Darkvision - Bruce R. Cordell [50]
Too bad, thought Iahn. Their ignorance won't protect them from judgment.
Yonald, the ship steward, took a few paces back. He, in contrast to the newcomers, was a smart man-and more perceptive than the redhead, who had exactly three more heartbeats left in him.
The arts of judgment studied by the protectors of Deep Imaskar were widely varied. They included the ultimate poison (that produced by a damos), intimate knowledge of anatomy and its key weaknesses, weapons, and magic. With so many options, Iahn nearly insulted his profession by simply stepping forward and pushing the red-haired man off the pier.
Ususi made a throwing motion toward the group, releasing a vivid cone of clashing colors that shimmered over the five assailants, giving them a sickly appearance. The three uniformed watchmen instantly slumped to the pier. Iahn could see that they still breathed and were merely unconscious.
The two remaining antagonists, the scarred woman and the halfling, were apparently well paid. They attacked instead of running away. The woman charged Iahn with a dagger in each hand, the snarl on her face distorting her expression into something even more bestial. The greasy, hulking halfling threw his club end over end and struck Ususi in the shoulder. Eined screamed.
Iahn didn't much care if he killed the dagger-wielding woman or the halfling. They had been warned, so their continued defiance could legitimately be answered with extermination. But he suddenly worried that killing a citizen of Vaelan might hurt their chances of securing a ship berth. He leaned forward and left, deftly evading the woman's first knife thrust. As he leaned, he separated his thinblade from the hilt of his dragonfly blade so he had the thinblade in his left and the deadly dragonfly blade in his right. He countered the woman's first dagger thrust with his thinblade, piercing her arm just below her shoulder blade. She shrieked and dropped the dagger. Iahn leaned forward to avoid her second thrust, then sliced the second dagger-and a few fingers-from her grip with a savage flick of his dragonfly blade. The woman collapsed, holding her mauled hand and howling in shock.
Iahn spun and saw the halfling advancing on Ususi. Eined cowered behind the wizard. The halfling wielded a short sword forged of black iron. Red glowing runes swirled on the blade. Not good, Iahn judged. The tempo of his heart increased. He lunged, weapons ready to dispatch Ususi's assailant.
Before the halfling reached her, and before the vengeance taker could confront the halfling, the wizard pointed a finger at her attacker and uttered a sharp incantation. As if discharged from a thunderhead's swollen belly, a jagged electric lance briefly connected Ususi's finger and the halfling's head.
Blinking away the afterimage, Iahn saw Ususi casually blow a slender remnant of smoke from her finger. Of the halfling, all that remained was a charred smear and a few smoking oddments of the little man's equipment. The short sword still gleamed evilly in the sun. Iahn kicked it over the edge of the pier, and heard it splash into the water.
Ususi nodded at the vengeance taker, turned to Yonald, and said, "Sorry about the… interruption. If I recall, Iahn quoted you a price we'd be willing to pay." She pointed at the steward with the same finger she'd just used to fell her attacker. "Does that work for you?"
Yonald gulped and nodded.
Iahn rubbed his chin. The wizard knew how to imply a threat nearly as well as someone of his discipline. Of course, as a wizard of Deep Imaskar, Ususi had the power to back up her warnings.
Soon enough, they were aboard. The crew cast off,