“Good morrow, gentlemen of the City Watch. Your visit’s a rare pleasure. What can we do for you?”
Klosterheim pointed at me. “That girl. She’s the one you kidnapped. Kill them all, guards, if they resist. You are safe now, fräulein. I am here to take you home.”
I looked from Kushy to the guards. For a moment I was confused. “He’s the one wants to kill me,” I said.
Then, instinctively, I raced for the back room and slammed the door behind me, bolting it as Lord Renyard had taught me. From the other side came the firing of shots.
I felt fairly certain that Klosterheim, having somehow got the city authorities on his side, would win this round. At any moment they’d come bursting in. With my heart pounding, I opened the window of my bedroom and hopped out onto the tiles of the roof below. I slid down it, grabbed a drainpipe and shinned down into the little paved yard at the back of the tavern. I was hoping to hide somewhere nearby until they were gone. I took the bar out of its lugs, opened the gate and slipped into the alley. By the time I had found a dark doorway in which to hide I heard shouts from the courtyard. Men raced towards me. I had no choice. I crept into the yard behind me and hid among some stacks of crates and barrels. Fortunately their feet pounded past in the alley. Only when it was dark did I risk sneaking out and making my way back to the tavern, just to find the gateway closed again. I would have to risk going out into the street and entering through the front door.
As I slipped into the street leading to the square I saw a glint of armor. The city guards were still there, maybe left behind by Klosterheim. I kept walking, dodging in and out of shadows with no clear idea where I was going. Eventually I came to the unstable black marble that was the river, rows of deserted warehouses, and scuttling rats. I felt comparatively safe by the water if I kept in the dark. Across the river the new town didn’t seem so full of soldiers. Sparks and flames gus