"Only these castaways." He glanced at the emblem on the warriors' black caps, then added, "A dragon sank their ship."

"That so?" The speaker sneered and glanced at his companion. "That's too bad for them, ain't it, Godfrey?"

Godfrey nodded. "Terrible, Henry-but they've still got to pay the harbor tax." He raised a finger and pointed it at each of the survivors. "Let's see, I count eleven people.

That'll be eleven silver."

"Eleven silver!" Ruha protested. "That's-"

"That's a sight too much," Fowler interrupted. He shot

Ruha a warning scowl, then motioned at two one-legged sailors who had so far outlived their amputations. "We lost most of our silver when my ship sank. Besides, you can see some of us aren't whole. We shouldn't have to pay full for them."

Godfrey eyed the pair's bloody stumps, then laughed heartily. "Very well, half-fee for the half-men. Ten silver."

Fowler glanced at the long swords hanging from the men's belts, then spread his hands. "We cannot pay your price."

It was a lie, for Ruha still had twenty silver coins that had been inside her aba when the Storm Sprite sank, but she did not contradict the captain.

Fowler reached inside his own tunic and withdrew two coins. "How about two silver?"

"For two silver, we will not let you spit on the dock."

This time, it was Henry who spoke.

Fowler shrugged in resignation, then turned away

from the two warriors. "Pros used to be an honest place. I

don't know what happened."

Godfrey peered over the half-ore's shoulder, then motioned to Ruha's jambiya. "Let me see that knife. Per- haps we can let you ashore in exchange for that and the two silver."

"No." Ruha motioned to the coins in Fowler's hands.

"Take those coins or nothing. I will not let you have my jambiya"

Godfrey's eyes hardened, then he and Henry drew their swords. The pilot and his two rowers leapt out of the scow, and the gang of shoremen backed down the pier. Fowler picked up an oar, as did Arvold and two more healthy crewmen. The eyes of the two armored warriors widened at the unanticipated opposition. They glanced around the quay at the smirking faces of the shoremen and the scow crew, then gathered their nerve and stepped to within a pace of the scow.

Godfrey stretched his hand toward Ruha. "The dag- ger-and the silver."

Fowler looked to Ruha. Tour call. Lady Witch."

"Witch?" The color drained from the faces of both war- riors, and Henry whispered, "Maybe we oughta call for some help."

Ruha blew a breath into her hands and began the incantation of a wind spell that would silence the men's voices-then abruptly stopped as the clamor of galloping hooves reverberated down the pier. All eyes turned shore- ward to see three riders charging down the quay, two holding cocked crossbows in their hands, the third lead- ing a string of empty mounts.

The trio was coming so fast the scow crew and shore- men had to leap off the quay to avoid being ridden down.

Ruha saw that the first rider was a sturdy, florid-faced woman with a flyaway mane of honey-blonde hair. Like her two companions, she wore an indistinct cloak over a coat of chain mail and carried a large mace in a sling on her saddle. The second rider was a grim-jawed man with

a drooping black mustache and stony black eyes, while the third was a rotund cleric with the heavy silver chain of a holy symbol showing above his collar. They reined up just short of Godfrey and Henry, and the two with cross- bows aimed their weapons at the two ruffians.

Both warriors lowered swords, and Godfrey hissed,

"Vaerana Hawklyn!"

"You know me?" Vaerana asked. "Too bad for you."

She shot the man in throat. Her companion did like- wise to Henry, drawing a chorus of angry cries from the other quays. Vaerana nonchalantly glanced toward the shouting, then dismounted and stomped to the edge of the pier.

"Sorry we weren't waiting when you docked, Tusks!" she said, grabbing Fowler's hand and pulling him onto the pier. "We were expecting the Storm Sprite!"

"We had some dragon trouble." Fowler glanced at the other quays, where dozens of shouting, black-capped war- riors were rushing toward shore, intent on avenging their comrades' deaths. "Have you lost your mind, Lady Con- stable?"

Vaerana waved off the captain's concern. "Don't worry about the Black Caps. They've got a few surprises wait- ing for them." The Lady Constable turned to Ruha. "You must be the witch Storm sent me."

"Ruha of the Mtair Dhafir at your service, Lady Con- stable." Ruha glanced at the two corpses lying on the pier. "Their crime was not so terrible. Was it truly neces- sary to kill them?"

Vaerana's eyes flashed with irritation. "Only if I don't want Cult assassins waiting behind every hill on the way home," she growled. "Now, if you're through interrogating me, can we get the hell out of here?"

"Yes, of course."

Feeling sheepish for questioning Vaerana's actions,

Ruha stepped over to the side of the scow. Although

Hsieh's physician had done a remarkable job of healing her wound-her thigh was now swollen to only half-

again its normal size-the witch could not help limping as she moved.

"What happened?" Vaerana was looking not at Ruha, but at Fowler.

"Sharks." The half-ore waved a hand at his two amputees. "Them, too."

Vaerana looked the men over, then turned to her rotund horse-handler. "This is going to be more difficult than we thought, Tombor."

"We have a little time." Tombor was staring toward the shore, where the Black Caps were already ducking for cover as a hail of crossbow bolts rained down on them from the windows of several huts. "Let's just hope that once we're mounted, we can charge out of town as easily as we sneaked in."

"Maybe we should leave the one-legs here," Fowler sug- gested, helping Ruha out of the scow. "They aren't much good to me, and the ride's liable to kill them anyway."

Vaerana shook her head. "Can't do it, Tusks. The

Cult's worse than ever; a ride on a galloping horse will seem like fun compared to what the Black Caps would do to them." She turned to the grim-jawed rider who had killed Henry. "Pierstar, you and Tombor see to the crew.

I'll take care of Tusks and the witch."

Pierstar jumped into the scow to help the amputees, while Tombor directed the rest of the crew to come around to the left side of the horses-he had to say 'port'

before they understood what he wanted. Vaerana led

Ruha and the captain to the first pair of spare mounts.