beneath one of them is a boy sleeping. The boy appears to be the only one currently in the room.
He goes back to the others and tells them what he’d seen. “That’s Kibby”, she tells them. “He’s the baker’s apprentice and is there to make sure the bread is ready for baking in the morning.” She looks to them and asks, “You’re not going to hurt him are you?”
“If we can get through without waking him,” James assures her, “then I see no reason to harm him.”
She nods her head and they move closer to where the hallway opens up into the kitchen. She points off to the right where another small hallway leads away from the kitchen, “That’s the one you want.”
James indicates with a nod of his head for her to precede them. She moves out, stepping cautiously, trying to remain as quietly as she can as she moves around the table where Kibby is sleeping.
As they move through the kitchen, Miko snags some bread sitting on a counter that was left over from the night before and begins munching on it. When James looks at him, he just gives him a smile as he continues chewing. James grabs one as well.
They reach the hallway and James glances back at the still sleeping Kibby beneath the table. Then he turns back and follows Elspa as she continues to lead them through the Keep.
From up ahead, they hear someone coming toward them. They duck down another side passage and hold still and quiet as the person approaches.
Jiron holds a knife to Elspa’s throat to prevent her from crying out. Then a man walks by their hiding spot and continues down the passage. Once the man’s footsteps can no longer be heard, they return to the passage.
“That was Olyth, the baker,” she tells them once Jiron has removed his knife from her throat.
“Let’s go, we’re running out of time,” urges James.
She begins leading them again down the passage. They go for several hundred feet when she again comes to a stop. Indicating further down the passage ahead of them, she says, “Up ahead, it opens into the banquet room.”
Jiron moves forward and then pauses at the end of the passage. He returns quickly and says, “She’s correct, it’s the main hall alright. It looks empty.”
They move to the end of the passage and James asks, “Where now?”
She points over to another, wider passage across the hall and says, “We’ll have to take that one, there’s no servant’s way on that side of the keep.”
“Where does it lead?” James asks her.
“To the north tower,” she tells him. “There’ll be guards, you’ll have no chance to sneak in there.”
“We’ll see,” he says. Moving to the edge, he glances around the room and then they move quickly across to the other hallway.
It’s much wider than the one they’d been in and has more candles keeping it well lit. Moving down the passage, they pass many doors made of finer quality than the ones they’d seen earlier.
Suddenly from up ahead, three guards suddenly move into the passage heading in their direction. James opens the door they’re closest to and they all rush into the room before the guards spot them.
Once the door is closed, Jiron keeps his ear to the door as James looks around the room. It looks to be a sitting room, where ladies could visit and entertain guests. A doorway leads to another room and James moves toward it to see if there’s anyone there.
As he gets closer, he begins to hear the unmistakable sounds of someone snoring. He looks through the doorway and sees a large bed with two bodies sleeping under covers. Backtracking quickly and quietly he goes back to where the others are waiting by the door.
Jiron opens the door and peers out to see if the guards are still there. Bringing his head back in, he says, “They’re gone.”
“Good, there’s someone sleeping in the other room,” James tells him as he points through the doorway.
“Then let’s go,” he says as he takes Elspa and returns to the hallway. The others follow and Miko closes the door quietly behind them.
“How far to the tower?” James asks her.
“Not very,” she replies. She points to a set of double doors further down where the hallway turns to the left and says, “That’s the entrance. It’s the only way I know to get there.”
As they continue to approach, he says, “How many guards are there?”
“I don’t know,” she replies, “I’ve never been there, my duties were always elsewhere.”
“Then I’m afraid this is where we must part ways,” he says to her.
Her eyes open wide, expecting to be killed on the spot. He moves to a door and listens for a moment. When he doesn’t hear anything, he opens it up and finds another sitting room. This whole area must be guest rooms for visiting nobles. Moving quickly, he looks through to the bedroom and with relief, finds it empty.
Returning to the sitting room, he grabs Elspa and drags her to the bedroom where he gags her mouth and ties her up securely. “I’m not going to kill you,” he tells her. She calms down somewhat when she sees a gold piece appear in his hand. “I appreciate your helping us,” he says as he places the gold piece within a pocket of her outfit.
He gives her a wink and then returns to the front room where the others are waiting for him. Jiron is by the door and when he sees the nod from James, opens it up and checks to make sure the hallway is empty before they step out.
Moving down toward the double doors that Elspa had told them led to the north tower where Pytherian is being held, they quickly cross the distance and stand before them.
Miko keeps watch down both hallways while Jiron listens at the doors. After a minute, he lifts his head away and says, “I think there’re two guards on the other side, can’t be sure. I do hear something though.”
“What do you propose?” James asks him.
“If there are just the two, we might be able to silence them quickly before they alert the whole keep,” he whispers to him. “But if there are more than two, then we’ve got problems.”
“No way to know for sure is there?” James asks him.
He shakes his head, “No, there isn’t.”
“Then let’s move quick and decisively,” he says. Jiron nods in agreement.
Drawing his knives, he makes ready to pass through the doors. James takes three stones out of his pocket, the last ammo he has, and prepares.
Miko takes the handles of the doors as he prepares to swing them open to allow Jiron and James to fight those within.
When both James and Jiron signal Miko that they’re ready, he swings open the doors.
Chapter Nineteen
When the doors swing open, Jiron rushes in and trips over two bodies entwined on the floor before the door. James looks incredulously at the guard with his pants down around his ankles lying atop the half naked girl. He stands there in shock as they look at him and the girl opens her mouth to scream.
Miko gets over his shock and draws his knife as he dives toward her. Her scream begins to escape her lips just as his hand comes and covers her mouth, silencing her.
The guard reaches for his sword that’s lying next to him, but Jiron has already recovered from his fall and kicks it out of reach.
“Get up!” James orders the guard as he closes the double doors.
The guard keeps his eyes on them as he gets up off the girl and pulls his pants up. The girl tries to cover herself as well, her muffled scream subsiding as she realizes they’ll not be killed immediately.
James gestures for Miko to remove his hand from her mouth and then for the girl to get up. She pulls her clothes around her as she gets to her feet, obviously terrified.
The hallway extends from the double doors twenty feet before ending at a stairway which winds its way up to the tower above. Two doors, one on either side of the hallway, lie between the double doors and the stairs. James nods his head to the one on the left side and Jiron moves over to the door and listens. He looks back to James and shakes his head, indicating he doesn’t hear anything.
