"Outofourway!" the lead one huffed so fast the words buzzed together like an angry hornet. "Movemovemove!"

"Move!" another shouted more distinctly, waving at Fetch. "Move! Damnable kender, move! What's all this about? Who sounded an alarm?"

"I ain't no kender," the small man spat.

"Movemovemove!"

The large man smiled wide and brushed a lock of short ginger hair out of his eyes. "Public street," he said, as he maneuvered himself in front of them just as they tried to cut around toward Dhamon and Rikali. Dhamon was back to back with Maldred in a fighting stance. Dhamon eased the sack of purloined treasure off his shoulder, setting it on the ground and taking a practice swing with his stolen blade. Satisfied, he readied himself for the men approaching from the other end of the street.

Fetch made a growling noise and took a few steps away from Maldred, grasping a hoopak, an odd-looking oak weapon of kender design that consisted of a staff with a «V» at one end, to which a red leather sling was attached.

"Mai, we don't have time to play games with dwarves," Rikali warned. "Just kill ‘em quick."

The lead dwarf heard that and cursed. He spun to the big man's right, but Maldred was faster, cutting him off. He brought his leg up, striking the dwarf in the chest and punching the wind from his lungs. As the dwarf gasped, Maldred kicked him in the chest a second time, stunning him. A second dwarf paused, which was his undoing. Maldred tripped him, stepping on his sword as it struck the ground and snapping the blade. The third opponent pivoted to the big man's left and found himself face to face with Fetch.

Fetch sneered, stopping the dwarf in his tracks.

"Th-th-that ain't no kender. It's a weird little monster," the dwarf stammered.

"How rude," the small man returned, snarling and kicking out ferociously. Fetch missed, however, and landed on his rump, his hoopak tangled in his cloak.

At the same time, the fourth dwarf took a few steps back, continued to blow on his whistle, and frantically pumped his arms up and down at the crowd down the street, as if he were some kind of bird trying to take flight.

"Mai…" Rikali said again.

"Put your blade away," Maldred advised the dwarf who was still standing in front of Fetch. He leveled his great sword, facing the dwarf. "Take a deep breath, go back to bed, and live to see tomorrow."

"Mai, we don't have time…"

"Thieves!" hollered a Legion of Steel Knight, the lead of the growing pack approaching from Dhamon's direction.

"We're gonna get trapped in the middle!" Rikali spat.

"Your sword…" Maldred warned the dwarf again.

"Put your own sword away," the guard retorted. "Thieves!" The dwarf feinted to his left, but Fetch was quicker, jumping to block the guard's path. The small man twirled the hoopak ahead of him to keep the dwarf at bay.

"I'd prefer not to kill any of you," Maldred said ominously. His voice was deep, rich, melodic, almost hypnotic. "Your deaths would not profit me." He lashed out with his foot, tripping one of the dwarves who was trying to get up.

The approaching crowd was only a few hundred feet away now.

"Pffah!" taunted the guard in front of Fetch. He thrust the sword at the small man and grumbled when it was parried with the hoopak. "Maybe I'd prefer not to kill you-or your tiny monster!" He spun to his right, avoiding a jab from Fetch and ending up in front of Maldred.

"I'm warning you," Maldred cautioned.

The dwarf ducked beneath Maldred's sword and made another attempt to get around the big man.

"Mai!" Rikali was bouncing back and forth nervously on the balls of her feet, looking up and down the street and appraising the charging mobs.

"I'm sorry," Maldred said to the dwarf, a tinge of regret in his sonorous voice. "Truly." He drove the pommel of the sword down hard on top of the guard's head. There was a disturbing crack, and the dwarf fell and lay still. Maldred turned his attention to the other weaponless guard who had finally struggled to his feet. The big man intended to repeat his peaceful offer, but Rikali darted in front of him and thrust out with her knife. The guard sidestepped her, though the blade cut through his jacket and fear made the color drain from his ruddy face.

Maldred nodded significantly to the one who continued to blow the whistle. Stop that ruckus, he mouthed. At the same time, he kept an eye on the crowd that would be upon them in a moment. "I said I'd prefer not to kill you."

"Thieves!" A Legion of Steel Knight was shouting orders. "Catch them!"

The dwarf facing Maldred growled. He spit out the whistle and risked a glance at his dead companions- Rikali had just finished off the unarmed one. He fumbled for the sword at his waist, tugged it free and drew back. "There's too many of us. We'll stop you!" Then he ducked beneath the swing of the big man's blade. Too late, the dwarf realized his opponent was a master. Maldred's sword swept wide and down in the opposite direction, and the guard's head fell with a dull thud.

"Hurry!" someone hollered. The crowd was only a few yards away.

"Yes, hurry," Rikali said.

"Where're the horses?" Dhamon gasped as he grabbed the leather sack and slung it over his shoulder. He parried the swings of the first Legion of Steel Knights who'd reached him.

"Mai didn't bring any horses," she answered, as she, too, engaged one of the Knights. "Rode our last ones out ‘til they were all but dead and thought we'd get some new ones here. You know I like a little shopping now and then."

"Wonderful," Dhamon said. He was besieged by Knights and looking for openings. He found one and swept his sword past one man's guard, cutting deep into his leg. The Knight dropped to his knees, hands pressed against his thigh.

The others were equally beset.

"Surrender!" someone hollered. "Surrender and you'll live!"

"That man! He has the commander's sword." This from a Legion of Steel Knight.

"Kill him!" A gravelly dwarven voice. "Kill the thief!"

"Guess surrender's not an option now," Rikali said.

Dhamon was exchanging blows with two dwarves.

"I'd prefer not to kill you," Maldred announced to the dwarves who had reached him.

"Don't be so polite," Rikali shouted to the big man. "I repeat, let's kill ‘em quick and be on our way-before even more come." She gathered the hem of her cloak in her free hand. In one fluid motion, she danced forward and whipped the cloak about the sword of a charging dwarf. At the same time, she thrust up with the knife into a Knight's vulnerable neck, whirled, and slashed at another dwarf, cutting through his tabard and deep beneath. "Look at the lights bein' lit about town, Mai. Can't you hear all the voices? Everyone's wakin' up! These odds are ugly enough, but in another few minutes they're gonna be too ugly to handle. There's lots of Knights around. Do somethin7!"

Dhamon drove the pommel of his sword down on the helmeted head of a dwarf, denting the metal and stunning the man.

"Yeah, do something, Mai," Fetch parroted.

The big man growled deep in his throat and instantly dispatched two in front of him, spraying the crowd with blood. Those next in line backed up and held their swords in front of them in an effort to keep him at bay and take better stock of the situation.

Fetch thwacked his hoopak soundly against the hands of his foe, the blow causing the dwarf to drop his sword. "I'd prefer not to kill you," Fetch sneered, imitating Maldred. The dwarf held his arms out to his side in surrender and backed up, and Fetch let out a victory whoop.

A few of the other dwarves were retreating, trying to push the crowd back so the Legion of Steel Knights who had come from the hospital could circle the thieves and deal with them. But there were a dozen town guards in the mix, and they continued to press forward. It was on these that Maldred and Fetch concentrated.