Shards of a Broken Crown by Raymond Feist Read Free Book Online

away from where Dash watched, hammering at the ice with
a rock. Up and down the rock moved, and Dash couldn’t help but
be fascinated with the sight.
    Dash couldn’t
get a good look at the man, but his clothing seemed a hodgepodge of
rags and ill-matched garments. He might have worn boots, but all Dash
could see was a collection of rags tied around each foot for warmth.
    Dash saw
movement in the woods beyond the pond and judged Jimmy was in place.
He waited.
    Jimmy walked
slowly out of the woods and the man leaped to his feet with
astonishing speed. He turned away as Jimmy shouted, “Wait! I
won’t hurt you!”
    Dash slowly took
out his sword as the tatters-clad man hurried toward him, trying to
keep his movement from alerting the ragged man. As the man reached
the first line of trees, Dash stepped out, extending his foot, and
tripped him.
    The man went
down in a tangle of clothes and turned over, scuttling backward as he
shouted, “Don’t kill me!”
    Dash moved
quickly to put the point of his sword before the man’s face, as
Jimmy caught up, out of breath.
    Dash said,
“We’re not going to hurt you.” To demonstrate his
good intentions, he quickly sheathed his sword. “Get up.”
    The man got up
slowly as Jimmy leaned over, hands on knees, and said, “He’s
fast.”
    Dash grinned.
“You’d have caught him had you had another mile or so to
overtake him. You’ve always had endurance, if not speed.”
Turning his attention to the figure on the ground, he said, “Who
are you and what were you doing?”
    The man slowly
rose, as if ready to bolt at the slightest threat, and said, “I
am called Malar Enares, young masters.” He was a slender man,
with a hawk nose sticking out over a large rag wrapped around his
face. His eyes were dark, and they shifted back and forth between the
brothers. “I was fishing.”
    Jimmy and Dash
exchanged glances, and Dash said, “With a rock?”
    “To break
the ice, young sir. Then when the fish comes up to sun himself, I
would strip bark and make a noose.”
    Jimmy said, “You
were going to snare a fish?”
    “It is
easy if you but have patience and a steady hand, young sir.”
    Dash said, “I
hear Kesh in your speech.”
    “Oh, no,
mercy, young sir. I am but a humble servant of a great trader of
Shamata, Kiran Hessen.”
    Jimmy and Dash
had both heard the name. A trader with Keshian connections who did a
great deal of business with the late Jacob Esterbrook. Since the
destruction of Krondor, the boys’ father, Lord Arutha, had
pieced together several accounts that had clearly indicated two
facts, that Esterbrook had been a long-standing agent of Great Kesh,
and that he and his daughter were both dead. Jimmy could see what
Dash was thinking: if Esterbrook had been a Keshian agent, so then
could Kiran Hessen.
    “Where is
your master now?” asked James.
    “Oh, dead
I fear,” said the thin man with a display of regret. “Fourteen
years was I his servant, and he a generous master. Now I am alone in
this cold place.”
    James said,
“Well, why don’t you tell us this story.”
    “And show
us how you planned on catching those fish,” said Dash.
    “If I
might have some hair from your horses’ manes,” said the
ragged man. “Then it would be so much easier.”
    “Horses?”
asked Dash.
    “Two young
noblemen such as yourselves didn’t walk into this forsaken
wilderness, I am certain,” supplied Malar. “And I heard
one of them snorting a moment again.” He pointed. “That
way.”
    Jimmy nodded.
“That’s fair.”
    “What do
you need hair from their manes for?” asked Dash.
    “Let me
show you.”
    He walked toward
the place where Dash’s horse had been tied, and said, ‘
“The ice was almost broken when you startled me, young sir. If
you would but use the hilt of your sword to break it open, that would
be a great service.”
    Jimmy nodded and
started back toward the icy pond.
    Dash asked,
“Now, about how you came to be lost in this