King of Foxes by Raymond E. Feist Read Free Book Online

well?”
    “Well enough,” Tal whispered back. “Knowing Kaspar’s reputation, the animals won’t be as helpless as I indicated. Something nasty like lion or giant boar, I expect.”
    “He seems that sort of man,” observed Pasko.
    “What do you think of our new friend?”
    “He’s a bad cardplayer.”
    “Bad player or bad cheat?”
    “Both.”
    “What else?” asked Tal as Pasko pulled the linen shirt over his head.
    “He’s a weapon. Very dangerous, despite his claim to old age. He may be useful if you don’t cut yourself.”
    “I take your meaning.”
    “I will keep an eye on him for a while,” said Pasko.
    “He took oath.”
    “That is as it may be,” answered the wily old servant,
    “but he wouldn’t be the first man to foreswear in history.”
    “I made him swear at the Temple of Lims-Kragma.”
    Pasko considered as he pulled off Tal’s boots. “Some men are not even cowered by the Goddess of Death.”
    “Does he strike you as such?”
    “No, but did Nakor strike you as particularly dangerous upon meeting him for the first time?”
    “Your point is made. Keep an eye on him for a while.”
    Tal pulled off his leggings and small clothing and slipped under the quilted comforter on his bed. “Now, get out so I can sleep.”

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    KING OF FOXES
    41
    “Yes, master,” said Pasko as he stepped stealthily through the door.
    Tal lay quietly for a while. His mind was busy, and sleep was a long time in coming. For years his purpose had been only one thing: to avenge the destruction of his people. Of all those involved, only two principals were left: the Special Captain of Kaspar’s Household Guard, Quentin Havrevulen, and the Duke himself. Tal had already killed the others.
    He forced himself to calm, using one of the mind-relaxation drills taught him at Sorcerer’s Isle, and sleep finally came. But it wasn’t a relaxing sleep. Rather, it was filled with dreams and images of other places and times, his village in the mountains and his family, his mother, father, sister, brother, and grandfather. The girl he had dreamed of as a child, Eye of the Blue-Winged Teal. In his dream she sat upon a seat, one leg crossed under the other, wearing a simple buckskin summer dress, a faint smile on her lips. He awoke with a painful longing he thought he had eradicated in himself years before. He rolled over and willed himself back to sleep, and again the dreams came. It was a restless night, and he felt little benefit from his slumber when Pasko came and awoke him for the dawn’s hunt.

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    THREE
    HUNT
    The horse pawed the ground.
    Tal brought his gelding’s head around slightly, forcing him to pay attention to something besides his own boredom. The morning was crisp at first light, with a breeze coming off the ocean, but Tal knew it would be very hot by midday in the hills to the northeast of the city. Even before Duke Kaspar appeared, Tal knew they were after big game, lion or bear, perhaps even one of the more exotic creatures reputed to inhabit the higher mountains, the giant boars—whose tusks reputedly grew to three feet in length—or the valley sloth, twice the size of a horse and despite the name fast when it needed to be, and armed with claws the size of short swords. The array of weapons in the luggage told Tal what he needed to know about the coming hunt: there were boar-spears with crosspieces fastened above the broad blade to prevent the animal from _______________
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    RAYMOND E. FEIST
    running up the haft and goring the spearman; there were giant nets with weights at the edges, and heavy crossbows that could punch a hole the size of a man’s fist through plate armor.
    A dozen servants, another dozen guards, and livery boys to care for the horses also waited patiently upon the appearance of the Duke. Another six men had been leaving as Tal had arrived, trailbreakers and trackers wearing the King’s livery, who would mark the most likely game trails. Tal found it