A Darkness at Sethanon by Raymond Feist Page A

location as soon as a Mocker caught a glimpse of the
first Nighthawk. Even though the thieves use a lot of the sewers to
skulk about in, there are parts they don’t pass through much.
And Fish Town is worse. The older fisher families are independent and
tough, almost clannish. If someone took up residence in one of the
old shacks near the docks, kept to himself . . . Even the Mockers
only get silence from the Fish Town folk when they ask questions.
Should the Nighthawks have infiltrated slowly, no one but the locals
might have a hint. It’s a regular warren there, little streets
all twisted about.” He shook his head. “This part of the
map’s useless. Half the buildings shown here are burned down.
Shacks and hovels built anywhere there’s room. It’s a
mess in there.” He looked at the Prince. “Another name
for Fish Town is the Maze.”
    Jimmy said,
“Trevor’s right. I’ve been in Fish Town as much as
anyone in the Mockers, and that’s not much. There’s
nothing worth stealing in there. But he’s wrong about one
thing. The biggest problem isn’t blocking escape routes. It’s
locating the Nighthawks. There are a lot of honest folk living in
that part of town and you just can’t ride in and kill everyone.
We’ve got to find their hideout.” He considered. “From
what I know of the Nighthawks, they’ll want some place that’s
first of all defensible, then easy to flee. They’ll probably be
here.” His finger pointed to a spot on the map.
    Trevor Hull
said, “It’s a possibility. That building is nestled
against those two walls, so they’ve only two fronts to cover.
And there’s a network of tunnels below the streets there, and
those tunnels are all small and difficult to navigate unless you’ve
been there before. Yes, it’s a likely place.”
    Jimmy looked at
Arutha. “I’d better go change.”
    Arutha said, “I
don’t like the need, but you’re the best equipped to
scout.”
    Cook looked at
Hull, who nodded slightly. “I could come along.”
    Jimmy shook his
head. “You know parts of the sewers better than I, Aaron, but I
can slip in and out without making the water ripple. You haven’t
the knack. And there’s no possible way you can get into Fish
Town unnoticed, even on a noisy night like this. I’ll be safer
if I go alone.”
    Arutha said,
“Shouldn’t you wait?”
    Jimmy shook his
head. “If I can locate their warren before they know they’ve
been discovered, we may be able to clean them out before they know
what hit them. People do funny things sometimes, even assassins. It
being a festival day, their sentries will probably not expect someone
nosing around. And, with the city in celebration, there will be lots
of noises filtering down from the streets. Odd and out-of-place
sounds will be less likely to alert anyone below the buildings. And
if I have to poke around above ground, a strange poor boy in Fish
Town isn’t as likely to be noticed this night as much as other
nights. But I need to go at once.”
    “You know
best,” said Arutha. “But they’ll react should they
discover someone’s seeking them out. One glimpse of you and
they’ll come straight after me.”
    Jimmy noticed
Arutha didn’t seem troubled by that fact alone. It seemed to
Jimmy the Prince wouldn’t mind an open confrontation. No, Jimmy
knew what bothered him was his concern for the safety of others.
“That goes without saying. But chances are excellent they’re
coming after you tonight anyway. The palace is crawling with
strangers.” Jimmy looked out the window at the late afternoon
sunset. “It’s almost seven hours after noon. If I were
planning an attack on you, I’d wait about another two or three
hours, just when the celebration is at its height. Performers and
guests will be going in and out of the gates. Everyone will be
half-drunk, tired from a daylong celebration, and feeling very
relaxed. But I wouldn’t wait much after that or your guards
might notice a late arriving guest entering