Jazhara turned and pointed her staff toward the far door and uttered a few syllables. A bolt of white energy exploded from the staff, fired down the short hallway, and blew the door off its hinges with a deafening sound.
James had his sword in hand. He grinned. “That should bring them running.” The first swordsman was scrambling backward, away from James’s blade, while awkwardly trying to draw his own. The blond man used the overturned table as a barrier, so that he could retreat an extra couple of feet to the wall, gaining space to pull out his sword.
James had to leap away to avoid a lunge from the blond man, aimed at James’s left side. Jazhara struck down with her staff at the swordsman’s arm, striking his wrist with a numbing blow.
The blond man yowled in pain as he dropped his sword. As he attempted to pull his dagger out with his other hand, Jazhara struck him on the temple with the iron-shod butt of her staff. The man dropped to the floor.
James heard shouts and confusion from the front of the building, and knew that Jonathan Means and the guards were now in the common room. Unless there were other Nighthawks there, the dockworkers and other laborers would be unlikely to challenge armed guardsmen.
James lashed out with his sword, slicing the hand of the bearded man on the floor, who was still struggling to pull out his sword. It had the desired effect, for the man let go of the hilt. James touched the tip of his sword to the man’s throat. “I advise you not to move if you want to keep breathing.”
Jazhara turned toward the door, readying herself in case whoever came through it first wasn’t friendly.
The bearded man shifted his weight slightly and James pressed the blade into the man’s skin until he cried, “Ah ah!” Deftly, James flipped the man’s collar aside with the sword’s point, and slipped it under a chain around the man’s neck. Then, with a flick, he drew the chain over the man’s head. An amulet slid down the blade.
As the point rose in the air, the bearded man made a frantic grab for his own sword. Without taking his eyes off the amulet, James kicked with his left boot, taking the man on the chin and knocking him unconscious.
At this point, Jonathan Means broke through the door at the end of the hall, followed by two of the Prince’s Household Guard. They were frog-marching Lucky Pete between them, his peg leg slamming against the floor in a most comic fashion.
Jonathan said, “Most of the lads in there started clearing out when Jazhara blew the door off the hinges.” He smiled at her and said, “I assume it was you and not some other magician, milady?”
She nodded and returned the young man’s smile.
The acting sheriff continued. “Most of the rest of them fled when they saw the seven of us rush in. That one” - he pointed at Pete - “and a couple of others tried to fight, but we had them under control in a few minutes.” He glanced at the two unconscious figures on the floor. “What have we here?”
James turned his sword to Means and let the amulet slip off the blade. “False Nighthawks. Part of that band sent into the sewers to cast blame on the true Guild of Death a few months back if I don’t miss my guess.”
“How do you know them to be false?” asked Jazhara.
“No poison rings, and they didn’t try to take their own lives,” answered James. “The Nighthawks are fanatics about not being taken alive.” He sheathed his sword.
“What is the significance of these being false?” asked Jonathan.
James said, “That remains to be discovered when we question these two. I suggest you get them to the palace dungeon and hold them for questioning. With the Old Market Jail gone, it’s either the palace or the jail at the docks.”
Means nodded. “The palace it is, Squire.”
Means called for help and another four guards came in to carry the unconscious “Nighthawks” away. James turned to Lucky Pete and said, “Now, it’s time for us to have a talk.”
Pete tried to smile, but his face was an exercise in panic. “Now, Squire, I don’t know nothin’, really. I just rented some rooms and the basement to these lads.”
James’s gaze narrowed. “The basement?”
“Yes, through that trapdoor there and down the stairs,” he said, pointing to a spot on the hallway floor.
“Damn,” said James, pulling his sword out once more. To Means he said, “Leave a man here with Pete and follow me.”
James pulled up the trapdoor and scrambled through it without waiting to see who was behind him. He ran down the stone stairs, which led down to a small landing halfway down, then doubled back to the basement floor below. From above, Jazhara said, “James! There is something very wrong here!”
Turning to look up at her, James said, “I feel it, too.”