Jimmy hurried down the hall toward the Prince’s private chambers. He had been sent to carry messages to the commander of the city watch and was returning with the commander at his side. Arutha had become a man driven by his need to find the hidden assassins. He had put aside all other matters. The daily business of the Principality had slowed, then had finally come to a halt, while Arutha searched for the Nighthawks.
Jimmy knocked upon the door to the Prince’s chamber; he and the commander of the watch were admitted. Jimmy went to stand next to Laurie and Duchess Carline while the commander came to attention before the Prince. Gardan, Captain Valdis, and Earl Volney were arrayed behind the Prince’s chair. Arutha looked up at the commander. “Commander Bayne? I sent you orders; I didn’t request your presence.”
The commander, a greying veteran who had begun service thirty years before, said, “Highness, I read your orders. I came back with the squire to confirm them.”
“They are correct as written, Commander. Now, is there anything else?”
Commander Bayne flushed, his anger apparent as he bit off each word. “Yes, Highness. Have you lost your bloody mind?” Everyone in the room was stunned by the outburst. Before Gardan or Volney could censure the commander’s remarks, he continued, “This order as written means I’ll be putting over a thousand more men in the lockup. In the first place -”
“Commander!” snapped Volney, recovering from his surprise.
Ignoring the stout Earl, the commander plunged forward with his complaint. “In the first place, this business of arresting anyone “not commonly or well known to at least three citizens of good standing” means every sailor in Krondor for the first time, traveller, vagabond, minstrel, drunk, beggar, whore, gambler, and just plain stranger are to be whisked away without hearing before a magistrate, in violation of the common law. Second, I don’t have the men to do the job properly. Third, I don’t have enough cells for those who are to be picked up and questioned, not even enough for those who will stay on due to unsatisfactory answers. Hell, I can barely find room for the ones who are already behind bars. And last, the whole thing stinks to high heaven. Man, are you daft? You’ll have open rebellion in the city within two weeks. Even that bastard Radburn never tried anything like this.”
“Commander, that will be enough!” roared Gardan.
“You forget yourself!” said Volney.
“It’s His Highness who forgets himself, my lords. And unless lese majesty’s been returned to the list of felonies of the Kingdom, I’ll speak my mind.”
Arutha fixed the commander with a steady gaze. “Is that all?”
“Not by half,” snapped the commander. “Will you rescind this order?”
Showing no emotion, Arutha said, “No.”
The commander reached for his badge of rank and pulled it from his tunic. “Then find another to punish the city, Arutha conDoin. I’ll not do it.”
“Fine.” Arutha took the badge. He handed it to Captain Valdis and said, “Locate the senior watchman and promote him.”
The now former commander said, “He’ll not do it, Highness. The watch is with me to a man.” He leaned forward, knuckles on Arutha’s conference table, until his eyes were level with the Prince’s. “You’d better send in your army. My lads will have none of it. When this is over, it’ll be them who’ll be in the streets after dark, in twos and threes, trying to bring sanity back to a city gone mad and hateful. You brought this on; you deal with it.”
Arutha spoke evenly. “That will be all. You are dismissed.” He said to Valdis, “Send detachments from the garrison and take command of the watch posts. Any watchman who wishes to stay employed is welcomed. Any who refuses this order is to be stripped of his tabard.”
Biting back hot words, the commander stiffly turned and left the room. Jimmy shook his head and shot a worried glance at Laurie. The former minstrel would understand as well as the former thief what sort of trouble was brewing in the streets.
For another week Krondor stagnated under martial law. Arutha turned a deaf ear to all requests to end the quarantine. By the end of the third week every man or woman who could not be properly identified was under arrest. Jimmy had communicated with agents of the Upright Man who assured Jimmy that the Mockers were conducting their own housecleaning. Six bodies had been found floating in the bay so far.
Now Arutha and his advisers were ready to conduct the business of interrogating the captives. A large section of warehouses in the north end of the city near the Merchants Gate had been converted to jails. Arutha, surrounded by a company of grim-faced guards, looked over the first five prisoners brought forward.
Jimmy stood off to one side and could hear a soldier mumble to another, “At this rate we’ll be here a year talking to all these lads.”