Krondor the Assassins Read Online Free PDF

Graves.’’
    Limm nodded.
    Graves said, ‘‘I figured another week or ten days, and they’d come back, each thinking some other had just missed sight of us, then we’d walk down to the docks one night, get on a ship, and sail off to Durbin, just another merchant and his daughter.’’
    ‘‘Wife!’’ said Kat, angrily.
    Limm grinned.
    Graves shrugged and spread his hands in a sign of surrender.
    ‘‘Young wife,’’ he said.
    She put her arms around his neck and said, ‘‘Wife,’’ softly.
    Limm said, ‘‘Well, you play the parts well enough, but right now getting to the docks is no small order.’’ He glanced around 28

    K R O N D O R : T H E A S S A S S I N S
    the cellar. ‘‘What about just going out the door, up there?’’ He pointed to the ceiling.
    Graves said, ‘‘Sealed off. That’s why I built this place as a hideout. The building upstairs is abandoned, roof beams collapsed. The man who owned it died, so it belongs to the Prince for back taxes. Fixing up old buildings is not very high on the Prince’s list of things to do, it seems.’’
    Limm nodded in approval of the scheme. ‘‘Well, how long do you think we should stay?’’
    ‘‘You,’’ said Graves, rising, ‘‘are staying in the Kingdom.
    You’re young enough to make something of yourself, boy. Get off the dodgy path and find a master. Apprentice in a craft or become a serving man.’’
    ‘‘Honest work?’’ said Limm, as he jumped to his feet. ‘‘When did a Mocker seek honest work?’’
    Graves pointed a finger at him. ‘‘Jimmy did.’’
    ‘‘Jimmy the Hand,’’ agreed Kat. ‘‘He found honest work.’’
    ‘‘He saved the Prince’s life!’’ objected Limm. ‘‘He was made a member of the court. And there’s a death mark on his head!
    He couldn’t return to the Mockers if he begged.’’
    Graves said, ‘‘If the Upright Man is dead, that mark is erased.’’
    Softly Limm asked, ‘‘What should I do?’’
    Graves said, ‘‘Lie low for a while, until things get quiet, then leave the city. There’s a man named Tuscobar, once a trader from Rodez. He has a shop in a town called Biscart, two days’ fast walk up the coast. He owes me a favor. He also has no sons, so there is no one to apprentice for him. Go there and ask him to take you to service. If he objects, just tell him
    ‘Graves clears all debts if you do this.’ He’ll understand what it means.’’
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    ‘‘What does he do?’’ asked Limm.
    ‘‘He sells cloth. He makes a good living, as he sells to nobles for their daughters.’’
    Limm’s expression showed he was less than taken with the notion. ‘‘I’d rather go to Durbin and take my chances with you.
    What are you going to do there?’’
    ‘‘Turn honest,’’ said Graves. ‘‘I have some gold. Kat and I are going to open an inn.’’
    ‘‘An inn,’’ said Limm, his eyes alight. ‘‘I like inns.’’ He got down on his knees in an overly dramatic pleading. ‘‘Let me come! Please! I can do many things in an inn. I can tend fires, and show customers to their rooms. I can haul water and I can mark the best purses for cutting.’’
    ‘‘An honest inn,’’ said Graves.
    Some of the enthusiasm left Limm’s expression. ‘‘In Durbin?
    Well, if you say so.’’
    Kat said, ‘‘We’re going to have a baby. We want him to grow up honest.’’
    Limm was speechless. He sat in wide-eyed astonishment.
    Finally, he said, ‘‘A baby? Are you daft?’’
    Graves exhibited a wry smile and Kat’s brown eyes narrowed as she said, ‘‘What’s daft about a baby?’’
    Limm said, ‘‘Nothing, I guess, if you’re a farmer or a baker or someone who can expect a fair chance at living to old age.
    But for a Mocker . . .’’ He let the thought go unfinished.
    Graves said, ‘‘What’s the clock? We’ve been cut off from sunlight so long I have no sense of it.’’
    ‘‘It’s nearly midnight,’’ said Limm.