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Croaker?" "Just everything you found out since you been here. Especially about
Raven. But also about that guy Asa. And the tavern-keeper." "Shed? I saw him
the other day. At least I think I did. Didn't realize it was him till later.
He was dressed different. Yeah. Pawn told me he got away. The Asa guy, too.
Him I think I know where to find. The Shed guy, though.... Well, if you really
want him, you'll have to start looking where I thought I saw him." "He see
you?" That idea caught Kingpin by surprise. Apparently, it hadn't occurred to
him to wonder. He isn't the brightest fellow sometimes. "I don't think so." We
went into a tavern favored by foreign sailors. The customers were a polyglot
lot and as ragged as we were. They spoke a dozen languages. We settled in at a
table, used the language of the Jewel Cities. Kingpin did not speak it well,
but understood it. I doubted that anyone else there could follow our
discussion. "Raven," I said. "That's what I want to know about, Kingpin." He
told us a story which matched Asa's closely, the edges being about as uneven
as you would expect from someone who hadn't been an eyewitness. "You still
think he faked it?" One-Eye asked. "Yeah. It's half hunch, but I think he did.
Maybe when we go look the place over, I'll change my mind. There a way you
guys could tell if he's in town?" They put their heads together, returned a
negative opinion. "Not without we had something that belonged to him to start
with," Goblin opined. "We don't got that." "Kingpin. What about Darling? What
about Raven's ship?" "Huh?" "What happened to Darling after Raven supposedly
died? What happened to his ship?'' "I don't know about Darling. The ship is
tied up down at its dock." We exchanged glances around the table. I said,
"That ship gets visited if we have to fight our way aboard. Those papers I
told you about. Asa couldn't account for them. I want them to turn up. They're
the only thing we got that can get the Lady off our back." "If there is a
Lady," One-Eye said. "Won't be much pumpkin if the Dominator broke through."
"Don't even think that." For no sound reason I had convinced myself that the
Lady had won. Mostly, it was wishful thinking, I'm sure. "Kingpin, we're going
to visit that ship tonight. What about Darling?" "Like I said. I don't know."
"You were supposed to look out for her." "Yeah. But she kind of vanished."
"Vanished? How?" "Not how, Croaker," One-Eye said, in response to vigorous
signing from Silent. "How is irrelevant now. When." "All right. When,
Kingpin?" "I don't know. Nobody's seen her since the night before Raven died."
"Bingo," Goblin said in a soft, awed voice. "Damn your eyes, Croaker, your
instincts were right." "What?" Kingpin asked. "There's no way she would have
disappeared beforehand unless she knew something was going to happen."
"Kingpin," I said, "did you go look at the place they were staying? Inside, I
mean." "Yeah. Somebody got there before me." "What?" "The place was cleaned
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out. I asked the innkeeper. He said they didn't move out. They was paid up for
another month. That sounded to me like somebody knew about Raven getting
croaked and decided to clean his place out. I figured it was that Asa. He
disappeared right after." "What did you do then?" "What? I figured you guys
didn't want Bullock back in Juniper, so we got him charged with Raven's
murder. There was plenty of witnesses besides us saw them fighting. Enough to
maybe convince a court we really saw what we said." "You do anything to trace
Darling?" Kingpin had nothing to say. He stared at his hands. The rest of us
exchanged irritated glances. Goblin muttered, "I told Elmo it was dumb to send
him." I guess it was. In minutes we had come up with several loose ends
overlooked by Kingpin. "How come you're so damned worried about it, anyway,
Croaker?" Kingpin demanded. "I mean, it all looks like a big so-what to me."
"Look, King. Like it or not, when the Taken turned on us, we got pushed over
to the other side. We're White Rose now. Whether we want it or not. They're
going to come after us. The only thing the Rebel has going is the White Rose.
Right?" "If there is a White Rose." "There is. Darling is the White Rose."
"Come on, Croaker. She's a deaf-mute." One-Eye observed, "She's also a magical
null-point." "Eh?" "Magic won't work around her. We noticed that clean back at
Charm. And if she follows true for her sort, the null will get stronger as she
gets older." I recalled noting oddities about Darling during the battle of
Charm, but hadn't made anything of it then. "What are you talking about?" "I
told you. Some people are negatives. Instead of having a talent for sorcery,
they go the other way. It won't work around them. And when you think about it,
that's the only way the White Rose makes sense. How could a deaf and dumb kid
grow up to challenge the Lady or Dominator on their own ground? I'll bet the
original White Rose didn't." I didn't know. There had been nothing in the
histories about her powers or their noteworthy absence. "This makes it more
important to find her." One-Eye nodded. Kingpin looked baffled. It was easy to
fuddle King, I decided. I explained. "If magic won't work around her, we've
got to find her and stay close. Then the Taken won't be able to hurt us."
One-Eye said, "Don't forget that they have whole armies they can send after
us." "If they want us that bad.... Oh my." "What?" "Elmo. If he didn't get
killed. He knows enough to put the whole empire on our trail. Maybe not so
much for us as in hopes we'll lead them to Darling." "What're we going to do?"
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