"Yeah. That's the one you caught? Yeah. She's alive. Lady's orders, apparently. Nasty little witch. Let's hike around it."

We got onto the far slope, where the going was rough, to the accompaniment of constant crabbing by One-Eye. The Lieutenant stated the obvious. "No getting at it from here. Not without help from the Taken."

"Going to take a big lot of help to get at it from any direction."

He looked me a question.

I told him about Feather's troubles the night we took Shed and his barmaid.

"Anything since?"

"Nope. Not before, either. My man who's been inside never saw anything extraordinary, either. But, dammit, the thing connects with the Barrowland. It's got the Dominator behind it. You know it's not going to be a pushover. They know there's trouble out here."

One-Eye made a squeaking sound. "What?" the Lieutenant snapped.

One-Eye pointed. We all looked up the wall, which loomed a good sixty feet above us. I did not see anything. Neither did the Lieutenant. "What?" he asked again.

"Something was watching us. Nasty-looking critter."

"I saw it too," Elmo volunteered. "Long, skinny, yellowish guy with eyes like a snake."

I considered the wall. "How could you tell from here?"

Elmo shivered and shrugged. "I could. And I didn't like it. Looked like he wanted to bite me." We dragged on through brush and over boulders, keeping one eye on the castle, the other on the down slope. Elmo muttered, "Hungry eyes. That's what they were."

We reached the ridgeline west of the castle. The Lieutenant paused. "How close can you get?"

I shrugged. "I haven't had the balls to find out."

The Lieutenant moved here, there, as if sighting on something. "Let's bring up some prisoners and find out."

I sucked spittle between my teeth, then said, "You won't get the locals anywhere near the place."

"Think not? How about in exchange for a pardon? Candy's rounded up half the villains in the Buskin. Got a regular anti-crime crusade going. He gets three complaints about somebody, he nabs them."

"Sounds a little simple," I said. We were moving around for a look at the castle gate. By simple I meant simplistic, not easy.

The Lieutenant chuckled. Months of hardship had not sapped his bizarre sense of humor. "Simple minds respond to simple answers. A few months of Candy's reforms and the Duke will be a hero."

I understood the reasoning. Juniper was a lawless city, ruled by regional strongmen. There were hordes of Sheds who lived in terror, continuously victimized. Anyone who lessened the terror would win their affection. Adequately developed, that affection would survive later excesses.

I wondered, though, if the support of weaklings was worth much. Or if, should we successfully infect them with courage, we might not be creating trouble for ourselves later. Take away daily domestic oppression and they might imagine oppression on our part.