Dash looked across the faces of the men who had been recruited. Some were ex-soldiers, grey-haired men who remembered how to handle a sword. Others were street toughs, men who were just as likely to be brawling in a tavern as trying to keep the peace in the city. A few were mercenaries, looking for steady work, men who were clearly Kingdom citizens and who were not known criminals.
“We’re presently under martial law in Krondor, which means just about any violation of the law is a hanging offense.”
The men looked at one another, some nodding.
Dash continued, “This will start to change as of today. You are the first company of the new City Watch. You will be instructed in what that means in greater detail as we go, but unfortunately, we have no time to educate you before we begin. So, I will make a few things clear to you all.” He held up a red armband, upon which a rough coat of arms, which looked like the Prince’s, had been sewn. “You’ll wear this at all times when on duty. It’s what marks you as the Prince’s men. You break a head while wearing this, you’re restoring order; you break a head without it, and you’re another thug I’ll see behind bars. Is that clear?”
The men nodded and grunted agreement.
“I’ll make this simple. This armband doesn’t give you the right to bully, to settle old grudges, or to annoy the women in the town. Any man here who is convicted of assault, rape, or theft while wearing this will be hanged. Is that clear?”
The men were silent a moment, and a few nodded they understood. “Is that clear?” Dash repeated, and the men were more vocal in acknowledging the question.
“Now, until we can recruit a full-blown City Watch, the routine will be a half-day on, then a half-day off. One day in five, you’ll work round the clock while the other half will get the day to themselves. If you know any men of arms-bearing age who can be recruited and can be trusted, send them to see me.”
Using a chopping motion, he split the forty men in the room in half. “You,” he said to the men on his right, “are the day watch. You,” he said to the men on his left, “are the night watch. Get me another twenty good men and we’ll go to three watches.”
The men nodded.
Dash said, “Now, headquarters will be here in the palace until we can get the city courts and jail rebuilt. The prison here is the only one we have. We don’t have a lot of room, so I don’t want it filled with drunks and brawlers. If you have to break up a fight, send them home with a kick in the butt, but if you have to bring them in, don’t be shy. I’ll assume that if someone is stupid enough to not take a chance to get off with a warning, they need to talk to a judge.
“We’re going to lift curfew at the Old Town Market; people are using it to trade now as the rest of the city rebuilds, and it’s starting to be a trouble spot, but if we’re going to have trouble, I want it in one place, not all over the city. So, pass the word, the market is open from sunset to midnight now. The rest of the city is still under curfew unless the person is on their way home from the market. And they better have the goods or gold to show they’ve been trading.
“Anyone causes you trouble, deal with it. We don’t have enough swords to get you out of trouble if you get in over your head.” He looked around the room at the faces of the men he now commanded and said, “If you’re killed, I promise we’ll avenge you.”
One of the men said, “That’s comforting,” and the others laughed.
“I’ll lead the first of you down to the market. You lot on the night shift, turn in. You’re going to patrol the entire city, and if you see anyone outside the market after dark, bring them in for questioning.
“For today, anyone asks, you tell them you’re the Prince’s Law. Let’s get the word out that order is returning to Krondor. Now, let’s go.”
The twenty men on the day shift rose and followed Dash outside the room. He moved through the large courtyard of the palace to the newly restored drawbridge over the still-dry moat. Some of the water system was still under repair and the palace wouldn’t be isolated from the city by the moat again for a few more weeks. As they crossed the drawbridge, Dash said, “If no one causes any trouble and forces you to haul them back to the jail, I want you to keep moving. I want you everyplace you can reasonably reach. I want the citizens seeing lots of those red armbands . . . let them think we’ve got a dozen men for each one of you. If anyone asks, you don’t know how many watchmen there are, just lots of them.”