Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (39 page)

“I agree,” Scar says. “Shorty, can you take
out a few before we get there?”

“Three or four,” he replies. “I’m running
out of knives.”

“That will do,” he says. “We can take care
of the rest.” Drawing one of his swords, he opens the door and
takes the lead as they begin making their way slowly toward the
docks. The rest of the fighters follow him closely with Roland and
the girls at the end along with Potbelly, who’s doing better but
still not up to his best.

When they reach the docks, they pause
briefly before passing from the cover afforded by the last of the
warehouses. Shorty readies his knives and with a nod from Scar,
begins throwing them in rapid succession. The others break into a
run toward the guards as the second knife flies by.

They watch as his first knife flies and
strikes one of the guards. As the man falls to the ground, the
second sinks into the man standing next to him. The rest of the
guards become aware of the threat and begin scanning for the source
of the flying knives. One of them shouts a warning when he spots
them running toward them, weapons out.

A third knife takes out another guard and
then Shorty’s final knife hits the foremost guard in the shoulder.
As he staggers from the blow Scar reaches him and quickly finishes
him off with a thrust through the middle.

Potbelly stays behind to guard the women and
Roland, his sword and knife ready for any who somehow make it
around the others. He keeps an eye out behind them as well for any
who may come from within Al-Kur.

Stig faces off with a guard bearing a sword
and shield, his mace smashing through the man’s shield and breaking
the bone of his arm in two. He deflects the guard’s sword with his
shield while following through with his mace. Connecting with the
man’s helmet, he caves it in and crushes the skull beneath. As the
guard falls lifelessly to the ground, he turns and engages
another.

Shorty’s fighting knives dance as he joins
the fray, blocking the attacks of two guards. Unable to go on the
offensive, he’s at least able to put up a good defense and keep
these two busy while the others deal with the rest.

Suddenly a cry splits the night and Scar
turns to see Yorn fall, a guards’ sword wedged between his ribs.
“Yorn!” he cries, as he strikes out at his opponent severing the
man’s head from his shoulders. He runs over to where Yorn lies and
engages the guard who has his foot on Yorn’s chest as he attempts
to dislodge his sword. With his sword wedged in between Yorn’s
ribs, he’s unable to defend himself and falls quickly to Scar’s
swords. Scar looks down to Yorn but knows there’s no hope when he
sees his lifeless eyes staring out.

Having killed his opponent, Stig moves to
help Shorty who’s being hard pressed by the two guards he’s
fighting. Coming up behind one, he cuts deeply into the man’s neck,
practically severing his head from his shoulder. As the man falls,
Shorty is able to utilize both knives in his fight with the
remaining man and soon has him on the ground next to his
partner.

Swearing at the loss of Yorn, Scar looks
around and sees the rest of the guards lying dead on the docks.
“Come on!” he yells as he waves to where Potbelly waits with the
others.

From across town, another massive explosion
rocks the morning. They look and see a large fireball reaching up
toward the sky.

The morning is beginning to lighten as the
sun peaks over the horizon. Scar looks to the ship, second from the
end and sees movement upon the rigging where the sailors are
preparing to get under way.

Once Potbelly and the others join them, they
begin running toward the Crashing Wave. Reaching the gangplank,
Roland hollers up to the ship, “Permission to come aboard?”

The captain comes to the rail and looks down
at them. Glancing over to the dead guards lying on the docks he
replies, “Permission granted.”

“Come on!” Roland says to the others as he
starts crossing the gangway.

When they’re all on board they stop abruptly
as four crossbowmen aim their crossbows at them. From behind the
captain, the Eye comes forward and says, “Thank you captain, you’ve
been most helpful.”

James is growing quite tired, especially
after that last spell which took out the guardhouse. “Do you think
that’s enough yet?” he asks Jiron.

Grinning back at him, Jiron says, “That
should be enough to get their attention in a bad way.”

They run down a side alley as they attempt
to evade another patrol passing through the area. They’ve been
running and hiding after that last explosion, doing their best to
avoid tangling with any large group of guards. James’ supply of
slugs is beginning to run low, only ten left.

“Maybe it’s time to get the horses and
leave,” he suggests.

Jiron replies as he nods his head, “That
would probably be a good idea, they should be on the ship by
now.”

“I hope so,” he says as he thinks of Delia
and especially little Arkie.

“Our horses are all the way across town,”
Jiron informs him. “It’s going to take us a while to get
there.”

“I know,” he replies, “lead on.”

Looking out of the alley, Jiron checks to
make sure the street is clear of guards before exiting. When the
coast is clear, they exit the alley and follow the street in the
interest of speed. Breaking into a run, they head toward the inn
where their horses are stabled.

Street by street they make their way closer
to the inn. Many times they’ve had to duck down alleys or into
buildings to avoid being spotted. Back on the street after one such
incident, they suddenly see a group of six soldiers turn onto the
street ahead of them. Fortunately they’re moving the other way down
the street so fail to notice them.

“Soldiers now?” James says as they quickly
turn off the street into another alley.

Leading them further into the alley, Jiron
replies, “Guess we really got their attention.”

“That was the plan,” James says from behind.
“Could be the ones who’ve been following us the last few days,
too,” he adds.

“Possibly,” agrees Jiron.

Coming to the end of the alley, they pause
as they watch a dozen or more soldiers running past on their way
further into the city. They’re just moving past the alley where
James and Jiron are waiting, when from up above them, a woman
begins crying out to the soldiers.

James looks up as she continues yelling and
pointing to where they’re hiding in the alley. Glancing back toward
the soldiers, he sees them turning and begin running in their
direction.

“Damn!” he hears Jiron curse as they race
back down the alley. Before they reach the end of the alley, Jiron
grabs James and ducks into a side door of the building opposite the
one with the woman.

James slams the door shut and locks it.
That’s when he realizes Jiron has led them into someone’s home.
Jiron takes the stairs leading up to the second floor with James
following close behind. Before they reach the top of the stairs,
banging can be heard coming from the door leading to the alley.

Emerging from the stairs onto the second
floor they see before them a long hallway running the length of the
home. From the far end a door can be heard slamming shut and what
sounds like furniture being piled behind the door to prevent them
from gaining access to it.

They do a quick search and locate a narrow
stairway leading up to the roof. As Jiron steps upon the ladder to
go up to the roof, they hear the door to the alley burst in. Moving
quickly up the stairs they reach the roof.

Jiron pauses momentarily as James clears the
ladder. “Where now?” James asks him.

He scans the buildings adjacent to them and
finds one with a small enough gap between them that they will be
able to jump. “Follow me,” he tells him as he runs and jumps over
the gap between buildings.

James runs as fast as he can and with heart
beating wildly, jumps across. Sailing through the air he glances to
the alley below and panics. When he lands on the other side, he
loses his balance, falls to the roof and rolls a couple of times
before coming to a stop.

Jiron is there to help him back to his feet
and then they run to the opposite side where they once more jump
the gap. James makes it this time without falling.

A noise behind them causes James to turn and
he sees soldiers pouring onto the roof of the building they had
originally exited. “One more time,” he hears Jiron say as he makes
once more for the edge of the building where he jumps across to the
other side.

Looking over his shoulder before he starts
to run for the edge, James sees the soldiers beginning to jump the
first gap in pursuit. Bracing himself for another jump, he runs
quickly and soars over to the other building where he lands well,
maintaining his balance.

Jiron is standing by an open trapdoor that
leads down into the building. “Hurry!” he yells over to him as he
begins to climb down.

James reaches the trapdoor and starts to
climb down when he hears Jiron fighting with someone on the inside.
When he clears the top, he sees him there battling with someone in
their nightshirt.

The man is no match for Jiron and is soon
lying on the ground, blood beginning to soak the front of his
nightshirt.

“Did you have to kill him?” James asks as
Jiron begins to descend to the ground floor.

With impatience in his voice, Jiron replies,
“Didn’t have time not to.”

Coming to the front door, he pauses a moment
and says to James, “I think we’re only a couple of streets down
from the inn.”

“Thank goodness,” exclaims James.

He looks out a window near the door and sees
many soldiers running past on their way to the building they had
originally entered down the street.

Suddenly, they hear the pounding of many
feet on the roof as the soldiers chasing them reach the roof from
the other building.

Jiron says to James, “There are still a lot
of soldiers out there.”

“What choice do we have?” he replies
grimly.

Jiron throws open the door and quickly
engages the closest soldier, taking him by surprise. At the clash
of metal, every eye turns toward them. Jiron quickly disposes of
the soldier as he turns to face the others.

James pauses momentarily as he gazes at the
dozens of soldiers in the street that are now intent upon them.

Crumph!

The ground explodes to their right, throwing
soldiers and dirt into the air. Then he releases the power again as
the ground to their left explodes upward. Two soldiers are left
dazed and standing after the two explosions.

Jiron closes with the first one and in his
dazed state, is unable to defend himself. Jiron takes him out in
short order. The other soldier gains his senses quickly and draws
his sword as he advances.

James looks back to the building they just
vacated and sees the soldiers coming down the stairs from the roof,
heading for the open door. Almost out of reflex, he unleashes a
blast of energy through the door, knocking them backward and
slowing them down.

“Come on!” Jiron says to him as the second
soldier falls to the ground.

His head bursting with pain and knees
wobbly, he hurries as best he can. Jiron sees the condition he’s in
and takes his arm, helping him toward the inn.

They move along the path left between the
two large holes in the road he created with the explosions and move
into another alley on the far side. Hurrying as best they can, they
come to the rear wall of the inn’s courtyard.

The inn’s courtyard is crowded with people
who begin screaming and running when they see Jiron and James
approaching. Jiron is a ghastly site, covered in blood as he is
with one knife drawn, glinting in the torchlight. The courtyard is
soon cleared of the panicked people. They move to the stable to
retrieve their horses that they had left saddled for a quick
escape.

Once in the saddle, they ride out of the
courtyard and into the street where Jiron plows through a group of
soldiers, knocking them to the ground. Riding with all speed, they
race for the edge of town, several crossbow blots fly in their
direction but all miss their mark.

They gallop with reckless speed through the
streets, heedless of anyone in their way as they make for the edge
of town. Suddenly, Jiron pulls up and stops. “Why did you stop?”
James hollers at him as he slows to a halt beside him.

Jiron points down the street and says,
“Look.”

Looking to where Jiron is pointing, he gasps
when he sees the men stationed along the road ahead of them. There
are easily thirty crossbowmen and another fifty foot soldiers
barring their way. “Oh my god!” he says. Beyond the waiting men is
the edge of town, and escape.

Looking behind them, Jiron sees a swarm of
soldiers heading their way. “Looks like we’re trapped,” he
says.

“Jiron,” James says.

“Yes?” he replies without taking his eyes
off the approaching soldiers.

James removes a rope from behind his saddle
and begins tying himself in place. “You may need to lead my horse
should I lose consciousness.”

Jiron looks over to him and sees what he’s
doing, “What do you plan?”

“Don’t have time to explain,” he replies.
“Just don’t let go of my horse, whatever you do.”

Jiron nods his head and takes the reins as
James closes his eyes. Behind them, the soldiers are gaining, only
five buildings separate them from where he’s sitting on his horse.
The soldiers barring the edge of town have taken notice of them as
well and have begun advancing slowly toward them.
Come on,
James!
he thinks to himself as he watches the men getting
closer.

All of a sudden, two of the buildings behind
them blast apart, their stones raining down upon the men running in
the street. Cries ring out as the stones crush the men. With great
relief, Jiron sees the street behind them is now completely blocked
by the rubble.