Rise of a Merchant Prince

by Raymond E. Feist

  Masterson slammed his hand down on the table.

  “Damn me if you’re not a shooting star, Roo Avery!

  I’ll ride with you.”

  Hume spoke next. “I will join with you; yes, I will.”

  After a moment Brandon Crowley said,

  “Presiding Officer?” He nodded. “Very well, I will join with you also.”

  Roo said, “Mr. Lender, would you be so kind as to execute an agreement to this effect?”

  prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 382

  382

  RAYMOND E. FIEST

  “I would be pleased, Mr. Avery.”

  Masterson rubbed his hands together. “I think, gentlemen, it is time for a drink.” He turned his head and shouted to a nearby waiter to bring his private brandy and five glasses.

  When the drinks were poured and each man held one, Masterson said, “To Mr. Rupert Avery, without whose tenacity and conviction not only would we not soon be very wealthy men, we’d probably be begging in the street.”

  Roo said, “No. Please. Each of us here is due some credit. I would rather we toast” —he held up his glass— “the Bitter Sea Trading and Holding Company!”

  Each man in turn said the name of the new company, and as one, they drank a toast.

  prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 383

  15

  Consolidation

  The inn was crowded.

  In a dark corner five men sat, keeping their voices low despite the din of the common room. One nearly spat as he spoke, so intense was his anger.

  “The bloody bastard strangled the market and we’re going to be ruined. You said this was going to be easy pickings. I took multiple positions in three different syndicates, all secured with the same collateral! If I default on more than one of them, I will have to flee Krondor or go to prison! You said there would be no trouble!” He pointed an accusing finger at the man across the table from him.

  Timothy Jacoby leaned forward. “I promised you nothing, deWitt. I said you’d have an opportunity to make a killing.” His own anger matched that of companions. “But I never guaranteed you anything.”

  A third man said, “This is pointless. The question is, what do we do?”

  “I’m going to see Esterbrook,” answered Jacoby, standing abrubtly, so that his chair fell backwards, striking a drunk who lay facedown at the next table.

  383

  prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 384

  384

  RAYMOND E. FIEST

  The drunk barely stirred. Jacoby glanced at the nearly comatose man. “Meet me back here in two hours.

  I’ll have some sort of answer.”

  The five men rose and left and after a minute, the drunk stood up. He was a young man of average height, and the only thing remarkable about him was his hair, which was a very pale blond, nearly white when seen in sunlight. He kept a wool sailor’s cap tight on his head, so that this unusual feature was hidden. Moving with purpose, he left the room and followed the five men out the door.

  Once outside the inn, the blond man glanced around until he saw a figure appear from deep within a nearby doorway. He waited until the second figure closed to him. “Well?” asked Dash of the false drunk.

  “Go back and tell your employer that he’s stirred up a hornet’s nest. Tell him Tim Jacoby is rushing to get some answers from Jacob Estherbrook. I’m going to follow Jacoby and see if I can overhear what he and Estherbrook are going to plan.”

  Dash said, “Well, at least you don’t have to try to climb to the rooftops and hang upside down outside windows. You never were very good at that.”

  Jimmy smiled at his younger brother. “Well, you weren’t much for picking pockets, either.” He gripped his brother by the arm. “You are certain Father believes I’m out dining with you?”

  Dash shrugged. “That’s what I told him. Don’t worry. Unless you get yourself killed, Grandfather will sort things out with Father should we run into trouble. He always does.”

  “Well, hurry along. They’re due to meet back here in two hours. You would do well to have some-

  prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 385

  RISE OF A MERCHANT PRINCE

  385

  one else inside before then, in case I can’t get back ahead of Jacoby.” He patted his brother’s arm. “See you later tonight.”

  Dash hurried off into the darkness, and Jimmy moved to where his horse had been hidden. He mounted and rode out toward the eastern gate, looking about to ensure no one spotted him or was following him.

  As he left the city gate, he caught sight of Jacoby on the road ahead, his figure outlined against the darkness by the light from the large moon, which was directly overhead. Jimmy slowed his own horse, lest he ride upon the heels of his prey.

  By the time Jimmy reached the outer wall of the Estherbrook estate, he was certain getting inside would prove easy. Getting out, he thought to himself, might prove more difficult.

  Like his brother, Jimmy had grown up in the palace at Rillanon, where their father, Arutha, had served with their grandfather, then Duke of Rillanon.

  Arutha—named for the late Prince of Krondor—had been raised in a far more genteel fashion than his father, who had been a notorious boy thief until Prince Arutha had taken him into service.

  But the grandsons had listened to their grandfather James’s stories, and by the ages of seven and five the palace was constantly troubled by two boys climbing walls, skipping along rooftops, picking locks, eavesdropping on state meetings, and otherwise creating difficulties far beyond what one would expect from two children of their size or experience.

  By the time they were eleven and nine, the boys’

  father had decided that the hearty life along the frontier would teach them a thing or two. So Jimmy and prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 386

  386

  RAYMOND E. FIEST

  Dash had been packed off to the frontier court at Crydee, home of Duke Marcus, the King’s cousin.

  Their visit had lasted two years, and by the time the two brothers returned to Rillanon, they were sunburned, tougher, more self-reliant, fair trackers, better hunters, and now thoroughly incorrigible. In the subsequent five years, both sons had been thrown out of the palace by their father and grandfather several times in the hope they would discover just how lucky they were to be among the elite of the Kingdom.

  Each time the boys managed rather well, living by their wits and guile, and frequently using the skills developed driving the palace staff to distraction to provide sustenance. They had even run afoul of the Thieves’ Guild in Rillanon on two occasions and survived to tell the tale.

  The last time they had been banished from the palace, their father had relented after three weeks and had gone looking for them, only to find they now had a controlling interest in one of the seedier bor-dellos along the docks. They had won it playing cards.

  Jimmy tied his horse out of sight down the road, where he would likely not be seen if Jacoby came riding past before Jimmy could recover the mount.

  He hurried up to the gate and quickly looked it over.

  Two easy footholds and a handhold later and he was peeking over the top of the gate. A servant was leading Jacoby’s horse toward the stable and there was no one else in sight. He heard the door to the main house close, and assumed Jacoby had just entered.

  Jimmy jumped down from the wall and hurried toward the house, keeping off the pathway and stooping low beside a line of decorative shrubbery.

  prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 387

  RISE OF A MERCHANT PRINCE

  387

  Reaching the house, he glanced about. He didn’t know where Jacob’s library was, save it was on the ground floor, and he knew that only because Dash had mentioned it.

  Silently he cursed himself for not thinking of asking Dash if he knew. Ah well, he thought, preparation had never been his strong suit. Dash had the more devious mind.

  He glanced into a few windows and saw no one moving. He at l
ast found himself staring at a dim room in which only a pair of candles burned, but he could hear voices raised.

  “Don’t come in here and demand anything of me, Timothy!”

  Dash risked a better look and was rewarded by the sight of Timothy Jacoby leaning over a desk, knuckles hard against the surface, as he yelled at Jacob Estherbrook.

  “I need gold!” shouted Jacoby. “Lots of it!”

  Estherbrook waved his hand as if wafting away a bad smell. “And I’m supposed to give it to you?”

  “A loan, then, damn it!”

  “How much?” asked Estherbrook.

  “I hold option orders for sixty thousand sovereigns, Jacob. If I can’t meet the order, I’m going to forfeit everything we own unless some grain comes on the market in the next three days.”

  “You’re worth more than sixty thousand, Timothy, a great deal more.”

  “It’s not the price!” Jacoby nearly shouted again.

  “It’s the penalty for the grain not delivered. By the gods, wheat is up to three silvers a bushel and rising!

  There is none to be had. Every miller in the Kingdom is in Krondor howling at the grain brokers.

  prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 388

  388

  RAYMOND E. FIEST

  Someone has bought up all the contracts and there is none to be had.”

  “What about all that cheap grain you have coming in from Kesh?” asked Estherbrook.

  “We’re delivering that tomorrow, but that’s less than half the contracts we took. When I secured that grain, how was I to know that little insect and his partners would order up five times that amount?

  Instead of choking him on it, we’re making him wealthy. The market price has doubled over the option we’ve secured.”

  Jacob pointed at Timothy. “You got greedy, which is bad. But you were stupid, which is worse. You let your distaste for Roo Avery color your judgment.

  And what’s more, you killed a completely innocent man for merely being his business partner. You’re the only man in Krondor who won’t be given a chance to negotiate his way out of this.”

  “Innocent!” said Jacoby. “Ask my father about Helmut Grindle. He knew a man’s throat was below his chin and which side of a dagger had the edge. He just happened to be in the way. Avery has a knack of taking goods from me that are difficult to replace, and my customers for those goods are less than forgiving.”

  “Running drugs for the Mockers, again, Tim?”

  The disgust in Estherbrook’s tone could not be hidden. “You made that bed, so lie in it alone.”

  “Are you going to loan me the gold or not?”

  demanded Jacoby.

  “How much?”

  “If grain comes onto the market in the next two days, I can survive with sixty thousand gold sovereigns. That will bail out deWitt and the others who prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 389

  RISE OF A MERCHANT PRINCE

  389

  came along because I told them. If it doesn’t, you don’t have enough to save my company. DeWitt won’t be the only one fleeing the city to avoid prison.” He lowered his voice, and Jimmy could barely hear him as he warned, “But if I’m taken, Jacob, there are things I can tell the magistrate that might buy me a lighter sentence. I can take a few years in prison, Jacob, but you’re not a young man.

  Think on that.”

  Estherbrook considered it. He looked out the window and Jimmy ducked out of sight. He heard footsteps approach and crouched as low into the shadows as he could, holding motionless. “I thought I saw something,” he heard Estherbrook say.

  “You’re imagining things,” said Jacoby.

  Jimmy heard the sound of a quill on parchment.

  “Here’s a letter to my accounts keeper,” said Estherbrook. “He will honor the letter. But be warned, I am going to hold your father responsible if you default, our old friendship not withstanding.”

  “Thank you, Jacob,” said Timothy, and his tone was icy. Jimmy heard the door slam and was judging how best to time his move to the wall: Jacoby’s horse was in the stable and if he hurried, he might get to his own horse before Jacoby cleared the gate.

  He was about to move when he heard someone enter the library. “Father?”

  He chanced a peek and saw a stunning-looking young woman enter the room. He conceded that for once Dash hadn’t exaggerated a woman’s loveliness.

  He could see why Avery was smitten, as were Roo’s cousin and young Jason, from what Dash had reported. Dash and Jimmy had grown up near the center of power in the Kingdom, and many beautiful women prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 390

  390

  RAYMOND E. FIEST

  had paid attention to the grandsons of the Duke of Rillanon as soon as they were old enough to appreciate it. They had enjoyed the benefits of such attention, and had an education regarding women and their pleasures far beyond their years, but they also had something of an askance view of them as well.

  Jimmy, like his brother before him, marked Sylvia Estherbrook as a very dangerous creature, one able to find powerful allies.

  She said, “What was all that bellowing about?

  Was Tim being a bully again?”

  “Trying to,” answered his father. “It seems young Avery not only has managed to survive Jacoby’s attempts to bury him, but is turning the tables, as they say. I had to loan Jacoby the gold to keep him from being ruined.”

  “Then Timothy will try to kill Rupert?”

  “Almost certainly.”

  “Will you let him?” asked Sylvia.

  Jacob rose and came around the desk toward his daughter.

  “I think I shall absent myself from the conflict. I think it opportune for us to visit our country home for a few weeks. By the time we return, the matter will be settled.”

  “Well, if you must have someone killed, please do it soon, Father. Being out of the city is such a bore.”

  Jimmy had met some calculating women in the eastern courts, but Sylvia Estherbrook was easily the most cold-blooded he had encountered. As much as he wished to hear more of this conversation, he knew he couldn’t afford to let Jacoby get too far ahead of him. He started back toward the wall, wondering if it would do Avery any good to warn him. Then he con-

  prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 391

  RISE OF A MERCHANT PRINCE

  391

  sidered how beautiful Sylvia Estherbrook was, and how unlikely it was that Avery was used to the attention of such a woman, and discarded the idea as worthless.

  In the dark he could hear Tim Jacoby’s horse moving down the road as the gate closed. Jimmy dropped to the ground while the servant returned to the house, and when he heard the door to the house shut, he rose, ran to the wall, and quickly climbed over.

  A few minutes later he was upon his horse, heading back toward Krondor. He fervently hoped Dash was already at the inn, because there was no possibility he could overtake Jacoby and resume his posture of being the drunk at the next table.

  Inside the house, Jacob Estherbrook closed the door to his library behind him, and said, “Old Frederick’s health isn’t what it used to be, and I suspect that soon Timothy will be totally out of control.

  It would be better for us if either he or Rupert were to be removed from the landscape quickly. Either a very dangerous young man, who might rise to a dangerous level of power someday, or an unstable ally—potentially more dangerous than the opponent—will be removed. Either way, we profit.”

  “If Roo kills Tim, how does that profit you? He’s not one of your partners, and given he’s going to see your hand in much of what has been going on around the city the last few months, do you think he will be inclined to do business with you?”

  “If Tim kills him, that question is academic. If he kills Tim, he will be a young man of great influence, and I will groom him to help our cause. I count on your charms to make him wish to do business with prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 392

  392

  RAYMOND E.
FIEST

  me.”

  “Do you want me to marry him?”

  “No, he’s already married.”

  She laughed, a sound both lovely and chilling.

  “The little rogue. He never mentioned a wife. Well then, I shall just have to seduce the ugly twit and become his mistress.”

  “But only if Tim doesn’t kill him, daughter.”

  “Yes, Father. Now, would you care for supper?”

  Roo sat motionless as Tim Jacoby stalked forward and threw papers down upon the table.

  Masterson was the one to pick them up, and he said,

  “You have the grain, then?”

  “Yes,” said Jacoby, his fury turned to dark, cold anger. “A broker came into town this morning and I secured what I needed to meet the contract.”

  Roo forced himself not to smile. He had had Luis pretend to be the broker, and had sold grain to Jacoby for more money than Jacoby was being paid for it now. He had conspired not only to sell the grain twice, but to make a profit both times.

  Jacoby turned to look at Roo. “Avery,” he said calmly, “I don’t know how you managed this, but I smell something here that stinks like week-dead cats.

  And when I find out what it is you did, and how you did it, we’ll have a score to settle.”

  Roo rose slowly, so that a fight wouldn’t erupt in the balcony at Barret’s. He came around the table and looked at his taller foe. “I told you once before, when I took your knife out of your hand, that you weren’t the first enemy I’ve made. But you went too far when you punished an old man because you were angry with me, Jacoby. If you’re ready to die, we can step prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 393

  RISE OF A MERCHANT PRINCE

  393

  into the street right now.”

  Jacoby blinked and his jaw tightened, but he did nothing for a moment; then he turned and stalked off, pushing past others come to settle their debts with the Krondor Grain Traders Association.

  Roo returned to his chair and Masterson said,

  “Selling him our grain so that he could meet his contract may have made us a bit more gold, Roo, but we all might have slept better if we had put Jacoby and Sons out of business outright.”