leave until she has a chance to discover if James is here in the city or not.
Decided he’s wasted enough time at the docks, he heads back to the inn to see if the kids left any word for him.
The Eye works his way through town. He can feel his agent here in the city. Things were going good until that fool of an adjutant went and got himself killed. Now all the carefully laid plans are beginning to fall apart.
Not only that, but his agent has begun to kill. The need comes at times and it must be satisfied, but now is not the time to draw undue attention. He hates to rely on such an agent but his master said he must.
Dressed as just another commoner of Cardri, he draws little attention to himself as he makes his way to where he knows his agent to be. When he left on this assignment, ostensibly to be part of the trade delegation, his master gave him a ring which enables him to find this particular agent.
What makes him the most angry is that this fool of an agent isn’t killing in the poor quarters where such things are almost taken as a matter of course. But he’s leaving the bodies in the better sections of the city where such things are given more notice. Fool!
The trail leads him past the outer walls and ultimately through the middle walls into the more affluent areas of the city. He follows the main thoroughfare until the ring indicates to go down an alley.
It’s a dead end alley with many shadows and full of garbage. One of the shadows detaches itself from the others and moves forward. What light there is in the alley glints off a long dagger the shadow is holding.
“Just give me your money,” a voice comes from the shadow, “and I’ll not harm you.”
“Of course,” the Eye says as he reaches into his tunic. Instead of removing his money pouch, he pulls out a small thin tube and points it at the thief. Depressing the release, a small needle flies out and strikes the man.
“What the hell?” he exclaims as the needle embeds itself in his cheek. His hand brushes his face, dislodging the needle but the damage has already been done. The fast working poison which was delivered by the needle brings dizziness which causes him to begin staggering and then to fall to the ground. In a matter of seconds, he’s dead.
Replacing the tube within his tunic, he steps over the dead man barely giving him a second thought. At the end of the alley, a doorway stands open and the ring directs him to enter.
On the other side of the door is a long, dimly lit hallway. He moves into it and follows it down past several closed doors. At the fourth door, the ring tells him he’s very close, possibly on the other side of the door.
Opening it, he finds a gruesome sight. A small room, with but a bed and chest. On the floor is a dead girl, bending over her is he who the Eye has been searching for. “You fool!” he exclaims as he closes the door and enters the room.
Chapter Ten
On the way back to the inn, Miko finds Dave sitting at an open air eatery. “What are you doing here?” he asks him. “Didn’t I tell you to stay in the room?”
Dave looks up with an annoyed expression and replies, “Relax. All I’m doing is having a meal and getting some fresh air.”
The eatery is just down the street from the inn, he can see it from here. Not wanting to cause a scene in a public place, he says, “Very well. But return as soon as you’re done.”
Sighing, Dave says, “Alright, but you guys are really getting on my nerves.”
Wanting nothing more than to take out his anger and frustration on him, Miko instead turns and walks down to the inn. When he passes through the front door, he finds Illan sitting in the common room near a window.
At his approach, he nods for him to take a seat at his table. “You know where that friend of James’ is? He’s down the street at an eatery!”
“I know,” replies Illan as he glances out the window. “I’ve been keeping an eye on him for some time now. It was a mistake to have taken him with us.”
“So why did we?” Miko asks as he sinks into the chair. A serving girl comes over and he orders some ale.
“James wouldn’t leave him alone,” he explains. “Not after what he’s gone through. Plus, Jiron would’ve killed him if we had left him there with his sister.”
Nodding, Miko sees the girl returning with his ale. After he’s taken a sip, he asks, “Any word from Jiron and Fifer?”
Shaking his head, Illan says, “No, not yet.” In hushed tones, he goes on to relate what Ellinwyrd told him about James. When he’s done, he all but has to restrain Miko from rushing to the castle to rescue him.
“We can’t just sit here and do nothing!” he exclaims.
“I don’t plan to sit here and do nothing,” he states. “But we have a day, maybe two and we don’t want to act prematurely. I think it’s safe to say that they’re not planning on killing him here. Most likely they are going to return him to the Empire for interrogation first and find out what he knows.”
“About what?” he asks.
“About that certain something you all found and which we just recently put away somewhere,” he explains in a roundabout way in case they’re overheard.
“Oh right,” he says and then mouths ‘The Fire’.
“Exactly,” he says. “Our first priority has to be finding Jiron and Fifer. Once we have them back with us, we’ll be in a much better position to attempt a rescue.”
Miko then tells Illan about what he’s having those kids of his do, and about the connection between Lord Kindering and the Ambassador.
Nodding, Illan says, “That puts some things in perspective.”
“What do you mean?” asks Miko.
“Well, first of all it explains why he was summoned here,” Illan explains. “From what we’ve found out, Lord Kindering and Lord Colerain are bound together in some way. Could be simply trading partners, who knows? Lord Kindering might have gotten the idea that if he managed to get James here and to the Empire’s delegates, then they may give Cardri, and thus him, better terms in the negotiations.”
“So you’re saying they’re giving up James just to make more money on trade?” he asks.
“Something like that,” agrees Illan. “Though this is all just conjecture on my part, it does fit with what’s happening. The fact that it also enables Lord Colerain to extract revenge upon James is probably just an added bonus.”
Just then, Dave walks in through the front door. He sees them sitting at the table and simply nods to them as he makes his way to the stairs and up to his room.
“Hope he stays there,” grunts Miko.
“We’ve got more important things to worry about than him,” Illan says.
“You’re right,” agrees Miko.
Jiron comes awake and finds Qyrll sitting against the wall. He turns his head when he sees Jiron sit up. Nodding over to the candle sitting on the crate, he says, “We’re almost out of light.” Fifer remains asleep over against the far wall.
“Is it light out yet?” Jiron asks.
Shrugging, the Parvati says, “It’s hard to tell, but I think the sun’s been up for some time now.”
Worried, Jiron says, “I was sure James would’ve found us by now.”
“Maybe he’s otherwise occupied?” suggests Qyrll.
“Let’s hope not.” Getting up, he stretches and comes to sit next to the Parvati.
Voices can be heard coming from the other side of the door as footsteps approach and then continue on past. “People have been moving along the corridor outside for some time now,” Qyrll states. “Fortunately none have come in here.”
Gesturing to the room, Jiron says, “Do you blame them?”
Qyrll just gives him a grin at that as he shakes his head.
More footsteps approach and they become silent. This time instead of passing by, the footsteps stop at the door.
