“Netting from Sarth?”
“Anything else and he’ll be on you like lice on a beggar, but if you say, ‘Netting from Sarth,’ he’ll wave you through. Don’t mention Jacoby or say anything else. Just say, ‘Netting from Sarth,’ and you’re in.”
Roo took out another coin and flipped it to the driver, who suddenly seemed far less troubled by this hijacking. Jeffrey said, “You’d better mark me up some so Tim Jacoby doesn’t kill me.”
Roo nodded, and Duncan struck the man hard across the face with the back of his hand. Jeffrey spun around and fell to the ground, and Roo could see a red welt appearing on his cheek. Jeffrey shook his head and stood up. “Better close one of my eyes,” he said as he tore his own tunic. Duncan glanced at Roo, who nodded again, and this time Duncan doubled up his fist, drew back, and drove it straight into the man’s left eye. He staggered backward and fell hard against the side of Jacoby’s wagon, striking the back of his head. He sat heavily on the ground, and for a moment Roo thought he might lose consciousness, but instead he fell over on his side and started rolling in the dirt. Then, with wobbling knees, he stood up. “One more ought to do it,” he said in hoarse tones.
Roo raised his hand and Duncan held his blow. “When you’re discharged by Jacoby, come see me about a position.”
Squinting with his good eye, the driver said, “Who are you?”
“Rupert Avery.”
The man laughed a strangled laugh. “Oh, this is rich. Just the mention of your name makes Tim crap in his trousers. No one knows what it was you done to him, but he’s got some major hate for you, Mr. Avery.”
Roo said, “The feeling is mutual. He killed my partner.”
Jeffrey said, “Well, I’d heard rumors, but that was all. Now, if we could get this over with, I’ll be along after I lay low a bit, and then I’ll be talking to you about that job.”
Roo nodded and Duncan unleashed a heavy blow, striking Jeffrey hard enough to lift him off his heels. The man turned in the air as he fell again, this time not rising. Duncan leaned over and looked at the unconscious man. “He knows how to take it, that’s for certain. He’ll live.”
“He’s tough enough,” said Roo. “And even if I don’t hire him, I want to know as much as he does about how the Jacobys operate.”
Duncan said, “Well, we’d better be along before a patrol rides by. Might be difficult to explain all this.”
Roo nodded. Both men mounted up and Roo headed the wagon down the highway.
The return to Krondor went uneventfully. The only tense moment was when they reached the indicated gate and the soldier inquired about their cargo. Roo asked for Sergeant Diggs by name, and after Roo told him the cargo, the sergeant hesitated a moment before waving them through.
Roo had taken a circuitous route through the city in case they were being followed, and finally reached his own shop. Luis was overseeing the dispatch of four wagons that were to meet with a caravan outside the city and carry goods into the palace. Roo quickly unloaded the goods they had taken from Jacoby’s wagon and opened each box for inspection.
As he had suspected, the items involved were all high-tariff. A couple of small boxes contained what appeared to be drugs.
Duncan said, “I’m no expert, but I think those are Dream and Joy. I’m not a user, but I’ve caught a whiff of them in some of the places I’ve visited.”
Dream was a drug that induced hallucinations and Joy caused euphoria. Both were dangerous, illegal, and highly profitable. “What do you think boxes like that would be worth?” asked Roo.
Duncan replied, “As I said, I’m no expert, but I think our friend Jeffrey may end up floating in the harbor for letting us boost it from Jacoby. Maybe ten thousand gold. I don’t know. I don’t even know who you’d sell it to.”
Roo calculated. “Find out, will you. Start with that girl over at the Inn of the Broken Shield, Katherine. She’s a former Mocker and would know if there’s an apothecary in the city who would be a discreet buyer.” The other boxes contained some jewelry, probably stolen, as the rubies were.
After Duncan departed, Roo called Jason over from his work desk. “How much gold can we get our hands on in a hurry?”
Jason said, “You want an exact figure or rough?”
“Rough for now.”
“Thirteen, fourteen thousand gold, plus whatever you can raise selling this stuff.”
Roo rubbed his chin as he thought. Prudence dictated he sell the jewelry as far from Queg as possible, lest he run the risk of finding some angry Quegan lord’s hired assassin in his bedchamber one night.
Luis came into the room from seeing the wagons leave for the caravanserai, and Roo asked, “Has Erik left yet?”
“Saw him last night at the inn. Why?”