Swords of Haven: The Adventures of Hawk & Fisher

They’re two tough cops in a city of magic and mayhem.
A husband-and-wife team with fast blades and even faster
mouths, who dare to cleanse Haven’s corrupted soul. Together
they are the perfect crimebusters ... with a touch of magic.

Hawk & Fisher

The war against crime is forever.

“I think what charmed me about it is the absolutely unabashed manner in which Green has copied the style of almost any current cop/detective/sleuth TV show—the situations and dialogue are straight off your current screen.... Green makes this peculiar combination of classic fantasy and modern tube script work; it’s good fun and ideal light reading.”—
Asimov’s
Science Fiction

“Green’s very different approach to writing fantasy adventure—bearing a strong resemblance to the private eye novel—works surprisingly well.”—
Chronicle

“Simon R. Green’s books are fun books that grab you, suck you in, and don’t let you go. They are always fun, and the Hawk & Fisher books are no exception. Hawk and Fisher are a couple of honest, straight-talking, tough-as-nails Guards who use steel as often as wits to keep themselves out of trouble. They bully their way through situations, often just letting their reputations work their magic. The plots are straightforward with just enough of a twist to keep you guessing until the end. If you’ve read and enjoyed Green’s other books, you don’t want to miss these books. If you haven’t read Green before,
Swords of Haven
is a good way to get a taste of his style of writing.”—SF Site

“Swift, intriguing, and lively. Green has a marvelous gift of leavening grim situations with wicked wit, and the intrigues are intricate enough to leave even the most practiced mystery solver puzzling. A stormer of a series. Fine stuff.”—Prism UK

Also by Simon R. Green

The Adventures of Hawk & Fisher

Swords of Haven
Guards of Haven

The Deathstalker Saga

Twilight of the Empire
Deathstalker
Deathstalker Rebellion
Deathstalker War
Deathstalker Honor
Deathstalker Destiny
Deathstalker Legacy
Deathstalker Return
Deathstalker Coda

Blue Moon Rising
Beyond the Blue Moon
Blood and Honor
Down Among the Dead Men
Shadows Fall

Ace Books

The Nightside Series

Something from the Nightside
Agents of Light and Darkness
Nightingale’s Lament
Hex and the City
Paths Not Taken
Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth

ROC

Published by New American Library, a division of
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Published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. These novels were previously published in a Roc mass-market edition and separately in Ace paperback editions by The Berkley Publishing Group.

First Roc Trade Printing, June 2006

Hawk & Fisher
copyright © Simon R. Green, 1990

eISBN : 978-1-429-58151-6

REGISTERED TRADEMARκ-MARCA REGISTRADA

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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Some things can never be forgiven.

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 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.

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