RAYMOND E. FEIST
&
STEVE STIRLING
Jimmy the Hand
Copyright
Voyager An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 7785 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
www.harpervoyagerbooks.com
Published by Voyager 2003
First published in Great Britain by Voyager 2003
Copyright ©Raymond E. Feist & Steve Stirling 2003
The Authors assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2012 ISBN 9780007370238
Version: 2014-07-31
To my readers:
Without your enthusiasm Id be selling cars for a living.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Raymond E. Feist
To Jan and to Ray, Will, and Joel: the only guys who could have brought this off.
S.M. Stirling
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Map
Chapter One: Escape
Chapter Two: Crackdown
Chapter Three: Aftermath
Chapter Four: Plotting
Chapter Five: Rescue
Chapter Six: Journey
Chapter Seven: Tragedy
Chapter Eight: Family
Chapter Nine: Encounter
Chapter Ten: The Baron
Chapter Eleven: Discovery
Chapter Twelve: Escape
Chapter Thirteen: Hiding
Chapter Fourteen: Abduction
Chapter Fifteen: Discovery
Chapter Sixteen: Developments
Chapter Seventeen: Plan
Chapter Eighteen: Magic
Epilogue: Krondor
Afterword
Acknowledgements
About the Author
By The Same Author
About the Publisher
Map
Chapter One Escape
Men cursed as they grappled.
Jimmy the Hand slipped eellike between knots of fighting men on the darkened quayside. Steel glittered in torch- and lantern-light, shining in ruddy-red arcs as horsemen slashed at the elusive Mockers who strove to hold them back. Only seconds more were needed for Prince Arutha and Princess Anita to make their escape, and the fight had reached the frenzied violence of desperation. Screams of rage and pain split the night, accompanied by the iron hammering of shod hooves throwing up sparks as they smashed down on stone, to the counterpoint of the clangour of steel on steel.
Bravos and street-toughs struggled against trained soldiers, but the soldiers horses slipped and slithered on the slick boards and stones of the docks and the flickering light was even more uncertain than the footing. Knives stabbed upward and horses shied as hands gripped booted feet and heaved Bas-Tyran menat-arms out of the saddle. The harsh iron-and-salt smell of blood was strong even against the garbage stink of the harbour, and a horse screamed piteously as it collapsed, hamstrung. The riders leg was caught in the stirrup, crushed beneath his mount, and he screamed as the horse thrashed, then fell silent as ragged figures swarmed over him.
Jimmy fell flat under the slash of a sword, rolled unscathed between the flailing hooves of a war-horse scrabbling to find better footing, tripped one of the men-at-arms who was fighting dismounted against three Mockers, then dashed down the length of the dock, his feet light on the boards.
At the end of the quay he threw himself flat on the rough splintery wood to hail the longboat below:
Farewell! he called to the Princess Anita.
She turned toward his voice, her lovely face little more than a pale blur in the pre-dawn light. But he knew that her sea-green eyes would be wide with astonishment.
Im glad I came to say goodbye, he thought, an unfamiliar sensation squeezing at his chest below the breastbone. Its worth a little risk to life and limb.