### 2

You usher the marines into your room and lock the door to prevent the tavern-keeper from entering. Then, one by one, you leave by the window and climb up onto the roof. Hidden by the darkness and by a low parapet wall which encircles the tavern’s upper floor, you stay here and observe as more than a hundred City Guardsmen round up all the foreign merchants and crewmen who are lodging at the quayside taverns. These innocent men are then made to form a long column before they are marched away towards the Funtal’s castle. When dawn breaks over the harbour, this normally busy trading centre is unusually quiet. The only people you can see going about their business are native Bir Rabalonians.

When you can no longer see any City Guardsmen in the harbour, you re-enter the tavern and hurry down to the taproom. Here you find Kol, the Casiornian merchant, enjoying a large plateful of meat and cheese. With a wide grin he tells you that he has spent a very comfortable night hiding in the kitchen cellar.

Turn to 255.