Rage of a Demon King by Raymond E. Feist Read Free Book Online Page A

been in love with the man who had held the position of sergeant major before him. Bobby had been a difficult, even cruel, man at times, but he had, treated the young girl with nothing but respect since she had come to the inn.
    Erik had asked James if the girl did more than tend bar, but the Duke had simply replied he waspleased with the girl’s services since she had become one of his agents. Erik knew her primary job was to keep alert for any Mocker, a member of the Guild of Thieves of Krondor, attempting to enter the Broken Shield.
    “What’s new?” asked Erik as he reached the bar.
    “Not much,” said Kitty, retrieving a large jack from under the counter, then filling it at the ale tap. “Just those two in from somewhere.” With a motion of her chin she indicated two men sitting at a corner table.
    “Who are they?” asked Erik, then took a long pull on the ale. Say what you will, he thought, about being told to frequent only this one inn: at least the Duke kept it serving only the finest ale and food.
    Kitty shrugged. “Didn’t say. They sound like Easterners to me. Certainly not from around here.” She picked up a bar rag and began wiping imaginary spills. “One of them is quiet, the dark fellow in the corner, but the other talks enough for both of them.”
    Erik shrugged. While the inn was known to locals as being the hangout of garrison soldiers off duty, a few strangers wandered in from time to time, and although the staff was always on the lookout for spies and informers, most of those strangers had legitimate business in the area. Those few who didn’t were either followed out by Duke James’ agents or conducted to a basement room for interrogation, depending on the Duke’s instructions.
    Erik glanced around and noticed that none of the girls who serviced the soldiers were in view. He glanced at Kitty and found he preferred talking to her for the moment. “The girls keeping out of sight?”
    “Meggan and Heather are working tonight,” said Kitty. “They ducked out when the strangers arrived.”
    Erik nodded. “The special girls?”
    “One’s on the way,” said Kitty. The special girls were agents of the Duke, and when a stranger stayed too long at the inn, one quickly appeared, ready to accompany the stranger and ferret out whatever information might prove useful.
    Erik found himself wondering who had taken up the role of “Spymaster,” as Erik was certain that had been one of Bobby de Loungville’s many masks. Certainly it wasn’t Captain Calis, and Erik knew it wasn’t himself.
    “What are you thinking?” asked Kitty.
    “Just wondering about our”—glancing at the two strangers, he changed what he was about to say—“landlord’s employees.”
    Kitty raised her eyebrows in question. “What do you mean?”
    Erik shrugged. “It’s probably none of my business, anyway. A man can get too curious.”
    Kitty leaned forward, elbows on the bar, and said, “Curiosity is what got me the death mark.”
    Erik raised his eyebrow. “The Mockers?”
    “Rumor reached me a few weeks ago. An old friend thought to warn me. The Upright Man has returned, or at least someone claiming to be the Upright Man, and I’m being blamed for some troubles beyond the death of Sam Tannerson.”
    Tannerson had been a bully and thief who had killed Kitty’s sister as a warning to Roo not to do business in the Poor Quarter without paying bribes. It had been a bloody business and had resulted in both Roo and Kitty finding themselves in need of the Duke’s protection.
    “What sort of troubles?”
    “Something to do with the previous leader of the Mockers, the Sagacious Man, having to flee Krondor.” She sighed. “Anyway, if I venture out of this inn after dark, or into the Poor Quarter at any time, I’m dead.”
    Erik said, “That’s a heavy burden.”
    Kitty shrugged as if it wasn’t important. “Life is like that.”
    Erik sipped his ale. He studied the girl. When she had first been captured, she