Free Jimmy the Hand by Raymond E. Feist, S. M. Stirling Page A

Garza’s men will definitely kill us if we don’t
do something. As for the Upright Man . . .’ He paused to watch
a star shoot across the sky and to consider what the Upright Man
might do. ‘We won’t be rewarded, that’s certain,
we’ll probably have to take a beating for disobeying orders.
But if we succeed in getting everybody out . . .’
    ‘Everybody!’
Larry’s voice squeaked.
    ‘Well,
yeah. Why not?’
    ‘I just
want to get my brother out.’
    ‘No,
that’s not enough!’ Jimmy said, sitting up. ‘You
want to get your brother out; I understand that, but if we can get
the others out safely, too, that would be great. Wouldn’t it?’
    There was
silence for a moment, then, ‘Yeah?’
    ‘And it
would make us heroes to everyone in the Guild. We’d be too
popular to have our throats cut.’
    ‘Well, I
guess.’
    Not the rousing
confirmation Jimmy had been hoping for, but it would do. He stood up.
    ‘First,
let’s go and look over that place Noxious Neville showed us.
Once we know what we’re dealing with we can make plans. Then
we’ll see.’ He started off, followed by a reluctant Larry
the Ear.
    ‘See
what?’ the boy asked.
    ‘See
whether the Upright Man will kill us or not,’ Jimmy said
cheerfully.
    Jimmy wore a
vinegar-soaked rag tied over his nose and mouth and was still
fighting the urge to gag from the stench. They’d removed a lot
of the rubble from the blockage, but not all of it; the people they
were to rescue were mostly small and certainly thinner than when
they’d been arrested. The two boys laboured quietly and
quickly, and then it was time for one of them to climb up the
vertical shaft that Neville had told them about. Jimmy glanced at
Larry, who was nervous, green, and on the verge of being sick, and
didn’t even think of suggesting the younger boy go. Jimmy took
a deep breath through his mouth, as if he was about to plunge under
water, and stuck his head into the opening. Then he pulled himself
up.
    It wasn’t
quite as tight as he’d expected from the old man’s
description, but then maybe the old beggar had worn some meat on his
bones when he was young. And the walls were an easy climb, seeming to
be a natural cleft in the rock below the keep, with plenty of nooks
and crannies for fingers and toes. Even the girls would be able to
manage it.
    So far the only
problem was that it was very slimy with things best not thought about
and stank enough to shrivel the hairs in his nostrils, even through
the sharp vinegar smell. He kept promising an offering to the Goddess
Ruthia, Mistress of Luck, if she would let him get through this
without anyone pissing on him. The higher he climbed the more
extravagant the offerings became.
    He heard a voice
above his head and froze, but whoever it was passed by. He thanked
the Lady of Luck and glanced up. He wouldn’t have been able to
go any further anyway. Just above him they had mortared small stones
to the side of the shaft for a depth of about four feet from the top,
narrowing it to just the size of his head.
    Jimmy climbed
down rapidly, his heart sinking. He’d imagined chipping away
the extra stones around the grate, and had worried about how they’d
cover the sound. He’d never imagined them continuing for four
feet! Maybe ol’ Neville hadn’t known about it, maybe he
didn’t think it mattered, but it was certainly a big
complication.
    Jimmy imagined
the wrath visited upon the gaoler when the escape of a prisoner—maybe
it was Noxious Neville back-in-the-day—had been discovered. So
either the heavily chastened gaoler or his newly-appointed successor
had seen fit to ensure it didn’t happen again. For a giddy
moment he wondered how the current gaoler was going to tell del Garza
and the Sheriff that dozens of Mockers had fled in one night. Then he
put aside the amusing fantasy and returned to the problem at hand:
how to get rid of a lot of brick and mortar in a hurry.
    Larry was
waiting down below the partially-collapsed