“That would’ve seemed to be the smart thing to do,” adds Jiron.
“I don’t think it would’ve made any difference,” he explains. “We should try the other two ships and find out if they’ll be more agreeable.”
“Alright,” James says as he glances to Jiron who just shrugs.
The next ship they come to is a single masted vessel and looks to be deserted. The gangplank is up so Illan hollers, “Hello ship!”
When there’s no answer, he hollers again, “Hello ship!”
They wait a minute but no reply is forthcoming. He turns to the others and indicating the last ship says, “One more to try.” Moving down to the other end of the docks, they come to a twin masted vessel where several sailors are sitting around on deck, looking bored.
“Hello the ship!” Illan hollers.
One of the sailors looks over the rail and asks, “Yeah?”
“Request permission to come aboard and talk with the captain,” he says.
“Captain’s not here,” the sailor tells him.
“Where could I find him?” he asks.
“City jail I’d imagine,” the sailor replies.
“Jail?” asks Illan. “What’s he doing there?”
“Cooling his heals for a few days,” the sailor explains. Several other sailors come over and join him at the rail.
One of them says, “He got in a fight with the wrong man and was arrested. They said he’d be in there several more days.”
“Thank you,” Illan says to them. Turning away from the ship, he begins making his way back to where Uther and the others are waiting. “This is perfect!” he exclaims.
“What is?” Jiron asks.
“Don’t you see?” he says. “Though the letter from Lord Pytherian wouldn’t have much pull with a ship’s captain, it will have with a magistrate. And if we use it to get the captain out of jail, then I would think he’d be happy to take us across the Sea.”
Nodding, James says, “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.”
When they get back to the others, Illan explains to them what they’re planning on doing. “In the meantime, while we’re getting the captain out of jail, the rest of you go and find something to eat.”
Miko perks up at that, the mention of food always does.
“Go down the street until you come to the blacksmith,” he tells them. “Then turn down the road to the right. You shouldn’t have far to go before you come to the Flying Fish. The owner is a lady by the name of Mari, and the food there is very good. At least it was last time I was in town.”
“When will you meet us there?” asks Yern.
“Hopefully not more than an hour,” he tells him.
“Alright then,” Uther says. “We’ll see you there.”
“You may as well go too,” James tells Jiron. And then he lowers his voice to a whisper as he adds, “And keep an eye on Miko.”
“You got it,” he says as he joins the crew going to the inn.
The bunch going to the inn takes all the horses with them. Illan and James go down a different street as they make their way to the city jail.
More people pause when they see Illan walking down the street, most give him a friendly greeting or ask him a question. Begging lack of time to talk, he makes his responses short as he continues down the street.
At the next junction of streets, he turns to the right and points to a two story building on the right side. “That’s the jail.”
“Think we’ll have any problems?” James asks.
Shaking his head, Illan says, “I really doubt it.”
They walk down to where the front door is standing open and walk inside. Two guards are sitting at a side table sharpening their swords, another sits behind a desk and has the look of the one in charge.
The guard behind the desk looks up as they enter and says, “Yes? Can I help you?”
Illan walks over and asks, “We’re looking for the captain of the ship in the harbor. His men said he might be here?”
Nodding, the guard captain says, “He’s here all right.” Calling over to one of the guards at the table, he says, “Rullins, take these gentlemen back to the holding cells. They want to talk to the captain.”
Getting up, the guard named Rullins replies, “Yes sir.” To Illan and James he says, “If you’ll follow me.” Turning toward a door in the side of the room, he takes out a key and unlocks the door. Opening it, he indicates they should follow him as he moves past the cells on the side of the walkway.
Five large cells line each side of the walkway, two of them have prisoners. One has two men who look to have been beaten up pretty badly, the other holds a solitary individual. And it’s to the solitary individual that the guard is taking them.
As they draw near, the man in the cell turns and watches their approach. “These men want to talk to you,” the guard tells him. Then to Illan and James, he says, “If you need help, just holler. We’ll be able to hear you.”
With that, the guard turns around and leaves the cell area. He leaves the door to the outer room open so they could be heard should the need arise.
The captain comes near the bars and looks out at Illan and James. “Do I know you two?” he asks.
Shaking his head, Illan says, “I doubt it, you don’t look familiar to me.”
“What do you want?” he asks.
“We want to talk about passage across the Sea, all the way to the other side,” Illan explains.
The captain breaks into a laugh and says, “You may have to wait for a while.”
“How long are you going to be in here?” asks James.
Shrugging, the captain says, “I don’t know, could be a while I’m guessing. I got into a fight with a prominent personage of some sort. Of course I didn’t realize who or what he was at the time. I mean, really, who would’ve thought he’d be in a place like that.”
“If we could expedite your release,” James offers, “would you take us across the Sea?”
“Of course,” he agrees. “But I don’t see how you’ll be able to pull that off, I broke the man’s nose.”
“How soon can you be ready to sail,” James asks.
“You get me out of here and we’ll sail within the hour,” he states.
“Alright,” Illan says, “we’ll see what we can do.” He begins to leave then glances back at the captain and adds, “We’ll be back shortly.”
“I hope so,” he says as they leave the cell area.
Illan walks over to the guard captain and asks, “How would we arrange his release?”
The guard captain laughs and says, “Man, from what I understand, he’s going to sit in there an awfully long time.” The guards over at the table can be heard chuckling as well.
“Still, who should we see?” persists Illan.
“Well, you could try Magistrate Harlan,” he explains. “He’s probably the only one who could arrange it.”
“Thank you,” Illan says as he makes ready to leave.
“But don’t get your hopes up,” he tells them.
Illan casts him a quick glance, gives him a nod and then they leave the jail.
Once they’re outside, James asks him, “Do you know this Magistrate Harlan?”
“Oh yes,” replies Illan. “He’s a good man and we should be able to get things arranged through him.”
“Good,” states James. He follows Illan as he leads him through town to the Magistrate’s offices.
They continue along, turning once down a main thoroughfare where they walk past several side streets before it opens up onto a large courtyard square. Setting on the far side of the courtyard is a large, imposing structure, obviously the home of the Magistrate’s offices.
There’s a wall separating the building from the rest of the courtyard. At the gate through the wall, a guard stands and smiles when he sees Illan approaching. Coming to attention, he salutes him as they pass through.
Illan returns the salute and the grin on his face is just as big as the guard’s is.
As they approach the front doors, James asks him, “What was all that about?”
