heads taller and twice the bulk of his friend, Erik made with Roo as unlikely a pair as any two boys could have been. While Erik was stronger than any boy in their hometown of Ravensburg, Roo was among the smallest. While Erik would never be called handsome, he wore an open and friendly expression that others found likable; Roo had no illusions about his own appearance. He was homely by any standards, with a pinched face, eyes that were narrowed and darting around as if constantly looking for threats, and a nearly permanent expression that could only be called furtive. But on those rare occasions when he smiled, or laughed, a warmth was revealed that made him far from unattractive. It was that roguish humor and willingness to brave trouble that had attracted Erik to Roo when they were children.
Erik pointed and Roo nodded at those ships moving away from their own as the Freeport Ranger was given right of way to the royal docks below the palace. One of the older sailors laughed and Roo turned to ask, ‘What?’
‘Prince Nicky’s going to irritate the Harbormaster again.’ Erik, his hair almost bleached white by the sun, looked at the sailor, who had blue eyes that stood out in stark contrast to his sunburned face. ‘What do you mean?’
The sailor pointed. ‘There’s the Harbormaster’s launch.’ Roo looked to where the man pointed. ‘He’s not slowing to pick up a pilot!’
The sailor laughed. ‘The Admiral is his teacher’s student. Old Admiral Trask used to do the same thing, but he’d at least allow the pilot up on deck so he could personally irritate him by refusing to take a tow into the dock. Admiral Nicky’s the King’s brother, so he doesn’t even bother with that formality.’
Roo and Erik glanced upward and saw that old sailors were standing by waiting to reef in the last sails on the Admiral’s command. Roo then looked to the poop deck and saw Nicholas, formerly Prince of Krondor and presently Admiral of the King’s Fleet in the West, give the signal. Instantly the old hands pulled up the heavy canvas and tied off. Within seconds Roo and the others on the deck could feel the ship’s speed begin to fall off as they neared the royal docks located below the royal palace of the Prince.
The Ranger’s motion continued to drop off, but to Roo it felt as if they were still moving into the docks too fast. The old sailor spoke as if reading his mind. ‘We’re pushing a lot of water into the quay, and that’ll push back as we come alongside the docks, slowing us down to almost a full stop, though she’ll make the cleats groan a bit.’ He made ready to throw a line to those waiting on the dock ahead. ‘Lend a hand!’
Roo and Erik each grabbed another line and waited for the command. When Nicholas shouted, ‘Cast away!’ Roo threw to a man on the dockside, who caught the rope expertly and quickly made it fast to a large iron cleat. As the old sailor said, when the line went taut the iron cleats seemed to groan as the wooden docks were flexed, but the bow wake returned from the stone quay and the huge ship seemed to settle in with a single rocking motion, as if it sighed in relief that it was good to be home.
Erik turned to Roo. ‘Wonder what the Harbormaster will say to the Admiral.’
Roo glanced aft as the Admiral made his way to the main deck, and considered the question. The first time Roo had seen the man had been at Erik’s and Roo’s trial for the murder of Erik’s half brother, Stefan. The second time he had seen him had been when the survivors of the mercenary company to which Roo and Erik belonged had been rescued from a fishing smack outside the harbor of the city of Maharta. Having served under the Admiral on the voyage homeward, Roo’s opinion was ‘He’ll probably say nothing, go home, and get drunk.’
Erik laughed. He also knew that Nicholas was a man of calm authority, who could embarrass a subordinate to the point of tears with a stare and no words spoken, a trait he shared with Calis, the Captain of Roo and Erik’s company, the Crimson Eagles.
Of the original company, numbering in the hundreds, fewer than fifty men survived – the six who had fled with Calis and some stragglers who had found their way to the City of the Serpent River before the Freeport Ranger had departed for Krondor. Nicholas’s other ship, Trenchard’s Revenge, had remained in the harbor at the City of the Serpent River for an extra month, in case more men from Calis’s troop found their way there. Any who were not there when she weighed anchor would be considered to be dead.
The gangplank was run out, and Roo and Erik watched as Nicholas and Calis were the first to disembark. On the dock waited Patrick, Prince of Krondor, his uncle Prince Erland – nephew and brother respectively to Nicholas – and other members of the royal court of Krondor.
Erik said, ‘Not much of a show, is it?’
Roo could only nod. A lot of men had died to bring back the information Nicholas carried to his nephew, the Prince. And from what Roo knew, it was scant information at best. He turned his attention to the royal family.
Nicholas, formerly Prince of Krondor until his nephew had come from the capital of the Kingdom of the Isles to assume the office, looked nothing like his brother. Erland’s hair was mostly grey, but there was enough red remaining to reveal its original hue. Nicholas, likewise going grey, was a man of dark hair and intense features. Patrick, the new Prince of Krondor, was somewhere between his two uncles in appearance, darker of skin than both, but his hair was a middle brown in color. He seemed to have something of Erland’s powerful build and Nicholas’s intensity.
‘No,’ said Roo, ‘you’re right; not much by way of ceremony.’
Erik nodded. ‘Then again, by now they all know there’s not much glory in any of this. The Prince and his uncle are probably both anxious to hear what news Calis and Nicholas have.’
Roo sighed agreement. ‘None of it good. It’s all bloody business and it’s going to get worse.’
A friendly slap to the back caused both Roo and Erik to turn. Robert de Loungville stood behind the two young men, grinning in a way that up until recently made both men expect the worst, but this time they knew he was merely showing the more affable side of his nature. He kept his receding hair cropped close to his skull, and he needed a shave. ‘Where to, lads?’
Roo jingled a purse of gold tucked into his tunic. ‘I think a good glass of ale, the tender touch of a bad woman, and then I’ll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.’
Erik shrugged. ‘I’ve been thinking, and I want to take up your offer, Sergeant.’
‘Good,’ said de Loungville, sergeant of Calis’s company. He had offered Erik a place in the army, but in a special command being formed by Calis, Prince Nicholas’s mysterious and not-quite-human ally. ‘Come by Lord James’s office at midday tomorrow. I’ll leave word at the palace gate you’re to be admitted.’
Roo studied the men on the dock. ‘Our Prince is an impressive-looking man.’
Erik said, ‘I know what you mean. He and his father both look the sort who have been in some serious places.’
De Loungville said, ‘Never let their rank fool you, lads. Erland and our King, and their sons after them, spent their time along the northern borders fighting goblins and the Brotherhood of the Dark Path.’ He used the common name for the moredhel, the dark elves who lived on the far side of the mountains known as the Teeth of the World. ‘I heard that the King got into some serious business down in Kesh once, a run-in with slavers or some such thing. Whatever it was, he came out of it with a good opinion of the common man, for a king.
‘We haven’t had a court-bred king since King Rodric, before old King Lyam took the throne, and that was before I was born. These are tough men who’ve spent some time soldiering, and it’ll take a few more generations before any in this family becomes soft. The Captain will see to that.’ There was something in his voice that hinted at strong emotions; Roo glanced at the sergeant and tried to glean what it was, but de Loungville’s expression had returned to a broad grin.
‘What are you thinking?’ asked Erik of Roo, his best friend since childhood.
Roo said, ‘Just how funny families can be.’ He pointed to the group on the dock, listening carefully to Nicholas.
Erik