‘I need the gold,’ said Duke James.
‘I know, m’lord,’ answered Roo, ‘but there’s no more gold to be had.’
‘There’s always more,’ said Duke James. Roo noticed he looked fatigued, with heavy circles under his eyes, as if he hadn’t been sleeping much lately. The tension in the city was mounting and rumors of war were circulating. The word of a great sea battle at Banapis off the Straits of Darkness had been carried into the city the day before, and now ships were overdue from the Free Cities and Far Coast.
Roo said, ‘If you raise taxes, perhaps you can squeeze a bit more from the tradesmen and farmers, but the business community is very nervous now. Much of the gold you’re talking about has been bleeding to the East for the last few months.’
‘No small part of it yours!’ said the Duke, slamming his hand on the table.
Roo’s eyes widened. ‘I’ve done nothing any man in my situation wouldn’t have done, m’lord!’ Roo’s words were hot and for an instant he almost forgot who he was talking to, but he had his anger in check, if barely. ‘I have given you every copper piece it is prudent for me to give. If I give you more, you’ll kill the cow for the milk.’
James looked at the small man. ‘Then we kill the cow. I need another month’s worth of stores and arms, and I need them yesterday.’
Roo sighed. ‘I’m going to dine with Jacob Esterbrook tonight, and I’ll see what I can squeeze out of him.’
James looked at Roo for a long, silent minute. ‘He’ll better you at this point.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘He’ll know you need to raise gold quickly and he’ll want something you don’t want to sell him.’
Roo considered that for a moment. ‘If this army isn’t defeated, nothing I have will be of importance. If I have to take a loss now, what does it matter?’ He stood up. ‘If I have your leave, I need to be back at Barret’s by three of the clock, and I still have two other stops to make. I must set a few things up.’
As Roo bowed and turned to the door, James said, ‘Rupert?’
‘What, m’lord?’ asked the little man, turning to regard the Duke.
‘Have you many holdings in Landreth and Shamata?’
‘Both, Your Grace.’
James measured his words. ‘You might do well to move whatever you have of worth to the north side of the Sea of Dreams.’
‘Why, my lord?’
‘Just a thought,’ said the Duke, returning his attention to the papers he had been reviewing when Roo had arrived.
Roo let himself out. In the outer office of James’s secretary hung a large wall map of the Western Realm. Roo glanced at it, at the area around the Sea of Dreams. The Vale of Dreams had been in Kingdom hands for almost a hundred years, but had long been an area of dispute between the Kingdom and Great Kesh. Roo touched the map, at Land’s End. There was the westernmost Kingdom outpost on the shore of the Bitter Sea. To the northeast of it lay a small inlet, called Shandon Bay. A small town, Dacadia, was the only population of size between Land’s End and the Sea of Dreams. He traced his finger along a line of hills that moved eastward from the coast, south of Land’s End, to a point where it met the river that linked the Bitter Sea and the Sea of Dreams. Then Roo looked at the surrounding countryside, from the Great Star Lake and Stardock, back up the river to the Sea of Dreams. To the east of the Great Star Lake, the mountains called the Grey Range rose up. Suddenly Roo’s eyes opened. ‘He wouldn’t!’
James’s personal secretary said, ‘What, sir?’
Roo laughed. ‘Never mind.’
As he left the office of the Duke of Krondor, Roo said, ‘By damn, I bet he did!’
With what was close to a dance step, Roo hurried down the stairs leading from the palace to the courtyard where a lackey was holding his horse. He took the reins, and as he turned his mount to the gate of the palace, he glanced around at the very busy marshalling yard and wondered where Erik was. He hadn’t seen him since Banapis, and he was starting to worry about his friend.
Then his mood darkened as he considered that it was only a few more weeks before this city was in the grip of war. Putting heels to his mount, Roo moved toward the gate and threw a lazy salute to the lieutenant who commanded there. The young soldier returned it, for Roo Avery was a common sight at the palace and was known to be a friend of the Duke. Which, along with his vast wealth, made him one of Krondor’s most important men.
Jacob Esterbrook said, ‘Have you given any thought to my offer?’