D& D - Greyhawk - Night Watch by Robin Wayne Bailey Read Free Book Online Page B

two subterranean levels. Only very special prisoners or prisoners awaiting trial were kept there. Most of those convicted of major crimes were either executed, banished, or sent to, workhouses in each of the quarters for a period of hard labor. For minor crimes, usually a heavy fine, or perhaps the loss of a hand, finger, or ear, was the expected punishment. In that way the city saved itself the cost of feeding and housing the perpetrator.
    As Garett passed by, a group of prisoners were led out of the jail and into the light by a patrol of seven men and hus-tled toward the Hall of Justice. He watched them go, studying the sullen faces, then continued on.
    The Processional skirted the eastern edge of the High Market, where only the most accomplished artisans and vendors of the finest wares were allowed to set up shops. The square was crowded today. Scores of patrician ladies with their husbands and servants squeezed among the narrow rows of open-fronted tents for a better look at the merchandise. It amused Garett to watch these most upstanding of Greyhawk’s citizens elbow and nudge and curse each other as they vied for an expensive vase or a bolt of material the way poorer men might fight over a melon in the Petit Bazaar. His father had sometimes brought him here to sell baskets, and almost always, it was with a sense of relief that Dranh returned home at the end of the day.
    “Good day, Captain Starlen!” A bald-headed halfling, draped in soft blue silk, whose belly hung over his belt, waved cheerfully to Garett from a throng of shoppers. Garett didn’t recognize him at all, but he forced a smile and returned the wave as he passed on.
    “Ho, Cap’n!”
    From the corner of his eye, Garett saw something hurtling at his head. An apple, he realized at the last instant, and instead of ducking, he snatched it out of the air, took a bite, and turned to greet the prettiest merchant this side of the Nyr Dyv.
    “Hello, Vendredi,” he said, pushing his way as politely as he could through the crowd that was gathered around Vendredi’s baskets of fruit. Several customers gave him vile looks until they realized who he was. He worked his way around to the side of the counter board where he would be out of the press.
    Vendredi stepped from the shade of her tent into the sunlight and smiled up at Garett. Her red hair shimmered, as did the flesh of her ample breasts above the low cut of her dress. “Nice catch,” she commented dryly as she reached up and took a bite of his apple before returning it to him.
    “One day, I’m going to bounce one of these off your noggin, though.” She shot a look suddenly toward a customer at the far end of the counter board.
    “Now isn’t that really stupid?” she scolded the man sharply. “What with a City Watch commander standing right here?” She gestured toward Garett while all the other customers grew suddenly quiet and backed up a bit.
    The would-be thief paled as he stared at the gold-embroidered insignia so prominently displayed on Garett’s chest. Garett merely folded his arms and glared. The thief swallowed and slowly lowered his arm. A fat pear rolled out of the loose sleeve, back into the basket it had come from.
    “I swear,” the thief protested. “It got there by accident.” He forced a weak smile and tilted his head.
    Vendredi put on a stern face. “Then I’d better see a pair of commons accidentally appear on my palm before my friend here,” she said, again gesturing toward Garett, “becomes angry and decides to rush to my defense! ” She held her hand under the man’s nose.
    “A pair of commons!” the thief sputtered. “For a pear?”
    Garett took a bite of his apple, letting a trace of juice run from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. “It’s cheaper than the fine a magistrate would levy,” he said quietly as he chewed.
    The thief swallowed again and reached into a small leather purse that hung from his belt. That alone told