In the Claws of the Tiger by James Wyatt Page A

breadth of his knowledge.”
    Janik marveled at the elf’s report. Anyone who could impress Mathas with his knowledge must be impressive, indeed.
    “How did you find him?” Dania asked.
    “I was talking to Pradam, that outfitter in Cliffside, as I bought some of our supplies. I told him we were heading to Xen’drik, and he told me that he’d heard of a dwarf who was looking to earn passage to Stormreach, and might be available for work there as well.”
    “I wouldn’t think an artificer would have any trouble making money in Sharn,” Janik said, his suspicions aroused.
    “When I talked to Auftane, it turned out that Pradam hadn’t gotten it quite right,” Mathas said. “Money isn’t the issue for him. He was just planning to return to Stormreach and wanted some company on the trip, and perhaps some work once he got to Xen’drik.”
    “You say he’s well traveled,” Dania said. “Who has he been adventuring with?”
    “Various people, and that’s perhaps the one thing that makes me a little uncertain about him. I don’t know if he just hasn’t found companions who share the extent of his wanderlust, or if there’s some reason he doesn’t journey with one group consistently.” Mathas stroked his chin for a moment. “My sense is that he enjoys the experience of traveling with different people as much as he enjoys visiting different places.”
    “So he might not stay with us long,” Janik said.
    “Is that bad?” Dania asked. “As long as he finishes the trip to Mel-Aqat, does it matter if we never see him again?”
    “I suppose not,” Mathas replied. “It’s just …”
    “A change from how we’ve always done things,” Janik finished for him. “And again, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.Well, I’m willing to meet him, Mathas. Did you arrange a time?”
    “Luncheon tomorrow.”
    “All right. At luncheon tomorrow, we’ll meet this Auftane Khunnam. And we’ll see if he can be ready to leave the next morning.”

    Janik had one more task in mind before going to bed that night—a task best left until darkness. He and Dania walked Mathas to the Seventh Wind, a simple but elegant inn at the southern edge of Skyway, then rode in a skycoach together back to the city below. Dania got off the skycoach at a small shrine of the Silver Flame in the Hope’s Peak district on the city’s upper west side. Janik wished her a good night, then continued to the waterfront.
    Making his way to the southern end of the waterfront, Janik stepped into a floating boat town—hundreds of rafts, keelboats, and other vessels lashed together and moored to the shore to form one of Sharn’s seediest districts. He followed the sounds of raucous laughter and drunken singing across the decks of a half-dozen boats. Moments later, a tavern came into view, the faded painting of a dagger on a black background the only indication of the establishment’s name—Knife in the Dark. Nobody called it that—people in the Ship’s Towers district just called it “the tavern,” and few people outside of Ship’s Towers had any reason to call it anything. Janik pushed the door open and the noise inside suddenly roared in his ears.
    He squeezed through the press of boisterous patrons to get to the bar, if only because Thurva, the owner, was prone to get angry at people who came to her tavern to do business and didn’t buy drinks to keep
her
in business. Hebought a tankard of ale, tasted it on the off chance the fare had improved in the last three years, and spat it out on the wooden floor.
    He leaned his back against the bar and looked around the crowded room. For a moment he was afraid the trip had been wasted, but then a big orc stood up from a table in the corner and stormed toward the door. Janik spotted Shubdoolkra at the orc’s table. Finding a sahuagin in a room full of humans was rarely difficult, but the orc had blocked Janik’s view. Relieved, Janik ducked and squeezed across the room and sat down across from