Free Book 2 - Shadows Linger by Glen Cook

were. Sudden fear. Suppose Asa reported Raven’s
night adventures? Suppose he’d seen
Shed . . . 
    Impossible. Asa couldn’t have kept quiet. Asa spent his
life looking for leverage.
    “You’ve been spending a lot lately, Asa. Where are
you getting the money?”
    Asa turned pale. He looked around, gobbled a few times.
“The wood, Shed. Selling the wood.”
    “You’re a liar, Asa. Where’re you getting
it?”
    “Shed, you don’t ask questions like that.”
    “Maybe not. But I need money bad. I owe Krage. I almost
had him paid off. Then he started buying my little debts from
everybody else. That damned Gilbert! . . . I
need to get ahead enough so I don’t have to borrow
again.”
    The black castle. Two hundred twenty pieces of silver. How he
had been tempted to attack Raven. And Raven just smiled into the
wind, knowing exactly what he was thinking. “Where’re
you getting that money, Asa?”
    “Where did you get the money you paid Krage? Huh? People
are wondering, Shed. You don’t come up with that kind of
money overnight. Not you. You tell me and I’ll tell
you.” Shed backed down. Asa beamed in triumph.
    “You little snake. Get out before I lose my temper.”
Asa fled. He looked back once, face knotted thoughtfully. Damnit,
Shed thought. Made him suspicious. He ground his rag into a tacky
mug.
    “What was that?”
    Shed spun. Raven had come to the counter. His look brooked no
crap. Shed gave him the gist.
    “So Krage hasn’t quit.”
    “You don’t know him or you wouldn’t ask.
It’s you or him, Raven.”
    “Then it has to be him, doesn’t it?”
    Shed gaped. “A suggestion, Shed. Follow your friend when
he goes wood-gathering.” Raven returned to his seat. He spoke
to Darling animatedly, in sign, which he blocked from Shed’s
view. The set of the girl’s shoulders said she was against
whatever it was he was proposing. Ten minutes later he left the
Lily. Each afternoon he went out for a few hours. Shed suspected he
was testing Krage’s watchers.
    Darling leaned against the door frame, watching the street. Shed
watched her, his gaze sliding up and down her frame. Raven’s,
he thought. They’re thick. I don’t dare. But she was
such a fine looking thing, tall, lean of leg, ready for a
man . . . He was a fool. He did not need to get
caught in that trap, too. He had troubles enough.
    “I think
today would be good for it,” Raven said as Shed delivered his
breakfast.
    “Eh? Good for what?”
    “For a hike up the hill to watch friend Asa.”
    “Oh. No. I can’t. Got nobody to watch the
place.” Back by the counter, Darling bent to pick something
off the floor. Shed’s eyes widened and his heart fluttered.
He had to do something. Visit a whore, or something. Or get hurt.
But he couldn’t afford to pay for it. “Darling
couldn’t handle it alone.”
    “Your cousin Wally has stood in for you before.”
    Caught off balance, Shed could not marshall his excuses quickly.
And Darling was driving him to distraction. She had to start
wearing something that concealed the shape of her behind better.
“Uh . . . He couldn’t deal with
Darling. Doesn’t know the signs.”
    Raven’s face
darkened slightly. “Give her the day off. Get that girl Lisa
you used when Darling was sick.”
    Lisa, Shed thought. Another
hot one. “I only use Lisa when I’m here to watch
her.” A hot one not attached. “She’ll steal me
blinder than my mother . . . ”
    “Shed!”
    “Eh?”
    “Get Wally and Lisa here; then go keep an eye on Asa.
I’ll make sure they don’t carry off the family
silver.”
    “But . . . ”
    Raven
slapped a palm on the tabletop. “I said go!”
    The day was clear and bright and, for winter, warm. Shed picked
up Asa’s trail outside Krage’s establishment.
    Asa rented a wagon. Shed was amazed. In winter stable-keepers
demanded huge deposits. Draft animals slaughtered and eaten had no
provenance. He thought it a miracle anyone trusted Asa with a team.
Asa