He smiled. “I know. I used to find it irritating, then I found it pleasing.”
She leaned over and kissed him, lightly but lingeringly. Then she said, “Be my dear friend. I don’t know if I’ll become like your mother and ignore Patrick, or if I’ll turn my life over to raising a future King of Isles. I may take up gardening, and if I decide to have a string of lovers, I’ll make you the first one, but most of all, I’m going to need good friends.
“Everyone I know is now trying to be my friend, and I know that what they see is the future Queen of the Isles. You and Dash and a few of our good friends back in Rillanon are all I have.”
Jimmy nodded. “I understand, Francie. I’ll always be your good friend.”
She took his arm in hers and snuggled into his shoulder. “Thank you, Jimmy. Now, let’s go back and rejoin the Prince.”
Jimmy knew at that point that he also would eventually marry for reasons of state. He said a silent prayer to any God who would listen that the woman fate had in store for him was the match of the one holding onto his arm at this moment. And prayed she would also prove as good a friend as Francine.
Two nights later thieves drifted into Mother’s. Many looked around for boltholes, for by general consensus Mother’s wasn’t safe anymore. Still, a few lookouts hung outside, keeping an eye out for the Prince’s men.
Reese stood up on a table and said, “Is everyone here?”
From the back of the room, someone shouted, “Everyone who’s coming!”
That brought some guarded chuckles from a few, but no one felt easy enough to really enjoy the weak humor.
Reese said, “We’ve got new rules.”
“Rules!” shouted a large man in a comer. “Whose rules?”
“Mockers’ Rules!” shouted a young woman entering from a far door. She was solidly built, and plain of features, but she was known for being one of the smarter thieves in the guild. Her name was Jenny.
“Who says there’s a Mockers to make rules for?” asked another man.
“The Upright Man!” shouted Reese. “He says.”
“The Upright Man’s dead!” said a man from the back of the large room. “Everyone knows that.”
From deep within the shadows behind Reese, a deep voice said, “The Upright Man’s died before, and always returns.”
“Who’s that?” said the beefy man in the corner.
“One who knows you, John Tuppin. You run the bashers.”
The man looked pale at the dark figure knowing his name.
A thin man in the rear said, “Everyone knows Tuppins. He’s too big to miss!”
Others laughed, but a few glanced around, worried expressions on their faces.
From the shadows the voice said, “I know you, too, Rat. You’re the best point lookout in the Mockers. I know you all.
“I know every thief, cutpurse, dodger and basher, every toffsman and whore who calls Mother’s home. And you know me.”
“It’s the Upright Man,” whispered someone.
“You can claim to be whoever you want,” said John Tuppin, “but claiming and being ain’t the same. I could claim to be the Bloody Duke of Krondor, but that don’t make it so.”
From out of the shadows the voice said, ‘ “The Fishtown gang was run today.”
Suddenly people throughout the room were talking. Reese picked up a large wooden club and slammed it against the wall. “Shut up!”
Silence fell, and the voice from the darkness said, “Tomorrow the Sheriff will run the Old Dock bashers. No one works the streets of Krondor without my permission.”
“If those bashers get run tomorrow,” said Tuppin, “I’ll believe you’re who you say you are.”
“I will too,” shouted the man called Rat. “Pass the word,” said the voice. “The Keshian renegades who sell drugs out of the caravansary will be run. The swine who grab kids to sell to the Durban slavers will be run. Anyone not doing business with the Mockers will be run.”
A few in the room cheered.
“Reese is Nightmaster, and Jenny is Daymaster. You have a problem, you bring it to them.”
More cheers, then Reese said, “Get out there! Pass the word, the Upright Man is back!”
The thieves dispersed until only three people remained at Mothers.
Dash stepped out of the shadows. “You did well. Tell Tuppin and Rat they did well, too.”
“It’s a hard sell, “ said Reese. “You’re going to have to bust a lot of heads before they get it.”
“I’ve a couple of months before the Prince returns and installs a new Sheriff,” said Dash. “Between now and then we’ll get organized.”