The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven (38 page)

Time and again the trapdoor opens then
closes until everyone has joined them on the roof. During that
time, James has been watching the men guarding the Eye’s Court. The
guard stationed on this side of the roof will at times leave his
post for several seconds before returning. Looks as if he’s talking
with the others up there when he disappears. The men in the windows
are stationed at either end of the building, one each from the
third and fourth floor.

He gestures for Shorty to come close and
points out the two on the right. “We’ll take them out first,” he
says. Then he indicates the man on the roof, “Once we’re in
position, we’ll wait for him to look away before throwing. You take
the one on the third floor and I’ll take the one above him.”

Shorty nods. “But what if there are more
than just them in the rooms?” he asks.

“Then things get more complicated,” replies
James. “But I’ve been watching them since I came out of the
trapdoor and they’ve given no indication there’s anyone with
them.”

“Once we take them out, we’ll do the other
two,” he says. Turning to Jiron who’s been listening the whole time
he continues. “After they’ve been taken out, it’ll be up to you and
Shorty to get the men on the roof before anyone has a chance to
notice.”

Jiron looks at him questioningly. “And just
how are we to do that?” he asks.

“I’ll make you a ramp,” he replies. To
Shorty he says, “It’s just like the ‘bridge’ Delia used when you
took out the siege equipment back at Lythylla.”

Shorty nods. “That’s going to be quite an
incline from here,” he observes. Indeed, if the ramp is going to
stretch from the roof of this building which is on the third floor,
up to the roof of the Eye’s Court which is on the fifth, the angle
is going to be severe. “If I remember right,” he adds, “that bridge
didn’t have the greatest traction.”

James considers what he says a moment then
replies, “I’ll take care of that. You two just get up there and
take those men out when it appears.”

“We’ll be ready,” Jiron says.

“Alright then,” he states. Then to Shorty he
asks, “You ready?” When he gets Shorty’s nod, he begins moving
across the roof closer to the men watching from the windows. A slug
makes its way into his hands as they come closer. “How close do you
need to be?” James asks.

“Another five feet should be sufficient,” he
replies.

Moving closer, James keeps a constant eye on
the men in the windows. Only the fact that he and Shorty are moving
in darkness while the men in the windows have light coming up to
them from the alley below, prevents the men from seeing them. It’s
easy to see the Eye within the Eye’s Court is no military man. He
has torches burning all around the building to prevent anyone from
sneaking up close, yet at the same time, it ruins the night vision
of his men. The shadows become even darker when there’s a light
nearby.

Shorty taps him on the shoulder to indicate
they’re close enough and he stops. “When the man on the roof looks
away,” James whispers. With slug in hand, he watches the man up
there on the roof. They haven’t long to wait before he looks away.
Letting the magic flow, he launches the slug and strikes the man on
the fourth floor in the chest, knocking him back into the building.
Shorty’s knife strikes home a second later and the man on the third
floor staggers. James looks on in fear as it looks like he’s about
to fall out the window, but then he slumps forward. Half in and
half out, he lies there dead in the window.

They wait a moment to see if a cry arises,
but the night remains quiet. “Now for the other two,” James says as
they make their way over to the section of the roof opposite the
remaining two men in the windows. And then just as before, they get
into position and wait for the man on the roof to again turn away.
When he does, slug and knife fly.

Jiron joins them just as the two men are
struck and killed.

James nods to the man on the roof. “When he
looks away, I’ll create the ramp and you two get up there fast,” he
tells them.

“You got it,” Jiron says. Removing one of
his knives, he crouches there ready to go.

James modifies the spell in his mind.
Creating the shield that will be the bridge is a piece of cake,
however to make the surface have better traction so they won’t slip
on the way up, that takes some doing. When he thinks he’s got it
right, he turns his gaze to the man on the roof. Seconds go by and
still the man continues to look out. Then just as James thinks he
isn’t going to look away again, he does.

“Now!” James whispers as one of his softly
shimmering barriers appears. Beginning just in front of them, the
barrier slants upward until it touches the roof’s edge of the Eye’s
Court.

Without hesitation, Jiron leaps up and
begins racing toward the man on the roof, Shorty is right behind
him. They make it a third of the way when the man turns back and
sees them coming toward him. Only the shock of seeing them where it
is impossible for them to be prevents him from immediately sounding
the alarm. Just as he comes to his senses, a knife flies and takes
him in the upper chest, right at the base of the neck.

Jiron makes the roof as the man falls, and
disappears as he moves to engage the other three men up there. When
Shorty reaches the edge, James sees him throw another knife then
disappears further onto the roof.

Motioning for the others to follow, James
hits the barrier ramp running. When he reaches the section of the
ramp that extends past the roof’s edge and over the alley below, he
gets a touch of vertigo as he looks below. Three stories down, the
ground almost seems to beckon him. He can see the guards down there
stationed at intervals all along the edge of the building. If one
were to look up, the element of surprise would be gone.

Miko nudges him back into motion. Startled,
he hadn’t realized he had come to a stop. Resuming his run, he
catches up to the others who have already made it to the top. Jiron
and Shorty have already dispatched the guards stationed up here and
Shorty is in the process of reclaiming his knives, plus adding the
ones of the four dead men as well. Once everyone has reached the
top, James cancels the ramp.

“Over here!” Stig hollers quietly from where
he’s found the trapdoor leading into the building.

Everyone quickly moves to join him and Jiron
says, “We have to be fast. It won’t take them much longer before
they discover what happened.” Turning to James he asks, “Do you
know where she is yet?”

Shaking his head, James says, “I haven’t had
time to find her.” Removing his mirror, he concentrates on her and
soon her image appears in the mirror. Looking the worse for wear,
she’s sitting in a small room with light coming in through a window
in the door. Though alone and looking afraid, she’s at least not
being tortured.

Then James slowly moves the image upward and
she suddenly disappears as the view moves to the level above her.
The area is dark and nothing but indistinct shadows show in the
mirror. Moving upward yet again, the image suddenly changes and
they see the roof. “She’s on the fourth floor,” he tells the
others.

“Where on the fourth floor?” Jiron asks.

Taking out his cloth, he casts his finding
spell and the cloth moves to point down and to the left. Moving in
the direction indicated, he walks that way until the cloth bends
and points straight down. “She’s directly below,” he says as he
puts the cloth away.

Jiron gets her position in relation to the
trapdoor set in his mind and nods. “Alright,” he says, “let’s go
get her.” Moving quickly to the trapdoor, he nods for Stig to open
it.

When Stig throws open the trapdoor, a strong
odor wafts out. Rather unpleasant but bearable, he asks, “What is
that?”

Brother Willim comes forward and smells it.
“I think it comes from the berac plant,” he says. Glancing to James
he adds, “The leaves when burned produce a smoke that will prevent
a mage from using his powers.”

“Orrin did say this Eye knew how to deal
with mages,” Jiron states. “Guess he doesn’t want you in
there.”

“What are you going to do?” asks Shorty.

“It’s too late,” he says, “I’ve already
inhaled it.” Even now he can feel his mind growing numb. Holding
out his hand, he creates a small sphere the size of a marble before
his magic fails altogether. Similar in nature to the one that he
made in a similar situation back in Cardri, only this one will be
slightly more versatile. It won’t be limited to just three
commands, he’s worked on expanding its capabilities ever since the
incident on the boat. Now, it should prove much more effective.

“Don’t worry about me,” he says to Jiron.
“Aleya has to be our first concern.”

Nodding, Jiron moves to the opening and
starts climbing down the ladder. The hallway is dark with just a
small amount of light with which to see. Once off the ladder, he
moves quickly in search of the stairs down and finds them at the
other end of the hallway. Scar and Potbelly have already made it
down and are now beside him. The others are still making their way
down from the roof.

“Go on!” Stig hollers as he makes it down
the ladder from the roof. “We’ll catch up.”

Jiron nods then turns back to the stairs.
With Scar and Potbelly right behind, he descends the stairway
slowly. Light from the fourth floor illuminates the stairwell, and
voices can be heard in conversation. He motions for Scar and
Potbelly to wait as he continues down to where the stairs reach the
fourth floor. There’s a small landing from which the fourth floor
hallway extends further into the building before the stairs
continue their way down to the third floor.

Keeping his shoulder against the edge of the
stairwell, he takes the steps slowly until he’s on the second step
from the bottom. He listens to the two men talking, one breaks out
in laughter at something the other has said.

According to where James’ cloth indicated
Aleya to be, she should be in a room near the end of this hallway.
He turns his head back to where the others are waiting, already
Stig and James have joined Scar and Potbelly on the stairs. Behind
them, he can see Miko coming to join them. Gesturing for them to
come down and join him, he holds up two finger indicating that
there are two men in the hallway. He then moves his hand across his
throat. Scar nods understanding.

With knife in hand, he turns back to the
hallway and suddenly charges around the corner. Behind him, the
others race after.

When he turns the corner, he sees two guards
standing in the middle of the hallway ten feet down. Running into
them he knifes one while kneeing the other in the stomach. Scar and
Potbelly soon join him and the guards lie dead on the floor.

“Stay right where you are,” a voice comes to
them from further down the hallway.

Jiron looks to find a black man standing
before four guards who have crossbows aimed at them. “Pretty clever
to make it this far,” the black man says. He shouts something in
the Empire’s language and footfalls can be heard as many men begin
to climb the stairs from below. The doors on the side of the
hallway open up and more soldiers appear with swords bared.

“Discard you weapons,” he says. “This is
over.” A smug smile comes over him as he sees victory at hand.

For a moment the world becomes silent as the
two sides stare at one another. Then, the silence is pieced by the
sound of something rolling along the floor of the hallway. The
black man looks down as a small round spherical object the size of
a marble rolls past Jiron’s feet on its way toward him.

“What’s this?” he asks as the round object
approaches.

From where he stands in the hallway, James
watches the object roll nearer to the black man. When it comes to
within a foot of him, he says, “Leech times a hundred!”

The round object flashes, then the black man
and the four crossbowmen drop to the floor as the object sucks them
dry.

Jiron lashes out with his knife at the man
in the doorway nearest him and sinks it to the hilt in the man’s
chest. At the rear, Stig kicks out at the man on the top of the
stairs and sends him and all but one of the others tumbling back
down the stairs to the third floor. Drawing his mace, he engages
the remaining man on the stairs.

Then pandemonium erupts as the soldiers in
the side rooms move to attack. Scar and Potbelly stand side by side
as they stem the tide coming from one of the rooms, Reilin faces
off with another and Miko has drawn his sword as he protects
Brother Willim and James.

Brother Willim throws something in the air
and it bursts into a massive cloud of gnats which engulfs three
men. Each breath they take draws hundreds of the creatures into
their mouths, throat and lungs. Fits of coughing leave them unable
to either attack or defend themselves.

”Get me to my sphere,” James says to
Miko.

“You got it,” he says. Moving next to Jiron,
Miko lays into the soldiers with deadly speed few on this world can
match. Behind him he hears James say, “Cancel,” and the sphere
becomes quiet once again. The men at the end of the hallway lay
still, what life they had having been absorbed by the sphere.

“Jiron!” Aleya’s voice cries out from behind
the door where she’s being held.

Sending the remaining soldier before him to
the floor, Jiron moves down the hallway toward her voice. “Which
one are you in?” he hollers.

“Right here!” she says, her voice coming
through the door next to him.

Coming to a halt, he tries the door and
finds it locked. Using his knife, he works on the lock and hears a
click as the lock’s tumblers shift. Opening the door, he almost
falls backward from the impact of Aleya’s embrace.