The 3 Seas

Tauri acted as anyone would have, under the circumstances… provided they were a hired assassin and the circumstances were that they wouldn’t be paid a thing if the target were to be killed by the authorities of a foreign power in the course of their duty.
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The rank and file of the city guard of Montport weren’t soldiers or professional swordsmen… that isn’t to say that they were incompetent at their job, just that this job usually involved dealing with lone ruffians and petty criminals, and quite often they had the benefit of numbers on their side. The physical qualifications of the post focused more on the benefits of an imposing physique than on fighting prowess or agility
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“Blast you to perdition!” Iskondra shouted, flinging herself to the side to get away from the slashing claws of the assassin Tauri.
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Once the boy she’d sought to protect and the all-important book she had foolishly thrust into his hands disappeared from the scene, Iskondra Devalion had no reason to continue to stand her ground against Tauri Quick-Claw. However, despite many repeated and lengthy claims about her ability to end the fight quickly and decisively in her favor, she continued to fight defensively while urging the assassin to disengage.
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“So, we’re looking for the capital of the old empire?” Jace guessed.
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“I don’t know anything about any empires except Elakebassis,” Jace said, though if he were to be perfectly honest, he’d have to admit that he didn’t know much about that one.
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Katryn directed Jace to stay below again while she stood up on deck. Horizon Chaser required no pilot except for Loki, and had no mechanism for any to use, but she’d found it saved other people an awful lot of shouting if they could see someone standing over the rudder looking purposeful as her little ship maneuvered its way around theirs.
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Katryn handed the book to Jace and told him to take it below and “out of the damaging sunlight”. She herself remained on deck and maintained a fixed smile until the constable was out of sight, then leaped down the hatch, very nearly landing on Jace.
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“So that’s a magic boat, then?” the watchman said when presented with the Horizon Chaser, sitting at anchor in the shade of a dock. “It doesn’t look very magical.”
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Jace, of course, had taken off running as soon as the two combatants’ respective attentions were fully occupied by each other. Despite Iskondra’s declared intention to protect him and Tauri’s original proclamation that he had no intention of harming him, Jace did not really feel either of them would be safe to be around.
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Tauri advanced on Iskondra, who waved her blade in two quick passes at his outreached hands, forcing him to jerk them back.
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