The White Rose

Chapter Fifty-Eight: END OF THE GAME

Then I spotted Raven.

"The damned fool."

He was leaning on Case, hobbling. He carried a bare sword. His face was set.

Trouble for sure. His step was not quite as feeble as he pretended.

It took no genius to guess what he had in mind. In his simple way of seeing things, he was going to make everything right with Darling by finishing off her big enemy.

The shakes came back, but this time not from fear. If somebody did not do something, I was going to be right in the middle. Right where I would have to make a choice, to act, and nothing I did would make anyone happy.

I tried distracting myself by testing the Lady's dressing.

Shadows fell upon us. I looked up into Silent's cold eyes, into Darling's more compassionate face. Silent cast a subtle glance Raven's way. He was in the middle, too.

The Lady clawed at my arm. "Lift me," she said.

I did. She was as weak as water. I had to support her.

"Not yet," she told Darling, as though Darling could hear. "He is not yet finished."

They had gotten a leg and an arm off the Dominator. Those they threw into the woodpile. Tracker hung on so they could carve on the Dominator's neck. Goblin and One-Eye stood by, waiting for the head, ready to run like hell. Some Guards planted the son of the tree. Windwhales and manias hovered overhead. Others, with the Taken, were harassing Toadkiller Dog and the savages through the forest.

Raven was getting closer. And I was no closer to knowing where I stood.

That son-of-a-bitching Dominator was tough. He killed a dozen men before they finished carving him up. Even then he was not dead. Like Limper's, his head lived on.

Time for Goblin and One-Eye. Goblin grabbed the still-living head, sat down, held it tightly between his knees. One-Eye hammered a six-inch silver spike through its forehead, into its brain. The Dominator's lips kept forming curses.

The nail would capture his blighted soul. The head would go into the fire. When that burned out, the spike would be recovered and driven into the trunk of the son of the tree. Meaning one dark spirit would be bound for a million years. Guards brought Limper parts to the fire, too. They did not find his head, though. The sodden walls of the trench whence the dragon had risen had collapsed upon it. Goblin and One-Eye torched the woodpile. The fire leapt up as if eager to fulfill its mission. The Limper's bolt had struck the Lady four inches from the heart, midway between her left breast and collarbone. I confess to a certain pride in having drawn it under such terrible circumstances without killing her. I should have incapacitated her left arm, though.

She now lifted that arm, reached out to Darling. Silent and I were puzzled. But only for a moment.

The Lady pulled Darling to her. She had no strength, so it must be that, in a way, Darling allowed herself to be pulled. Then she whispered, "The rite is complete. I name your true name, Tonie Fisk."

Darling screamed soundlessly. The null began to fray.

Silent's face blackened. For what seemed an eternity he stood there in obvious torment, torn between a vow, a love, a hatred, perhaps the concept of an obligation to a higher duty. Tears began coursing down his cheeks. I got an old wish, and was ready to cry myself when I did.

He spoke. "The ritual is closed." He had trouble shaping his words. "I name your true name, Dorotea Senjak. I name your true name, Dorotea Senjak." I thought he would collapse in a faint then. But he did not.

The women did.

Raven was getting closer. So I had a pain atop all the other pains.

Silent and I stared at one another. I suspect my face was as tormented as his. Then he nodded through his tears. There was peace between us. We knelt, untangled the women. He looked worried while I felt Darling's neck. "She'll be all right," I told him. The Lady, too, but he did not care about that.

I wonder still how much each of the women expected in that moment. How much each yielded to destiny. It marked their end as powers of the world. Darling had no null. The Lady had no magic. They had canceled one another out.

I heard screaming. Carpets were raining. All those Taken had been Taken by the Lady herself, and after what had happened on the Plain, she had made certain her fate would be their fate. So now they were undone, and soon dead.

Not much magic left on that field. Tracker, too, was a goner, mauled to death by the Dominator. I believe he died happy.

But there was no end yet. No. There was Raven.

Fifty feet away, he let go of Case and bore down like nemesis itself. His gaze was fixed on the Lady, though you could tell by his very step that He was on stage, that he was going to do a deed to win back Darling.

Well, Croaker? Can you let it happen?

The Lady's hand shivered in mine. Her pulse was feeble, but it was there. Maybe…

Maybe he would bluff.

I picked up my bow and the arrow recovered from Limper. "Stop, Raven."

He did not. I do not think he heard me. Oh, damn. If he didn't… It was going to get out of hand.

"Raven!" I bent the bow.

He stopped. He stared at me as if trying to recall who I was.

That whole battleground fell into silence. Every eye fixed upon us. Silent stopped moving Darling away, took up a sword, made certain he was between her and potential danger. It was almost amusing, the two of us there, like twins, standing guard over women whose hearts we could never have.

One-Eye and Goblin began drifting our way. I had no idea where they stood. Wherever, I did not want them involved. This had to be made into Raven against Croaker.

Damn. Damn. Damn. Why couldn't he just go away?

"It's over. Raven. There ain't going to be no more killing." I think my voice began to rise in pitch. "You hear? It's lost and won."

He looked at Silent and Darling, not at me. And took a step.

"You want to be the next guy dead?" Damn it, nobody could ever bluff him. Could I do it? I might have to.

One-Eye stopped a careful ten feet to one side. "What are you doing, Croaker?"

I was shaking. Everything but my hands and arms, though my shoulders had begun to ache with the strain of keeping my arrow drawn. "What about Elmo?" I asked, my throat tight with emotion. "What about the Lieutenant?"

"No good," he replied, telling me what I already knew in my heart. "Gone. Why don't you put the bow down?"

"When he drops the sword." Elmo had been my best friend for more years than I cared to count. Tears began to blur my vision. "They're gone. That leaves me in charge, right? Senior officer surviving? Right? My first order is, peace breaks out. Right now. She made this possible. She gave herself up for this. Nobody touches her now. Not while I'm alive."

"Then we'll change that," Raven said. He started moving.

"Damned stubborn fool!" One-Eye shrieked. He flung himself toward Raven. I heard Goblin pattering up behind me. Too late. Both too late. Raven had a lot more fire in him than anyone suspected. And he was more than a little crazy.

I yelled, "No!" and let fly.

The arrow took Raven in the hip. In the very side he had been pretending was crippled. He wore a look of amazement as he stumbled. Lying there on the ground, his sword eight feet away, he looked up at me, still unable to believe that, in the end, I was not bluffing.

I had trouble believing it myself.

Case yelled and tried to jump me. Hardly looking at him, I whacked him up side the head with my bow. He went away and fussed over Raven.

Silence, and stillness, again. Everyone looking at me. I slung rny bow. "Fix him up, One-Eye." I limped over to the Lady, knelt, lifted her. She seemed awfully light and fragile for one who had been so terrible. I followed Silent toward what was left of the town. The barracks'were still burning. We made an odd parade, the two of us lugging women. "Company meeting tonight," I threw out.at the Company survivors. "You all be there."

I would not have believed myself capable before I did it. I carried her all the way to Blue Willy. And my ankle never hurt till I put her down.