'That sounded suspiciously like a threat,' said Gaunt.
'Just trying to clarify the situation, sir sorcerer,' said Hawk.
Gaunt nodded stiffly. 'Of course. I'm sorry, I'm a little over-sensitive at the moment; I'm rather upset. I suppose we all are. William's death is a great loss to us all.'
'Not to everyone, it isn't,' said Fisher. 'Somebody must have stood to gain by it. All we have to do is work out why, and then we should have our murderer. That's the theory, anyway.'
'I see,' said Gaunt.
Hawk frowned slightly. He'd been watching the sorcerer closely, and Gaunt's perpetual calmness was beginning to get on his nerves. The sorcerer might claim to be upset over his friend's death, but if he was, he was doing a damn good job of hiding it. In fact, if William had been the close friend that Gaunt claimed him to be, the sorcerer was being suspiciously cool and collected. Then again, sorcerers weren't exactly famous for behaving normally. If they were normal, they wouldn't have become sorcerers in the first place.
'Well,' said Gaunt. 'I'm here. What do you want of me. Captain Hawk?'
'I'm not really sure,' said Hawk. 'I don't know that much about sorcery. Is there anything your magic can do to help us detect or recreate the events leading up to William's murder?'
Gaunt frowned slightly. 'I'm afraid not. My magic isn't really suited to such work. You see, all sorcerers specialize in their own particular area of interest. Some deal with transformational magic, others with weather control, constructs and homunculi, spirits of the air and of the deep; We all start out with the same basic grounding in the four elements, but after that; the High Magic takes many forms.'
'What is your specialization?' asked Fisher patiently.
'Alchemy,' said Gaunt. 'Medicines, and the like.'
'And poisons?' said Hawk.
'On occasion.' Gaunt looked at Hawk sharply. 'Did you have any reason for such a question?'
'Possibly.' Hawk indicated the wineglass lying on the rug beside the bed. 'It seems likely Blackstone was drinking from that glass just before he was attacked. Can you tell whether or not the wine had been poisoned?'
'I'll need a sample to test before I can be sure,' said Gaunt. 'But I can tell you straightaway whether the wine contained anything harmful. That's a simple spell.'
He stretched out his left hand towards the wineglass and muttered something under his breath. A cold breeze seemed to blow suddenly through the room, and then was gone. Gaunt shook his head, and lowered his arm. 'It's perfectly harmless.' He knelt down beside the glass, dipped his finger into the remaining dregs, and then sucked his finger clean. 'One of my better wines. I'll run some checks in my laboratory, just to be sure there isn't anything else in it, like a mild soporific, but I'm sure any spell would have detected even that. May I take the glass?'
'I'm afraid not,' said Hawk. 'That has to stay where it is for the moment. We may need it for evidence later on. But you're welcome to take a sample of the wine itself; just don't disturb the glass.'
Gaunt hesitated. 'Captain Hawk, there's something else; something unusual in this room.'
'Where?' said Hawk quickly.
'I don't know, but it's definitely something magical.' Gaunt frowned, and looked at Blackstone's body. 'Perhaps William was carrying a protective charm of some kind.'
Hawk looked at Fisher. 'Have you searched the body?'
'Not yet. I was waiting for you to get back.'
'All right; let's take a look.'
Hawk knelt down beside Blackstone's body, took a deep breath to steady himself, and started with the jerkin pockets. He found two handkerchiefs, one badly in need of a wash, and a handful of loose change. He dumped both the handkerchiefs and the money beside the body, then tried the trouser pockets. Some more loose change, and a half dozen visiting cards. Hawk dumped them with his other finds. He thought a moment, and then carefully undid Blackstone's high collar. He nodded slowly as the stiff cloth fell away to reveal a silver chain around the dead man's neck. Using only his fingertips. Hawk pulled gently at the chain until the amulet it held came out from under the dead man's shirt. It was a bone amulet, with a series of tiny runes etched deep into the bone. It was spotted with the dead man's blood. Hawk held it up so that Gaunt could see it.
'Do you know what this is, sir sorcerer?'
'Yes. It's an amulet of protection. The witch Visage made it for William. I tested it for her myself a few days ago, to make sure it would work. It was designed to protect the wearer against magical attacks. Any spell aimed at William would have ceased to work in his vicinity. A very useful defense.'
'So curses and the like would have had no effect on him?' said Fisher slowly.
'Not as long as he wore the amulet,' said Gaunt. 'Anything of a magical nature would cease to be magical once it came anywhere near William. It would become magical again once it had moved beyond the amulet's sphere of influence, of course.'
'Of course,' said Hawk. He dropped the amulet onto Blackstone's chest. 'How big a sphere of influence would such an amulet have?'
'No more than a few inches. It's not a very powerful amulet, but then, it doesn't need to be.'
'So whatever else happens,' said Fisher, 'we can safely assume that Councilor Blackstone wasn't killed by magic?'
'I don't see how he could have been,' said Gaunt.
'Thank you, sir sorcerer,' said Hawk. 'You've been very helpful. Perhaps you would now be so kind as to join your guests in the parlor. My partner and I will join you shortly.'
'Very well,' said Gaunt. He looked from Hawk to Fisher, and then settled on Hawk, his dark eyes steady and disconcertingly cold. 'William was my friend. I don't think I've ever known a man I admired more. I'll do everything I can to help you find the man who killed him. I give you my word on it.'
He nodded abruptly to them both, turned quickly on his heel, and left. Hawk sat down on the bed and stared moodily at the dead man. Fisher leaned lazily against the wall.
'A very pretty exit speech,' she said calmly.
'Very,' said Hawk. 'I hope he doesn't turn out to be the murderer. Trying to arrest a sorcerer as powerful as he's supposed to be might prove rather difficult. Not to mention extremely dangerous. On the other hand, if he isn't our killer, we'd better find the man responsible before Gaunt does. At least with us he'd live to stand trial.'
'Yeah.' Fisher leaned her head back against the wall and frowned thoughtfully at the ceiling. 'Do we assume that Gaunt is right, and Blackstone wasn't killed by magic?'
'It's a simple choice,' said Hawk. 'Either the amulet is what Gaunt said it is, or it isn't. If it is, Blackstone couldn't have been killed by magic. But if Gaunt was lying;'
'Unlikely. He must have known we'd check with Visage.'
'Unless they're working together.'
'I hate conspiracies,' said Fisher.
'Yeah,' said Hawk. 'And I hate it when there's magic involved; it complicates the hell out of a case.'
'Have you found the key yet?' said Fisher suddenly, looking vaguely about her.
'Damn. Knew I forgot something.' Hawk scowled down at the dead man. 'It wasn't in his pockets.' He got to his feet and looked around him.
He and Fisher moved back and forth around the room, but couldn't see anything that even looked like a key. Finally they both got down on their hands and knees and started combing through the thick rugs with their fingers.
'Here!' said Fisher. She clambered awkwardly to her feet, holding up a key she'd found by the door. 'It must have been left in the keyhole, and fell out when you smashed the lock.'
'Assuming that is the right key,' said Hawk, getting to his feet.
'Oh, come on, Hawk! What are the odds on there happening to be another key lying on the floor right by the door?'
Hawk smiled and shrugged. 'Sorry, lass. That's the trouble with cases like this; you start doubting everything. We'll show Gaunt the key, and he can tell us for sure.'
'Why don't we just try it in the lock?'
'Because after what I did to that lock with my axe, no key would work it.'
