"Lynae? Open up. We've got trouble." I whisper urgently.

No answer.

"Come on," I urge. "Open up!"

I hear nothing from inside the room. She either can't hear me or refuses to open the door. I glance back. The boot of the first guard is stepping into the hallway. There's no place to run. Guess I'll have to bluff.

I rap on the door as loudly as I can.

"Open up!" I yell. "House guard! What's going on in there? Open this door!"

The voice from behind me is sharp and authoritative.

"Hey! You!"

I half-turn to see the hallway fill up with armed human guards of the watch. The one who spoke is in front, mace drawn.

'What is going on here?"

I shake my head. "I don't know. I was downstairs, watching the door, when I heard a commotion up here. A thunk and a scream. I came up to investigate." It's a plausible lie. They might buy it. They're guards, not stinking sages.

The man points his mace at the door behind me.

"Whose rooms are those?"

"Calmorien's, sir. The fish sauce merchant."

The guardsman exchanges a glance with his men, then points at me.

"You! Get out of the way! Wait downstairs." He turns to his men. "Domo! Vage! Break down the door. Someone else got here first." As the two men move forward, I slip through the guards, Calmorien's painting still concealed beneath my cloak. The humans are focused on the door and don't pay too much attention to me, thank the goddess. As I move down the stairs, I hear the hammer punch of metal boots on the wooden door.

"Again!" shouts the guard captain. As soon as I get around the corner of the staircase, I begin to run down the steps. The boots of the two guards strike the door again with a thunderous crash and I can hear timber splintering as the door gives. 

"There's a dead one in here!" shouts one of the guards.

As I slip outside, my hopes for an unobtrusive exit vanish. The street is littered with elves, staring at the door of the building the human patrol just entered. Staring at me. Great. If I run, they will watch me, perhaps follow me. There are elves twisted enough to rat out a fellow elf to gain the favor of the human guards. I need to give them something else to think about. I look around at the curious eyes.

"There's a dead body in Calmorien's place." I announce. "I saw it. Calmorien was a murderer. That's why he got chopped. I hope to salt it's no one important. The red tide could start right here. Right now."

It works. Some of the elves look back at the building, craning their necks at the windows of Calmorien's rooms. Others scurry off, looking worried, even frightened. 

In the general exodus, my departure is not given any special attention. I move toward the harbor and turn left into a narrow alley just before the marketplace, dim with afternoon shadows. Perfect. I glance behind me. Gate Way is noisy now, turbulent with shouting elves running both directions - towards the Hawk and away from it. No one has followed me into the alley and no one seems to be watching me. Relieved, I turn and walk swiftly down the curving backstreet.

As I move away, I hear more shouting, deeper human voices yelling orders on top of elven calls. I wonder if they caught Lynae. That door only held the guards back for a few moments. Looks like she might have done me a favor by locking me out. Still seems a fairly filthy thing to do, though. Of course, she didn't know the guards were coming. Or did she? She rushed me out of there like a potgirl shooing a rat out of the kitchen.

Maybe the guards will kill her. It might make my life easier. Save me from having to explain to Jet how I ignited a guard rampage when I am supposed to be laying low. Because if one of the two of us is getting the blame, I can bet it won't be Lynae. Of course, if we hadn't been there, the guards would have discovered the blood rune and that would have been way worse. I hope Jet sees it that way too, if I have to come clean about this.

But why were the guards there in the first place? Was it a routine investigation of Calmorien's murder, undertaken because he was an elf of some substance? That would be funny. Lynae killed Calmorien and if she hadn't, I would have. The investigators arrived while two of the dead elf's murderers were on the premises. Ironic.

But what if there is more to it?