reasons.
“You may be right,” Jiron agrees. He gets close to the wall and jumps up, grabbing the top as he pulls himself up and then quickly scans the area on the other side of the wall for guards.
“See anything?” James asks.
“No, it looks clear,” he tells him from the top. Reaching down, he says, “Give me your hand and I’ll help you up.”
James takes his hand and Jiron pulls him to the top of the wall. They quickly drop down to the other side and squat for a few seconds in the shadows to observe what’s going on. The area between the wall and the manor house is dark and they don’t see anything moving. With Jiron in the lead, they make their way across the open lawn to the side of the house near a darkened window.
Jiron silently moves to the window and peers inside, but is unable to make out anything in the dark. With great caution, he tests the window and finds it locked. Taking out one of his knives, he slides it in the narrow space between the two sides and lifts the latch. Replacing his knife in his belt, he pulls the window open and then quickly slips inside.
Reaching his hand down, he helps James in through the window and then closes it once again. Jiron begins moving around, trying to find the door when a soft glow begins to fill the room. Looking back, he sees James there with the glowing orb in his hands. The orb is barely giving off any light at all, just enough so they can make out the details of the room and won’t be stumbling around.
“Thanks,” Jiron whispers.
Grinning, James replies quietly, “No problem.”
The light shows that they’re in a study of some kind with but a single door leading out. Jiron moves over to it and places his ear against the door, listening for any sound coming from the other side. After a minute, he shakes his head and says, “Nothing.”
“Good,” James says.
Jiron slowly opens the door and then shuts it again quietly as he turns to James. “They’re not going to come looking for magic because of that, are they?” he asks, pointing to the glowing orb in James’ hand.
“I wouldn’t think so,” he replies. “It’s hardly using any magic at all.”
With a brief nod, Jiron again opens the door and a dim light comes through it. James cancels the orb and it disappears as Jiron opens the door wider. He cautiously looks down the hallway to either side. He turns back to James and in a barely audible whisper, says, “There’s a light down to the right, to the left is dark.”
“Try the left?” he suggests.
Jiron nods in agreement and then he again checks the hallway. Not seeing anyone, he opens the door wider and silently exits the room to the hallway, making his way down toward the left.
Once he’s out of the room, James follows and then closes the door behind them. He can hear muffled voices coming from the room down the hallway to the right where the light is emanating from, but is too far away to be able to make any of it out.
Jiron stays to the left side of the hallway as he quietly makes his way down to the next door on the right. He pauses a moment as he listens at the door. Not hearing anything, he proceeds further down the hallway. They pass two doors facing each other and after a moment’s listening at each, Jiron continues past them.
A little ahead of them they see light emanating around the corner where the hallway turns to the right. Jiron turns to James and whispers, “Wait here.”
James nods his head and then watches as Jiron silently walks to the edge of the corridor and peers around it. After only a brief look, he brings his head back quickly and then motions James closer. “There’s a guard standing in the hallway about ten feet down. There’s a torch in the wall near him.”
“Should we take him out do you think?” James asks.
“If we do, we may be alerting the whole place that we’re here,” Jiron replies. “He may not even be guarding Delia and the others.”
“Can’t think of any other reason to post a guard in a hallway,” reasons James. “I say we’ve got to do it.”
“Can you do it?” Jiron asks. “I would need to be closer to take him out before he could raise the alarm.”
“Yeah,” James replies, not liking the fact of having to kill someone like this, but what choice does he have. He removes a slug from his belt and silently moves to the corner and peers around. Seeing the guard there, he gathers his thoughts before stepping into the hallway. Before the guard even realizes he’s there, he releases the magic and throws.
The slug flies straight and true, striking him in the head. The guard sags to the floor unconscious. “Come on!” James says to Jiron as he hurries to where the guard lies on the floor.
“He’s not dead!” Jiron exclaims when he realizes the guard lying there is only unconscious. A sizeable goose egg of a bump shows where the slug had hit him in the temple.
“I held back a little,” admits James. “I didn’t want to kill him that way.”
The guard, as it turns out, had been standing in front of stairs leading down.
“Let’s put him in one of the rooms we passed,” Jiron suggests.
“Alright,” agrees James. They lift him up and carry him back to the corner where they pause a moment as Jiron peers down the hallway. Seeing the coast is clear, they go to the first door on the right and open it slowly as they look inside. It’s a bedroom, but empty and doesn’t looks as if it’s been used for some time. They deposit the guard on the bed and then bind and gag him. Once the guard is secured, Jiron returns to the door and opens it a crack as he makes sure the hallway still remains empty. Finding that it is, they leave the room, closing the door behind them.
They quickly make it back to the stairs where Jiron takes the lead as they begin to descend to the lower level. At the bottom of the stairs, they find a door that’s slightly ajar. Jiron cautiously opens it further and peers around to the other side where he sees an empty corridor leading away from the door. He opens it further and motions for James to follow him through.
Following the corridor with James right behind, they pass two other closed doors on their way, pausing momentarily to listen at each. Not hearing anything, he continues down to the door at the end, where light can be seen coming through the cracks from the other side.
As they draw near to the door, they’re able to hear voices speaking from the other side. “…tell me!” one voice yells and then they hear the sound of someone being slapped hard.
“Again,” the voice says and then a female can be heard crying out in pain.
“Delia!” Jiron cries as he races for the door. James readies a slug as Jiron hits the door with his shoulder, causing it to open and swing into the room, slamming hard against the wall. With both knives ready, he quickly surveys the room.
It takes but a moment to realize what’s been happening, Roland, Scar and Potbelly are sitting along one wall, hands chained to the wall. Delia lies stretched spread-eagled upon a table, her hands and feet secured with ropes to the corners.
A well dressed man stands next to the table with another whom James can only believe is a dealer in pain. They’ve been torturing Delia! Two guards spring into action and immediately draw their swords as they move to engage Jiron.
“Jiron!” Potbelly cries out from where he sits against the wall when the door bursts open and sees him enter.
The two guards close with Jiron, one falling when a slug strikes him in the face blasting out the back of his head. Jiron parries a thrust from the other with one knife and then strikes out with the other, catching the guard in the neck, severing the jugular. Grabbing his neck, the guard tries to stop the blood spewing forth as he stumbles and falls to the floor. Jiron kicks out his foot on his way down and can hear a snap when the man’s neck breaks.
The well dressed man has his sword out and has the edge lying across Delia’s throat. “Enough!” he cries. “Or she’s dead.”
Jiron stands there, seething with impotent anger. Unable to do aught else, he stops.
James sees a ring of keys on one of the guards and reaches down to pick them up when the well dressed man says, “Don’t, or she dies.”
“It seems we’re in a pickle here,” James tells him as he straightens back up. “We’re not about to leave without them,” he says as he gestures to Delia and the others, “and if you cut her throat you’re a dead man.”
