“Who is the man? I’ll deal with him.”
“No, I’ll deal with him. If you want to keep your own head out of a noose, or more important, if you don’t want your own people choosing a replacement for you before your body’s cool, listen carefully.
“For some years to come I’m going to need Krondor especially quiet and free of trouble. In fact, I’m going to need it very prosperous and rich. The reasons I’m going to need things this way are none of your concern, but trust me when I say that in the long run it will benefit you and your ragged band of outlaws as much as anyone else in the city. Toward that end I’m going to find Sam Tannerson and his comrades and publicly hang them. You will find me a believable witness who saw him leaving the Inn of the Seven Flowers holding a bloody knife. Get me an earnest-faced little street urchin. A girl would be best. Someone who will have the judge convinced that Tannerson and his pals are barely worth the rope to hang them with.
“Then you’ll tell your merry band of thieves that things are getting too hot for such goings-on and the next one of your bright lads to go getting creative ideas on setting examples won’t live long enough to be hung. And I mean it, Brian: if one of your murderers steps out of line, you’d better string him up before I do, or I’ll close you down for good and all.”
“It’s been tried before,” came the answer. “The Mockers are still in business.”
There was a long silence before James said, “I still remember the way to Mother’s. If I shout out before you can reach that dagger you have secreted in your boot you’ll be dead, and within an hour your Nightmaster will be under arrest and your Daymaster will be roused out of his bed and taken into custody. I’ll have Mother’s surrounded and closed down before sunrise. I’ll have every thief who’s known to my agents picked up, and while I won’t get them all, or even half, I’ll get enough of them. There will still be thieves and beggars in Krondor, Brian, but there will be no more Mockers.”
“Then why haven’t you shut us down?”
“It’s been to my advantage just to keep you under observation. But, as I said, now I need certain things. As I’m sitting in his shop and chatting with him this instant, we both understand I know who the current successor to the Upright Man is; if I kill you, I might have to spend years finding out who the next leader of the Guild of Thieves is after you.”
There was a moment of silence; then James said, “It’s ironic, but the reason I knew you were back in the city all those years ago is because we look so damn alike.”
A long sigh answered that. “I’ve often wondered about that. Do you think we’re related?”
“I have a theory,” came the answer, but no details followed. “Just do us both a favor and keep your animals on a short tether. A few robberies of modest gain, a shakedown here and there. Boost some goods off the dock and cheat the customs agents now and again out of their duties. I may even have a few jobs for you that will guarantee you and your ragged brotherhood a profit—commissions of sorts—but this wholesale crime spree is over and the killings must stop today; if I have to go to war I will. Is that clear?”
“I’m still not convinced, but I’ll think on it.”
James laughed, and to Roo it was a bitter laugh. “Think on it? Not hardly. You agree this moment or you don’t leave here alive.”
“Not much of a choice” was the hot reply. The man’s voice showed his temper was held in check, but not by much.
Roo glanced about. The conversation had lasted only a few minutes, but it felt as if he’d been eavesdropping for hours. Things seemed shockingly normal on the street, though he knew at least a score of the Prince’s men were within a hundred feet of where he and de Loungville stood.
“You have to understand,” said James, “that when I say I need a quiet and prosperous city, it isn’t my desire to make money for a bunch of merchants and provide an improved tax situation for my sovereign—desirable ends, in and of themselves—but the safety of my city depends on it, and I will say no more, save I will happily crush you, if I must. Do we have an understanding?”