Jimmy said, ‘I think he wanted it that way when he left Krondor. Had his own little operation down there, and his thief-catchers were pretty much running things. They arrested anyone dodgy who came to Land’s End, but ran their own dodges on the side, so the Baron’s men thought they needed to keep Gerem around. I tumbled the new Baron to the scam and he rewarded me with the gold. So, I just put him and his mob out of business.’
Jimmy thought it best not to mention that the ‘new Baron’ was a farm boy who hadn’t yet been approved by the King’s court in Rillanon, and that the ‘reward’ had come without Bram’s knowledge as Jimmy had pilfered quite a number of valuables from the unguarded manor house the night after everyone thought he had left Land’s End. He had taken what he could carry and easily dispose of; a brace of silver candlesticks and a handsome dagger owned by one of Bernarr’s ancestors; and he had agonized for a long time over which pieces of Lady Elaine’s jewels to lift and which to leave behind for Bram to give to Lorrie. He was still puzzled by what Coe had told him about the dead lady’s part in the events of that last night, but his sense of debt to her outweighed his greed and so he had stolen only a little from her. He had found eager buyers before reaching Krondor for the valuables, so by the time he entered the city he hadn’t had to deal with any of the local fences.
He had ridden in wearing a fancy coat and clean shirt, and the guards at the gate were far more interested in ruffians and thieves trying to leave the city than in a well-to-do lad from Land’s End arriving for a visit. He had sold the horse and saddle, so now all he had to show for his adventure was a fancy hat, coat, and another bag of gold he wasn’t sharing with the Upright Man.
The Daymaster studied Jimmy for a long moment, then said, ‘So what you’re saying is Land’s End is ripe for a well-spotted gang to move in?’
‘Exactly,’ said Jimmy, trying hard not to look too smug and failing miserably.
The Daymaster chuckled. ‘Well, I’ll speak to the Upright Man about it. Seems a good enough price for forgiveness if you brought us an entire town to run. Nicely situated, too, right there near the border with Kesh. You head out for your crib and lie low for a couple of days and if he says no, I’ll send you word on how much longer you have to hide out. Another month or two, I reckon. But if he says “good enough”, do you want to head back to Land’s End with the gang and help set it up?’
Jimmy got up out of the chair swiftly. ‘No, thanks,’ he answered. ‘I’ll stick to Krondor. Here, there are only crushers, guardsmen, soldiers and the occasional merchant with a knife to concern myself with. Child’s play. Country life is just a little too dangerous for my liking.’
With that, the boy thief turned his back on the Daymaster and returned to the sewers. Jimmy took a deep breath as he slogged down the filthy brick tunnel, and felt safely back in the place he counted as home. He knew the Upright Man would make him lay up for another week or so, just to ensure Jimmy didn’t mistake who was running the city, but he knew that there were purses to cut, and rooms to burgle and the Guild always was hungry for its cut. Sooner or later the word would arrive and Jimmy the Hand would return to his trade. He’d had enough of aiding princesses and farm girls, battling dark agents of some unknowable horror.
As he vanished into the murk, he started to whistle.
AFTERWORD
‘Why collaborate?’ I’m often asked.
This is the third book in the Legends of the Riftwar series. For the next few years I’m going to be concentrating on my solo works, but I plan on doing more collaborations in the future if I can. My reason for wanting to do them is twofold.
First, for me, Midkemia has always been about ‘other voices’. To understand what I mean, you have to remember that the world of Midkemia was developed as a role-playing campaign by a number of very bright people over a number of years while we were students at the University of California, San Diego, in the late 1970s.
To me, the personalities of those involved in creating the world had a profound effect on how I see Midkemia, its diversity and its unique qualities. When I choose a location in the world to place my work, the nature of that locale is often something that was decided by someone else years ago.
So working with other authors is a chance to bring ‘other voices’ into play. The first three, William R Forstchen, Joel Rosenberg, and the co-author of this book, Steve Stirling, are writers whose work I admire and enjoy. Their styles differ from mine in significant ways, but we all worked together easily.
The way we worked was remarkably similar, and very different from the way in which I worked with Janny Wurts on the Empire Trilogy. With Janny, we would pass chapters back and forth, rewriting several times until there were places I can’t tell you who wrote what.