The Jongurian Mission (50 page)

“Aye,” Halam agreed.
“How long can we expect you two to be?”

“Hopefully we can make some arrangements tonight, but don’t expect to see us again until morning.
We’ll either spend the night in the city or find a spot along the road ourselves.”

Halam nodded and wished them luck, as did the rest of the men, then Jurin and Pader got back on the road and continued down the slight hill that would lead them to the city gates.
Bryn couldn’t help but think that under their confident exteriors they both were a little on edge about entering the city. Pader had wanted to go to Bindao several days earlier, but after they were attacked in the hills, all talk of that ceased. With Jurin to lead the way, however, they should be safe. And they did have a large pouch of gold coins. Money would do much more to get them out of trouble then fluent Jongurian. Still, Bryn had to admit to himself that he’d feel much better when they came trudging down the road to meet them in the morning, or better yet, if they were riding in the back of the wagon that Jurin said they’d have a good chance of securing to take them to the docks.

Willem and Iago led the way back down the road they
’d already traveled, and shortly before it branched south they headed into the trees for half a league and found a somewhat dry spot to bed down for the night. There was no more salt pork to share around, or anything else, so they all went to bed hungry, hoping that Jurin and Pader would bring food with them the next day. Bryn huddled up in his coat as much as he could to keep out the nighttime chill and drifted off to sleep with thoughts of the fields in Tillatia running through his head.

* * * * *

“Two of them are heading down the road and into the city,” Ko said quickly as he rushed into the small office.

Leisu immediately threw his legs off the desk and stood up.
“Just the two?” he asked as he walked past Ko and grabbed his cloak from a peg on the wall.

“We had glasses aimed up at the rise above the city,” Ko replied, “but we couldn’t see anything with the boulders and the darkness.”

“Well, this is what we expected they would do,” Leisu said as he threw his cloak around him while walking quickly across the warehouse floor toward the door, Ko trailing behind. “How many men do you have posted about the area?”

“We’ve got three at the gate and another ten spread out in groups of three and four along possible routes they may take,” Ko answered.
“Most likely they’ll head toward the market district. If they do, then we have them.”

“Good, let’s get to the gates then.”
Leisu threw open the door and stepped quickly down the stairs. After a brief pause the night before, the rain had once again started to come down hard that morning. It made for a boring and restless day of sitting around the warehouse office waiting for word of the Adjurians to come. Leisu had sent men all over the city in the off-chance that Jurin would somehow lead them in at a point he hadn’t thought of. It was highly unlikely, but he had enough men with nothing to do and didn’t want to take any chances that he may miss them. He’d been seriously considering going to bed for the night when Ko burst in and gave him the news. It was already dark out and the moon shone brightly down on the cobbled streets as they rushed to the city gates.

“Is Jurin with them?” Leisu asked over his shoulder as they made their way through the nearly empty streets.

“The man couldn’t tell,” Ko replied. “Most Adjurians look the same to him, and they have their hoods pulled down tightly to hide their faces.

“But we know it
’s them for sure?” Leisu asked more vehemently this time.

“Yes, we had one of Hui’s men come in just a few hours ago saying they
’d made it to the road leading to the city.”

Ko took a few quick steps and was beside Leisu.
“Here sir, we’re nearly to the gates now.” He held out his hand for Leisu to stop then motioned for them to get closer to the edge of the building they were next to. The crept to its edge, then Ko held up his hand once again and pointed.

“Right there is the main square in front of the gates.
That street there will lead to the markets, where we think they’ll go.” Ko pointed toward one of the streets that led off from the square. “We’ve got men on these side streets, so there’s no chance they’ll slip by us.”

Leisu moved closer to the edge of the building and peered out to the square.
Although it was late in the evening, several people were still walking about. A few merchants were closing up small booths on the edge of the square and several guards stood bored near the gates, ready to close them for the night.

“There they are,” Ko said, putting his hand on Leisu’s shoulder.

Two men walked slowly through the gates, the hoods of their cloaks pulled tightly about them.
They paused when they were on the edge of the square and seemed to say a few words to each other. One of them nodded his head in the general direction of the street Ko had pointed out and they both moved off that way.

“They’re doing just what we want them to,” Ko said.
“Let’s follow and see what happens.”

Leisu stepped away from the building and followed Ko into the square.
He was more than willing to let Ko take the lead in capturing the two men. He’d given him the task of assigning the men around the city; now it was only fitting that he witnessed the conclusion of his work. The two Adjurians had made it across the square and onto the main street heading further into the city. There were fewer guards, Leisu was happy to note, but some still stood about. If they wanted to take the two men without drawing attention then they would have to get them onto one of the side streets. Ko seemed to read his thoughts and spoke over his shoulder.

“I’ve told the men to lure them into an empty street then make their move.”

Just as Ko finished speaking Leisu saw a man he vaguely recognized, but knew was theirs, approach the two men and say a few words. The Adjurians stopped, and the man motioned toward one of the narrower streets. The men hesitated for a moment before moving, so the man waved them off and began to head down the street himself. The Adjurians must have said something, for he turned back and they followed him. Ko motioned for them to both get up to the narrow street quickly, and when they got closer Leisu could hear the sounds of a struggle. They turned into the street and Leisu saw six Jongurians surrounding the men. It was a tight fit in such a narrow back street, but the two Adjurians had already drawn their swords and were trying to defend themselves.

“Do
n’t harm them!” Ko shouted to the men in Jongurian.

Both of the men turned to look in their direction at the shout, and that was enough time for one of the Jongurians to get close enough to hit one of the Adjurians across the head with a thick sap.
The man immediately crumpled to the ground and then the others moved in with clubs and heavy sticks in place of swords. The Adjurian was able to stab one of the men with his sword but the others quickly closed in and beat him over the head several times and continued to do so when he fell to the ground. Ko had to rush up and physically pull the men away from the downed man who already had a small pool of blood forming around his head on the cobbles.

“You better not have killed him,” Ko said, bending down to check the man’s pulse.

“He stabbed Lu,” one of he men replied.

Ko gave him a hard look and the man backed away.
“Tie their hands and get them to their feet.”

Ko moved over to the wounded Jongurian, who had a nasty wound to his stomach which already covered the front of his tunic in blood.
He looked at the wound and motioned for another two men to help the man. When they had the two Adjurians up and leaning heavily for support on their captors, they began to move through the narrow alleyways toward the warehouse. Leisu was happy at how well the situation had gone. Ko had planned well. The two men were captured with nothing more than one man wounded. Leisu wouldn’t have minded if ten men were killed so long as he had the two Adjurians. He looked up at the moonlit sky. It was already too late to do anything tonight, he decided, but first thing in the morning the two Adjurians would be staked to the roof of the warehouse in full view of any of their companions still looking down on the city. Leisu smiled. It was only a matter of time now.

TWENTY-EIGHT

By the next morning the two Adjurian prisoners had been tied tightly to two posts atop the warehouse in full view of anyone looking down on the city from the ridge.
Both had been beaten more severely than Leisu first thought. When they got the two men back to the warehouse and into the lantern light the full extent of their wounds could be seen. Black and purple bruises covered each of their faces and it was obvious that too much movement caused them pain. Leisu had ordered that the two men be thrown into one of the empty offices on the second floor with a heavy guard to keep watch. Even though their weapons had been taken and the two men seemed lifeless, Leisu wasn’t about to take any chances. He was quite happy, however, to see that one of the two men was Jurin Millos. That would significantly decrease the fighting power that the remaining men had when they tried to free their friends, which he had no doubt they’d try to do.

The men
hadn’t even struggled when they were carried up the small ladder to the roof, although Jurin tried to question the men that tied him up. He’d wanted to know who they were and what they wanted with the Adjurians, but he’d received no answers. Leisu wasn’t at all interested in questioning the two men; their purpose in Jonguria was not important to him, just the fact that they be eliminated from any other interference with his master’s plans. Ko didn’t agree, saying that the men may have some valuable information, and that a cursory interrogation of them should be carried out. Leisu was in no mood for arguments, however, and after a few hard looks that got his feelings across rather quickly, nothing further was heard on the matter.

All they could do once the two men were tied atop the roof was wait.
Leisu retired to the office that he used and after a time Ko came in to discuss matters of defense.

“Sir, how do you proceed now that the two men are secured,” he asked after sitting down in the chair across from the desk Leisu occupied.

“I’m sure that their companions will give their friends at least half a day to secure some kind of travel arrangements in the city,” Leisu said. “Once a sufficient amount of time has passed and they’ve not returned, the others will grow worried and send some men back to the city. They will see their two friends and then go back to their companions and discuss their options.”

“You’re sure that they
’ll attempt a rescue?” Ko asked.

“I’ve no doubt about it, Ko,” Leisu said matter-of-factly.
“After all, they did the same when two were taken on the road north of Bindao.”

Ko nodded, and Leisu continued.
“The Adjurians are very loyal to their friends, and once they realize that the two they’ve sent into the city have been captured they’ll send in a few more to rescue them.”

“Not all?”

“I don’t think so. They’ll certainly not send in the boy, and they won’t leave him alone either. What did Hui report? There are eleven of them?”

Ko nodded.
“Yes, that’s how many he followed north.”

“Well, we have two so that leaves them with nine.
Minus the boy and at least one other, and they have seven men that they could send into the city. I don’t think they’ll send that many in, though. It would surprise me if we had to deal with more than five.”

“So where would you like most of our forces concentrated then, the warehouse?” Ko asked.

“Without a doubt,” Leisu replied. “But it’d also be good to have a few men stationed near the city gates. We don’t know exactly what will happen, and I don’t mean for these men to achieve their rescue.” He leaned back in his chair and put his legs on the desk. “Remember Ko, now that we have the two for bait, we no longer have a need for these men alive. Our goal is to kill them.”

“Yes sir,” Ko said as he got up, “I’ll make the necessary arrangements.

“Thank you Ko, you’ve handled things very well so far,” Leisu said before his deputy left the office. The man was quite capable of acting on his own, and Leisu was happy that he had his help. He understood the amount of freedom his role gave to his own master. It was much easier to give orders than to carry them out. Soon he would be done in this border city and back south where his real job was. Leisu leaned back in his chair and stared off into space, waiting for the Adjurians to show up.

* * * * *

The next morning Halam sent Conn and Jal out into the rain to survey the road once again. This time Jal came racing back to camp after little more than an hour.

“We’ve seen them,” he eagerly reported, panting for breath.
“They’ve been captured.”

“What!” Rodden exclaimed, and the other men quickly gathered around.

“Conn decided that he’d head back up the hills to the city and have another look. He came running back down the road shouting for me, so I thought that he’d been spotted and that we both were going to be captured. But it turns out that he’d spotted Jurin and Pader in the city. Both are tied to posts atop one of the wooden buildings next to the mountain wall.”