Curse of the Shadowmage Read Online Free PDF Page B

believe that a common thief could be responsible for over a score of grisly deaths. Mari fully intended to visit the dungeon, to question the thief before he received judgment. However, first there was the task at hand.
    Mari and Caledan turned from the main avenue and picked their way down a narrow lane, trying to avoid the
    rivulet of foul water that trickled down the middle. The city was not so crowded here. The rank scent of rotting fish hung on the air; gulls cried out raucously above. Between ramshackle warehouses, Mari caught a glimpse of a flat, silvery surface, the Chionthar River. The two reached the end of the lane, finding themselves before a dilapidated building fashioned from the overturned hull of a barnacle-encrusted galleon. The Barbed Hook.
    Mari and Caledan exchanged looks. Making an assault o.n a Zhentarim lair by daylight had its risks, but Zhents tended to do their work under cover of night. They were used to fighting in the dark and to resting during daylight hours. With luck, that would give Mari and Caledan the advantage.
    Caledan gestured to the door of the tavern, his grin almost like that of old. “After you, my lady.”
    “You’re too kind,” she replied dryly. She sauntered casually toward the door.
    And kicked it in.
    The two Harpers stepped through a cloud of splinters and dust into the murky interior of the tavern. A dozen coarse faces gaped in surprise at the sudden intrusion. Quickly, surprise gave way to anger. “Harpers!” someone shouted.
    “You forgot to take your badge off again,” Caledan said in annoyance, jabbing a finger at the silver moon-and-harp brooch pinned to Mari’s jacket. “Now they know who we are.”
    “Oh, bother,” she replied with mock exasperation. “I suppose that means we’ll have to kill them all.”
    Caledan bared his teeth in a nasty smile. “Why, I suppose you’re right.”
    A brawny sailor launched himself forward, ready to snap Caledan’s neck with his big, callused hands. In one fluid movement, Caledan crouched down, drew a dagger
    from his boot sheath, and spun inside the sailor’s reach. As he rose, he deftly plunged the blade inward just beneath the other’s sternum, angling it upward until it pierced the man’s heart. The sailor collapsed to the floor like a side of beef falling from a meat hook. Caledan wrenched the dagger free and gestured with its crimson tip. A one-eyed dockhand leapt over a table, bellowing as he unsheathed a rusty short sword.
    “Your turn, Mari,” Caledan said graciously.
    “Why, thank you.” She dodged a wild swing of the dockhand’s sword, then whirled inside the circle of his arms. “Care to dance?” she asked demurely. She grabbed the wrist of his sword arm and gave it an expert twist. Bones snapped audibly. The dockhand howled in pain as the short sword clattered to the floor. She spun him around in a dizzy circle, then let go. The dockhand careened backward against a wall covered with dusty fishing trophies. He stared down in dull wonder at the serrated snout of a spearfish protruding from his chest, then had the sense to realize he was dead. His eyes rolled up in their sockets as he slumped on the end of the fish’s sharp proboscis.
    Mari turned around in time to see the bony, hooknosed man who stood behind the bar reach down and pujl something out of a hidden recess. With a quick move, the man threw the object in Caledan’s direction. Metal glinted dully. Caledan lifted a black-gloved hand, snatching the thing in midflight.
    “I don’t recall ordering this, barkeep,” Caledan said good-naturedly. “Mind if I return it?”
    With a flick of his wrist, he sent the object hurtling back toward the barkeep. A second later, the bony man took a step backward, clutching feebly at the knife embedded in his throat before collapsing over the filthy surface of the bar.
    Hands on her hips, Mari gazed at the rest of the tav—
    era’s occupants. “All right, who’s next?” she asked sweetly. “No