James feigns unconsciousness as he works in his mind what exactly is going on. From what he overheard Korgan say, he came here for Perrilin. The fact that James happens to be here as well could possibly have eluded him for the moment. James fervently hopes that he will continue to remain ignorant of it.
The last thing he remembers is eating and drinking back at the inn as they listened to the bard play. From his brief scan to the others sitting there on the wall with him, he doesn’t think that they have all the others. But which ones are here he can’t tell. He did see Scar and Potbelly for sure, maybe Reilin too. For all their sakes he prays that Miko and Jiron have yet to be taken. If those two are still at large, then they stand a good chance of getting out of this.
In the meantime, he keeps his eyes closed and hopes the effects of the drug wears off sometime soon.
“Now where?” whispers Aleya. Miko just shrugs.
After entering the keep, they’ve been searching the halls for the way to the dungeons below. Three guards and two servants lie dead behind them, hidden in closets, under beds, etc. They had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time when the four intruders happened by.
Now the corridor they’ve been following ends at a meeting hall where a dozen tables are placed about the room. One of the larger tables has four men standing around it looking at a map laid out across its top. Two are soldiers, commanders by the looks of them, and two civilians. The men are talking earnestly to each other.
Jiron moves back from the end of the corridor where he had been spying on the men. Joining the others, he has them move into what seems to be an unused storage room. There he relates to the others what he saw. “We’ll never find the way down in time,” he says.
“You should never have killed those servants,” states Brother Willim.
Jiron gives him an annoyed look and says, “If they had spoken our language, I wouldn’t have. We need to find someone with whom we can talk.”
Suddenly from the room where the four men are looking over the map, they hear raised voices. Jiron moves to the storage room’s door and peers out to try to see what’s going on. Unable to ascertain anything, he turns back to the others and says, “I better check this out.”
“Be careful,” Aleya tells him.
With a nod to her, he exits from the room and hurries to the end of the corridor. One of the voices within the room has grown agitated and is beginning to yell. Moving to the end, Jiron peers into the room. A fifth man has entered the room and is yelling at the other four. His face is set in an angry expression as is the others whom he’s yelling at.
“I know you,” Jiron whispers when he sees the face of the new arrival. “Ol’ One Eye Miko called you,” he says to himself. He’ll know where James is located. In fact, he’s likely to be the one doing the interrogating. Jiron grins at this stroke of good fortune.
The men argue for another several minutes before a soldier hurries in through another doorway. The talking comes to a halt as the five men turn their attention to the new arrival. He delivers what is most likely a quick report then waits.
The older of the two soldiers says something to the other one who then follows the soldier from the room. The remaining soldier then turns back to face Ol’ One Eye. He says something to him in a calm voice that’s straining to be anything but. Then Ol’ One Eye’s single remaining eye narrows and his lips press together hard when the soldier finishes speaking. Turning on his heel, Ol’ One Eye stalks off across the room and exits through a side door.
Jiron looks at the door and knows that has to be the way to where James and the others are being held. Glancing back to the soldier and the two civilians, he sees the two civilians begin to leave through the door which the soldier had come through earlier. Once they’ve left, Jiron rushes back to the others.
“I think we may have a break,” he says once back in the storage room. Then he briefly tells them what transpired. Miko gasps when he hears that Ol’ One Eye is back in the picture.
“He’ll kill James!” he blurts out.
Jiron looks at him and asks, “Have you felt any murders or deaths since we entered the keep?”
Looking surprised, Miko shakes his head, “No.”
“Then they’re still alive,” he states. “If we hurry they may remain so.” He then jerks his head in the direction of the meeting room and says, “There’s one man still in the room between us and the door Ol’ One Eye took. If we take the soldier out fast, we can follow Ol’ One Eye right to James.”
“Then let’s hurry,” urges Miko.
“Aleya,” he says, “take him out with your bow, it’ll be quicker.”
“No problem,” she assures him. Moving to join him, she pulls an arrow from her quiver and places it to string. Keeping the string relaxed until it’s time, she hurries along beside him. Behind them come Miko and Brother Willim.
At the end of the corridor, Jiron motions for the other two to wait back a ways while he and Aleya proceed. He creeps to the end of the hallway and peers into the room. The soldier remains alone in the room. Turning back to Aleya, he indicates the room and nods. Moving out of her way, he allows her to move into position.
She looks around the corner and sees the man standing there, bent over the map on the table. Taking a calming, centering breath, she steps away from the wall and draws back the bow at the same time. Just before she releases, the man looks up and they lock eyes. Then the arrow is launched. In a blur, the man dodges out of the way, and his hand comes up to snatch the arrow out of the air.
Once she releases the arrow, Jiron pulls his knives and moves to rush into the room just in case the arrow didn’t complete the job. When he sees the man standing there with the arrow in hand, he moves forward to finish it.
“Korgan was right,” the man says as he draws his sword. “The fire in the city was just a ruse so a rescue attempt could be made. I didn’t believe someone would willingly burn down a whole city just to save a few lives.” He then braces for Jiron’s attack. “I’ll have to apologize to him after I’ve killed you.”
Before Jiron can close with him, a noxious looking black cloud forms between them. From the hallway he hears Brother Willim gasp, “Magic!” Jiron comes to a quick stop and backpedals quickly to avoid coming into contact with the black cloud. He doesn’t take two steps before it begins moving quickly his way.
“Down Jiron!” Brother Willim cries out as he enters the room, aglow with power.
Trusting in the priest, Jiron jumps to the side and hits the floor. He no sooner lands on the floor than something strikes the center of the black cloud. One of Brother Willim’s many seeds he carries begins to grow, and as it grows, it absorbs the black cloud. Blossoming into a black orchid, the seed draws all the cloud into it until finally dropping to the floor.
Miko appears with sword in hand and closes with the soldier. Metal clashes as the two blades meet. Both men move with incredible speed, yet Miko is the faster of the two. The time he had the Fire in his possession having given him great skill and speed.
Then Brother Willim is there beside him, his staff smashing into the soldier’s armor. “Help the others Jiron,” the priest yells. “We’ll deal with this.”
Jiron gets up off the ground and motions for Aleya to follow him as they leave the combatants behind. Passing through the door Korgan had used, they enter a smaller corridor. Moving down it quickly, Jiron begins to smell the mustiness of an enclosed area. “We’re close,” he tells her. The clash of swords from the battle they just left follows them as they hurry down the corridor.
Another dozen yards brings them to the top of a narrow spiral stairway descending into darkness. The odor of mustiness is strongest from that direction. “This way,” he says. “Stay close to me.” He sees Aleya nod then begins taking the stairs down.
Whack!
Brother Willim’s staff takes the soldier again in the side of the head. Twice the soldier tried to send the noxious black cloud toward them, and twice Broth
er Willim countered it with magic of his own. Now, three orchids lie on the floor, all but crushed by the combatants’ feet.
The soldier has been on the defensive since shortly after Miko and Brother Willim engaged him. His armor shows tears and dents from where sword and staff have left their mark.
Miko’s sword is moving almost faster than the eye can see. For every two of his blows that the soldier manages to block, one makes it through his defenses.
Whack!
The soldier’s sword hand is dealt a heavy blow by Brother Willim’s staff which causes him to lose his grip. As his sword flies out of his hand, Miko comes in with a thrust and sinks his sword to the hilt in the man’s breastbone. With a cry, the soldier staggers back and crashes into one of the tables. Smashing though its top, he dies before his body even reaches the floor.
Just then, the door opens up and the two civilians enter the room. They come to an abrupt halt when they see Miko and Brother Willim standing there over the dead body of the soldier. They immediately do an about face and race from the room hollering for help.
“That tears it,” Miko says. He puts his foot on the soldier’s chest as he grips his sword and pulls it from the man’s body. He’s had this sword a very long time. In fact, it’s the one James had improved with magic just before his fateful fight with the warrior priest at the foot of the Dragon’s Pass. And it has served him well since. Using a strip of cloth torn from the dead man’s clothes, he cleans off the blood.
“Let’s go,” he says and takes the lead as they head for the door through which Jiron and Aleya had gone. Before they make it that far, the sound of feet running toward the room comes to them. Glancing back at the door the two civilians ran through, Miko sees the door burst open and guards begin pouring into the room.
“Go tell the others!” he hollers as he pushes Brother Willim through the doorway.
“What about you?” Brother Willim asks.
“I’ll hold them off,” he asserts. Drawing his sword again, he says, “Go!” Turning back, he sets himself to meet the assault.
“Good luck,” Brother Willim says then runs through the door.
The stairs spiral around three times before ending at the mouth of a corridor. It extends away from stairs and in the distance they can see where it opens up onto a dimly lit room.
“Hope that’s where we’ll find them,” Jiron says to Aleya as he enters the corridor.
“Should be,” she replies.
Moving forward at a run, they soon are approaching the room with the light. Movement is seen on the other side. From the amount of light coming through the partially opened door, there can’t be more than a single candle burning on the other side.
Jiron glances back to Aleya and finds her with arrow set to bow, ready. Reaching for the door, he pulls it back and races into the room. A single guard is sitting at the table, and before Jiron can cross over to him, an arrow flies past his ear and takes the man through the neck.
“No!” cries out Jiron as the guard falls to the ground dead.
“What?” asks Aleya.
“He could have told us where they were being held,” he tells her.
“Sorry,” she said.
He sighs. “Don’t be,” he says. “You did the right thing considering the circumstances. Just hold off a second next time.” Looking around the room, they find three doors which lead deeper into the dungeon, all of which are closed.
“Which one?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” he replies.
Moving past him into the room, Aleya begins examining the floor before each of the doors.
“Now what are you doing?” he asks.
“Seeing if the floor may tell us which way to go,” she says. Then she kneels down before the door on the right and says, “This way.”
“How can you tell?” he asks coming to kneel beside her.
She points to a scuff mark on the floor. “This is more recent than anything else before the other two.”
Nodding, he gives her a quick hug and kiss. “I knew I brought you along for some reason,” he says with a grin.
She returns his grin and reaches for the door handle. Opening it up, they find a corridor lined with doors on both sides. Each of the doors is very stout, with a small window about two thirds of the way up, and a sturdy deadbolt lock.
The corridor grows dark at about the fifth set of doors and then remains so until coming to another light far in the distance. Jiron takes the lead and is about to enter when Aleya stops him. “How are Miko and Brother Willim to know which way we went?” she asks.
“It’s the only door that’s open,” he tells her with the expression that she should have known that.
Giving him a weird look, she takes the dead guard and drags him by the hand until he’s halfway in the doorway. Removing her arrow from the guard’s body she says, “Now there won’t be any confusion.”
Jiron rolls his eyes as she cleans her arrow on the dead man’s shirt. Muttering to himself, he sets off at a quick run toward the light at the other end of the corridor with Aleya right behind. As they pass through the dark area, a voice calls to them from behind a door on their right.
Jiron pauses and turns his attention toward the voice. A hand reaches out toward him as the voice again calls to him pleadingly in the Empire’s tongue. “Sorry,” Jiron says to whomever the hand belonged to then resumes his run toward the light at the end of the corridor.
“Shouldn’t we have done something for that man?” Aleya asks in a hushed tone.
“Don’t have time for everyone,” he tells her. “Got to save the ones we came for.”
She remains quiet as they reach the area of the corridor where the light from the end begins to illuminate.
Jiron slows down and starts walking on the balls of his feet in order to reduce the chance of his boots making a scraping noise. If there is anyone ahead, he doesn’t want to alert them that they are there. Moving closer to what is beginning to look like a room that the corridor opens out onto, they strain to hear if someone is there. Silence is all that comes from the room ahead of them.
When Jiron is no more than five feet from the end of the corridor, he motions for Aleya to wait while he moves forward to check it out. Leaving her behind, he keeps close along the corridor’s right side as he edges forward. The room is an interrogation room, or at least he thinks so. Within are several torture devices used in extracting information. One, a cage not tall enough for a man to stand erect has a decomposing corpse within it. Four torches held in wall sconces are the source of the light.
Jiron waves Aleya forward and she enters the room. Two other corridors extend from the room, one straight across from the one they just left, and another to their right. He moves to check the one across the room and gestures to Aleya that she should check the other.
The one down which Jiron checks is dark and quiet. Aleya moves to the entrance of the one to the right. Stepping a few feet into the corridor, she hears voices coming from further down. Returning to the room, she says, “There’s someone down this way. I can hear voices.”
Jiron crosses over to the entrance to the corridor just as someone bursts into the room from the direction they came. Startled, he pulls his knives as Brother Willim comes to a stop before him. “Miko needs help!” he exclaims.
“What?” he asks as he puts his knives back into their sheathes.
“Guards showed up,” he explains. “Lots of them. He’s holding them off.”
“Damn!” he says. Making his mind up quickly, he says, “He’ll have to hold out a few minutes longer. Follow me.” With there being no longer any time for skulking about, he sprints down the corridor toward the voices. Even before he reaches the end of the corridor he recognizes Korgan’s voice.
“…been too long,” Korgan says.
Whack!
“Tell me what I want to know and I’ll be merciful,” he says.
“You’ll get nothing from me,” Perrilin’s voice replies.
&
nbsp; Perrilin? He would have thought for sure that Korgan would have been interrogating James first. No time to figure it out, he doubles his speed when he hears the sound of someone being struck again. As he draws close, he sees a guard standing with his back to the mouth of the corridor. Jiron pulls his knives, and when he emerges from the corridor, sinks one of them into the guard’s back. He strikes the man with such force his knife sinks to the hilt and wedges in between two vertebrae. As the man lurches forward from the blow, his knife is pulled from his hand.
“Jiron!” he hears Stig shout happily.
In a flash he scans the room. Sees Korgan standing startled before Perrilin who’s tied to a chair, three other guards in the room beside the one he just killed, and his friends shackled to the wall.
Reaching down, he pulls the dead guard’s sword from its sheath and turns to face Korgan. One of the guards pulls his sword and rushes Jiron, but is thrown backward onto a table by the force of Aleya’s arrow striking him in the chest.
“Stay where you are!” cries Korgan. Moving closer to Perrilin, he lays the edge of a knife menacingly alongside the bard’s throat.
Jiron stands there and contemplates his next course of action.
Thwock!
Another arrow flies from the corridor and takes Korgan in the shoulder above the arm that’s holding the knife. Perrilin cries out as the knife rakes across his throat when his captor is struck.
“Kill them all!” Korgan cries as he staggers back from the blow.
At his command, the two remaining guards rush Jiron.
“See to Perrilin!” Jiron hollers as Brother Willim enters the room. As his knife blocks the blow from one guard, he yells to Aleya, “Find the keys!” Bringing the sword in from the side, he causes the second guard to dart backward.
The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven Page 44
