Tim nodded, and suddenly the two guards gripping McCraken’s arms tightened their grip, holding him motionless. Jacoby swiftly drew a poniard from his belt and drove it into McCraken’s stomach. “You should have stayed in the warehouse, McCraken. Briggs is dead, and now”—the accountant slumped in the grip of the two guards—“so are you.” With a motion of his head he indicated they should dispose of the body in the harbor. The two guards took two steps down the stairs beside the longboat and threw the body into the water a few feet in front of the bow. Another body found floating in the harbor would hardly be worth mention in Krondor.
Roo waited until he calculated almost all the gold was loaded on the boat, then he stepped out and with as much authority as he could muster shouted, “Don’t move! You’re surrounded.”
As he hoped, those near the wagon and the boat couldn’t see who was out there in the fog, and that hesitation gave Roo the advantage he had hoped for; had they instantly charged him, as good a swordsman as he was, he would have been overwhelmed.
A strangled cry sounded from the back of the wagon and a man fell to the cobbles. Roo wondered at this, until he heard Duncan’s voice shout, “We told you not to move!”
One man near the body glanced down and said, “It’s a dagger! This ain’t the City Watch!”
He took a step and was brought down by another dagger, and a different voice said, “We never said we were the City Watch.” Moving slowly forward from beyond the other side of the building that had sheltered Roo, a figure could be dimly seen. Roo thought he recognized the voice, and then he made out some familiar features. Dashel Jameson walked casually forward until he was visible to both sides.
In the distance, hooves striking cobbles could be heard and Dash said, “And we also have reinforcements on their way. Put down your weapons.”
Some of the men hesitated, when a third dagger sped out of the darkness from where Dashel had emerged and thudded into the side of the wagon. “He said put down your weapons!” shouted a different, odd-sounding voice.
Roo prayed to Ruthia, Goddess of Luck, that it was Luis and his men whose hooves clattered through the early morning, approaching rapidly. Jacoby’s guards slowly knelt, placing weapons on the cobbles.
Roo waited another moment, then came forward. “Good morning, Timothy, Randolph.” He tried to sound casual.
Jacoby said, “You!”
Just then Luis rode into view and a dozen horsemen came after, fanning out to surround those men already on the ground. Several carried crossbows, which they leveled at the wagons and at the boat.
“Did you think I’d let you flee with my gold?”
Jacoby nearly spat, he was so angry. “What do you mean, your gold?”
Roo said, “Come along, Tim. McCraken and Briggs told us everything.”
Jacoby said, “Briggs? How could he? We—”
“Shut up, you fool!” commanded Randolph.
Roo glanced to where McCraken floated in the bay. “So you sent Herbert to join Briggs, did you?”
“I’ll send you to join them in hell!” snapped Timothy Jacoby, pulling his sword from his belt, despite the crossbows pointed his way.
“No!” shouted Randolph, pushing his brother aside as three bolts were unleased.
Two bolts took Randolph in the chest and another in the neck, and blood exploded across the men standing behind him. He hit the ground like a fly swatted out of the air by a human hand.
Tim Jacoby rose up from the ground, holding his sword in one hand and a poniard in the other, and there was only madness and rage in his eyes. Luis started to draw back his dagger to throw, but Roo said, “No! Let him come. It’s time to finish this.”
“You’ve been a thorn in my side since the day we met,” said Tim Jacoby. “You’ve killed my brother!”
Roo leveled his sword and said, “And Helmut died at your hands.” He motioned for Jacoby to come toward him. “Come on! What are you waiting for?”
The men stepped back and Jacoby rushed Roo. Roo was the experienced soldier, while Jacoby was nothing more than a murdering bully, but now he was a murdering bully inflamed by hatred and the desire for revenge.
He closed on Roo faster than he’d anticipated, and Roo was forced to defend and retreat against the lethal two-handed attack.
“Light!” commanded Duncan, and quickly men opened the shutters on the one lamp, throwing an eerie glow through the fog as the two men struggled. One of the horsemen jumped down, opened a saddlebag, and pulled out a bundle of short torches. He struck steel and flint while Roo and Jacoby slashed and parried, and brought a light to life. He quickly lit and distributed flaming brands to Luis’s men, and a circle of light surrounded the two combantants.
Luis had his men pick up the weapons Jacoby’s men had put down and moved the guards toward the wagon. Roo fought for his life.