King of Foxes Read Free Page B

Pasko said, “I’ll see what I can do.”
    “I must be seen in public so word will spread I’m back in the city, but I need to be alone tonight when I finish supper and return to these quarters.”
    “Why, master?”
    “So I can find out who’s been following me since I left Salador, and what’s on his mind.”
    “A spy?”
    With a stretch and a yawn, Tal said, “Probably an assassin.”
    Sighing, Pasko said, “So it begins.”
    Nodding as he headed for the door, Tal said, “Yes. So it begins.”
    __
    Fog shrouded the city. Mist hung so thick it was impossible to see more than three feet ahead. The bright lamps at each corner of the merchants’ quarter were reduced to _______________
    KING OF FOXES
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    dim yellow spots in the distance, and even the occasional lantern beside a tavern door became just a faint pool of light across the street. There were places on long streets where no light was visible, and the senses were confounded, distances were meaningless, and the entirety of the universe was murk.
    Even sound was muted. The taverns he passed offered just a murmur of voices rather than the raucous cacoph-ony normally heard. Footfalls were a soft grinding of heel on caked mud rather than a clatter of leather on stone.
    Even so, Tal Hawkins knew he was being stalked. He had known that the instant he had departed Lady Gavorkin’s home. He had lingered over dinner at the Metropol—it had taken only minutes for Pasko to gain an invitation on behalf of the owner of the establishment for the Champion of the Masters’ Court to dine as his guest—and Tal had left with a free membership in the club. He had been impressed with the décor, the ambiance, and the service. The food was only just acceptable, and he planned on having words with the chef, but he could see this club business might be a useful enterprise.
    Roldem lived on commerce more than any nation in the east, and this new club was in a location where nobles and wealthy commoners could come together in casual surroundings to socialize in a fashion impossible to imagine anywhere else in the city. Tal suspected that over the coming years fortunes would be lost and titles gained, marriages arranged and alliances formed in the quiet in-terior of the Metropol. Even before he had finished dining, a note from Lady Gavorkin had been handed to him, and Tal judged it as likely he would encounter his stalker on his way to her town house as he would back to his own.
    He had not, however, been accosted by whoever followed, and had spent a pleasant two hours, first being scolded for _______________
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    RAYMOND E. FEIST
    his long absence, then being ardently forgiven by Lady Gavorkin.
    The lady was recently widowed, her husband having perished in a raid against a nest of Ceresian pirates operating out of an isolated bay off Kesh. His service to the Roldemish Crown had garnered Lady Gavorkin a fair amount of sympathy, some guarantees of a modest pension in addition to her ample estates and holdings, and an appetite for a new husband as soon as the proper mourning period had been observed. She was childless, and her estates stood at risk if the Crown decided that another noble would better be able to manage them. Ideally, from the royal perspective it would be ideal that Lady Gavorkin, Countess of Dravinko, should marry some other noble who was favored by the Crown, which would tie up two loose ends nicely.
    Tal knew he would have to sever all contact with Lady Gavorkin soon because he would never withstand the close scrutiny reserved for those marrying into Roldemish nobility. A minor squire’s son from a town outside a distant Kingdom city who was socially acceptable as an escort for galas and festivals was one thing, but someone who wed the widow of a recently departed war hero was another matter entirely. Besides, being tied down to anyone, even someone as attractive as Lady Margaret Gavorkin, held limited appeal for Tal, her substantial wealth, holdings, and