Krondor the Assassins by Raymond E. Feist Read Free Book Online Page B

retire.’’
    Arutha nodded. ‘‘I see. Can we speak of this over supper?’’
    The Knight-Marshal said, ‘‘If you wish.’’
    ‘‘I do.’’ Turning to the squires, Arutha said, ‘‘Locklear, you’d best be getting ready for your journey tomorrow morning. I’ll have travel warrants and orders sent to your quarters. Leave with the dawn patrol to Sarth. If I fail to see you before then, have a safe journey to Tyr-Sog.’’
    Locklear tried to keep his expression neutral as he answered,
    ‘‘Thank you, Your Highness.’’
    Arutha turned to James and said again, ‘‘You know what to do.’’
    Arutha and Gardan turned toward the royal apartments as the two squires moved in the other direction. When they were 47

    R A Y M O N D E . F E I S T
    out of hearing distance, Locklear mimicked the Prince: ‘‘ ‘You know what to do.’ All right: what is this all about?’
    James sighed and said, ‘‘It means I don’t get any sleep tonight.’’
    Locklear said, ‘‘Is this your way of telling me it’s none of my business?’’
    ‘‘Yes,’’ James answered. He said nothing more as they moved to the wing of the palace which housed their quarters. Reaching the door to Locklear’s room, James said, ‘‘I probably won’t see you before you leave, also, so take care not to get yourself killed.’’
    Locklear shook hands, then embraced his best friend. ‘‘I’ll try not to.’’
    James grinned. ‘‘Good, then with luck we’ll see you at Mid-summer’s Festival, assuming you don’t do anything to cause Arutha to keep you up there longer than that.’’
    Locklear said, ‘‘I’ll be good.’’
    ‘‘See that you are,’’ instructed James.
    He left his friend and hurried to his own quarters. Being a member of the Prince’s court merited James a room of his own, but since he was only a squire, it was a modest one; a bed, a table for writing or eating a solitary meal, and a double door wooden wardrobe. James closed the door to his room, locking it behind him, and undressed. He was wearing travel clothing, but it was still too conspicuous for what he needed to do.
    Opening his wardrobe, he moved aside a bundle of shirts in need of laundry, and beneath those he found what he was looking for. A dark gray tunic and dark blue trousers, patched and mended and looking far dirtier than they actually were.
    He dressed in those, pulled on his oldest boots and slipped a well-made but plain-looking dagger into his boot-sheath. Then 48

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    once again looking like a creature of the streets, he slipped out through the door of his quarters, avoiding servants and guards as he made his way down into the palace cellar.
    Soon he was moving through a secret passage that connected the palace with the city sewers, and as night fell on Krondor Jimmy the Hand once more moved along the Thieves’ Highway.
    The sun had set by the time James reached the transition point between the sewer under the palace and the city sewer system.
    The sky above might still be light for a while, but beneath the streets it was as dark as night. During the day there were places in the sewer where illumination filtered down from above, tunnels close to the surface where culverts had broken through, others below streets where missing stones or open drains admitted daylight.
    But after sundown, the entire system was pitch-black, save for a few locations with light sources of their own, and only an expert could move through the maze of passages safely.
    From the moment he left the palace, James knew exactly where he was.
    While a member of the Guild of Thieves, the Mockers, James had learned every trick of survival that harsh circumstance, opportunity, and keen native intelligence had presented to him. He moved silently to a stash he had prepared and moved a false stone. It was fashioned from cloth, wood, and paint, and in light far brighter than any likely to ever be present here, it would withstand