Sparhawk stopped. ‘Did you get the chance to look around a bit after Krager went inside?’ he asked the boy.

‘No. I was going to, but Berit caught me before I had time’

‘Why don’t you do it now? If Kalten and I go marching up to the front door and Krager happens to be watching, he’ll be out the back door before we get inside. See if you can find that back door for us.’

‘Right,’ Talen said, his eyes sparkling with excitement. He scurried off down the street.

‘Good lad there,’ Kalten said, ‘in spite of his bad habits.’ He frowned. ‘How do you know this inn has a back door?’ he asked.

‘Every inn has a back door, Kalten – in case of fire if nothing else.’

‘I guess I hadn’t thought of that.’

When Talen returned, he was running as hard as he could. There were about ten men chasing him; in the lead, roaring unintelligibly, was Adus.

‘Look out!’ Talen shouted as he ran past.

Sparhawk and Kalten whipped their swords out from under their cloaks and stepped slightly apart to meet the charge. The men following Adus were shabbily dressed and carried a variety of weapons, rusty swords, axes, and spiked maces. ‘Kill them!’ Adus bellowed, slowing slightly and waving his men on.

The fight was short. The men rushing up the narrow street appeared to be common waterfront roughnecks, and they were no match for the two trained knights. Four of them were down before the others realized that they had made a tactical blunder. Two more collapsed onto the bloody stones before the rest could turn to flee. Then Sparhawk leapt over the sprawled bodies and rushed at Adus. The brute parried the knight’s first stroke, then seized his sword hilt in both hands and flailed at Sparhawk with it. Sparhawk easily deflected those blows and countered deftly, inflicting painful cuts and bruises on his opponent’s mailed ribs and shoulders. After a moment, Adus fled, running hard and clutching at his side with a bloody hand.

‘Why didn’t you chase him?’ Kalten demanded, coming up puffing and with his blood-smeared sword still in his hand.

‘Because Adus can run faster than I can,’ Sparhawk shrugged. ‘I’ve known that for years.’

Talen came back down the street, breathing hard. He looked admiringly at the hacked and bleeding bodies sprawled on the cobblestones. ‘Well done, my Lords,’ he congratulated them.

‘What happened?’ Sparhawk asked.

‘I went on past the inn.’ Talen shrugged. ‘Then I went around the back. That big one who just got away was hiding in the alley with these others. He made a grab for me, but I dodged. Then I ran.’

‘Good thinking,’ Kalten said.

Sparhawk sheathed his sword. ‘Let’s get away from here,’ he said.

‘Why not follow Adus?’ Kalten asked.