Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (51 page)

James catches his breath when he sees him
crossing the road, sure that a guard on the wall will see him. He
looks to the wall, but the guards are too engrossed with their
conversation to have noticed. Hoping he finds a way in, James sits
back against a tree and makes himself comfortable while waiting for
his return.

Keeping a watch on the gate and the guards
on the wall, he soon realizes there isn’t any sort of routine or
pattern. They simply stand there and converse among themselves, as
well as others within the compound. One thing James has noticed is
that there are always four guards walking the wall over the gate.
Or rather, standing there talking to one another.

Jiron has been gone an hour when the gate
opens and three wagons full of ore exit. The wagons turn south and
begin rolling down the road toward the smelters. While the gate is
open, James looks within but isn’t able to see much more than some
buildings scattered about. He does see other guards about the
place, five others besides the ones on top of the wall. Once the
last wagon has exited through the gate, the gate swings closed.
With the gate closed, there’s little for him to do other than sit
back and wait for Jiron’s return.

A hand touching his shoulder jolts him
awake. Startled, he finds Jiron has returned and is shaking him.
“Wake up,” Jiron says with a smile as he sits next to him.

“What did you find?” James asks him.

“Just more of the same wall completely
circling the entire encampment,” he says. “Each wall has guards
patrolling along the top which will make any attempt to gain entry
difficult at best.”

James gestures to the wall in front of them
and says, “There are only four on patrol above the gate at any
given time.”

“That’s about what it is on the others as
well,” he explains. “Most of them seem to be totally unconcerned
with what goes on outside of the walls.”

“I noticed that too,” says James. “It feels
like no one has ever tried to break in here before.”

“Most likely,” agrees Jiron. “Hopefully that
will make our job that much easier.”

“What’s the plan?” he asks him.

Jiron sits and thinks for a minute before
saying, “I really want to know what’s on the other side of those
walls. If I knew that, I would better know from where to attempt to
gain entry.”

“How about climbing a tree?” suggests James.
“That should raise you high enough to see within the walls.”

His eyes widen like he never even considered
the option. Nodding, he says as he looks around the forest, “You
may have something there.” He gets to his feet and begins to look
around for a suitable tree that’s both tall enough and placed so he
will be able to see over the walls without being observed.

When he finally locates one that appears to
be acceptable, he says to James, “Be right back.” Then he walks
quietly through the trees until he comes to the one he spotted. The
tree sits about thirty feet away from where the wall turns from the
road back into the forest.

Jumping up, he grabs hold of one of the
lower branches and swings himself up. James alternates between
watching him climb and keeping an eye on the guards, all the while
praying that he’ll remain unobserved. The guards, totally oblivious
to what’s happening in the tree near them, continue talking among
themselves.

James glances back to Jiron and sees that
he’s reached a height that will afford him a good view of the
entire compound. He settles into the crook of a branch and stays up
there quite awhile before beginning his descent back to the ground.
Once down, he makes his way over to where James is waiting.

“Well?” he asks when Jiron approaches.

“They have a lot of guards within the
walls,” he says. “Thirty or more, I couldn’t get an exact count.
That of course, doesn’t include any that are currently within the
mine.”

He takes a stick and begins drawing a
diagram of the compound on the ground. He draws the wall and a
large pit in the middle and large rectangles around the pit.
“There’s a large pit in the middle, most likely the entrance to the
mines.” Pointing to the rectangles around the pit he says, “These
look to be quarters for the slaves and perhaps other auxiliary
buildings, similar to the ones we saw back at the smelters.”

“Did you see any of the slaves?” he
asks.

“A few, but the majority must still be
within the mine.” He sits back and rests for a moment. “I’ll go
back up the tree and stay there till nightfall, just to see if
things change. Then we can determine what we want to do.”

“Alright,” agrees James, anxious now that
he’s this close to getting Miko out.

Jiron reaches into his pouch and hands some
dried beef to James as he says, “Here.”

Taking the beef, James asks, “Where did you
get this?”

“Found it on Kristo’s boat,” he says,
grinning.

James tears off a bite and begins chewing, a
little tough, but not bad. Jiron hands him another chunk and they
have a quick meal before he returns to the tree to watch the
compound. While they’re eating, the gate opens and another five
wagons leave the compound as they begin rolling south down the road
to the smelters.

“They get a lot of iron from here, don’t
they?” he observes, a thoughtful look coming to him.

Nodding, James replies, “Yeah, I’ve been
watching wagons leave all day. Why?”

“No reason,” he replies. Finishing up, Jiron
gets back to his feet and goes over to the tree where he again
climbs up to keep an eye on what’s going on inside the walls.

“Boys,” Essin announces as the last wagon of
the day rolls away, “I believe that puts us close to being the best
team in the mines.”

A cheer erupts from the men, Miko feels
pride as Nate slaps him on the back and gives him a big grin. “Your
hard efforts have not gone unnoticed and tonight you will not find
the usual fare brought to your quarters. Tonight, you will have
beef and wine.”

A gasp escapes some of the men at the news.
For those who’ve been here the longest, beef and wine is something
they have all but forgotten. Miko’s stomach begins to cramp and
growl at the thought.

“If we can continue as we have,” Essin tells
them, “you can expect similar feasts in the future.”

A shout erupts from the men as he turns and
leads them from the mine.

Miko is happy. If this is to be his lot for
the rest of his life, well, at least it could be much worse. A good
crew to work with and an understanding boss, what more could a
slave ask for. True, the work is hard and at times unforgiving, but
the men he works with make it bearable.

As they continue through the mines, Essin
turns his head back and says, “For the number one team, they’ll
give you women once a month as long as you keep being the
best.”

The men give out with another cheer and
promises to be the best. As they leave the mine and head over to
their quarters, Miko’s jubilation is again dampened by the sight of
Black Tooth carrying a water pail past on his way into the mines.
But even his scowl isn’t enough to wreck this day for him.

In the back of his mind, he wonders what
James is doing, how he’s getting along. He doesn’t hold ill will to
him, he knows that he’s just a boy off the streets, not worth
risking one’s life for. He returns to the present as they enter
their room and find the food already there for them.

The older guys snatch the jugs of wine
first, but Miko doesn’t care, his stomach cramps at the sight of
the juicy, roasted beef sitting in heaping mounds on the platter.
He grabs several thick slices and takes a big bite as he begins
eating. The juices from the beef run down his chin, making tracks
in the dust and dirt that coats his body.

For his crew of twelve, there are six jugs
of wine, one of which has already been consumed by the others. Nate
says to them, “Save some for Miko, he’s earned it too.”

“Sure thing,” says Fez, one of the old
timers. He goes over and slaps Miko on the back as he offers the
jug to him, “Here you go, Miko me lad.”

Miko takes the jug and has just a small
drink before giving it back to Fez. He glances over to Nate who’s
giving him a grin. Nate’s being moderate with the wine as well,
taking only occasional sips of the wine as he concentrates mainly
on the meat and loaves of bread.

When Miko finishes his fifth slice of bread,
he begins to notice that Fez is behaving erratically. At first he
assumes it’s due to the large amount of wine he’s consumed. But
then he falls over and everyone starts laughing at his antics,
thinking he has simply drunk too much.

Concerned, Miko goes over to him and tries
to wake him up. “Fez,” he says, shaking his shoulder.

“Leave him be,” one of the others says.
“He’ll soon sleep it off.”

But something just didn’t feel right.
Shaking him harder, he calls his name louder, “Fez!”

Turning to Nate, he says, “I think he’s
dead!”

As Nate goes over to him, another man cries
out as he falls to the floor. Sudden pain rips through Miko’s
stomach as he watches Nate stumble and fall as his stomach, too,
begins to cramp with pain.

“Poison!” Nate cries out, holding his
stomach as the pain again rips through him.

Poison? thinks Miko as he comes over to
where Nate has fallen.
Black Tooth!

_________________________

James sits amidst the bushes in his spot
across from the gate while Jiron keeps watch from his perch in the
tree. As the sun begins to drop to the horizon, he notices Jiron
perking up a little and begins gazing intently into the compound. A
little after twilight, he comes down from the tree and back to
where James is waiting for him.

“Looks like they have all the slaves come
out of the mines at night,” he informs him. Pointing to the diagram
on the ground, he says, “These buildings here are where they keep
the slaves for the night.”

“You didn’t see Miko did you?” he asks
hopefully.

“I was too far away to make out more than
vague features,” he replies. “Can you determine which one of the
buildings he’s in with your mirror?”

Removing the mirror from his shaving kit, he
says, “Possibly.” In the fading light, it’s actually easier to see
the image coming into focus than in broad daylight. The image
coalesces and they see Miko eating with the others.

“They sure feed them well here,” comments
Jiron when he sees the beef Miko is consuming.

Nodding, James expands the image and soon
the exterior of the building comes into view. Once the image has
zoomed far enough away to be able to see the entire compound, he
points to the building where Miko is and then asks Jiron,
“Recognize this?”

“Yeah, I know that one,” he tells him. “It’s
on the opposite side of the pit from the gate. That one and the
buildings next to it is where I saw the slaves being led.”

Replacing the mirror back into his kit, he
asks, “How do we get him out?”

“We could go around to where the wall is
closest to him and try there,” he says. “It’s not much better than
here, but there might be less scrutiny away from the gate.”

“You may be right,” agrees James. Getting
up, he nods for Jiron to lead the way and then follows him as he
moves through the forest away from the gate. At the point where the
wall turns back into the forest, Jiron continues on until they’ve
put sufficient distance between themselves and the men walking
patrol atop the wall. Then with a quick glance atop the wall to
make sure the guards aren’t looking in their direction, they dart
across the road quickly.

Jiron leads them deeper into the forest as
they follow the wall from a distance, always keeping it in sight.
He continues until the wall curves away from them and whispers to
James that they’re close to the building wherein they will find
Miko.

Coming to a stop, he glances at James for a
second, a question on his lips. He hesitates a moment before
asking, “Can you destroy the mine when we leave?”

“What?” James replies in shock, taken off
guard by the request. “Why?”

“You saw how much iron ore they’ve been
removing,” he says. “I was thinking that if they were no longer
able to get iron from here it would seriously hurt their war
machine.” He turns and looks at James square in the eyes, “It might
be enough to force them to leave Madoc, or at least hurt their
attempts to take more of it.”

“Possibly,” he says. “But what about all the
slaves here? I might kill them all!”

“Right now they’re out and shouldn’t be
affected by whatever happens to the mine,” he says.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he tells him. When
he sees the look in Jiron’s eye, he adds, “I understand what you’re
saying and the logic behind it. If I can, I will, okay? But not
until we rescue Miko.”

He nods his head, “Thanks.”

“Now, what’s the best way to get inside?”
James asks.

Jiron points to an overhanging limb that
comes close to the wall. “I can climb up there and swing over to
the wall,” he explains. “The only problem is the guards on watch up
there.” He looks to James and says, “I need you to take them
out.”

James gazes up at the wall and the guards
walking there, considering the plan. He nods his head and says, “I
think I can arrange that without alerting everyone to our
presence.”

“Good. Ready?” he asks.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” replies
James.

Jiron makes his way to the tree and begins
to climb up to where the limb extends near the wall. As he climbs,
he keeps as constant a watch on the guards as climbing will allow.
Whenever they glance in his direction, he holds still until they
once more turn away before continuing.