Simon R. Green - Hawk and Fisher 1 - Hawk and Fisher

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Hawk & Fisher by Simon R.

Green

Some things can never be forgiven.

Chapter One

A HIDDEN DARKNESS

Haven is a dark city.

The narrow streets huddled together, the plain stone and timber buildings leaning

on each other for support. Out-leaning upper storeys bowed to each other like

tired old men, shutting out the light, but even in the shadows there was little relief

from the midsummer heat. The glaring sun scorched down on the sprawling city,

driving all moisture from the air. The streets were parched and dusty and thick

with buzzing flies. Being a seaport, Haven usually got all the rain it wanted, and

then some, but not in midsummer. The long days wore on, and the baking heat

made them a misery of sweat and thirst and endless fatigue. The days were too

hot to work and the nights too hot to sleep. Tempers grew short and frayed, but it

was too hot to brawl. Birds hung on the sky like drifting shadows, but there was

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never a trace of a cloud or a breeze. Haven at midsummer was a breeding ground

for trouble. The heat stirred men's minds and brought forth hidden evils.

Everyone watched the skies and prayed for rain, and still the long dry summer

dragged on.

Hawk and Fisher, Captains in the city Guard, strolled unhurriedly down Chandler

Lane, deep in the rotten heart of the Northside. It was too hot to hurry. The grimy,

overshadowed lane was a little cooler than most, which meant the heat was only

mildly unbearable. Flies hovered over piles of garbage and swarmed around the

open sewers. The squat and ugly buildings were black with soot from the nearby

tannery, and the muggy air smelt strongly of smoke and tannin.

Hawk was tall, dark, and no longer handsome. He wore a black silk patch over

his right eye, and a series of old scars ran down the right side of his face, showing

pale against the tanned skin. He wore a simple cotton shirt and trousers, but didn't

bother with the black Guardsman's cloak required by regulations. It was too hot

for a cloak, and anyway, he didn't need one to tell people he was a Guard.

Everyone in Haven had heard of Captain Hawk.

He didn't look like much. He was lean and wiry rather than muscular, and he was

beginning to build a stomach. He wore his dark hair at shoulder length, swept

back from his forehead and tied with a silver clasp. He had only just turned thirty,

but already there were a few streaks of grey in his hair. At first glance he looked

like just another bravo, not as young as he once was, perhaps a little past his

prime. But few people stopped at the first glance; there was something about

Hawk, something in his scarred face and single cold eye that gave even the

drunkest hardcase pause. On his right hip Hawk carried a short-handled axe

instead of a sword. He was very good with an axe.

Captain Fisher walked at Hawk's side, echoing his pace and stance with the

naturalness of long companionship. Isobel Fisher was tall, easily six feet in

height, and her long blond hair fell to her waist in a single thick plait. She was in

her mid to late twenties, and handsome rather than beautiful. There was a

rawboned harshness to her face that contrasted strongly with her deep blue eyes

and generous mouth. Like Hawk, she wore a cotton shirt and trousers, and no

cloak. The shirt was half-unbuttoned to show a generous amount of bosom, and

her shirt sleeves were rolled up, revealing arms corded with muscle and lined

with old scars. She wore a sword on her hip, and her hand rested comfortably on

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the pommel.

Hawk and Fisher; partners, husband and wife, guardians of the city law. Known,

respected, and mostly feared throughout Haven, even in the lower Northside,

where the very rats went round in pairs for safety. Hawk and Fisher were the best,

and everyone knew it. They were honest and hard-working, a rare combination in

Haven, but more important still, they were dangerous.

Hawk looked about him and scowled slightly. Chandler Lane was deserted, with

not a soul in sight, and that was… unusual. The afternoon was fast turning into

evening, but even so there should have been people out selling and buying and

making a deal. On the lower Northside everything was for sale, if you knew

where to look. But all around, the doors and shutters were firmly closed despite

the stifling heat, and the shadows lay still and undisturbed. It was like looking at

a street under siege. Hawk smiled sourly. If his information was correct, that

might just be the case.

"There's going to be a full moon tonight," said Fisher quietly.

Hawk nodded. "That'll bring out the crazies. Though how anyone has the energy

even to plan a crime in this heat is beyond me."

"You do realize this is probably nothing more than a wild goose chase, don't

you?"

"Not again, Isobel, please. The word is he's hiding right here, at the end of this

street. We have to check it out."

"Three months," said Fisher angrily. "Three months we've been working on that

child prostitution racket. And just when we're starting to get somewhere, what

happens? The word comes down from Above, and we get pulled off the case to

go looking for a vampire!"

"Yeah," said Hawk. "And all because we raided the Nag's Head. Still, I'd do it

again, if I had to."

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Fisher nodded grimly.

The Nag's Head was a hole-in-the-wall tavern on Salt Lane, just on the boundary

of the Eastside slums. The upper floor was a brothel, and the word was that they

were interested in acquiring children. Cash in hand, no questions asked. Child

prostitution had been illegal in Haven for almost seven years, but there were still

those with a vested interest in keeping the market open. Like many other places,

the Nag's Head kept itself in business by greasing the right palms, but one man

had made the mistake of trying to buy off Hawk and Fisher. So they had paid the

place a visit.

The bravo at the door tried to bar their way. He was either new in town, or not

particularly bright. Hawk gave him a straight-finger jab under the sternum. The

bravo's face went very pale and he bent slowly forward, almost as though bowing

to Hawk. Fisher waited till he was bent right over, and then rabbit-punched him.

The bravo went down without a murmur. Hawk and Fisher stepped cautiously

over him, kicked in the door, and burst into the Nag's Head with cold steel in their

hands.

The staff and patrons took one look at them and a sudden silence fell over the

crowded room. Smoke curled on the stuffy air, and the watching eyes were bright

with fear and suppressed anger. Hawk and Fisher headed for the stairs at the back

of the dimly lit room, and a pathway opened up before them as people got

hurriedly out of their way. Three bravos crowded together at the foot of the stairs

with drawn swords. They were big, muscular men with cold, calculating eyes

who knew how to use their swords. Hawk cut down two of them with his axe

while Fisher stabbed the third cleanly through the heart. They stepped quickly

over the bodies and pounded up the stairs. The upper floor was ominously quiet.

Hawk and Fisher charged along the narrow landing, kicking open doors as they

went, but most of the occupants were long gone, having disappeared down the

fire escape at the first sound of trouble.

One of the prostitutes hadn't been able to get away. Hawk found her in the last

room but one. She was dressed in torn silks too large for her, and wore gaudy

colors on her face. She was chained to the wall by the throat, and her back ran red

from the wounds of a recent whipping. She sat slumped against the wall, her face

pressed against the rough wood, crying softly, hopelessly. She was almost twelve

years old.

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Fisher joined Hawk in the doorway, and swore angrily as she took in the scene.

The chain was too heavy to break, so Hawk levered the bolt out of the wall with

his axe. Fisher tried to comfort the child, but she was too frightened to say much.

She'd been abducted in the street two years ago, and been brought to this room.

Her abductors put the chain around her neck and locked it, and she'd never been

out of the room since. Both Hawk and Fisher told her she was free now, but she

didn't believe it. There's a man who comes to visit me, she said quietly. He was

here today. He'll never let me go. You can't protect me from him. No one can.

He's important.

She didn't know his name. No one ever told her their name.

Hawk and Fisher never did find out who he was, but he must have had influence.

Only two days later, the child was stabbed to death in the street. Her attacker was

never found. Hawk and Fisher were officially taken off the case and sent to join

the other Guards searching for the supposed vampire that was terrorizing the

Northside. They raised hell with their superiors, and even talked about quitting

the Guard, but none of it did any good. The word had come down from

somewhere high Above, and there was no arguing with it. Hawk and Fisher had

shrugged and cursed and finally given up. There would be other times.

Besides, it seemed there really was a vampire. Men, women, and children had

been attacked at night, and occasionally bodies were found with no blood left in

them. There were dozens of sightings and as many suspects, but none of them led

anywhere. And then a lamplighter had come to see Hawk, and there was no

denying the horror in his voice as he told Hawk and Fisher of the dark figure he'd

seen crawling up the outside of the house in Chandler Lane…

"All the Guards in Haven, and that man had to choose us to tell his story to,"

grumbled Fisher. "Why us?"

"Because we're the best," said Hawk. "So obviously we're not afraid to tackle

anything. Even a vampire."

Fisher sniffed. "We should have settled for second best."

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"Not in my nature," said Hawk easily. "Or yours."

They chuckled quietly together. The low, cheerful sound seemed out of place in

the silence. For the first time Hawk realized just how quiet the empty street was.

It was like walking through the empty shell of some village abandoned by its

people but not yet overgrown by the Forest. The only sound was his and Fisher's

footsteps, echoing dully back from the thick stone walls to either side of them.

Despite the heat. Hawk felt a sudden chill run down his back, and the sweat on

his brow was suddenly cold. Hawk shook his head angrily. This was no time to

be letting his nerves get the better of him.

Hawk and Fisher finally came to a halt before a decrepit two-storey building

almost at the end of the lane. Paint was peeling from the closed front door, and

the stonework was pitted and crumbling. The two narrow windows were hidden

behind closed wooden shutters. Hawk looked the place over and frowned

thoughtfully. There was something disquieting about the house, something he

couldn't quite put a name to. It was like a sound so quiet you almost missed it, or

a scent so faint you could barely smell it… Hawk scowled, and let his hand fall to

the axe at his side.

Vampire… revenant… that which returns…

He'd never seen one of the undead, and didn't know anyone who had. He wasn't

altogether sure he believed in such things, but then, he didn't disbelieve in them

either. In his time he'd known demons and devils, werewolves and undines, and

faced them all with cold steel in his hand. The world had its dark places, and they

were older by far than anything man had ever built. And there was no denying

that people had disappeared from the Northside of late… and one person in

particular.

"Well?" said Fisher.

Hawk looked at her irritably. "Well what?"

"Well, are we going to just stand here all afternoon, or are we going to do

something? In case you hadn't noticed, the sun's getting bloody low on the sky.

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It'll be dark inside an hour. And if there really is a vampire in there…"

"Right. The undead rise from their coffins when the sun is down." Hawk shivered

again, and then smiled slightly as he took in the goose flesh on Fisher's bare arms.

Neither of them cared much for the dark, or the creatures that moved in it. Hawk

took a deep breath, stepped up to the front door, and knocked loudly with his fist.

"Open in the name of the Guard!"

There was no response. Silence lay across the empty street like a smothering

blanket, weighed down by the heat. Hawk wiped at the sweat running down his

face with the back of his hand, and wished he'd brought a water canteen. He also

wished he'd followed regulations for once and waited for a backup team, but there

hadn't been time. They had to get to the vampire while he still slept. And besides,

Councilors Trask's daughter was still missing. Which was why finding the

vampire had suddenly become such a high priority. As long as he'd kept to the

poorer sections of the city, and preyed only on those who wouldn't be missed, no

one paid much attention to him. But once he snatched a Councilor's daughter out

of her own bedroom, in full view of her screaming mother… Hawk worried his

lower lip between his teeth. She should still be alive. Vampires were supposed to

take two to three days to drain a victim completely, and she couldn't become one

of the undead until she'd died and risen again. At least, that was what the legends

said. Hawk sniffed. He didn't put much trust in legends.

"We should have stopped off and picked up some garlic," he said suddenly.

"That's supposed to be a protection, isn't it?"

"Garlic?" said Fisher. "At this time of the year? You know how much that stuff

costs in the markets? It has to come clear across the country, and the merchants

charge accordingly."

"All right, it was just a thought. I suppose hawthorn is out as well."

"Definitely."

"I assume you have at least brought the stake with you? In fact, you'd better have

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the stake, because I'm bloody well not going in there without one."

"Relax, love. I've got it right here." Fisher pulled a thick wooden stake from the

top of her boot. It was over a foot long, and had been roughly sharpened to a

point. It looked brutally efficient. "As I understand it, it's quite simple," said

Fisher briskly. "I hammer this through the vampire's heart, and then you cut off

his head. We burn the two parts of the body separately, scatter the ashes, and

that's that."

"Oh, sure," said Hawk. "Just like that." He paused a moment, looking at the

closed door before him. "Did you ever meet Trask, or his daughter?"

"I saw Trask at the briefing yesterday," said Fisher, slipping the stake back into

her boot. "He looked pretty broken up. You know them?"

"I met his daughter a few months back. Just briefly. I was bodyguarding

Councilor DeGeorge at the time. Trask's daughter had just turned sixteen, and she

looked so… bright, and happy."

Fisher put her hand on his arm. "We'll get her back. Hawk. We'll get her back."

"Yeah," said Hawk. "Sure."

He hammered on the door again with his fist. Do it by the book… The sound

echoed on the quiet, and then died quickly away. There was no response from the

house, or from any of its neighbors. Hawk glanced up and down the empty street.

It could always be a trap of some kind… No. His instincts would have been

screaming at him by now. After four years in the city Guard, he had good

instincts. Without them, you didn't last four years.

"All right," he said finally. "We go in. But watch your back on this one, lass. We

take it one room at a time, by the book, and keep our eyes open. Right?"

"Right," said Fisher. "But we should be safe enough as long as the sun's up. The

vampire can't leave his coffin till it's dark."

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"Yeah, but he might not be alone in there. Apparently most vampires have a

human servant to watch over them while they sleep. A kind of Judas Goat, a

protector who also helps to lure victims to his master."

"You've been reading up on this, haven't you?" said Fisher.

"Damn right," said Hawk. "Ever since the first rumors. I wasn't going to be

caught unprepared, like I was on that werewolf case last year."

He tried the door handle. It turned jerkily in his hand, and the door swung slowly

open as he applied a little pressure. The hinges squealed protestingly, and Hawk

jumped despite himself. He pushed the door wide open and stared into the dark

and empty hall. Nothing moved in the gloom, and the shadows stared silently

back. Fisher moved softly in beside Hawk, her hand resting on the pommel of her

sword.

"Strange the door wasn't locked," said Hawk. "Unless we were expected."

"Let's get on with it," said Fisher quietly. "I'm starting to get a very bad feeling

about this."

They stepped forward into the hall and then closed the front door behind them,

leaving it just a little ajar. Never know when you might need a quick exit. Hawk

and Fisher stood together in the gloom, waiting for their eyes to adjust. Hawk had

a stub of candle in his pocket, but he didn't want to use it unless he had to. All it

took was a sudden gust of wind at the wrong moment and the light would be

gone, leaving him blind and helpless in the dark. Better to let his sight adjust

while he had the chance. He heard Fisher stir uneasily beside him, and he smiled

slightly. He knew how she felt. Patiently standing and waiting just wasn't in their

nature; they always felt better when they were doing something. Anything. Hawk

glared about him into the gloom. There could be someone hiding in the shadows,

watching them, and they'd never know it until it was too late. Something could

already be moving silently towards them, with reaching hands and bared fangs…

He felt his shoulders growing stiff and tense, and made himself breathe deeply

and slowly. It didn't matter what was out there; he had his axe and he had Fisher

at his side. Nothing else mattered. His eyesight slowly grew used to the gloom,

and the narrow hall gradually formed itself out of the shadows. It was completely

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empty. Hawk relaxed a little.

"You all right?" he whispered to Fisher.

"Yeah, fine," she said quietly. "Let's go."

The hall ended in a bare wooden stairway that led up to the next floor. Two doors

led off from the hall, one to each side. Hawk drew his axe, and hefted it in one

hand. The heavy weight of it was reassuring. He glanced at Fisher, and smiled as

he saw the sword in her hand. He caught her eye, and gestured for her to take the

right-hand door while he took the left. She nodded, and padded quietly over to the

right.

Hawk listened carefully at his door, but everything was quiet. He turned the

handle, eased the door open an inch, and then kicked it in. He leapt into the room

and glared quickly about him, his axe poised and ready. The room was empty.

There was no furniture, and all the walls were bare. A little light filtered past the

closed shutters, taking the edge off the gloom. The woodwork was flecked with

mould, and everywhere was thick with dust. There was no sign to show the room

had ever been lived in. The floorboards creaked loudly under Hawk's weight as

he walked slowly forward. There was a strong smell of dust and rotten wood, but

underneath that there was a faint but definite smell of corruption, as though

something long dead lay buried close at hand. Hawk sniffed at the air, but

couldn't decide if the smell was really there or if he was just imagining it. He

moved quickly round the room, tapping the walls and listening to the echo, but

there was no trace of any hidden panel or passageway. Hawk stood in the middle

of the room, looking around him to check he hadn't missed anything, and then

went back into the hall.

Fisher was waiting for him. He shook his head, and Fisher shrugged

disappointedly. Hawk smiled slightly. He already knew Fisher hadn't found

anything; if she had, he'd have heard the sound of battle. Fisher wasn't known for

her diplomacy. Hawk started towards the stairs, and Fisher moved quickly in

beside him.

The bare wooden steps creaked and groaned beneath their feet, and Hawk

scowled. If there was someone here, watching over the vampire, they had to

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Simon R. Green - Hawk and Fisher 1 - Hawk and Fisher

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