her. A pearly haze built around the sorcerer, thickening inexorably into a fog
that swallowed him up. There was a single, choked cry from inside the fog, and
then silence. The fog quickly cleared, dispersed by a sourceless wind, and there
was no trace of the sorcerer anywhere. Hawk decided not to ask; he didn't think
he wanted to know. Mistique glanced across at him.
'That's what comes of overspecialization. If he hadn't limited himself to
working with wood, he might have been able to do some real damage.'
'You only work with mists,' Hawk pointed out, striding quickly over to Morgan,
who was still lying where he'd fallen.
'Mists are different,' said Mistique. 'You can do a lot with mists.'
Hawk shrugged, grabbed Morgan by the collar, and dragged him to his feet. The
drug baron twisted suddenly, a knife gleaming in his hand. Hawk let go and
jumped back, sucking in his gut, and the knife ripped through his furs and out
again without touching him. Morgan drew back his hand for another thrust, and
Hawk caught him with a straight-finger jab just below the breastbone. Morgan's
face paled, and the knife slipped from his numb fingers. Hawk grabbed him by the
shirt-front and slammed him back against the nearest wall. He put his face close
to Morgan's and showed the drug baron his death's-head smile.
'Talk to me, Morgan.'
'What… what do you want to know?' Morgan fought to keep his voice even, but he
couldn't face Hawk's cold gaze. He looked over Hawk's shoulder at Burns and
Mistique, standing together, and his face paled even more.
'Let's start with the drug,' said Hawk. 'The super-chacal. Where is it?'
'In one of the back rooms here.' Morgan looked reluctantly back at Hawk. 'There
are lots of empty rooms here. More than I can ever use.'
'Have you started moving it yet?'
'No, we've been having difficulties setting up a new distribution network,
thanks to your interference.'
'It's nice to be appreciated,' said Hawk. 'Now let's talk about the drug itself.
This super-chacal is something new. You didn't come up with it yourself.
Developing a new drug takes lots of time and money, not to mention a staff of
high-level alchemists in their own private lab. And that's out of your league,
Morgan. So how did you get your hands on it?'
Morgan tried to shrug, but Hawk had too tight a hold on him. 'It came in through
the Docks, disguised as spices. All I had to do was make sure it hadn't been cut
with anything, then package it and make the connection with the distributors.
The drug itself was financed by outside money.'
Hawk frowned thoughtfully. 'Outside money… Outside Haven, or outside the Low
Kingdoms?'
'Didn't know. Didn't care. Money's money; I don't give a damn where it comes
from. This sounded like a good deal, so I went for it. I never got to talk to
the real backers; they always worked through middlemen. I can give you their
names if you want, but it won't do you any good. They'll have left Haven by now.
I'd planned to be long gone myself, once the drug hit the streets.'
'You really are a piece of slime, you know that?' Hawk thrust his face up close
before Morgan's, and the drug baron tried to shrink back into the solid wall.
Hawk's voice was calm and even, but his face held a bitter rage only barely held
in check. 'You knew what the drug was, and what it would do to anyone who took
it. You knew that once the super-chacal hit the streets, there'd be a bloodbath
that would tear Haven apart. But you went ahead with it anyway.'
Morgan squirmed uncomfortably. 'Come on, Hawk, if I hadn't gone for it, someone
else would have. You're exaggerating the dangers. So we lose a few scum from the
streets. So what? No one who really matters would have been hurt. And there's
millions to be made from this drug. Once word gets out, everyone will want to
try it. It gives a kind of hit no one's ever been able to deliver before. Even
the weakest man can become strong enough and brave enough to get back at
everyone who's ever done him down. Millions of ducats, Hawk. Think of it. It's
not too late; you can still cut yourself in. There's enough money in this for
everyone.'
Hawk grinned at Morgan, and he shut up. 'No deals, Morgan. Now then, you've done
very well, so far. Just one more question, and I'll be finished with you. Answer
it correctly, and you'll live to stand trial. You bought off a lot of people in
the Guard while setting up this deal, but I'm interested in one name in
particular. You bought yourself a Guard Captain. You know who I mean; the
well-respected Captain, the one who no one would suspect. The one who made your
drugs vanish from Guard Headquarters. I want to know who that Captain is. I want
to know very badly. So you tell me the name, Morgan, or I swear I'll cut you
into pieces right here and now.'
'Hawk, you can't do this,' said Burns. 'It's inhuman.'
'Shut up, Burns.'
'He has to stand trial, Hawk. He'll tell us everything we need to know, under a
truthspell.'
'I need to know now! Talk to me, Morgan!'
'Stop it, Hawk! I won't stand for this!'
Hawk half turned to shout at Burns, and Morgan brought his knee up sharply into
Hawk's groin. Air whistled in his throat as he fell backwards, momentarily
paralysed by the pain. Morgan made a dash for the far door, but Mistique put
herself between him and the door. Mists boiled up off her outstretched hands.
Morgan produced another knife from somewhere and lunged at her. Burns ran him
through from behind with his sword. Morgan sank slowly to his knees, still
holding onto his knife. He coughed painfully, and blood ran thickly from his
mouth. He fell forward and lay still, and Burns pulled his sword free. He knelt
down beside the body, tried for a pulse at the neck, and shook his head. He got
to his feet again, and a hand grabbed his shoulder from behind. He looked round,
startled, and Hawk punched him in the mouth. Burns stumbled backwards, blood
spilling down his chin. Hawk went after him, but Mistique grabbed him from
behind and held him firmly.
'Stop it, Hawk! That's enough!'
Hawk struggled fiercely, but he was still weakened by Morgan's attack and he
couldn't break her grip. His gaze was fixed on Burns. 'You stupid bastard! I
told you we needed him alive! How is he going to answer questions now?'
'I'm sorry,' said Burns indistinctly, wiping blood from his mouth with the back
of his hand. 'I didn't think… I just saw him lunging at Mistique, and I really
thought he was going to kill her…'
'I could have handled him,' said Mistique.
'Yes, I'm sure you could have,' said Burns, looking at the blood smeared across
his hand. 'I didn't think… I'm sorry.'
'Damn you,' said Hawk. 'What are we going to do now? He was the only one who
knew all the names.' He shook his head sickly, then took a deep breath and let
