“Yes. Now, what do you know about Lucas?”
Jack stopped poking at the floating detritus. “We was keepin’ an eye on Lucas. He’s an old . . . business associate from way back, but we was figurin’ he was handling some business that rightly was ours. One night three boats rowed by some grim-looking lads came up the main canal from the harbor. Couldn’t get close enough to see which of the old smugglers’ hideaways he used, but we’d have found it sooner or later. Lucas went up to his inn.
“Then he drops right down among us yesterday and offers us his inn if we just let him pass. Well, for that nice little inn of his, we said ‘pass,’ and he scurries off. Knows the sewers, does old Lucas, ‘cause the lad set to tail him got shaken before he reached the smugglers’ landin’. Still, enough, we figure we’ll get around to findin’ him, ‘cause the lads checkin’ around up top hear rumors of pirates and gold. We figure Lucas knows where their treasure’s hid. That’s why he was free with his inn and all. So we figure we’ll send a couple of Bashers on him but then this monster shows up and all them treasure hunters start running through the tunnels . . .”
“Where is he now?”
“We have a good idea of where he was, Squire, but you know how it goes with us Mockers. Always misplacin’ things. Of course, for a price, anythin’ can be found.”
“We killed the monster,” said William.
“And for that you get free passage, nothin’ more,” replied Jack.
“What’s your price?” asked James.
“One favor, from you and your new friends, to be named later.”
“What?” William exclaimed.
“Why?” asked James.
Jack said, “It won’t be asked soon, maybe never, but we think there’s trouble comin’. Big trouble. That monster was just the tiniest bit of it. And we need all the friends we can get.”
“You know I can’t break my oath to the Prince and do anything illegal for you,” said James.
“I’m not askin’ for that,” said Jack. “But we need friends, don’t we, Jimmy the Hand?”
James pondered the request, then said at last, “That we do, Rat-Tail Jack. You have my oath.”
“We think Lucas is near the basement where old Trevor Hull hid the Princess when you were a boy. There are a couple of cellars from torn-down buildings that you can still get into, large enough to hide some treasure, and close enough to the water to get it there.”
“I know the area,” said James. “We’ll be out of the sewers by sun-up.”
“See that you are. We can’t control every murderin’ dog down here.”
James motioned for Jazhara and William to follow him and they continued along their way, heading for the central canal.
The trio moved silently and slowly. In the distance they could hear the low murmur of men’s voices.
James and his companions made their way cautiously to a point near an intersection of the main canal and another large waterway. Crouching low in the darkness, their lantern shuttered, James, Jazhara, and William waited.
Six men, all wearing black, were consulting with one another, speaking very softly. Jazhara’s intake of breath behind James told him she recognized them. James and William already knew them for what they were: Izmalis. Keshian assassins. More than a dozen had turned up in the desert fortress of the Nighthawks that Prince Arutha had destroyed just months earlier.
James had no illusions: if Jazhara could strike with some magic spell that would incapacitate two or three of them for a few minutes, then he and William stood a chance. In an open fight without the advantage of surprise, it would take a miracle for the three of them to survive.
James turned and tapped Jazhara on the shoulder, pointing to the six men, and then he put his lips next to her ear. In his softest voice he asked, “What can you do?”
Jazhara whispered, “I can try to blind them. When I tell you, close your eyes tightly.”
She whispered the same instructions in William’s ear. Then she rose from her crouch and began an incantation, her voice soft. Something - a too-loud word, a rustle of cloth, the scrape of a boot against stone - alerted one of the assassins, who turned to peer into the gloom. Then he said something to his companions, and at one they ceased their discussion to look where he indicated.
Slowly they drew weapons. James whispered, “Do it now!”
Jazhara said, “Close your eyes!” and let loose her spell. A shaft of golden light sprang from her hand and exploded in a searing-hot, white flash. The six assassins were blinded instantly. Jazhara shouted, “Now!”