Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (33 page)

Once through to the other side, James
breathes a sigh of relief. They continue down the street, now in a
much more affluent section of town. Not too far past the gate, they
come to where the street splits. One section continues on toward
the keep and the other moves away from the keep. The street moving
away from the keep looks to head toward an area with estates.

James glances to Jiron and indicates the
area away from the keep. When he sees Jiron nod in agreement, he
turns to follow that street.

“Which one is it?” Jiron asks after they’ve
traveled down that street and have begun to enter the estate
area.

“I’m not sure,” he replies as they continue
down the street. Then, on a hill off to their left he sees the
estate that was in the mirror. “That’s it!” he exclaims as he
points it out to Jiron.

“You sure?” he asks.

“Absolutely,” James replies.

The estate has a stone wall going all the
way around it’s perimeter with but a single gate for an entrance.
The gate has a well lit guardhouse with a guard keeping watch. The
area between the wall and the house is fairly clear except for a
small area containing plants and bushes, probably for the lady of
the house.

“Let’s go around back and see if there’s a
better spot to try to get in,” Jiron advises.

James nods his head as he follows him around
the outside of the wall.

“It doesn’t seem to be guarded,” says Jiron
suspiciously.

“We’re in the heart of the empire, who would
be dumb enough to break into a noble’s estate here?” James
reasons.

“You may be right,” Jiron agrees. He gets
close to the wall and jumps up, grabbing the top as he pulls
himself up and then quickly scans the area on the other side of the
wall for guards.

“See anything?” James asks.

“No, it looks clear,” he tells him from the
top. Reaching down, he says, “Give me your hand and I’ll help you
up.”

James takes his hand and Jiron pulls him to
the top of the wall. They quickly drop down to the other side and
squat for a few seconds in the shadows to observe what’s going on.
The area between the wall and the manor house is dark and they
don’t see anything moving. With Jiron in the lead, they make their
way across the open lawn to the side of the house near a darkened
window.

Jiron silently moves to the window and peers
inside, but is unable to make out anything in the dark. With great
caution, he tests the window and finds it locked. Taking out one of
his knives, he slides it in the narrow space between the two sides
and lifts the latch. Replacing his knife in his belt, he pulls the
window open and then quickly slips inside.

Reaching his hand down, he helps James in
through the window and then closes it once again. Jiron begins
moving around, trying to find the door when a soft glow begins to
fill the room. Looking back, he sees James there with the glowing
orb in his hands. The orb is barely giving off any light at all,
just enough so they can make out the details of the room and won’t
be stumbling around.

“Thanks,” Jiron whispers.

Grinning, James replies quietly, “No
problem.”

The light shows that they’re in a study of
some kind with but a single door leading out. Jiron moves over to
it and places his ear against the door, listening for any sound
coming from the other side. After a minute, he shakes his head and
says, “Nothing.”

“Good,” James says.

Jiron slowly opens the door and then shuts
it again quietly as he turns to James. “They’re not going to come
looking for magic because of that, are they?” he asks, pointing to
the glowing orb in James’ hand.

“I wouldn’t think so,” he replies. “It’s
hardly using any magic at all.”

With a brief nod, Jiron again opens the door
and a dim light comes through it. James cancels the orb and it
disappears as Jiron opens the door wider. He cautiously looks down
the hallway to either side. He turns back to James and in a barely
audible whisper, says, “There’s a light down to the right, to the
left is dark.”

“Try the left?” he suggests.

Jiron nods in agreement and then he again
checks the hallway. Not seeing anyone, he opens the door wider and
silently exits the room to the hallway, making his way down toward
the left.

Once he’s out of the room, James follows and
then closes the door behind them. He can hear muffled voices coming
from the room down the hallway to the right where the light is
emanating from, but is too far away to be able to make any of it
out.

Jiron stays to the left side of the hallway
as he quietly makes his way down to the next door on the right. He
pauses a moment as he listens at the door. Not hearing anything, he
proceeds further down the hallway. They pass two doors facing each
other and after a moment’s listening at each, Jiron continues past
them.

A little ahead of them they see light
emanating around the corner where the hallway turns to the right.
Jiron turns to James and whispers, “Wait here.”

James nods his head and then watches as
Jiron silently walks to the edge of the corridor and peers around
it. After only a brief look, he brings his head back quickly and
then motions James closer. “There’s a guard standing in the hallway
about ten feet down. There’s a torch in the wall near him.”

“Should we take him out do you think?” James
asks.

“If we do, we may be alerting the whole
place that we’re here,” Jiron replies. “He may not even be guarding
Delia and the others.”

“Can’t think of any other reason to post a
guard in a hallway,” reasons James. “I say we’ve got to do it.”

“Can you do it?” Jiron asks. “I would need
to be closer to take him out before he could raise the alarm.”

“Yeah,” James replies, not liking the fact
of having to kill someone like this, but what choice does he have.
He removes a slug from his belt and silently moves to the corner
and peers around. Seeing the guard there, he gathers his thoughts
before stepping into the hallway. Before the guard even realizes
he’s there, he releases the magic and throws.

The slug flies straight and true, striking
him in the head. The guard sags to the floor unconscious. “Come
on!” James says to Jiron as he hurries to where the guard lies on
the floor.

“He’s not dead!” Jiron exclaims when he
realizes the guard lying there is only unconscious. A sizeable
goose egg of a bump shows where the slug had hit him in the
temple.

“I held back a little,” admits James. “I
didn’t want to kill him that way.”

The guard, as it turns out, had been
standing in front of stairs leading down.

“Let’s put him in one of the rooms we
passed,” Jiron suggests.

“Alright,” agrees James. They lift him up
and carry him back to the corner where they pause a moment as Jiron
peers down the hallway. Seeing the coast is clear, they go to the
first door on the right and open it slowly as they look inside.
It’s a bedroom, but empty and doesn’t looks as if it’s been used
for some time. They deposit the guard on the bed and then bind and
gag him. Once the guard is secured, Jiron returns to the door and
opens it a crack as he makes sure the hallway still remains empty.
Finding that it is, they leave the room, closing the door behind
them.

They quickly make it back to the stairs
where Jiron takes the lead as they begin to descend to the lower
level. At the bottom of the stairs, they find a door that’s
slightly ajar. Jiron cautiously opens it further and peers around
to the other side where he sees an empty corridor leading away from
the door. He opens it further and motions for James to follow him
through.

Following the corridor with James right
behind, they pass two other closed doors on their way, pausing
momentarily to listen at each. Not hearing anything, he continues
down to the door at the end, where light can be seen coming through
the cracks from the other side.

As they draw near to the door, they’re able
to hear voices speaking from the other side. “…tell me!” one voice
yells and then they hear the sound of someone being slapped
hard.

“Again,” the voice says and then a female
can be heard crying out in pain.

“Delia!” Jiron cries as he races for the
door. James readies a slug as Jiron hits the door with his
shoulder, causing it to open and swing into the room, slamming hard
against the wall. With both knives ready, he quickly surveys the
room.

It takes but a moment to realize what’s been
happening, Roland, Scar and Potbelly are sitting along one wall,
hands chained to the wall. Delia lies stretched spread-eagled upon
a table, her hands and feet secured with ropes to the corners.

A well dressed man stands next to the table
with another whom James can only believe is a dealer in pain.
They’ve been torturing Delia! Two guards spring into action and
immediately draw their swords as they move to engage Jiron.

“Jiron!” Potbelly cries out from where he
sits against the wall when the door bursts open and sees him
enter.

The two guards close with Jiron, one falling
when a slug strikes him in the face blasting out the back of his
head. Jiron parries a thrust from the other with one knife and then
strikes out with the other, catching the guard in the neck,
severing the jugular. Grabbing his neck, the guard tries to stop
the blood spewing forth as he stumbles and falls to the floor.
Jiron kicks out his foot on his way down and can hear a snap when
the man’s neck breaks.

The well dressed man has his sword out and
has the edge lying across Delia’s throat. “Enough!” he cries. “Or
she’s dead.”

Jiron stands there, seething with impotent
anger. Unable to do aught else, he stops.

James sees a ring of keys on one of the
guards and reaches down to pick them up when the well dressed man
says, “Don’t, or she dies.”

“It seems we’re in a pickle here,” James
tells him as he straightens back up. “We’re not about to leave
without them,” he says as he gestures to Delia and the others, “and
if you cut her throat you’re a dead man.”

He just stands there with his sword at her
throat, considering the situations. The torturer next to him says
with authority, “You dare not hurt the High Lord Cytok. He’s the
right hand to the Emperor himself!”

“Shut up you fool!” Lord Cytok yells to the
man. Turning back to James and Jiron, he says, “You two, get over
there next to the others.” He nods his head indicating they should
go over to where Scar, Potbelly and Roland are sitting along the
wall. He menaces Delia with his sword until they begin to move over
there.

Delia watches them with her eyes, fear of
the sword at her throat preventing her from doing or saying
anything.

“James,” Jiron says quietly as they move
closer to where the others sit, “do something.”

“I’m working on it,” he replies.

“Go get Kirtch and Prul,” he says to the
torturer who then moves quickly to the door.

James concentrates on Delia’s exposed neck
and then releases the magic. “Go ahead,” he says to Jiron, “he
can’t hurt her now.”

Trusting in James, Jiron is up in a flash
and rushes toward Lord Cytok.

The torturer breaks into a run as he races
through the door and begins screaming on his way to the stairs.

Lord Cytok runs his sword across Delia’s
throat but it only slides along an invisible barrier encasing her
throat. Shocked at seeing the ineffectiveness of his sword, he
turns to Jiron and prepares to defend himself.

“We need him alive,” James says. “We’ll
never make it out without him.”

With a slight nod, Jiron closes with Lord
Cytok. Deflecting a thrust with one knife, he strikes out with
other but Lord Cytok dances backward and the knife misses by
inches. The battle is joined.

James gets the keys from the dead guard and
goes over to free Scar.

“Thanks, James,” Potbelly says. “We were
hoping you might show up.”

“Yeah man,” Scar says when James had freed
him.

He gives Scar the keys to remove the other’s
shackles before going over to Delia. He takes out his knife and
cuts through her bonds. He helps her to her feet just as Roland
comes over to assist her. Delia stands up, a little bit shaky and
James asks, “Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” she assures him.

Scar and Potbelly have taken the guards’
swords and stand to the door to keep a look out. Scar turns back to
the others and cries, “We’ve got company!”

Suddenly, a crash and James looks over to
see Lord Cytok’s sword lying on the ground and Jiron with his knife
to his throat.

“Tell your men out there to drop their
weapons and come inside,” Jiron orders him.

A man from the hallway hollers something to
Lord Cytok.

Jiron begins pressing the point of his
dagger into his throat and says, “One of us understands your
language, so don’t do anything stupid.”

He hollers back to his men.

Jiron looks to Roland and asks, “Did he tell
them to drop their weapons?”

Roland shakes his head and replies, “They
asked if he was okay and he told them he’s okay, but held at
knifepoint.”

“Tell them to drop their weapons and come
inside, NOW!” Jiron insists as a drop of blood wells from where the
point of the knife had punctured the skin.

Lord Cytok hollers to his men and James
glances to Roland who nods his head.

Soon they hear weapons falling to the ground
and then his men, four of them, step into the room. The torturer
isn’t among them.

“Where’s the other guy!” Jiron demands when
he realizes he’s not among them.

Roland asks and when one of the men replies,
Lord Cytok begins laughing.

“What’s so funny,” Jiron asks.

“He’s gone to raise the alarm,” he tells
him. “Soon this whole area will be swarming with soldiers.” With a
satisfied smirk on his face, he stares at James.