The general grumbled under his breath and said, “The king has other things to worry about right now. He is not concerned with a ‘lowly gutterrat who leads nothing but other lowly gutterrats.’”

“Marcum!” Lady Adelina gasped.

“Not my words, Adelina,” Marcum barked. Everyone was stunned that the king would say such a thing. “Listen to me,” he said as he met their gazes. “Go to Skutton. Get out of this city for a while. Maybe the Raven’s influence will not cross the sea. By the time you return, hopefully, things will have settled down.”

Rezkin thought it interesting to watch the reactions and conjectures of the outworlders toward his actions. They made it seem like he had devised some master plan to create a criminal empire. In fact, taking over that first guild had been an impulse. Taking over the second became necessary in order to prevent the first from becoming completely decimated, and he wanted all of the small-men and small-women to have better lives. By then, he had decided that the thieves’ guilds would serve as a decent information network, which he needed since he could no longer depend on the strikers at the fortress. Thoughts of the fortress and its now-deceased inhabitants caused that odd tightening in his chest again. Rezkin thought perhaps he had developed some sort of psychological disorder related to the fortress. He would have to work to negate the weakness.

The news of the criminal overlord had been a heavy weight on the group, and the party split up shortly thereafter. Reaylin accepted Lady Adelina’s offer to stay the night since they would be leaving so early in the morning. The young woman already carried her pack with her, so it was no trouble. Besides, no one really wanted her to leave in the dark, especially with the Raven skulking about, as Lady Adelina put it.

Captain Jimson returned to the barracks where he would meet up with the other two soldiers the general had assigned to their detail. He was to meet back at the estate for a final briefing over breakfast in the morning. The lady had requested breakfast be served an hour before dawn, far earlier than usual, but she wanted to send them off with full stomachs and a fond farewell.