
“Get moving.”
Shed moved. Raven came down behind him.
The Catacombs had a carnal smell, but weaker than Shed had anticipated. A draft
stirred Asa's torch.
“Stop,” Raven said. He took the brand, examined the gap through which they had
entered, nodded, passed the torch back. “Lead on.” The cavern widened and joined
a larger cave. Asa halted halfway across. Shed stopped, too. He was surrounded
by bones. Bones on the cave floor, bones on racks on the walls, skeletons
hanging from hooks. Loose bones in tumbles and piles, all mixed together.
Skeletons sleeping amidst the clutter. Bones still within shreds of burial
raiment. Skulls leering from wooden pegs on the far wall, empty eyes sinister in
the torchlight. A passage urn shared each peg.
There were mummified bodies, too, though only a few. Only the rich demanded
mummification. Here riches meant nothing. They were heaped with all the rest.
Asa volunteered, “This is a real old place. The Custodians don't come here
anymore, unless maybe to get rid of loose bones. The whole cave is filled up up
that way, like they just pushed them out of the way.”
“Let's look,” Raven said. Asa was right. The cavern narrowed and its ceiling
descended. The passageway was choked with bones. Shed noted the absence of
skulls and urns. Raven chuckled. “Your Custodians aren't as passionate about the
dead as you thought, Shed.”The chambers you see during Spring and Autumn Rites
aren't like this," Shed admitted.
“I don't guess anybody cares about the old ones anymore,” Asa said.
“Let's go back,” Raven suggested. As they walked, he observed, “We all end up
here. Rich or poor, weak or strong.“ He kicked a mummy. ”But the rich stay in
better shape. Asa, what's down the other way?”
“I only ever went about a hundred yards. More of the same.” He was trying to
open a passage urn.
Raven grunted, took an um, opened it, dumped several coins onto his hand. He
held them near the torch. “Uhm. How did you explain their age, Asa?”
“Money has no provenance,” Shed said.
Asa nodded. “And I made out like I'd found a buried treasure.”
“I see. Lead on.”
Soon Asa said, “This is as far as I ever went.”
“Keep going.”
They wandered till even Raven responded to the oppression of the cavern.
“Enough. Back to the surface.” Once up top, he said,
“Get the tools. Damn. I'd hoped for better.”
Soon they were back with a spade and ropes. "Shed, dig a hole over there. Asa,
hang on to this end of the rope. When I yell, start pulling." Raven descended
into the Catacombs.
Asa remained rooted, as instructed. Shed dug. After a while, Asa asked, "Shed,
what's he doing?"
“You don't know? I thought you knew everything he did.”
“I just told Krage that. I couldn't keep up with him all night.”
Shed grimaced, turned another spadeful of earth. He could guess how Asa worked.
By sleeping somewhere most of the time.
Spying would have interfered with wood-gathering and grave-robbing.
Shed was relieved. Asa didn't know what he and Raven had done. But he would
before long.
He looked inside himself and found little self-disgust. Damn! He was accustomed
to these crimes already. Raven was making him over in his own image.
Raven shouted. Asa hauled away. He called, “Shed, give me a hand. I can't get
this by myself.”
Resigned, Shed joined him. Their catch was exactly what he expected, a mummy
sliding out of the darkness like some denizen of the deeps of yesteryear. He
averted his gaze. “Get his feet, Asa.”
Asa gagged. “My God, Shed. My God. What are you doing?”
“Be quiet and do what you're told. That's the best way. Get his feet.”
They moved the body into the brush near Shed's pit. A passage urn rolled out of
a bundle tied upon its chest. The bundle contained another two dozen urns. So.
The hole was for burying empty urns. Why didn't Raven fill his pockets down
there?
“Let's get out of here, Shed,” Asa whined.
“Back to your rope.” Ums took time to empty. And Raven had two men up top with
little to do but think. So. They were busy-work. And an incentive, of course.
Two dozen urns with each cadaver would build up quite a pile.
“Shed…”
“Where you going to run to, Asa?” The day was clear and unseasonably warm, but
it was still winter. There was no way out of Juniper. “He'd find you. Go back to
your rope. You're in it now, like it or not.” Shed resumed digging.
Raven sent up six mummies. Each carried its bundle of urns. Then Raven returned.
He studied Asa's ashen face, Shed's resignation. “Your turn, Shed.”
Shed gulped, opened his mouth, swallowed his protest, slunk toward the hole. He
lingered over it, a hair's breadth from rebellion.
“Move it, Shed. We don't have forever.”
Marron Shed went down among the dead.
It seemed he was in the Catacombs forever, numbly selecting cadavers, collecting
urns, dragging his grisly booty to the rope. His mind had entered another
reality. This was the dream, the nightmare. At first he did not understand when
Raven called for him to come up.
He clambered into gathering dusk. “Is that enough? Can we go now?”
“No,” Raven replied. “We've got sixteen. I figure we can get thirty on the
wagons.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“You haul up,” Raven said. “Asa and I will go down.”
Shed hauled. In the silvery light of a three-quarters moon the dead faces seemed
accusing. He swallowed his loathing and placed each with the others, then
emptied ums.
He was tempted to take the money and run. He stayed more out of greed than fear
of Raven. He was a partner this time. Thirty bodies at thirty leva meant nine
hundred leva to share out. Even if he took the small cut, he would be richer
than he'd ever dreamed.
What was that? Not Raven's order to haul away. It sounded like someone
screaming. ... He nearly ran. He did go to pieces momentarily. Raven's bellowing
brought him together. The man's cold, calm contempt had vanished.
Shed heaved. This one was heavy. He grunted, strained. . . . Raven came
scrambling up. His clothing was torn. A bloody gash marked one cheek. His knife
was red. He whirled, grabbed the rope. “Pull!” he shouted. “Damn you, pull!”
Asa came out a moment later, tied to the rope. “What happened? My God, what
happened?'' Asa was breathing, and that was about it. ”Something jumped us. It
tore him up before I could kill it."
“A Guardian. I warned you. Get another torch. Let's see how bad he is.” Raven
just sat there panting, flustered. Shed got the torch, lighted it. Asa's wounds
were not as bad as he had feared. There was a lot of blood, and Asa was in
shock, but he wasn't dying. “We ought to get out of here, Raven. Before the
Custodians come.”
Raven recovered his composure. “No. There was only one. I killed it. We're in
this now. Let's get it done right.”
“What about Asa?”
“I don't know. Let's get to work.”
“Raven, I'm exhausted.”
“You're going to get a lot tireder before we're done. Come on. Let's get the
mess cleaned up.”
They moved the bodies to the wagons, then the tools, then carted Asa down. As
they worked the litter through the wall, Shed asked, “What should we do with
him?”
Raven looked at him as though he were a moron. “What do you think, Shed?”
“But…”
“It doesn't much matter now, does it?”
“I guess not.” But it did matter. Asa wasn't much, but Shed knew him. He was no
friend, but they had helped one another out. . . . “No. Can't do it, Raven. He
can make it. If I was sure he was checking out, yeah. Okay. No body, no
questions. But I can't kill him.”
“Well. A little spirit after all. How are you going to keep him quiet? He's the
kind who gets throats cut with loose talk.”
“I'll handle him.”
“Whatever you say, partner. It's your neck.”
The night was well along when they reached the black castle. Raven went in
first. Shed followed closely. They pulled into the same passage as before. The
drill was the same. After they laid out the bodies, a tall, lean creature went
down the line.
“Ten. Ten. Thirty. Ten. Ten.” And so forth.
Raven protested vigorously. The only offers above ten were for the men who had
followed them to the Enclosure and for Asa, who remained in his wagon.
The tall being faced Raven. “These have been dead too long. They have little
value. Take them back if you're not satisfied.”
“All right. All right. Let's have it.”
The being counted out coins. Raven pocketed six of each ten. He handed the rest
to Shed. As he did so, he told the tall being, “This man is my partner. He may
come alone.”
The tall figure inclined its head, took something from within its clothing,
handed it to Shed. It was a silver pendant in the form of serpents entwined.
“Wear that if you come up alone,” Raven said. “That's your safe-conduct.” Under
his icy stare Shed slipped the pendant into a pocket already filled with silver.
He ran the arithmetic. One hundred twelve leva as his share. It would have taken
him half a decade to accumulate that much honestly. He was rich! Damn him, he
was rich! He could do anything he wanted. No more debts. No more Krage killing
him slowly. No more gruel every meal. Turn the Lily into something decent. Maybe
find a place where his mother would have proper care. Women. All the women he
could handle.