anyone.”
He sees James nod, then he turns back to the door and opens it. Sticking his head out, he slowly opens the door further until there’s enough space to pass through.
Miko and James follow him out into the corridor, closing the door behind them and cutting off the cries of the prisoners.
The hallway they find themselves in is dark, extending away from the door, with a single torch at the far end giving off light. Moving quickly, they hurry down the hallway toward the lighted area.
Upon coming near, they see a flight of stairs at the end of the hallway going up to the left. They slow down as they approach the stairwell, Jiron moves to the fore as he peers around the corner and up the stairs.
He turns back to the others and says, “It curves out of sight as it spirals up.”
James nods his head, “Okay, take it slow and listen for anyone coming down.”
“Right,” Jiron replies as he turns back to the stairs and begins going up.
They follow the stairs as they wind around several times before Jiron pauses. He holds his hand up for the others to stop as he cocks his head to the side as if he’s listening. Then he turns back toward them and whispers, “Someone’s coming.”
Moving quickly and quietly, they return back down the stairs. At the bottom, they run along the hallway until they come to the door to the holding area. Opening the door, they slip inside and shut it just as two guards round the corner from the stairs.
The prisoners are making lots of noise as they plead with them to release them, at least that’s what James thinks they’re trying to say. But the guards don’t seem to be paying it much attention, the door muffles most of it.
Jiron waits next to the door, knives ready. The prisoners become quiet when they realize what they’re about to do.
In the quiet, they hear the two guards talking as they approach. Suddenly the door opens up and Jiron strikes out, taking one of the guards across the throat before they even realize what’s going on.
He kicks out at the other as he tries to draw his sword, knocking him against the wall and throwing him off balance. Then he’s on him, knives striking fast.
Before James even realizes it, the battle is over and the guards lie dead on the floor, their blood beginning to pool by the door. He and Jiron take the bodies and drag them into the room with the cells.
The prisoners begin to once again clamor to be let out. Once the guards are within the room, they again leave and close the door behind them.
Going back to the stairs, they once more begin climbing to the next level, making what feels to James as three complete circles before coming out into a basement of some sort. It’s a large, dark room with boxes stacked around the edges.
A door sits in the wall to their right and across from them, a stairway extends up. James signals for Miko to watch the stairs as he goes over with Jiron to the door. “Which way?” he asks him.
“I don’t know,” replies Jiron. “My best guess would be the stairs, since he wasn’t below. We need to find someone who can tell us where to find him.”
“I know, we’ll never find him in time hunting blind,” admits James.
“Can’t you do that bubble thing to find him?” he asks.
Shaking his head, James replies, “No, I don’t know him at all so it wouldn’t work. If I had something of his, maybe, but I don’t.”
Before they head up the stairs, they check the other door first, just in case while Miko watches the stairs. Opening the door a couple inches, they discover a darkened corridor extending away from the room. James looks to Jiron and says, “Not this way, let’s go up the stairs. He isn’t down here.”
Closing the door, they move back over to where Miko is keeping an eye on the stairs. “Anything?” James asks him.
“No,” he replies. “Haven’t heard anything.”
Jiron takes the lead as they move up the stairs. It runs fairly straight up and after fourteen steps comes out on a wide hallway running to the right and left.
Candles spaced every twenty feet or so give off a soft light. To the right, the hallway extends for a hundred feet before turning to the left. The other way, it extends further until finally disappearing into the distance.
Jiron glances to James who just shrugs. Stepping into the hallway, Jiron begins moving to the right, the others following close behind.
They pass three doors before the hallway turns to the left. Glancing around the corner, he sees it extending further into the distance. “It’s clear,” he says as he goes around the corner and continues following the hallway.
All the doors they pass are closed and a quick check fails to hear anything within. Suddenly, further down the corridor, a door opens and a woman walks out into the hallway. A servant by her dress, she glances their way and her eyes open wide.
Jiron sprints toward her as a scream escapes her lips. A second later, Jiron grabs her and clamps his hand over her mouth, silencing her. She struggles to free herself but is no match for him.
Placing a knife against her throat causes her to cease her struggling and to become quiet. He walks her back to where James and Miko stand, all the while expecting other doors to open in response to her scream. But either there’s no one else down here or a woman screaming in this area is common, for no other door opens.
“Do you understand me?” James asks her when Jiron has brought her close.
She nods her head and they all breathe a sigh of relief.
“What’s your name?” he asks.
“Elspa,” she replies.
“Elspa, do you know where they’re keeping the captured general?” he asks.
“I think in the north tower,” she says, a fearful quaver in her voice.
“Where’s that?” Miko asks.
Elspa looks to him and says, “It’s on the other side of the Keep.”
“Of course,” mumbles James. Couldn’t be just above us, oh no, it has to be all the way on the other side!
“You’re going to take us there,” James tells her. “And if you give us away, or trick us, my friend here will make sure you’re the first to die.”
He sees her eyes open wide as they flick momentarily to Jiron. “Do you understand?” he asks her.
Nodding her head, she quietly says, “Yes, I do.”
“Now, what’s the best way to get there?” he asks. Then he adds, “Without being discovered.”
“There’s no direct way to get there,” she tells him. “And the whole tower is full of guards, you’ll never make it to where they’re keeping him.”
“You let us worry about that,” he says. “Now, I understand that servants often have a way of moving about to avoid being underfoot. I want you to take us along those ways as best you can.”
She nods her head. “It’s this way,” she tells him, pointing down to where she had just entered the corridor.
James nods to Jiron who takes her by the arm and holds her close as she begins to lead them down the hallway. As they reach the door that she’d exited from, she pauses a moment before opening the door.
They move through into a narrow hallway. “This leads to the lower kitchens,” she says as she continues along. “Another of these passages leads from the kitchens to the main banquet room which should be relatively empty at this time of night.”
“What about the kitchens,” Jiron says. “Will there be anyone there?”
Sighing, she replies, “There’s always someone there but any other way and you risk being spotted even more.”
“Alright,” James says.
They continue down the hallway until they begin to smell the yeast of many loaves of bread rising as they’re being prepared for the morning meal. Slowing down, Jiron hands the girl to James as he moves forward to check the kitchen.
The kitchen is a large room with many tables and ovens. Ten tables are lined with loaves of bread dough, and
