another kingdom against him.
When he gets to the part about shooting a man in Reno, he hears the approach of footsteps coming down the stairs. Bringing the song to a close, he watches the stairwell as a man in the livery of Cardri comes in bearing half a dozen torches, one of which is lit.
The man’s eyes widen as he takes in the glowing orb sitting next to James on the bench. He moves along the wall and starts placing the torches in the sconces spaced around the room. After placing a torch into a sconce, he lights it with the one he’s carrying before moving to the next.
“What are you doing?” James asks.
“Seems rather obvious,” the man retorts as he places his third torch into a sconce.
“Have they finally decided that I deserve some light down here?” he asks.
The man breaks out with a short snicker as he says, “Hardly. Word is that you’ll be having visitors shortly. So I’m placing several torches around the room to give them some light.”
“Oh,” says James.
The last torch the man is putting in a sconce happens to be near James’ cell. He approaches warily, eyeing him with trepidation.
“Don’t worry,” James tells him, “I’ll not hurt you.”
Not believing him, the man comes closer, all the while keeping an eye on James in case he tries something. When he gets close to the torch sconce, he rushes past the cell and places it in, lights it and then beats a hasty retreat.
“There,” says James with an assuring smile, “I didn’t bite now did I?”
His job finished, the man moves quickly to the stairs and James is soon alone again. Shaking his head, James gives out with a tired sigh. Is that the reaction I’m always going to receive? Maybe I will go live on an island or mountaintop somewhere.
Visitors. Great, just what he wanted. Hopefully when they’re here he’ll be able to clear himself and he can get out of here. Resting his head against the wall, he tries to resume the song again but can’t quite seem to recall it. He hates it when that happens. It’s like walking into a room, knowing you’re there for a reason, but can’t recall why you thought you needed to go there.
Out of the corner of his eye, he catches the glimpse of a slight pulsating coming from the orb sitting next to him. Picking it up, he can detect a slight pulsating as if someone is quickly moving a dimmer switch back and forth. He’s never seen it do that before.
The outline of the orb suddenly begins to warp and bend as if the outer edge of it was being molded like clay. Blinking his eyes, he shakes his head and then looks at it again. He suddenly comes to realize it’s not the orb, but his vision. The whole room is beginning to turn hazy and move in nauseatingly directions.
What’s wrong? Suddenly panicking, he realizes he’s slipping into a drugged state. But how?
Ever since the last time he was drugged back in Lythylla, he’s been thinking of ways in which to counter it should it ever happen again. He’s considered various different ways to both cope and prevent it from happening.
The pulsating of the orb could be in direct response to his drugged state. His mind becoming occluded intermittently prevents the magic from going to the orb, thus the pulsing.
Canceling the orb altogether, he realizes he doesn’t have much time. Marshalling all his concentration, he creates a small sphere, no larger than a pea. Firm yet translucent and thus hard to see, he holds it in his hand as he tries to inspect it. Unable to see it clearly and afraid he’s about ready to drop it, he slowly and carefully puts it in his pocket.
When he can at last feel it securely inserted in his pant’s pocket, he removes his hand and leans his head against the wall of his cell. The last sight he has before he slips into unconsciousness is the burning torch near his cell.
Chapter Nine
Pacing about the room, Illan stops every other time he passes the window and glances at the sky. The dawn isn’t very far away. Out on the streets, the soldiers and guards who earlier were combing the streets have all but disappeared. When the sun rises, he plans on making his way to the castle to see about James and what exactly is going on.
Glancing over to the bed, James’ friend Dave is fast asleep. How he can sleep while his best friend is in jail escapes him. Miko on the other hand, he’s known him to sleep through anything. So the fact that he’s asleep on the other bed hardly surprises him.
Not only does he have James to worry about, but Jiron and Fifer still have not returned. That’s got him extremely worried but could be the result of the curfew and they’re simply unable to return. He may have Miko try to locate them while he heads to the castle. Resuming his pacing, he churns over the events in his mind, and worries about what may be happening to James at this very minute.
When at last the first rays of morning shine on the walls of his room, he immediately moves over to Miko and wakes him up. “It’s morning,” he says.
Coming quickly awake, he rubs the sleep out of his eyes as he stands up. “Any word from James?” he asks.
Shaking his head, Illan says, “No. Jiron and Fifer are still missing as well. I’m going to head up to the castle to see what I can find out. While I’m gone, see if those kids you are acquainted with can help in locating Jiron and Fifer. I’m not sure what part they may have played in all this, but I’ll kill them if they’ve gone and done anything to exacerbate the situation.”
“What should I do with him?” Miko asks, motioning toward the sleeping Dave.
Shrugging, he replies, “Tell him to stay here. We have enough to deal with right now without him making matters worse.”
“Alright,” he says. “When are you planning on being back?”
“I have no idea. But if you find those recalcitrant members of our group, tell them to stay here at the inn until I get back.” Moving to the door, he opens it to leave. As he passes through, Miko’s ‘Will do’, follows him out into the hallway.
Closing the door, he walks quickly down and takes the stairs to the common room below. The room is empty except for one lone early riser. Miss Gilena is nowhere in sight, she must’ve returned to her bed shortly after he had gone up to his room. Leaving the inn through the front door, he moves onto the street and heads down toward the gates leading to the castle.
The contingent of guards at the gate has doubled since the last time he came by this way. As he draws near the gates, the leader of the group moves to intercept him.
“No one’s allowed into the castle area at this time,” the guard tells him as he comes to a stop.
“A friend of mine was taken last night and brought here,” he explains. “I want to know what happened to him.”
The guard eyes him suspiciously, knowing full well who it is Illan is talking about. “Sorry, but orders are, no one enters without expressed permission,” he states. “And I’m fairly sure you don’t have that do you?”
Shaking his head, he says, “No, I don’t.”
“Then you can’t pass through,” the guard says with finality.
Almost ready to turn away, he pauses and then asks, “Can I send word to the Archive Custodian?”
The guard is somewhat taken aback by that. “If you give us a letter, we can see that he receives it,” the guard replies.
“I don’t have a letter,” he explains. “Is there a way you could just tell him that a friend of James is here and would like to talk with him?”
The guard thinks about it for a moment. Shrugging, he says, “Very well,” He glances behind him and waves over one of the junior guards. “Find the Archive Custodian and tell him a friend of James would like an audience with him,” he tells the guard.
“Yes sir,” the guard replies before turning and running through the gates in search of Ellinwyrd.
