With Elektra and the wounded Emmon safely gone Brion Hillrover started
searching the alley for William, and in that narrow space the boy was not
hard to find amidst the refuse.

"Poor lad," Hillrover said when the pale light revealed the staring eyes
of the boy, and the stain of blood along his neck. "Ye weren't made to
wander these streets." With a shake of his head Brion turned and headed
back to the Dragon's Inn.

The off-duty Guardsmen were gone, but the bailiff was able to dispatch a
runner easily enough and gave a couple of locals coin to guard the site
until the authorities returned. Then he stomped up the stairs and went to
knock on Perrin Mayce's door.

[Perrin Mayce]

"I TOLD you..."  Perrin's voice howled from within the room.  His voice got
louder as he approached the closed door.  "... I was NOT to be disturbed!
NOW I see that I must tell you AGAIN!"

The door flew open.    Perrin scowled at the stranger standing in the
hallway.

"Do I know you?"  said Perrin.

[Brion Hillrover]

"I'm the Bailiff, Brion Hillrover," Brion said, giving no sign of what he
thought of the attorney, though he had left few such to wander the
swampy marshes on their own. He looked down on the man.

"Yer secretary has been murdered," he added, "Ye best be coming down to
meet with the Guard when they arrive."


[Perrin]

Perrin eyed the bailiff with suspicion.    Suspicion became disbelief...

"There must be some mistake,"  he said, more to himself than
to the bailiff.    "William does have a rather common face.    I..."

Perrin saw the grave expression on Brion's face.    Suddenly
the room seemed a bit too hot and too cold at the same time.
Perrin's throat went dry.

"I... I'm sure you're m-mistaken,"  he said slowly.   "I'll
come with you and prove it, yes?   L-lead the way."

Perrin quickly  donned his boots and a thin cloak, then followed the
bailiff down the stairs.

[Brion]

"Yes," Brion rumbled, but not unkindly.

Three Guardsmen were waiting for them when they got downstairs, and Brion
guided the lawyer towards them. As they passed Fawn caught Hillrover's eye
and said, "I'll have some whiskey ready."

Then they were outside, with a fourth Guardsman holding a lantern high.

[Perrin]

The closer they got to the door, the more reluctant Perrin became.  When
they finally emerged into the night, it was all Perrin could do to keep
from turning around and running back to his room.  He was afraid.  Not of
the night, or of the armed men that surrounded him.  He was afraid of
something else.  He was afraid that Brion was right.  He was afraid for
William.

"You're quite mistaken..."  he muttered, no longer even aware that he was
speaking.   "It isn't him... you'll see..."

[Brion/Guard]

Brion guided him silently past the waiting Guardsmen and into the alley.

One of the Guardsman, Private Relin, raised his lantern high to show the
scene, but didn't immediately bring the revealing light to bear on the
body.

"Are you ready?" Brion asked quietly.


[Perrin]

"Ready?"  Perrin said with an uncertain voice.  Ready.  The very concept
was absurd... almost as absurd as their claim that Willian had come to
some violent end in an alley right next to a crowded inn.  Totally
ridiculous.

"Yes, of course,"  Perrin said with renewed resolve.  "Show me so that I
may get back to my affairs..."

[Brion]

Not unkindly Brion ordered, "Raise the light, lad, and lets be done."

The Private held the lantern up so that the yellow light shown on the face
of the body; a body now preserved by mage's spells.

[Perrin]

Perrin gasped when he saw it.  He covered his mouth and backed away from
the corpse as if it were going to reach out and grab him.  And all the
while, his mind raced in a futile attempt to find an explanation for what
he saw...  an explanation that did not involve William being dead.

But there was no such explanation.    His mind knew it.   His heart knew
it.

William was gone.    Dead.    This was his body.   He died here, in this
alley.

"Its... its him..."  Perrin said with false resolve.  His knees were
getting weak, and he didn't know how long he could remain on his feet.
"It's him..."  he repeated.

Through sheer force of will, Perrin managed to tear his eyes away from his
assistant's corpse.  He forced his mind back onto its normal cool, logical
track. He looked around and took in what he saw with as much objectivity
as he could.  There was blood.  And footprints on the ground.  A fight.
William's wounds suggested a violent death.  Did William resist?  Did he
cry out for help?  Was William calling for him when he died?

And suddenly Perrin's attempt to remain impartial and objective
collapsed... just as Perrin himself suddenly lost the ability to remain
upright...

[Brion]

Hillrover caught Mayce before the lawyer fell to the bloody, filthy,
ground, and held him upright as one of the Guardsmen hurried over to take
the man's other arm. "This town devours innocents," Brion said quietly to
the unconscious lawyer.

They helped Perrin into the kitchen of the Dragon's Inn, where only the
staff would see him; Hugh and Judy had seen worse, as had Sera and
Marisa. Fawn, with her ghostly abilities, had already arrived with a bottle
of whiskey and a glass.

"Thank ye," Brion said, and carefully got a little of the firy liquid
into Perrin's mouth.

Quietly Judy went back to her cooking, and the others carried trays back
out to the common room; leaving the three men in relative privacy.

[Perrin]

Perrin awoke with the taste of strong drink burning down his throat.   His
eyes snapped open and he coughed his way back to full consciousness.

The memory of what he'd been doing before he blacked out burned even
more than the drink.

"I-I 'm sorry,"  he muttered.  "I must have..."

Failing to find a non-embarrassing way to admit he'd fainted, Perrin just
let the sentence drop.  He stared blankly into empty space for a moment,
trying simultaneously to push the image of William's corpse from his
mind and to search the  scene for clues as to what had happened.   He
could do neither, so he just sat quietly and thought about his friend.  His
friend who was now dead.

[Brion]

Brion had placed himself between the lawyer and the rest of the
kitchen. He said, "He seemed to be a good lad. Didn't see much of him, but
he looked to be a bright young man."

The bailiff considered for a moment and pulled over a chair. After he had
seated himself he said, "He's been taken into the Tower's care, and a
Tower mage has sealed the area so that ye and an investigator can look at
it fresh tomorrow. In the meantime I can ask Fawn to bring ye up what ye
might want or need.....?"

No easy way for it. The man was in shock and the kindness was to lay the
facts out simply and clear.

[Perrin]

"...want....  I n-need..."  Perrin cleared his throat and blinked a few
times.  He reminded himself that he was a man... and that men do not
conduct themselves in such a manner as he was doing... at least not when
there was important business to attend to.  He wiped the tears from his
cheeks and looked around the room for anything that could be used to take
notes.  Finding nothing, he turned back to Brion.

"Tell me what you know,"  he said.

[Brion]

Anywhere else and Brion would have not spoke so freely, but the kitchen of
the Dragon's Inn was more safe than any inner sanctum; within in the inn
had been the born the first strike against the Church. There had only,
ever, been one breach of her defenses, and that had been because of the
combined ire of both Republica and the Church. And both foes were long
since gone.

"Miss Elektra Corach and I heard the last part of the attack as we left
the Inn," Brion said quietly. He had been on too many raids and
battlefields to waste a sorrow on "what might have been" - life always
held on the sword's edge. "But the attackers must have heard us coming
too, and were fast in the leaving, because we didn't even see a twitch
from them in the passing."

He studied the other man, and weighed his next words. "Yer William wasn't
alone in the alley....Emmon Filgers was there too. Badly wounded and
barely able to speak, but he told us that William was near. Elektra has
seen him to safety, but it may be morning before we know if he lives or
not."

[Perrin]

"Filgers...  yes...  we had hired him to investigate... that's it.  He
must have discovered something!  Is he still conscious?  I must speak with
him right away!"

[Brion]

"He was _barely_ conscious when we found him," Brion said. The bailiff's
expression was grim as he said, "He had been left for dead, and Elektra
has taken him to a haven where there also healers."

"Silence may be the only thing to keep the boy alive," he added, "But
tomorrow, I can make the arrangements to get us to him quietly......Until
then be assured that Elektra is knowledgeable enough to write down
anything he might say. She is not only Judge Gilford's secretary, but his
apprentice in the law."

[Perrin]

"There must be something we can do,"    said Perrin.  "...something
we can do NOW!    There must be.   A search!   Search the
surroundings... the perpetrators may still be in the area!
They can be watching us right now! "   Perrin jumped to his feet.
"I'll fetch my sword and we'll hunt the murdering bastards down this
very night!"

[Brion]

Brion was swiftly on his feet, and out of the corner of his eye he saw
Judy and the rest of the kitchen staff turning to watch. Not that they had
anything to fear - the Inn's wardings saw to that.

"Mayce," he said, firmly laying a hand on the man's shoulder, "The Guard
is already searching - they know the ways of Montfort and ye don't. Ye'll
better serve yer friend by getting yerself together. As ye stand now ye'll
be a hazard to yerself and the Guard."

[Perrin]

"But I must do SOMETHING.   Don't you understand!"  said
Perrin.   "The boy is dead, and I'm just standing here!"

But the truth of Brion's words had already struck home, even
as Perrin continued to sputter and shout.   After a moment,
he sat back down.

"I can't just sit here," he said... just sitting there.

[Brion]

"Muster yer strength," Brion said, "For when ye can seek the lad's
murderers." Out of the corner of his eye the bailiff could see Fawn
re-appearing, but she waited just off to one side.

He nodded in understanding and looked back to Perrin. "Mayce, let Fawn fix
ye something for sleep.....ye won't be the first nor the last that has had
to sleep through heart's pain."

[Perrin]

"Tomorrow,"  Perrin muttered with a resolute nod of his head.
"Tomorrow... there will be hell to pay."