The bearded man scrambled several feet away from Cyll like a crab, sweat beading up on his forehead. Cyll shrugged and tossed the sword onto the ground beside him, where it landed with a clatter.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” The man demanded, sending a terrified glance at the sword.

“I killed someone that stabbed me in broad daylight,” Cyll said. He shrugged. “I don’t see how that’s a problem.”

The man reached out with a trembling hand and grabbed his sword before scurrying back to put a little space between them once more.

“You’ve got no idea what you’ve got coming your way,” he said. He leapt to his feet and ran down an alley, leaving his dead friend behind on the cobble path.

“You think they were just blowing hot air?” Maya asked, stepping over the fallen man’s body with a frown.

“Who knows,” Cyll said. He shrugged and showed his hand to Maya. A small dart rested on his palm. “But the cloaked guy was aiming at you when he shot this. I think they might have been waiting for an opportunity and the cloaked one was impatient.”

“Aiming for me? Why?” Maya asked. “The Ashwind family is strong, but they shouldn’t have been able to find us that quickly.”

“Who knows. But hey, at least the crowd is gone,” Cyll said, pulling at his bloody shirt in distaste.

He was right. The huge line had vanished at some point during the fight. The path to the Blue Swan was clear, although the doors had been closed.

“Officers are probably already headed this way, so we better make this fast,” Maya said. She sighed. “I can’t believe we’re going to have to run away from yet another port.”

“Hey, we didn’t do anything wrong,” Cyll reminded her. “Don’t stress so much. I’ve got the stab mark in my shirt and dozens of witnesses that he attacked me first.”

They arrived at the Blue Swan and Cyll knocked on the doors. There was no answer. He knocked again, more firmly this time. Someone shuffled on the other side of the door, but there was still no response.

“The fight is over!” Maya called. “We’re here to talk to an information broker. Could you let us in?”

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The three of them exchanged a glance. Nobody answered the door. Maya tapped Patty on the shoulder and nodded at the door.

“I don’t think they can hear us. Could you knock instead?” She asked.

Patty nodded. She walked up and hammered her fist against the thick wood several times. The first strike shook the doors violently. The second sent a large crack through the wood.

“Stop that! We’re opening the door, so calm down!” A man yelled from within the Blue Swan. “We had to confirm that the meeting was all right with the broker. Don’t be so impatient.”

Maya stopped Patty before she could knock again and smiled at the puppet. A moment later, the door swung open. A well-dressed butler in a dark suit sighed and gestured for them to follow him inside.

“The Broker has decided to see you despite my own personal recommendations,” the butler said. “But I am confident none of you will be foolish enough to cause any further trouble. I will, of course, be watching.”

His eyes flickered a dull green and Maya noticed a thin grey blade at the man’s waist. It looked like it had been used recently. She nodded.

“We aren’t here to cause trouble, don’t worry,” she reassured the man. “In fact, we’ll be out of Bulsen by tomorrow morning if we can.”

The butler gave a noncommittal grunt. He led them through a massive dining room full of abandoned tables. Cyll grabbed a roasted turkey leg off a table as he walked by it. The butler ignored him, and the pirate started to dig into it.

“Hey, this food is pretty good,” Cyll exclaimed through a mouthful of meat. “You should try some.”

“We own the farms that prepare all of our animals for the table,” the butler said as if Cyll was a paying customer. “The Blue Swan only serves the highest quality goods. That leg costs about two gold.”

Cyll’s eyes bulged and he stuffed the rest of the meal into his mouth. He dropped the bone on a nearby table and swallowed.

“I could buy a sword for that amount of money. How is a bird so expensive?”

“Our restaurant is frequented by people who have refined tastes. For them, the subtle differences in the quality of our meals is more than sufficient to account for increased costs,” the butler said. “Just because you don’t appreciate something doesn’t mean it isn’t worth money. This is the precise reason that I haven’t killed all of you already. You have no idea how much revenue you cost us with your fight today. The Broker can clearly see something I can’t.”

With that somber message, the butler came to a halt before a shelf of wine beside the doorway leading into the kitchen. He pressed a small extruding stone behind it and the shelf shuddered. The butler jumped out of the way as the wooden floor swung out from under him.

“That doesn’t seem very safe,” Maya observed, glancing into the dark hole.

The butler just grunted. He reached out and pressed another place on the shelf. The floor returned to its original position and the shelf shifted out of the way, revealing a passage leading into the Blue Swan's basement.

“Go. The Broker does not like to be kept waiting,” the butler said, watching them down his nose.

Cyll went first. He stepped through the doorway of the passage and disappeared into the darkness.

“Seems safe!” Cyll called up to them.

Maya and Patty gave the butler one final glance before following their crewmate into the dark passageway. Bookshelf returned to its normal position behind them with a click, cutting off the light to the tunnel and plunging them into darkness.

“Well, that isn’t ominous at all,” Maya said.