As they approach the gate to the outer area, they see a squad of soldiers with a mage stationed there. The mage is looking down the street they are approaching on but has yet to detect them.
“Damn!” James exclaims when he sees them. They duck down an alley where they stop to determine what they’re going to do.
“Now what?” Delia asks.
“I’m thinking,” he replies as they pause for a moment.
“Think faster,” Scar says as he points to several squads of soldiers entering through the gates. The mage there gives them directions as they move past and the squads split up as each moves in a different direction.
A squad turns to head in their direction and looks to be heading for the alley they’re hiding in. “Move!” Jiron urges as he leads them further into the alley, away from the approaching soldiers.
“The whole army is on the move to find us,” Potbelly says from the rear.
“We invaded the home and humiliated a very powerful and important leader,” Roland explains. “They’ll not let us just walk away.”
The alley ends at another cross street. To their right, the street approaches the wall before intersecting with another street running perpendicular to it. A three story building has been built right up against the wall. James takes a closer look and realizes the top of it is only several feet from the top of the wall.
Jiron glances up to where James is looking and grins, “That’ll work.” Making sure the street is currently clear of soldiers, they leave the alley and run down the street to the building. It looks to be someone’s residence. He goes to the door and tries to open it, but discovers it’s locked. No time for niceties, he kicks it in and the door swings wide, slamming into the wall.
Rushing inside, they quickly close the door behind them. Potbelly moves to a window and looks out. “I don’t think anyone saw us,” he tells the others.
Jiron finds the stairs going up and begins to climb them when a man appears at the top with a drawn sword. The man holds his sword menacingly as he descends three steps before saying something that could only be ‘Get out of my home!’
“I don’t have time for this,” Jiron says as he draws his knives and moves to the top of the stairs. In a quick exchange, the man’s sword lies on the stairs and Jiron has a knife threatening him. Turning the man around, he propels him back to the top of the stairs.
A woman is standing further down the hallway with three children held tightly to her. Her eyes widen in fear when she sees her husband emerging from the stairs with a knife held against him. She says something to him and he replies, motioning for them to stay back.
“Tell them to get in that room,” Jiron says to Roland, indicating one that’s near the woman.
Roland tells them and the woman slowly backs her way into it, taking the children with her. One of the young girls begins to cry and she does her best to quiet her. “Tell them to be quiet and we won’t kill them,” Jiron says as he pushes the man into the room with his family.
Grabbing his children, the man turns to Roland and listens to what he’s being told and then nods his head and replies.
Roland says, “They’ll be silent.”
Jiron nods his head as he shuts the door on the family. They find another set of stairs leading up and they race to the third floor. “Split up and find the access to the roof,” Jiron tells everyone as he continues down the hallway from the stairs. Doors begin to open as they all search the rooms for a way to the roof, they know that time is against them.
“It’s in here!” they hear Scar yell from the far end of the building. Set in the roof of a small room is a trapdoor with a rope hanging down from it. Pulling on it, the trapdoor swings open and a ladder extends down allowing access to the roof. With Scar in the lead, they climb the ladder and once everyone is on the roof, James severs the rope for the trap door before pulling it closed behind them.
The inner town wall is just five feet above the roof of the building. Jiron runs over to it and jumps, grabbing hold of the top, and then pulls himself up onto the wall. He reaches down a hand and helps Scar up just as a guard patrolling the wall sees them and begins crying the alarm. Drawing his sword, the guard rushes toward them.
Once Scar has reached the top, he draws his sword and moves to engage the approaching guard while Jiron helps the others up. In trepidation, he observes three more are on their way behind the first guard. “Hurry up man, we’ve got company!” he hollers to Jiron just before he parries a thrust by the guard.
Jiron helps Potbelly up who rushes to Scar’s aid. Delia next, Roland and then James gain the top of the wall.
Scar and Potbelly have disposed of the first guard and are moving to intercept the three oncoming guards. Jiron runs to help them as James tries to figure out where they need to be going. On the other side of the wall, all the houses are at least fifteen feet away. Makes sense, he reasons, they let people on the inside build close because they’re not worried about people getting out so much as they are about them getting in. It’s a thirty foot drop to the ground so they won’t be jumping down that way. The wall they’re on extends all the way to the outer wall.
James looks over to where Jiron and the others are fighting just as the last guard falls. He cries out, “Toward the outer wall, hurry!”
Two more soldiers are running to intercept them from the direction of the outer wall, and the fighters move to engage. Roland and Delia move quickly to follow Jiron and the others, with James right behind. Jiron takes the first one as Potbelly blocks a downward thrust from the second and then follows through with a thrust, taking him through the stomach, just below the breastbone. He kicks the guard off his sword with his foot as Jiron pushes the guard he was fighting over the wall, the man’s scream can be heard all the way down until he hits the ground below.
Behind them, eight guards are running down the wall to catch them. One has a crossbow and lets a bolt fly but it goes wide, narrowly missing Scar.
James turns and takes out a slug which he throws, hitting the crossbowman square in the chest, causing him to stagger and then fall off the wall.
“Here!” Roland hollers to them. They turn and see him there with a bucket that’s tied to a long rope. “We can climb down,” he explains.
James glances down the outward side of the wall and doesn’t see anyone there, guess they figured on them not being able to get down here. “Looks clear,” he tells them. He and Roland hold the rope as Jiron shinnies down.
Scar and Potbelly have positioned themselves to hold off the oncoming guards, giving the others a chance to get down. As Jiron makes it to the ground, the guards reach Scar and Potbelly, and the crash of swords can be heard as they engage.
Turning to Delia, James says, “You’re next.” He and Roland hold the rope secure while she makes her way down. Glancing over to the fighting, James sees one of the guards has already fallen but that Scar and Potbelly have to give ground as they’re being pushed backward by the remaining seven.
Roland tells James, “Go on!”
Shaking his head, he says, “You first.”
Not wanting to take the time to argue, Roland takes the rope and swings over the side as James holds onto it. He glances back to Scar and Potbelly and it doesn’t look good. Even though another guard has hit the ground, there’s still too many, it’s only a matter of time before one or the other falls.
The tension on the rope disappears and he looks down, seeing that Roland has made it to the ground. “Come on!” he hollers up to him.
Securing the end of the rope around a merlon he hollers over to the fighters, “Let’s go!”
Scar replies, “We’ll never make it!” He parries with one sword and then takes the guard through the stomach with his other. “You go,” he tells him, “we’ll hold them off!”
Potbelly is holding his own, but there’s just too many for them to last. As he watches them fighting, anger and frustration build within him until it’s like a white hot sun.
“Scar, Potbelly! Get down, NOW!” his voice thunders behind them.
Almost reflexively, they drop to the ground as an invisible wave passes over them and they watch as the guards are lifted and thrown backward, some screaming as they fall to their deaths to the ground below. Once it’s past, they get up and hurry over to James where he’s staggering a little. Scar asks, “You okay?” as they steady
