Street. Narwhal took off with such haste that the last dwarf to disembark was still on the gangplank. He fell into the harbor with an enormous splash and sank like an axe. Four mermen managed to drag him the surface, though all of them were visibly worse for wear before the task was done. A grinning dockhand threw down a rope. Glad for something they could do, a dozen of so of the Stonesbaft clan seized the rope and hauled it up with a gusto that brought the unfortunate dwarf vaulting out of the water and skidding along the dock on his belly.
Once that bit of excitement was over, the dwarves gathered into a cluster on the dock, their eyes wide as they gazed around the bustling scene and the narrow, crowded streets beyond. For once, all fifty-some-odd dwarves were struck silent, their contentious voices stilled by their awe of the city.
'Gotta excuse them,' Ebenezer murmured to Bronwyn. 'I'm the only one been out of the clanhold much. The rest of them, well, you might say they're ducks in a desert.'
'The sooner we get them settled, the better,' Bronwyn agreed. She hailed a tall, bald man who wore the insignia of the wagoner's guild on his jacket. After a brisk, brief haggle, she hired three wagons to haul the dwarves through town to her shop.
'We could-a walked,' Ebenezer complained once they were settled inside a closed wooden wagon that smelled strongly of fish and old cheese.
'Fifty dwarves marching through the Dock Ward?' she scoffed. 'It would look too much like an invasion. That much attention, we don't need.'
The dwarf considered this, then nodded grudgingly. 'What's your plan, then?'
'For now, we'll go to my shop. I'll send out some messengers, call in a few favors. We'll get everyone settled.'
Ebenezer looked over to the fistfight that had erupted between two of the dwarf lads. 'Not an easy thing,' he observed.
The wagon driver, as directed, let the dwarves off in the alley behind Curious Past. Despite Bronwyn's pleas for discretion, they roiled down the narrow path, clearly feeling more at home in the close, tunnel-like corridor than they had for many days.
They descended on the Curious Past like a plague of blackbirds. Alice's response astonished Bronwyn. The gnome produced a sword from under the counter, as well as a smoke-power pistol. These she brandished at the first pair of dwarves in the door.
'You'll not get past me,' she said with such conviction that Bronwyn believed her. 'Take your looting elsewhere.'
'Alice, it's me!' Bronwyn shouted over the heads of the dwarves. 'It's all right. They are with me.'
The gnome's eyes bulged. 'All of them?'
Bronwyn raised her hands in a helpless shrug, knowing she was asking a great deal of the gnome. Alice's tiny shoulders lifted and fell in a sigh, but she stepped aside.
In roiled the dwarves, their eyes rounded with awe at the sights around them. 'Quite a trove,' Tarlamera said with grudging admiration. She picked up a bangle bracelet studded with large gems. Instead of slipping it onto her wrist, she fisted it in her hand so that the raised stones augmented her knuckles. She lifted her fist and admired the effect. 'Nice. Yours, gnome?'
'I should say not! That piece was commissioned by Lady Galinda Raventree.'
Tarlarmera's eyes glinted. 'Might could be she'd like to go a round or two, you think? Sitting on that ship has left us all a mite restless and ready for fun.'
The image of the iron-willed society queen facing off in battle against the dwarf woman brought a wry smile to Bronwyn's face. That fight, she'd happily pay to observe. 'Alice, why don't you go to the market and get something for our guests? Some bread and meat, a keg of ale. Have it delivered.'
'Well, I'm certainly not going to carry it back,' the gnome grumbled. She seized her shawl off its hook and took off- gratefully, it seemed to Bronwyn.
One of the dwarf lads started to climb a shelf after an axe that had caught his eye. A sleek, black form glided from the rafters and landed on his shoulder.
'Think about it,' Shopscat advised.
With a yelp, the young dwarf let go and tumbled to the floor. The raven winged off and settled down on a tall urn.
'It talks!' exclaimed a dwarf woman with delight, her stubby finger pointing at the raven. Her eyes took on a battle gleam, and she came over to Shopscat and leaned in close, nose to beak. 'Been a while since I had me a roast bird,' she said, a challenge in her voice.
The raven stared her down. 'Think about it.'
The dwarves laughed uproariously. 'Might be you could keep that up for a while, Morgalla, if you asked the right questions,' Ebenezer said.
She shrugged and grinned, then wandered off to finger a long string of pink pearls displayed on a wooden bust.
They spent a pleasant hour poking through the shop and exchanging insults with the raven. Just as some were starting to get restless, Alice returned with a half dozen strong porters and the requested refreshments.
The instant the first keg hit the floor, the dwarves converged from all three floors of the shop. They snatched up whatever came to hand-silver mugs, gem-encrusted goblets-and clustered about. The gnome cringed as she took in this casual use of the treasures she guarded.
'We can hire someone in to help clean up,' Bronwyn told her.
'If you have the coin left to do the hiring,' Alice shot back. She nodded toward their visitors, who were making short work of the piles of food. Two of the dwarves were already tapping the third keg.
It seemed that Ebenezer was thinking along similar lines. 'Don't you doubt, I'm gonna pay you back every copper,' he vowed softly. 'Tell me what I can do to help get them earning their keep.'
Bronwyn glanced at Cara, who was petting Shopscat and chattering happily. Her heart melted at the sight of the little girl and the obviously charmed raven.
'There are dwarves in the city, but the sort of labor your clan can do is always in demand. I know people who can line up what we need.'
'You got a lot of friends, if they can set up this bunch,' Ebenezer commented.
'In a manner of speaking.' This brought up a matter that Bronwyn had been puzzling over for several days. She had realized aboard ship that she would have to rely upon the resources of the Harpers to get the dwarves settled. Disclosing membership in this secret organization was forbidden, except in extreme situations or to trusted friends. Though she had known Ebenezer for a relatively short time, she counted him as among the best she'd found. She decided to confide in the dwarf
Taking him by the arm, she led him to a relatively quiet corner. 'What do you know of the Harpers?'
Ebenezer scowled and spat-hitting the bronze spittoon by the door with dead-on accuracy and ringing force. 'Nothing good. As I hear it, they're not big on minding their own affairs.'
'That's true enough,' she said hesitantly. 'But they are good at gathering information and passing it along. If I contact the right Harpers here in the city, by highsun tomorrow I should have every member of your clan set up in business. Sword smiths, gem workers, bakers. Whatever skills they have, I can match.'
'How do you know who to-' The dwarf broke off, his eyes suspicious. 'You're one of them.'
Bronwyn sighed. 'Guilty. Is that such a bad thing?'
'Maybe,' he grumbled. He slanted a look up at her. 'What you did for my clan-was that Harper business?'
'No,' she said stoutly, even though she suspected that claiming otherwise might sway the dwarf's opinion on the matter. 'That was personal.'
'Good.' He nodded in satisfaction. 'Well, then, you tell me where to go, and I'll be getting the process started.'
Bronwyn hurried up the stairs to her chamber-evicting the pair of dwarf children who were jumping on her bed-and sat down at her writing table. Under the false bottom of her drawer were sheets of parchment bearing the sigil of Khelben Arunsun. This rune, his personal symbol, gave force to whatever was written on the parchment. The Harpers under his direction were to use them only in dire circumstances. Bronwyn had but two. She dipped a quill in her inkwell and began to write a letter to Brian Swordmaster.
Even as she wrote, Bronwyn's mind skipped ahead to the consequences of this measure. Khelben would
