The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven (46 page)

“Can you be of any help?” asks Jiron. “If
what James was told in the dream is true, then Tinok has less than
two weeks to live.”

Shaking his head, he says, “I don’t have any
connections within the slaver guild I’m afraid.”

“Do you know what he looks like?” James
asks.

“Yes,” he replies. “But I don’t know how
that is going to be of any help.”

Jiron looks to James. “Is it?” he asks.

“Maybe,” he replies. Removing his mirror
from its pouch, he says, “I’ve never done it quite this way
before.”

“Done what?” Perrilin asks suspiciously, his
gaze upon the mirror.

“Try to find someone,” he explains as he
sets the mirror on the table between them.

“With magic?” he asks.

“How else?” James says.

“Is it going to hurt?” Perrilin asks.

Shaking his head, James replies, “No. What I
want you to do is to visualize Buka in your mind, close your eyes
if you need to.”

Perrilin nods his head and closes his eyes.
When he has Buka’s image clearly depicted, he asks, “Okay, now
what?”

“Nothing,” replies James. “Just keep the
image in your mind as clear as you can until I tell you to
stop.”

“Alright,” he says, eyes still closed.

James then turns his attention to the mirror
on the table and concentrates. The magic begins to build as he
formulates what he wishes it to do. And that is, to find the person
Perrilin is concentrating on.

“Is this going to work?” Reilin asks
Jiron.

“Shhh!” Jiron says irritably. “Don’t disturb
him.”

James lets the magic flow and it almost
seems as if a thread of it attaches itself to Perrilin’s forehead.
Of course it doesn’t actually do that, it just feels that way. Then
all of a sudden, the image in the mirror coalesces and they see a
large man gone to fat sitting on a bed in a room with two naked
young women.

“Is that him?” James asks.

Perrilin opens his eyes and nods. “Yeah,
that’s him,” he says.

“I can see why he doesn’t get out much,”
Reilin states. Jiron nods his head in agreement.

“You can stop thinking about him now,” James
tells Perrilin, “I’ve got him.”

“Now what?” he asks as he gazes at the
people in the mirror.

James begins scrolling the image in small
increments and then moves the image upward until the room
disappears and an aerial view of the slaver compound comes into
view.

Jiron pays extra close attention to the
image, committing to memory the exact location of the room in which
Buka is in. Finally he says, “I’ve got it.”

“You sure?” James asks.

“Oh yeah,” he replies. “I can find that room
now.”

Canceling the image, he replaces the mirror
back in his pouch.

Reilin gets a sly grin on his face and says,
“From the looks of things, I’d say he’ll be in there for
awhile.”

“Looks that way,” agrees James.

Perrilin glances from Jiron to James then
back again. “You aren’t thinking about going in there are you?” he
asks.

“Can you think of a better way to find out
what we want to know?” responds Jiron. Then he turns to James and
says, “Shall we?”

“Yes,” he replies as he stands up. To
Perrilin he says, “I appreciate your help in this.”

Perrilin rises and looks to them for a
moment. Then says, “You’re welcome. Just be careful.”

“We will,” James assures him. “Now, can you
lead us out?”

He nods and moves around the table to the
door. Opening it, he steps into the hallway and leads them back the
way they came. A young man is now within the room with the woman
and two children. When Perrilin enters the young man stands up and
says, “It’s all clear.”

“Thank you,” he replies.

The young man moves ahead of them to the
door they originally entered the building through and throws the
bolt open. Then he swings the door open for them and stands there
holding it as they pass through. Once they are out and on the
street, the young man closes the door and plunges them into
darkness.

Perrilin stops and turns to them. “It would
be best if we parted ways here,” he says. “Never know who may be
out and about.”

James nods and extends his hand. “Thank you
for your help,” he again says.

Taking the hand, Perrilin grins. “Until we
meet again,” he says. Then he turns and quickly walks down the
street.

“Now let’s go find this guy,” Jiron
says.

“Not yet,” James tells him. “Let’s find the
others first and then we’ll pay Mr. Baku a visit.”

Jiron nods and then heads down the street in
the general direction toward where they left the others. As they
go, James wonders if Buka will even remember Tinok, not to mention
what happened to him. He’s not sure what Jiron plans to do in that
event, but he would hate to be in Buka’s place should that be the
case.

They work their way through the city until
the outskirts come into view. Moving quickly, they reach the last
of the outlying buildings before the road once more enters the
desert.

James brings them to a halt and then after
scanning the area for a second, leads them to a spot near the
building’s edge where light is spilling from a window. Moving near
the light, he pulls forth his mirror and brings Miko’s moon
illuminated image into view. Expanding it slightly he finds the
others still together, most of them are sleeping.

“Good,” he says as he puts his mirror back
into his pouch, “they’re alright.” Then he removes the strip of
cloth he uses to search with and soon is on his way into the night.
Following the direction indicated by the cloth, they hurry across
the moonlit landscape.

When Cyst is five minutes behind them, a
shadow moves to intercept them which turns out to be Scar and
Potbelly materializes out of the night a moment later. James’ orb
springs to life on his palm. “Everybody up,” he says as he enters
the camp.

“We know where this Buka is,” Jiron says as
he bends over to give Miko a shake to bring him back to
consciousness. “If things go bad, we may need to get out of here in
a hurry.”

“What?” asks a bleary eyed Miko as he sits
up and looks around.

“Where is he?” Brother Willim asks.

“In the slaver compound,” Reilin says. He
moves over to where the horses are tethered and begins to put the
saddle on his.

“You’re going to storm the place I take it?”
Aleya asks.

“Not exactly, no,” Jiron assures her. “Just
slip over the wall and have a little conversation with him.”

“Just like that?” She eyes him
disapprovingly.

“No other way I’m afraid,” he explains.
“From what we learned this night, he isn’t going to be too helpful
as it is.”

She lays a hand on his shoulder. “Didn’t you
tell me that you gave your word not to harm him? That you would
leave him as you found him?”

“Yes, I did,” he acknowledges.

Raising her voice she exclaims, “Then how
are you going to convince him to tell you what he knows?”

“We’ll figure a way,” James says as he comes
up behind them.

She looks from one to the other and shakes
her head.

“Not much night left,” Stig says as he joins
them. “An hour, maybe two.”

“Then we best be on our way,” replies Jiron.
With a last look to Aleya, he walks past her and over to where his
horse waits for him. Taking the saddle from the ground, he begins
readying his horse.

Several minutes pass before they are all in
the saddle and ready to ride. James extinguishes his orb and Jiron
takes the lead. Heading back toward Cyst, he angles toward the wall
encompassing the slaver compound. Many buildings have sprouted
around its walls, and Jiron brings them to a halt before they draw
too close to them.

Turning to the others, he says, “The rest of
you wait out here while James and I go in and talk to Buka.” He and
James then dismount.

“Aren’t you going to need me?” asks
Reilin.

Shaking his head, Jiron replies, “Not this
time. As Guildmaster of the Slaver Guild, I would expect him to be
able to speak our language.” He hands the reins of his horse to
Shorty.

“So would I,” agrees Scar.

As James and Jiron make ready to return to
Cyst, Potbelly says under his breath, “I’m tired of always staying
behind.”

“You got that right,” Scar says with a
nod.

Jiron glances to James and rolls his eyes,
otherwise ignoring the pair. “Shall we?” he asks.

“Better get this over with before the sun
rises,” he says. Off to the east, the sky remains dark. The onset
of dawn still has yet to makes its initial appearance. Moving
quickly, they leave the others behind and are soon making their way
through the outlying buildings.

In no time at all, the wall of the slaver
compound appears ahead of them out of the night. Lights are seen
within the compound and they make it to the wall without being
noticed. This early in the morning, very few people are awake.

The wall is twelve feet high. Jiron makes a
running jump and leaps toward its top. Barely reaching the upper
lip, he grabs hold and makes sure his grip is secure before he
pulls himself up to look over the other side.

Hanging there, he looks over and finds no
one in the immediate vicinity on the other side of the wall.
Pulling himself up the rest of the way, he stays as flat against
the top to avoid being outlined against the light any more than is
absolutely necessary. There’s no ramp or walkway on the other side
either, just a similar drop to the ground as on the outside.

Once he’s gained the top, he swings over and
lands on the other side. He then plasters himself against the base
of the wall to see if anyone may have noticed his entry. When no
one comes to investigate, he unwinds the rope from around his
middle and throws a section over the wall to James. He takes a
secure hold when he feels James taking up the slack. Then the rope
grows taught as James begins climbing the other side.

The rope goes taught, then becomes loose.
Grows taught again then goes loose. When he feels James try for the
third time to scale the wall, Jiron sighs and says quietly, “Tie a
loop at the end and I’ll pull you over.” He feels two quick tugs on
the rope and shakes his head. He had forgotten how inept James is
at things like this. When it comes to magic, he’s almost
unparalleled in what he can do. But physical stuff such as scaling
a wall? Forget it.

“All set,” he hears from the other side as
the rope is tugged twice in quick succession. He begins taking in
the slack, and when the rope becomes taught starts pulling James
toward the top. It’s a hard pull with James’ weight on the other
side. Hand over hand and inch by inch he gradually brings him
closer to the top of the compound’s wall.

As he comes near the top, James reaches up
and takes hold with his right hand. As soon as he has a secure grip
with one hand, he lets go of the rope with the other and helps
Jiron by pulling himself up. “Okay, I made it,” he says as he
climbs onto the top. Taking his foot out of the loop, he tosses
down the rope.

On the ground, Jiron begins coiling the rope
once more around his middle under his jerkin. He keeps one eye on
James’ progress in getting down from the top, and the other on the
immediate vicinity. So far, no one has made an appearance.

He no sooner gets the rope securely in place
than James drops down to the ground next to him. “Ready?” he asks.
James gives him a nod and then they set out toward the building
wherein they saw Buka with the mirror.

The room in question is within one of the
larger buildings in the compound and not too far from where they
crossed over the wall. They keep in the shadows of the wall as they
steadily work their way closer. Two men’s voices suddenly come out
of the dark ahead causing them to freeze and plaster themselves
against the wall.

Standing still, they listen as the men’s
footsteps approach closer. As they come nearer, Jiron is able to
discern the two dark outlines of the men. It doesn’t look as if the
direction they are walking will bring them very close to where
James and Jiron are hiding. The dark outlines gradually change to
more distinct forms until the two men pass them not more than five
feet away. Too wrapped up in their own conversation, the men never
even glance toward the two motionless figures in the shadows.
Finally, the men move further down and enter through a doorway in
one of the buildings.

Detaching himself from the wall, Jiron
whispers, “That was close.”

James nods in agreement as they resume their
progress. Keeping between the wall and an adjacent building, they
hurry along. Coming to the end of the building, they pause for a
moment. A ten foot open area separates where they stand and the
building wherein they believe Buka to be.

Jiron scans the area quickly. When he’s sure
no one is nearby, he runs across the open area to the nearest door
with James right on his heels. At the door, he again pauses to make
sure their dash to the door went unobserved. Satisfied that they
continue to remain unnoticed, he tries the door and finds it
unlocked.

Light comes from within as he opens the door
a crack. Peering inside, he finds the door opens onto a well lit
hallway. With lit candles spaced in wall sconces every ten feet or
so, there’s little chance of remaining hidden should someone make
an appearance.

“We better hurry,” urges James. The sky to
the east is beginning to lighten with the coming of dawn. If they
want to have any hope of making it out safely, they best be done in
short order.

Jiron nods understanding and opens the door.
Doors line both sides of the hallway, two on the left and three on
the right, another door sits closed at the end. “It’s through the
one at the end,” Jiron whispers to him. Entering the building, he
ignores the other doors and heads directly for the one at the end.
Upon reaching it, he places his ear to the door.