Read Online Jimmy and the Crawler by Raymond E. Feist - Free Book Online Page B

long five minutes, James heard the sound of footfalls approaching, lightly, slowly, cautiously. His two would-be captors were indeed retracing their steps, trying to ascertain where he might have given them the slip. He heard whispers, though he couldn’t make out the words. Their tone was frustrated and urgent. Someone wanted the drunken, loud-mouthed thief and wanted him badly.
    As they neared, James saw a hint of movement on the opposite roof, then abruptly a figure came over the peak of the roof, half slid down the eaves, and with an effortless, fluid move, pulled a short bow off his back. In an almost inhuman act of speed and precision, two arrows were loosed and the two men chasing James lay dead on the cobbles.
    James tried even harder to blend into the roof tiles and fought back the urge to either run or slip backwards. Any movement would surely instantly end his existence.
    Time dragged and then suddenly the archer was gone. James didn’t move. He closed his eyes for a second, then looked again. It was fully five more minutes before he dared move enough to glance over the eaves into the street. Below lay the two men, pools of blood spreading around them, each with an arrow through the throat, which had denied them even the opportunity to cry out.
    James rolled over and looked up at a blank sky, the stars hidden by the marine clouds that came in from the Bitter Sea. He let out a slow breath and gathered his wits.
    The archer’s identity was unknown to him, but he was a Nighthawk, a member of the Brotherhood of Assassins, a group with which James was all too familiar. He and Prince Arutha had seen the destruction of their hideout in an abandoned fortress miles to the south.
    He waited for another five minutes, thinking how like rats they were. If you didn’t get them all in their nest, they were out in the sewers or on the rooftops, breeding.
    ‘Damn,’ James whispered to himself. At last he slowly got to his feet, looking around for any possible attack. When none came, he lowered himself from the eaves and dropped to the stones, quickly vanishing into the night.

• CHAPTER SEVEN •
Departure
    J AMES YAWNED .
    William and Jazhara glanced around the common room of the Jade Monkey, which was quiet at the moment, as the workers were out securing materials. One table had been erected in the corner and three chairs provided, and Gina had had a newly hired porter fetch a meal from a nearby establishment.
    ‘You need sleep,’ said Jazhara.
    ‘I’ll get some, just not any time soon.’ James’s gaze travelled between the faces of his two dinner companions. ‘You ready to leave, Willy?’
    William nodded. ‘I’ve found us escorts, and Jazhara’s family is camped at an oasis only three days away.’
    James considered. ‘Who did you find?’
    ‘Izmalis,’ said Jazhara.
    James closed his eyes for a moment. ‘They’re a little too close to being Nighthawks for my liking.’
    Jazhara said, ‘They work for my uncle.’
    ‘Of course they do.’ His face took on a calculating expression. ‘How many?’
    ‘A dozen, all hard-nosed veterans, from what I can judge,’ said William. ‘We’re going to move as quickly as we can, but stop after a day’s ride to see if we’re being followed. If we are, we’ll continue on to Jazhara’s family and assume no one who means us ill will blunder into a camp of over a hundred desert fighters. And if no one follows us, we’ll send the Izmalis on without us, double back and be waiting at that wadi a half-day’s ride to the southwest.’
    James nodded. He knew it well, having passed through it on his way to the Valley of Lost Men and the ancient fortress known as the Tomb of the Hopeless. ‘If I need you, I’ll send a message. You’ll know it’s me and not some trap because the messenger will tell you “James has lost his way”, and if he says anything else, kill him and flee. I will already be captive or dead.’
    ‘What are you going to do?’ asked