Asa made sounds that indicated he had been having similar thoughts. Which explained why he was anxious to get back to town.

"You see anything when you were there, Asa?" "No. But I seen where the grass was trampled like something was coming and going."

"You pay attention when we get there, One-Eye. I don't want no surprises."

Twenty minutes later Asa told me, "Almost there. Maybe two hundred yards up the creek. Can I stay here?"

"Quit asking stupid questions." I glanced at Hagop, who pointed out tracks. Somebody was ahead of us still. "Dismount. And stow the chatter. Finger talk from here on in. You, Asa. don't open your mouth for nothing.

Understand?"

We dismounted, drew our weapons, went forward under cover of One-Eye's spell. Hagop and I reached the clearing first. I grinned, waved One-Eye forward, pointed. He grinned too.

I waited a couple of minutes, for the right time, then strode out, stepped up behind the man, and grabbed his shoulder. "Marron Shed."

He shrieked and tried to pull a knife, tried to run at the same time. Kingpin and Hagop headed him off and herded him back. By that time I was kneeling where he had knelt, examining the scatter of bones.

Chapter Forty-Four:
MEADENVIL: THE CLEARING

I looked up at Shed. He looked resigned. "Caught up faster than you expected, eh?"

He babbled. I could make little sense of what he said because he was talking about several things at once. Raven. Black castle creatures. His chance to make a new life.

What-not.

"Calm down and be quiet. Shed. We're on your side." I explained the situation, telling him we had four days to find Darling. He found it difficult to believe that the girl who had worked in the Iron Lily could be the Rebel's White Rose. I did not argue, just presented the facts. "Four days. Shed. Then the Lady and Taken could be here. And I guarantee you she'll be looking for you. too. By now they know we faked your death. By now they've probably questioned enough people to have an idea what was going on. We're fighting for our lives, Shed." I looked at the big black lump and said to no one in particular. "And that thing don't help one damned bit."

I looked at the bones again. "Hagop, see what you can make of this. One-Eye, you and Asa go over exactly what he saw that day. Walk through it. Kingpin, you play Raven for them. Shed, come here with me."

I was pleased. Both Asa and Shed did as they were told. Shed, though shaken by our return to the stage of his life, did not seem likely to panic. I watched him as Hagop examined the ground inch by inch. Shed seemed to have grown, to have found something in himself that had not had a chance in the sterile soil of Juniper.