Hendak and Lidia went through the double doors, now left unwatched. To Lidia's relief, Celyce was lingering on the stairs, which led to a level on top of the common room.
A commotion had raised in the other half of the Coronet. Lehtinan was sitting at a table, surrounded by a flock of nobles in brightly colored robes. Some had raised their voices. All were furious.
Hendak shouted his name. Immediately, the entire room turned towards him.
"What?! Hendak? You ignorant, barbaric slave! You're behind all of this chaos, aren't you? I'll take it out of your hide!" Lehtinan roared as he pushed a chair aside.
Lidia stepped in front of Hendak, drawing her sword and holding it in a guard in front of her. "If blame is needed, it falls upon me."
"He put you up to this, didn't he?" He fumbled for a leather pouch on his belt. "How much to make this go away?"
"Save it," Lidia said. "I involved myself when I found you'd kept slaves."
At the mention of slaves, some of the watching patrons stared into their drinks.
Bernard strode forward from behind the bar. "We agreed we'd have no truck with Roenall and his lot. What's in your true book?" His face rapidly turned red as he started shouting, animating his words with his hands. "Remember Ployer? I've half a mind to do the same to you!"
Lehtinan advanced on Lidia, pulling a knife from his pocket and unfolding it. He abruptly stopped at the end of her longsword. He addressed her: "Who gave you the right to tell me what to do with my property?"
"Who gave you the right to buy and sell others?" she retorted.
"Hendak is a commodity, nothing more. And if he became a commodity through his own incompetence, that is his affair, not mine."
She wanted to kill him, if only to wipe that smug look off of his face. Likely the only ones who stood before him with weapons drawn were either drunk ruffians or people who called him "sir." But she held still and didn't break her glare. "Let me get this straight - if I step aside, and Hendak runs you through, that's your affair, not mine."
"You've already ruined me by releasing the slaves. I'll lose most of my business, and with my debts, I'll lose my life as well." He sounded less enraged, and more resigned. "You've done enough. Get out of my sight."
His mouth was still turned into a cold parody of a smile, but she recognized the grim look in his eyes. She had seen it before on the face of someone seeking death.
She could see out the corner of her eye that Yoshimo, Jaheira, and the dwarf had now followed them here, and were waiting off to the side. No one made a move to where Lehtinan stood; no one spoke up in his defense. Bernard seemed one beat away from attacking his partner himself.
A disembodied voice rang out from Lidia's sword: "Come oooonnn…"
Lehtinan jerked towards what he thought was the direction of the sound.
She swept her sword towards his head. He snapped back just in time to counter it, wildly managing a block with his knife.
But made a critical mistake. The blade locked directly where the fold was, causing the backspring to fail. The knife slipped closed and out of his hand, clattering to the floor.
"Grab his hands!" She kept the sword pointed at Lehtinan's throat.
In an instant, Bernard, Jaheira, and Yoshimo all rushed forward and restrained him, forcing him to his knees.
Lidia said, "Maybe the garrison will take you in without your coin."
Lehtinan spit out a curse as he struggled, but he stayed put.
"Celyce!" Bernard called out. He leaned forward, bringing down his weight to reinforce his grip. "Run out and get Khellor. Tell him to bring friends."
The girl instantly obeyed, going outside.
Hendak, meanwhile, had said nothing. But as soon as Lehtinan was restrained, he turned and stormed towards the door. A number of patrons were also leaving, some because the excitement was over, and others because they didn't want to meet the garrison any more than Lehtinan did. They all at least had the sense to stand aside until Hendak left, slamming the door behind him.
Several guards came in a few minutes and took charge of Lehtinan. Lidia was concerned that they'd accept a bribe, but as they took him out into the night, Lehtinan went with them quietly, seemingly defeated.
Bernard mopped the sweat from his brow and went to the guest rooms. He emerged in a few moments. Just behind him was Ganthet, wrapped in a brown blanket and tapping his way forward with a thin wooden cane.
Lidia gave a questioning look towards them both, and Bernard said, "He just turns up at the bar, easy as you please. Yoshimo was expecting trouble and told me so, but Ganthet here was the last person I'd expect to come walking in. Think it was after you went with Lord Jierdan."
"Do you need help?" she asked the priest.
"Thank you, but no." He slowly made his way across the room, parallel to the long brazier, tapping the whole way.
The whole room watched with respectful silence as he went, with only a shout of "Good to have ye back, old man!"
Ganthet only acknowledged them when he reached the door, turning and addressing the crowd in his thin voice. "If anyone needs healing, they are welcome at the hospital. My wife and I will see to them."
After an hour or so, most of the less injured guards left their posts. Lidia and the others combed the balcony and the fighting pits for anyone who was still left behind. A few guards had to be carried up to the shrine. One still remained: the guard that Lidia had downed. This one was still on the floor with a large, red lump on her chin.
"Do you know me?" Lidia asked.
The guard slurred something incoherent.
Immediately Lidia knelt next to her, focusing her attention on the woman's entire head. Her hand hovered over the lump. She closed her eyes and drew from the well one more time. Almost instantly, the lump disappeared.
A flash of recognition and anger crossed her face as soon as the magic worked. Lidia got to her feet first, but the other didn't move.
"What happened?" the guard said.
"Lehtinan's gone."
The guard spat at her. "You've cost me my job, you bitch."
"Please leave," Lidia said, gesturing towards the door with her sword.
The guard got up and went to the door, shooting Lidia one dark glare before she left.
A couple hours later, nearly everything inside the Coronet had been set right: the bloodstains had been cleaned as best as possible, the chairs and tables put back into place, the smoke vented, the doors to the fighting rings locked and bolted.
"Anything more you need?" Lidia asked Bernard.
"Nah, everything's fine," he said. "We found Lehtinan's war chest with all the goods he'd been ripping off us. They'll be sold to repay his debts and to get the slaves home. The beastmaster and his animals been shown the door. The extra cooks too. Too bad about that, but Skratha would skin 'em in a tenday." Bernard looked out over the tables: a dozen patrons or so had drifted back into the Coronet and were quietly talking and nursing drinks. The scene was a far cry from the raucous early evening.
"What happens to the Coronet now?" Lidia said.
Bernard dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "We'll have to trim some things off, sure, but the games were a money pit by the by. We'll muddle through somehow. We did before Lehtinan's bright ideas and we'll do it again."
"And Hendak?"
"He came back in. Wasn't happy with how things went by any means, but he was talking with me. Says he don't have anything to go back to. The guards won't have any reason to raid this place anymore, so that's another expense gone. Maybe the extra money could go towards paying another employee, aye?" He leaned in close. "Having Lehtinan out is a relief and no mistake. You know we ain't done with the old snake, even so."
He motioned towards the front door. "Everyone else's been wanting to see you up in the shrine when you get a moment."
She left behind the talking sword in her room and went outside.
A low mist lay upon the street and shrouded the few lamps burning, and the night was cloudy. Lidia opened the front door of the Coronet, turned to the left, ascended the moist and creaking stairs and passed the row of ramshackle houses on the roof towards the temple.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the shadows shift, and turned on her heel towards it.
The shadow said, "You've been busy, miss."
"Gaelan."
"Your memory's gotten better, aye? But not as good as me friends would like." He sprung from his hiding place and moved towards her, almost with a kind of swagger. He'd been friendly the last time they'd met, but something in his voice this time put her on alert.
Lidia's hand went for the hilt of her sword. "That's close enough."
"Just as well. That business with Lehtinan...that ain't friendly doings."
He faded from sight altogether, veiled by the fog and darkness.