The Riftwar Legacy: The Complete 4-Book Collection. Raymond E. Feist

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СКАЧАТЬ this minute, it was now completely vanquished. Suddenly laughing, James said, ‘Well, I guess we need to buy some horses, lad. What have you to sell us?’

      Owyn and Gorath exchanged curious glances at James’s strange reaction, but neither said a word as James waited for the boy to fetch the stable-master so he could start haggling to buy three horses.

      

      Armed men had thrown a barrier across the road into Romney, and signalled the three riders to halt. ‘What’s this?’ asked James.

      One of the men stepped from behind the barrier, mostly grain sacks and crates, and said, ‘We’re not letting strangers into Romney right now.’

      James said, ‘I’m on the King’s business, and I bear warrants from the Prince of Krondor.’

      ‘Prince of Krondor, is it?’ said the man, rubbing his chin with his gloved hand. He looked like a stevedore, shirt sleeves rolled up high on his powerful arms, heavy chest and neck, his face burned brown by the sun. He carried a long wrecking bar, the kind used to open heavy crates off-loaded from riverboats, and he looked eager to use it. ‘Well, the Prince is a long way away; it’s not even the Western Realm, you see, so I can’t see as why that cuts any ice with us.’

      ‘Who’s in charge here?’ said James, jumping down from his horse and handing his reins to Owyn.

      ‘Well, normally it’s Michael Waylander, who’s trying to keep the Riverpullers from taking over the city, but he’s in town right now taking care of some business, so he left me in charge.’

      ‘And your name is …?’

      ‘I’m Karl Widger,’ said the man.

      Before he could move, James spun on him, hitting him as hard as he could in the stomach. The man went over with a loud ‘oof’ and James brought his knee upward into Widger’s descending face. Karl went down like a dropped brick.

      Pointedly stepping over the fallen dockworker, James said, ‘Would one of you run into the city and fetch Michael Waylander here? Tell him Karl is incapacitated and there’s no one in charge. Unless,’ he added, pulling his sword, ‘one of you cares to come over here and claim he’s now responsible for keeping us out of Romney?’

      Two men behind the barricade conferred and one ran off, heading over a small bridge that separated the road into Romney from the King’s Highway. None of the others seemed eager to come over the barricade and challenge James, but James knew he couldn’t just ride through a dozen armed men.

      Owyn dismounted and handed the reins back to James. ‘That was bold.’

      Under his breath, Jimmy said, ‘And a little stupid. I hit that walking tree trunk as hard as I could. Damn near broke my hand, and it was only his stomach. I’m glad I didn’t try to hit his head. I’d probably have broken every knuckle. My knee’s throbbing like mad.’

      It didn’t take long for Michael Waylander to arrive. He was a tall man, blond and sporting a short-cropped beard that looked reddish in the afternoon sun. ‘What is going on here?’ he demanded.

      ‘I might ask you the same thing,’ said James. ‘I bear warrants from the Prince of Krondor and I’m on the King’s business. How dare you bar my way?’

      ‘We’re acting under the authority of the Earl of Romney,’ said Waylander. ‘We’ve had a lot of trouble lately; damn near a guild war.’

      ‘Guild war?’ asked James, as if he had heard nothing about this before.

      ‘Damn Riverpullers are raising prices in violation of every agreement that’s in place, and they’re threatening to shut down all business up and down the river. I represent an alliance of other guilds: glaziers, rope-makers, carpenters, smiths and most of the local merchants, and we refused to pay.’

      James said, ‘Let me shorten this for you. You tried to make arrangements to get your own cargo in and out of the city and the Riverpullers started dumping goods in the river and wrecking boats.’

      ‘More,’ said Waylander. ‘They killed two apprentices three weeks ago and fired a half-dozen boats.’

      James said, ‘Well, those are local matters. We’re on business for the Crown and will brook no more delays.’

      ‘Let me see your warrants,’ said Waylander.

      James hesitated. This Waylander was no noble or Crown official. By rights he had no legal standing and James was not under any obligation to humour him. But practical considerations and a dozen armed men made him reach into his tunic and pull out his travel warrant and a demand for aid warrant, instructing any noble to aid James in his mission for the Crown.

      ‘Well, we couldn’t be too careful. The Riverpullers were hiring swords and the city’s become an armed camp. We can’t do much about those inside the city already, but we can keep more from coming in.’ He handed over the warrants.

      ‘What about the Earl?’ asked Owyn. ‘Isn’t he keeping the peace?’

      ‘We don’t have a garrison here, son,’ said Waylander, and something in his tone led James to think he liked the idea. ‘We’re in the heart of the Kingdom and the most trouble we have is the occasional drunken brawl on the docks or a few bandits riding down from the northern hills to ambush someone on the road. We have a city constabulary, but most of those men are on one side or the other in this dispute. The Riverpullers are the most important guild in this area, but the other guilds together are stronger. It’s a close thing and we don’t have many neutral parties in Romney. Earl Richard asked me to come up from my home in Sloop, a village a half-day’s ride south of here, just because I’m not local; I have a lot of friends on both sides of this, and sometimes they’ll listen to me. But the Riverpullers are out of line and there’s no other way to see it.’

      James put his warrants back in his tunic and said, ‘I expect they’d have something different to say on that matter. But that’s no concern of mine. I need to see the Earl.’

      Waylander was about to say something when a clatter of hooves from behind caused James to look. A company of riders was approaching at a leisurely pace up the road, a banner at the head of their column announcing the presence of the Royal Lancers.

      Their leader approached, held up his hand for the halt, and said, ‘What’s this then? Clear the way, you men.’

      James nodded, Waylander gave the order, and the men started pulling aside the grain sacks and crates.

      James walked to stand before the officer, and after a moment, the officer said, ‘What are you looking at, man?’

      James grinned. ‘Walter of Gyldenholt? So Baldwin sent you south, finally?’

      The former captain from the garrison at Highcastle said, ‘Do I know you?’

      James laughed. ‘We met at Highcastle. I’m James, squire of the Prince’s court.’

      ‘Ah, yes,’ said the old captain. ‘Now I recall you.’

      James couldn’t help but grin. When he had first met the captain, he had been one of the victims of Guy du Bas-Tyra’s fall from grace, an officer in service to Guy’s most loyal ally, the result of which had been years of hard service with the border СКАЧАТЬ