Guards of Haven: The Adventures of Hawk and Fisher (Hawk & Fisher) Read Free Page B

place where you paid through the nose for out-of-season delicacies, and the waiter sneered at you if your accent slipped. It was also a clearing house for information, gossip, and rumour, all for sale on a sliding scale that started at expensive and rose quickly to extortionate. Hawk and Fisher looked in from time to time to pick up the latest information, and never paid a penny. Instead, they let their informants live and promised not to set fire to the building on the way out.
    They stood outside the Black Freighter a moment, listening to the sounds of conversation and laughter carry softly on the night air. It seemed there was a good crowd in tonight. They pushed open the door and strolled in, smiling graciously about them. The headwaiter started towards them, his hand positioned just right for a surreptitious bribe for a good table, and then he stopped dead, his face falling as he saw who it was. A sudden silence fell across the tavern, and a sea of sullen faces glared at Hawk and Fisher from the dimly lit tables. As in most restaurants, the lighting was kept to a minimum. Officially, this was to provide an intimate, romantic atmosphere. Hawk thought it was because if the customers could see what they were eating, they wouldn’t pay for it. But then he was no romantic, as Fisher would be the first to agree.
    The quiet was complete, save for the crackling of the fire at the end of the room, and the atmosphere was so tense you could have struck a match off it. Hawk and Fisher headed for the bar, which boasted richly polished chrome and veneer and all the latest fashionable spirits and liqueurs, lined up in neat, orderly rows. A large mirror covered most of the wall behind the bar, surrounded by rococo scrollwork of gold and silver.
    Hawk and Fisher leaned on the bar and smiled companionably at the bartender, Howard, who looked as though he would have very much liked to turn and run, but didn’t dare. He swallowed once, gave the bartop a quick polish it didn’t need, and smiled fixedly at the two Guards. He might have been handsome in his heyday, but twenty years of more than good living had buried those good looks under too much weight, and his smile was weak now, from having been too many things to too many people. He had a wife and a mistress who fought loudly in public, and many other signs of success, but though he now owned the Inn where he’d once been nothing more than a lowly waiter, he still liked to spend most of his time behind the bar, keeping an eye on things. None of his staff was going to sneak up on him, the way he had on the previous owner. Hawk shifted his weight slightly, and the bartender jumped in spite of himself. Hawk smiled.
    “Good crowd in tonight, Howard. How’s business?”
    “Fine! Just fine,” said Howard quickly. “Couldn’t be better. Can I get you a drink? Or a table? Or ... Oh hell, Hawk, you’re not going to bust up the place again, are you? I only just finished redecorating from the last time you were here, and those mirrors are expensive. And you know the insurance people won’t pay out if you’re involved. They class you and Fisher along with storm damage, rogue magic, and Acts of Gods.”
    “No need to be so worried, Howard,” said Fisher. “Anyone would think you had something to hide.”
    “Look, I just run the place. No one tells me anything. You know that.”
    “We’re looking for someone,” said Hawk. “Fenris. It’s a spy’s code name. You ever heard it before?”
    “No,” said the bartender quickly. “Never. If I had, I’d tell you, word of honour. I don’t have any truck with spies. I’m a patriotic man, always have been, loyal as the day is long....”
    “Pack it in,” said Fisher. “We believe you, though thousands wouldn’t. Who’s in tonight that might know something?”
    Howard hesitated, and Hawk frowned at him. The bartender swallowed hard. “There’s Fast Tommy, the Little Lord, and Razor Eddie. It’s just possible they might have