room.
Jiron reaches the door and flies out into the alley on the other side. Glancing to the left and right, he sees her fleeing form running down the alley to the right. “This way,” he says to the others as he races to follow. “Stop!” he yells to her but his words have little effect.
She ducks into a doorway to the left and it slams shut. He hits the door running and bursts through after her. A small room lies on the other side of the door, another closed door sits in the opposite wall. He runs to it and tries to open it but find it’s locked.
The others are quick to join him as he pulls a knife to work on the lock. “Stig, you stay here in case she doubles back,” he says. “The rest of you fan out around the building in case she gets out. Reilin, you come with me.”
As the others race back out into the alley, Jiron feels the lock click open. Replacing his knife in its sheath, he opens the door to find another hallway stretching further into the distance. On his right is a narrow spiraling staircase going up to the second floor.
He motions for Reilin to be still as he listens for any indication of where she might be. Then above them a floorboard creaks heavily as if a person of weight is moving around up there. That has to be her!
“Up the stairs,” he says and takes them two at a time. Upon reaching the second level, he finds another hallway extending in the same direction as the one below had. The sound of the creaking floorboard had sounded like it was right above them when they were still on the first floor. So whoever is up here must be in one of the rooms near the stairwell.
Moving to the door to his right, Jiron kicks out with his foot and bursts the door open. A young woman stares at him with wide, fearful eyes from her bed. “Not this one,” he says and moves to the next. Reilin tells the woman, “Sorry,” then closes her door.
Making his way quickly over to the door on his left, he kicks it open. The woman from the bar is there with her back to a wall, in her hand she holds a knife out threateningly.
Jiron sees that she’s all alone. Holding up his hands, he says to Reilin, “Explain to her that we mean her no harm. That I have no intention of hurting her.” Reilin translates for the woman.
His words do little to convince her of his sincerity. Jiron steps into the room and the woman raises her knife a little bit higher. Reaching slowly into his pocket, he holds up a gold coin. Her eyes widen at the sight of it and the point of the knife drops slightly.
“Tell her that I’ll give this to her for some information,” he tells Reilin. When Reilin translates his message, her knife drops even further.
Footsteps are heard coming up the stairs and Scar makes his appearance. He quickly scans down both directions of the hallway and sees Reilin in the doorway to the woman’s room. Coming over, he enters the room and brings his mouth close to Jiron’s ear. “Make this fast, the city watch has shown up,” he tells him.
Jiron nods and says, “Go get the others.” Scar then races back downstairs to do as bidden. To Reilin he says, “Tell her I just want to ask her sister a question.”
When Reilin translates, the woman’s eyes get a calculating look and the knife falls even further. Finally, the woman puts the knife back in its sheath though her hand still rests upon its pommel. Then she asks something and Jiron looks to Reilin.
“She’s asking what you wanted to ask her?” he explains.
He holds up the necklace so she can get a good look at it. Her eyes widen slightly in recognition as he asks, “Where did her sister get this?”
Then from below they hear many feet running along the floor. Then at the bottom of the stairs up to their level they hear a voice with the air of command shouting orders. “They’re searching the building,” Reilin says. Then from the stairs they hear the sound of several people on their way up. “We got to get out of here!”
The woman just stares at him as Reilin takes him by the shoulder and urges him back into the hallway. With one last look at the woman, Jiron curses and puts the necklace back in his pouch. Racing down the hallway away from the stairs, they come to an open doorway on their right. Without hesitation, Jiron runs through the doorway just as the guards reach the top of the stairs.
From behind them, they can hear the woman’s voice screaming. He looks to Reilin who says, “She’s telling them where we are.”
“Damn!” swears Jiron. Closing the door, he throws the bar. Not very large, the bar won’t hold long if they really want to come in. And he’s pretty sure they will.
A single window is the only other exit from the room. Moving over to it, he shoves it open and looks down. In the street below several people are milling about, none of them bear the uniforms of the city watch.
“Come on Reilin,” Jiron says as he puts a leg through the window.
Bam!
The door is struck hard from the other side. A voice hollers to them through the door and Jiron doesn’t need Reilin’s translation to understand what it’s saying. Taking hold of the window ledge, he swings himself out and then hangs briefly by his hands before letting go. He lands right next to someone and scares him to death. After jumping almost a foot in the air in shock, the man races off into the night.
Jiron scans the area for approaching trouble, but other than a few bystanders looking in his direction, everything is calm. Looking up, he sees one of Reilin’s legs emerge through the window followed shortly by the other. As the rest of his body follows his legs out the window, a group of four men turn the corner of the building.
His heart skips a beat before he realizes that it’s Scar and the others. “Over here!” he hollers to them.
Reilin lets go and drops from the window as the other four join them. Then all of a sudden, around the corner the others had just emerged from come a dozen guards. “Let’s get the heck out of here!” Jiron says and bolts down the street. The guards see them run, and with a holler to stop, give chase.
Up ahead lies an opening of an alley and Jiron quickly ducks inside. Within the opening is a pile of old broken crates and other refuse. Jiron comes to a quick stop and grabs Shorty by the arm. “I want you to stay here and keep an eye on that serving woman,” he explains quickly. “She’s back in that building on the second floor, maybe she’ll lead you to her sister.”
Just then the guards round the corner and practically run into them. Scar and Potbelly knock the first two to the ground with well placed blows.
Shorty dives to the side of the alley near the pile of boxes and Jiron knocks them down on top of him. “Let’s go!” he yells then races down the alley.
Stig takes one of the crates and throws it at the guards as he and the others high tail it out of there. The flying crate causes the guards to halt a brief moment before resuming the chase.
Jiron races through the alley and into the street on the other side with the others right on his tail. Hoping Shorty isn’t discovered, they run and then quickly duck within a doorway that’s half open. Stig’s the last one through and shuts the door a second after the guards exit the alley.
They find themselves inside an herbalist’s shop and the herbalist is sitting behind a counter with a surprised look on his face. Jiron pulls a knife and puts his finger to his lips indicating for the man to remain quiet. “Get behind the counter,” he tells the others. Moving quickly, they pile in behind the counter.
No sooner Does Jiron duck back there after them than the door opens and two guards come in with swords drawn. The herbalist glances down at the men hiding under his counter and Jiron menaces him with his knife and again puts his finger to his lips.
Licking his lips and beginning to perspire with fear, the herbalist greets the guards. They exchange words several times and then the guards leave. Jiron looks to Reilin who says, “He didn’t say anything about us being here.”
Jiron gives the herbalist a grin and says “Good.” Removing three silvers from his pocket, he lays them on the counter. “Tell him they are for his trouble.” When Reilin translates, the herbalist nods but remains where he is and doesn’t reach for the coins.
“Out the back gentlemen,” Jiron says. As they leave, Jiron again turns toward the herbalist and pantomimes running his knife across his throat in warning. When he sees the herbalist nod his head, he follows the others out the back door.
In the alley behind the herbalist’s shop, they pause a moment and listen for where the searching is going on. Determining that the street the alley exits out onto on their left is quieter, Jiron takes them that way.
