Rise of a Merchant Prince (51 page)

Roo didn't hesitate, but turned to Jason and said, “What ships of ours are in the harbor?”

Jason consulted a sheaf of paper. Thumbing though the pages, he said, “Six, of the—”

“Which is the fastest?”

“Bitter Sea Queen,”
answered Jason.

“I want it outfitted for a six-month voyage and I want fifty of the toughest mercenaries we can hire ready to go with us at first light tomorrow.”

“With us?” asked Nakor.

Roo shrugged. “Erik is the only brother I've known, and if he's down there with Calis, I'm going.”

Nakor sat down and helped himself to a cup of coffee from a pot on the corner of Roo's desk. He sipped the hot brew and said, “You going to be able to do this thing?”

Roo nodded. “I've got people I can trust I can leave in charge.” He thought of Sylvia and Karli, and then Helen Jacoby, and said, “I need to say a few good-byes.”

“I need to eat,” answered Nakor. “Oh, Sho Pi is downstairs. Being more polite than I, he believed them when they said he couldn't come up here.”

Roo motioned to Jason to fetch Sho Pi and said, “And then I must go find Luis and Duncan. I need to work out who's in charge of what while I'm gone.”

Jason nodded and departed, and Roo said, “We'll get them back.”

Nakor smiled, nodded, and drank more coffee.

Erik pointed.

Calis nodded. “I see it.”

The five remaining soldiers sat atop a bluff, overlooking the ocean, before a rude hut they had called home for more than two months. “The fisherman who carried word spotted it on the horizon before sundown yesterday. He said they were sailing far to the south of the Queen's ships' normal patrol. Too close to the iceberg floes for anyone who knows the local waters.”

“A Kingdom ship?” asked Renaldo, turning to look at Micha, the other soldier who had accompanied Calis, Erik, and Alfred down from the mountains.

“Perhaps,” said Calis, forcing himself upright on a makeshift crutch. He had endured punishing conditions when they had come down from the mountains, three months earlier. Alter six days in the caves, with nothing more than torches and each other for a source of warmth, they had started downward. Calis had regained a bit of strength during that time,
but had to be assisted for the first two days.

They reached a cave below the snow line where Erik started a fire and trapped some hares, and they rested another two days. After that it had been a long walk, for not only could Erik not find the valley with the horses in it again, lie almost put them on the wrong side of the river Dee, with no way to ford to the southern side.

But eventually they had reached the coast and found the fishing village. The village had been raided by a Saaur patrol, and the drying shed with the Brijaner ship burned down, and the six men left to guard it killed. The Saaur had left warriors behind for two weeks, but when no one returned they had left to rejoin their compatriots. A black despair had washed over all five of them, but after a day of dejection, Erik had organized the other three healthy men and begun a modest camp some distance from the village.

The villagers had been more than willing to help, in exchange for work, and because these men were obviously enemies of their oppressors. Not one member of the village had suggested they be turned over to the Emerald Queen's army.

As they watched, the ship grew slowly on the horizon. At last Calis said, “It's a Kingdom ship.”

Alfred and Renaldo let out a whoop of pleasure, while Micha gave a short prayer of thanks to Tith-Onanka, the God of War. Calis stood, leaning on his crutch.

“We'd better get to the village.”

Erik walked near Calis in case he needed help. He had taken more damage than any mortal should have to endure, and still he lived. He was healing. He
would carry burn scars on the left side of his face, but his hair was growing back. For the severity of the wounds—which Erik had cleaned daily, and regularly performed reiki on—the scars weren't bad. There was some weakness on his left side and he limped, but Erik was certain once they reached the Kingdom, some help, from the Prince's chirurgean or one of the healing priests at one of the temples, would bring the Captain back to his former vigor.

They didn't speak at all of Bobby de Loungville, alone in his icy tomb high in the mountains above. Erik had some vague sense that the unwillingness to speak of the dead was Calis's elven heritage. He also sensed some deep personal loss: Bobby had been more than just a friend to Calis. He had been the first man recruited to Calis's special cause, and he had endured longer than any man in Calis's command.

As they reached the beach, Erik realized with something close to shock that now only Jadow Shati stood longer in term of service to Calis than he, and he had barely served for three years. He shook his head.

Calis noticed and said, “What?”

Erik shrugged. “I was just thinking that longevity isn't a hallmark of this service.”

“That's the truth,” said Calis. “And I fear the carnage has only just begun. Of us five here, none may be alive when this is all done.”

Erik said nothing. They reached the village, where one of the older fishermen, named Rajis, said, “Do you wish to meet that ship?”

“Yes,” said Erik. “It is one of ours. It will take us home.” The villager nodded, and shook Erik's hand, then Calis's and the others'. “We can only say thank
you,” said Calis.

“If we help you in defeating the Emerald Queen, you need not thank us.”

They entered a boat and were pushed out into the surf and two fishermen began to row. As the ship approached, Erik said, “That's not a royal ship.”

Calis nodded. “They fly a trading banner.”

“What?” said Alfred. “It's a merchantman?”

“So it would seem,” answered Calis.

After a few minutes, Erik said, “I don't know. . . .” He stood and began waving. As the ship approached, figures on the deck began waving back, then suddenly Erik recognized one of them. “It's Roo!” he shouted. “It's Roo!” A moment later he said, “And Nakor's with him! And Sho Pi!”

Soon they were alongside the ship and a rope ladder was dropped. Two sailors shinnied down ropes and helped Calis climb aboard. Erik waited to be last, then bade the two fishermen good-bye.

When he got on deck, he found Nakor, Sho Pi, and Roo waiting. Roo came over and the two boyhood friends embraced. After a moment, Erik said, “It's good to see you—more than you can ever know.”

Looking at the five men, sunburned, undernourished, ragged, and dirty, Roo shook his head. “Just you five?”

“That we know of,” said Calis. “Miranda had a dozen with her.”

Nakor said, “If they aren't here by now, they didn't get out. She got to Elvandar with a strange man named Boldar. I saw them there. Then Pug sent me to Roo so I could come get you.”

Calis stood. “There is much we must talk of,
things I saw under the mountains that I don't yet understand. Perhaps your odd perspective on things might help me sort it out.”

“We have a long voyage ahead,” said Nakor. “Plenty of time to talk. First you need to eat, then sleep. Then Sho Pi and I will look at your wounds.”

The other three men were shown below, and Erik said to Roo, “Why you?”

Roo shrugged. “Duke James was loath to lend Nakor a ship. I've come into some money and had a few ships lying around the harbor, so I thought I'd give him one.” Glancing at the retreating Isalani' s back, he said, “Then when I considered what a maniac he could be, I thought it best if I came along to make sure I got my ship back.”

Erik laughed. Roo said, “De Loungville?”

Erik lost his smile. “Up there,” he said with a tilt of his chin toward the distant mountains, their peaks hidden by clouds.

Roo was silent for a long moment before he turned toward the quarterdeck. “Captain!”

“Yes, Mr. Avery?”

“Take us home.”

“Aye, aye,” said the captain. He gave word to the first officer and the ship came about, slowly turning away from Novindus.

Erik put his arm over Roo's shoulder and asked, “Any trouble getting here?”

Roo laughed. “We had a run-in with one of the Queen's smaller cutters. I'd brought along some of the nastier brawlers I could hire on short notice and we let them come alongside us, then we boarded and sank her. I don't think they have much experience with pirates down here.”

Erik laughed. “So are you the richest man in the Kingdom yet?”

Roo said, “Probably. If not, I'm working on it.” He laughed. “Let's get you some food.”

The two men went below, and the ship came fully around and began the long journey back the way she had come, heading for a distant port that the two men called home.

Raymond E. Feist's novels include
Magician
;
Silverthorn
;
Faerie Tale
;
Prince of the Blood
; and
The King's Buccaneer
; as well as his
New York Times
-bestselling
Serpentwar Saga
:
Shadow of a Dark Queen
;
Rise of a Merchant Prince
;
Rage of a Demon King
; and
Shards of a Broken Crown
; and
The Riftwar Legacy
:
Krondor: The Betrayal
;
Krondor: The Assassins
;
Krondor: Tear of the Gods
. He is the creator of the immensely popular computer games “Betrayal at Krondor” and “Return to Krondor.” Mr. Feist lives in Southern California.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

Books by Raymond E. Feist

Magician
Silverthorn
A Darkness at Sethanon
Faerie Tale
Prince of the Blood
The King's Buccaneer
Shadow of a Dark Queen
Rise of a Merchant Prince
Rage of a Demon King
Shards of a Broken Crown
Krondor: The Betrayal
Krondor: The Assassins
Krondor: Tear of the Gods
With Janny Wurts:
Daughter of Empire
Servant of Empire
Mistress of Empire

Praise for
The Serpentwar Saga

The San Diego Union-Tribune
: “An epic reading experience.”
Ft. Lauderdale
Sun-Sentinel
: “A massive, entertaining tale.”
Chicago Tribune
: “Classic . . . Feist has a command of language and a natural talent for keeping the reader turning pages.”
Portland
Oregonian
: “Action and intrigue and evocative writing. . . . Feist brings a new world alive.”
San Francisco Chronicle
: “Adept storytelling . . . true readability.”
Locus
: “A place to start for those yet to discover Feist's fantasy worlds.”
Booklist
: “Vivid and well-choreographed battles . . . real emotional impact. . . . The action is nonstop. . . . Feist remains in the forefront of fantasists.”

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

rise of a merchant prince:
BOOK TWO OF THE SERPENTWAR SAGA
. Copyright © 1995 by Raymond E. Feist. Published by arrangement with the author. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub © Edition SEPTEMBER 2002 ISBN: 9780061760532

First Avon Books Printing: August 1996
First Avon Books International Printing: May 1996

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