Fires of prophesy ms-2

by Brian S. Pratt

  “Southwest it is then,” Jiron says as he turns his horse in that direction. As James turns to follow, Jiron asks him, “What do you plan to do after we find your friend?”

  “First thing would be to get him out of wherever he is,” he replies. “I still want to try to head back to Cardri. Maybe we could get a ship and sail around the coast.”

  “Maybe. Then what?” prompts Jiron.

  “Oh, maybe rest for a while and perhaps build a house.” He glances to Jiron and continues, “There are some things I’ve been thinking about, things to do with magic that I would like to experiment with. I want to be somewhere safe and away from people where I can work and not be disturbed.”

  “What about searching for information about this Morcyth? Do you still plan to continue with that?”

  “Absolutely,” James replies. “There are things I still need to know, but the last few weeks have shown me that I need to be better prepared before I set out again.” He pauses for a few seconds then says, “But I’ll worry about that when I get Miko back to Cardri. One thing at a time.”

  They ride along in silence for a while longer before a road appears in the distance ahead of them. The coastline has begun to curve which has brought the road toward them. Several travelers are upon it, none looking to be military in nature.

  Jiron looks to James who shrugs and says, “The road might actually be okay now.”

  “How do you figure?” he asks.

  “Since that large force had just recently come through here,” he explains, “it’s unlikely they would expect us to be here.”

  “Possibly,” states Jiron.

  “Besides, I’m tired of slugging our way through the desert. I want to get to Miko as quickly as possible.

  “Alright,” agrees Jiron as he leads them toward the road. Upon reaching it, a fellow traveler on his way north says something to them, but they ignore him as they pass.

  The man turns and says something, an obvious statement about being rude before he continues on his way.

  When they are some distance away from the closest traveler on the road, James says, “It’s going to be a problem, not being able to speak their language.”

  “I know,” replies Jiron, “but what can we do about it?”

  “Nothing, I suppose,” he says.

  They follow the road for several more miles and the only traffic they encounter is civilian in nature. James is surprised at the lack of military presence on the roads. Maybe the force he saw before the storm is all they are sending, or are able to send. Hopefully the local garrisons have been depleted to make up that force and are unable to spare any for patrols.

  A town begins to appear ahead of them and when Jiron notices it, suggests, “Perhaps we should skirt around it. We could make camp out in the desert and I could sneak in for some supplies after it gets dark.”

  James nods agreement, “Our supplies are getting a little low.”

  So they veer to the east and continue until they’ve reached a spot a good two miles away from the town. They set up camp and wait for the coming of darkness. When the sun reaches the horizon, Jiron mounts his horse and says, “I’ll be back in a couple of hours, hopefully not longer.”

  “Be careful,” cautions James.

  “I will,” he assures him.

  As he gets ready to leave, James stops him and says, “How are you going to be able to find me out here in the dark?”

  Jiron looks around at the landscape and fixes the landmarks in his mind before he turns to James and says, “Rest assured, I’ll find you.” Then he turns his horse in the direction of the distant town and rides off into the deepening night.

  Upon reaching the edge of town, he skirts along the edge, keeping to the shadows. He comes across several trees growing beyond the edge of town and stops to secure his horse in among them. With any luck he’ll still be there when he returns.

  Removing a couple sacks from his saddle bags, he folds them up tightly and places them within his belt pouch. He pats his horse on the neck as he says, “Stay quiet,” and then melts into the darkness as he makes his way to town.

  The wall surrounding the town is not very large, almost seems more for aesthetic value than for defense. A gate stands across the road where it passes through and is being guarded by two men. Jiron pauses for a moment to observe them as he evaluates his chances of making it through.

  Deciding not to risk detection, he moves down the wall away from the gate. Reaching a spot where no one can observe him, he jumps up and grabs hold of the top of the wall, then proceeds to pull himself up. He looks over the top to the other side and when he sees it’s clear, slips over the wall and drops to the ground.

  Keeping to the shadows as best he can, he runs across the distance to where the first building lies. He moves along its side until coming to a window. Glancing in through the window, he discovers it to be some sort of carpentry shop. Not what he’s looking for, he continues down to the adjacent building where a light is shining out through a window. Looking in, he finds this one to be a home, most likely that of the carpenter. It doesn’t look as if any one is currently within, though it’s hard to be sure.

  Not wanting to take the chance where someone could be home, he continues on from building to building. Staying in the shadows as best he can, he finally comes across one that is dark, yet seems to be a residence. Hoping for it to have some food, he makes his way around the side to the alley running between it and another building.

  Finding the alley vacant, he moves into it and continues down until he comes to a door leading into the building he wants. A moment’s listening at the door assures him there’s no one on the other side. He takes the handle and tries to open it only to discover it’s locked. Taking out one of his knives, he works on the lock until it clicks open.

  Pushing open the door slowly, he makes his way into the dark interior of the house, closing the door quietly behind him. Much to his relief, he finds that it is indeed a residence and begins to search the house until he comes across the pantry. Relieved to find it containing food, he takes a loaf of bread and puts it inside one of his sacks as well as some dried fruit. It’s not going to be enough to last him and James for very long, but it’s a start.

  This residence contains many things of value so he doesn’t feel obligated to leave any money this time. They won’t suffer from the loss of a little bit of food. As he returns to the door leading to the alley, he opens it a crack and looks out to find the alley still remains dark and empty. Leaving the house, he closes the door behind him and starts moving further along the side of the alley until coming to a cross street. He sees hanging outside of the building directly across the street from him, the unmistakable sign of a butcher’s shop. That’s what I need!

  Excited at the prospect of raiding a butcher’s shop, he looks up and down the street before he crosses. A lone man is walking toward him. Hiding in the shadows of the alley, he waits until the man passes and continues down the street, eventually moving out of sight. A quick scan after the man disappears shows the street to be empty so he dashes across to the shadows of the alley next to the butcher’s shop, where he pauses momentarily to glance back along the street. Finding that he’s made the dash undetected, Jiron begins searching for another entrance to the shop, other than the one facing the street.

  Around back, he finds a door that’s locked and no amount of finagling with the lock will open it. Wishing for his lost lock picks, he begins glancing overhead and spies an open window on the second floor.

  Searching the alley for something that might help him reach the window, he finds a broken crate lying in the alley several feet away. Going over to it, he checks it quickly to be sure it’ll hold his weight, it seems sturdy enough. Picking it up, he brings it over and sets it under the open window. Standing upon the crate, he comes to within inches of the window. Hoping the crate will indeed hold up under his weight, he jumps up and grabs the window sill. He then pulls himself up so he can look through the window.r />
  The room looks to be someone’s bedroom, a bed and several dressers are contained within. Snores can be heard coming from the bed, two forms are sleeping under the covers. Not wanting to risk disturbing them, he drops back down to the crate which collapses under his weight with a loud crash. He quickly rolls against the building and holds still.

  The noise from the crate crashing and him hitting the ground must’ve woke up one of the sleepers, for shortly a head sticks out the window and looks around the darkness of the alley.

  Lying there perfectly still, Jiron watches as the person continues to look for several seconds before pulling his head back in. He waits for a minute and then lets out a sigh of relief when whoever it was fails to raise the alarm. He mustn’t have seen me here in the dark.

  As he gets up, he sees two shapes coming toward him. They quietly say something to him but he doesn’t understand what they’re saying. Backing up slowly, he retreats back down the alley, never taking his eyes off the two approaching figures. Suddenly, a noise from behind and a quick glance shows another shadow approaching from behind.

  Again, the figures say something. When he fails to reply, he sees them draw knives and can hear the person coming behind him do the same.

  Sudden calmness comes over him as he realizes these are just some local thieves out for a score. Drawing his two knifes, he quickly advances upon the two approaching him.

  They’re shocked for a moment as they didn’t expect him to launch an attack, and that moment’s hesitation is all Jiron needed to drop one to the ground. Quickly engaging the other, he blocks the man’s slash with one of his knives while following through with his other.

  The man cries out as Jiron’s knife penetrates into his side, sinking five inches of steel beneath the skin and puncturing a lung. Falling to the ground, the man begins crying out and choking as his lung fills with blood.

  Turning to the last thief, Jiron stands ready and can see the man is about ready to flee. Then suddenly from overhead, the person who had looked out previously now begins shouting, raising the alarm. That’s all the other thief needed, he quickly backs up and turns as he flees out of the alleyway.

  Jiron quickly follows, deciding that the food he has will have to be enough for now. As he races across the street back the way he had come, another person who had stuck his head out his window to see what the other guy is yelling about sees him and starts to holler as well. Several guards, alerted by the shouting, see him running and give chase.

  He dodges between buildings as he tries to throw off pursuit, all the while trying to make his way back to where his horse is tied up. He finally throws his pursuers off by ducking into a building and going out a side window. As they run off in the opposite direction, he makes a beeline for the wall and is soon over to the other side.

  His horse is right where he left it. Mounting quickly, he turns toward the desert and kicks his horse into a gallop, putting distance between himself and the city.

  Not happy with the small amount of supplies he had acquired, he supposes it’ll have to due under the circumstances. He tries to get his bearings in the dark in order to locate the area where he left James.

  He rides for several minutes before spotting a light off in the distance. It looks to be a campfire. Don’t tell me James built a fire? That’ll alert everyone to our presence here! Getting mad at James’ stupidity, he rides toward the fire.

  As he draws close enough to make out details, he realizes that it’s not a fire but several torches. Now much more cautious, he slows down and stops some distance away from the light, then gets down from his horse. Leaving his horse behind, he makes his way closer on foot and sees that the torches are held by soldiers of the Empire. A wagon is there as well and he watches in shock as an unconscious James is being loaded into the bed of the wagon.

  A brown robed man is directing those placing James in the wagon and seems to be the one in charge. When James is finally within the bed of the wagon, the brown robed man climbs up onto the wagon seat as he gives orders to the driver. With a flick of the reins the horses get under way and the wagon begins to trundle back to town.

  The dozen foot soldiers accompany them on their way back. Jiron is momentarily stunned that James could’ve been taken with so few soldiers. He’s seen him blast away dozens before, the area should’ve at least looked devastated. But looking around, it looks like they just walked right up and threw him in the wagon.

  Whatever happened, he doesn’t have time to just stand there and ponder the imponderable. Hurrying back to his horse, he mounts up and follows the wagon at a discreet distance. When they arrive at the town, he’s glad they’re entering a different area than the one where he stirred things up earlier. Securing his horse to a tree outside the wall, he again jumps up and pulls himself to the other side as the wagon passes through the nearby gate.

  He follows them through town, staying within the shadows and alleys. When he comes to avenues that he must cross in order to follow, he just strides right out and blends in with the few people on the street. Looking like you belong has always been the best way for him to remain undetected. If you look like you’re about your business, most people fail to even notice you.

  The wagon continues rolling through town until it comes to an estate with a wall more formidable than the outer town wall had been. Guards are posted at the gates and the robed man says a few words to them as the wagon passes through. Once the wagon is within the estate, the gate closes. The accompanying foot soldiers turn and march down the street away from the estate.

  The wall surrounding the estate has nasty looking spikes along the top to deter anybody from going over. Jiron has scaled those types before, but never made it over unscathed. He’s anxious to get in for he doesn’t know how much time James will have before they begin the interrogation. Hopefully they’ll most likely wait at least until he regains consciousness. But with mages, you never know what they can do to revive someone. He’s got to get in there!

  He does a quick survey of the wall encompassing the estate, which by the way is fairly large and discovers the spikes run its entire length. Sighing, he comes to the conclusion that he’s going to have to risk the spikes.

  Going over to a neighboring house, he acquires several shirts which are lying in a heap at the back door. He wraps them around his arms. Though they’re not very good protection against the spikes, they’re still better than nothing.

  Glancing around, he makes sure he’ll remain unobserved and then jumps up, grabbing the top of the wall. Using extreme care, he pulls himself up and braces himself as he crosses over the spikes. A sudden pain erupts from his left thigh as a spike pushes through his leggings and punctures his skin.

  He pushes his leg off the spike with his left hand and then a pain erupts from his left arm as another spike scores through the layers of shirts. When he finally makes it down to the other side, he has several pinpoint punctures on his arms and legs. Fortunately, none are very deep or serious, just bleeding slightly. He knew people back in the City of Light who had attempted a similar feat and had muscles and tendons tore from the spikes. Removing the shirts from his arms, he leaves them on the ground by the wall.

  Looking toward the estate, he watches from the shadows as the wagon stops in front of the main entrance. The brown robed man gets down as several waiting attendants remove James from the wagon. Following behind the mage, they carry him into the house and the door closes behind them.

  Continuing to watch the house for a few minutes, he finally sees a light appear in a second story window, most likely where they’ve put James. Turning his attention back to the grounds surrounding the estate, he takes notice of two guards walking a set path around the estate. After watching them for several circuits around the house, he observes a gap between their paths that he may be able to take advantage of. When the first guard passes in front of the house, the second one is patrolling behind it, leaving a gap of several seconds before he makes his appearance again.

 
Jiron waits until the first guard has passed over halfway past the front of the house and then leaves his hiding spot in the shadows by the wall. Silently running across the open space to the side of the house, he keeps an eye on the back of the first guard until he turns the corner. Ducking behind a bush, he hides himself from view just as the second guard turns the corner. Holding very still, he watches the guard from behind the bush as he passes by.

  Looking up from his position behind the bush, he sees the window that he believes James is in directly above his head on the second floor. The first floor window near him is ajar so he waits for the first guard to pass again before quietly opening it and slipping into the house. Once inside, he closes the window before the second guard turns the corner.

  The room he finds himself in looks to be a library, shelves of books line the walls and several comfortable looking chairs are spaced around the room. James would love this. A single door leads from the room. Making his way over to it, he places his ear against the door and listens for any sound coming from the other side. Not hearing anything, he opens the door a crack and finds the hallway on the other side to be dark and empty.

  Exiting the room, he closes the door behind him and then looks down both directions of the hallway. The hallway to the left is dark, further down to the right is a barely perceptible light. Deciding in favor of the light, he moves silently down the hallway toward it. He passes several closed doors before reaching a flight of stairs leading up to the second floor. The light is coming from the flickering of an unseen candle in the hallway beyond the top of the stairs.

  Taking the steps quickly and quietly, he ascends to the top where he pauses to peer around the corner. Several burning candles line the empty hallway, allowing no shadows in which to conceal himself. A door further down to the left stands ajar several inches, voices can be heard emanating from within.

  He decides to risk detection and creeps quickly down the hallway to the door, peering inside. Within the room are several people, including the brown robe. James is sprawled out unconscious upon a bed to the side of the room and one of the men is examining his eyes. The man turns to the mage and makes a comment as he lets go of James’ eyelids, allowing them to close.