For the next hour, they steadily work their way back to the inn where they left the others. Patrols of guards are out combing the streets and at times they’re forced to wait in hiding for them to past. Finally, they see the inn down the road.
The street running in front of the inn is quiet. They watch for half a minute from the darkness of a nearby alley until they’re sure no one is about. Then they race down the street toward the inn. When they get there, they duck down the side alley and enter the inn through the courtyard entrance.
Moving steadily but not seeming in too much of a hurry, they pass through the back half of the common room and up the stairs to their rooms. Outside of the room he’s sharing with James, he places his ear against the door and can hear Miko inside talking in a normal tone. Relieved, he opens the door and enters.
At the opening of the door, James turns and sees him there in the doorway. Blood from the fight at the Split Navel stains his clothes, as it does all of them. Coming to his feet, he puts his hands on his hips and with an expression bordering on anger, he asks, “Just what have you done now?”
Chapter Sixteen
Standing there under James’ withering glare, Jiron and the others tell him everything that happened. Hardly pleased with the situation, James has Reilin change out of his bloody clothes and then go down to the common room to keep an eye and ear out.
Once they all are in a fresh change of clothes, James pulls out his mirror and brings an aerial view of the inn into focus. Finding everything calm, he then concentrates on Shorty to see how he’s making out. Casting a quick glance to Jiron he asks, “Do you really think that woman’s sister will help you now? After everything you did?”
Shrugging, he says, “I can but try. It’s the only thing that we have to go on now that your magic can no longer locate him.”
Turning his gaze back to the mirror, he finds Shorty shrouded by darkness. It looks like he’s just within some alley and is staring out across the street to a well-to-do building.
“She must be in there,” observes Jiron from where he’s looking over James’ shoulder at the mirror.
“Must be,” agrees James. Expanding the image to include a much wider area, he checks for any squads of guards that may be searching for them. The streets are quiet. Scrolling the image first in one direction then another, he fails to see any concerted search being conducted. “Doesn’t appear as if they are continuing the search.”
“A whole group of people dead, and they do nothing?” asks Brother Willim.
“Maybe the death of a bunch of potheads doesn’t really concern them too much,” James says. “Also consider this. The penalty of using or distributing biloci is death in the Empire. Who is going to come forward and say anything? Any who do will also have to admit their guilt.”
“That’s a good point,” nods Scar. “They’d be sticking their own neck out for the executioner.”
James abruptly stands up and says, “I don’t care if they are looking for you guys or not. We’re leaving Inziala right now.” To Scar and Potbelly he says, “Go take our things down to the stables and get the horses ready to ride.”
“What about that woman’s sister?” objects Jiron. “I’m not leaving until I talk to her.”
“Relax,” James tells him. “You and I are going to go find Shorty and this woman, talk to her and then get the heck out of here. The rest of you stay here. Better yet, go down to the stables and wait there so we won’t have to spend the time to come back up here for you.”
“As you will,” Brother Willim says.
“Let’s go,” urges Jiron.
James nods his head and indicates for him to leave the room. Following him into the hallway, he puts his mirror back in his belt pouch. Once down in the common room, they flag down Reilin who has taken a seat at a table near the door. He gets up and comes over to James who then quietly explains what they intend to do.
Jiron then leads James and Reilin out to the street through the front door and heads down in the general direction of the tavern. James pulls out his cloth and concentrates on Shorty. The cloth quickly rises and becomes rigid as it points to somewhere off to their right. He shows it to Jiron who allows him to take the lead. Following the direction indicated by the cloth, they are soon at the alley wherein Shorty watches.
As they come close, Shorty disengages from the shadows and steps forward. Waving for them to join him in the alleyway, he retreats back into its darkness. When they are there with him, he tells them what’s going on. “I followed that woman when she left the building,” he explains. “She came straight here and went in through that door.” Pointing across the street, he indicates a door in the building directly across from them.
“How do we know she’s still in there?” asks Jiron. “She could have left through a back door.”
“That’s always a possibility,” replies Reilin.
“Now what?” asks Shorty.
“We wait,” James says.
“Wait?” asks Jiron. “I say we go in there and find out what we need to know.”
“Look,” counters James, “We don’t need more trouble. I doubt if she would leave by a back door, unless she knew she had been followed.” Turning to Shorty he gives him a questioning look.
“She didn’t,” Shorty tells him. “Besides, if you start knocking on doors, you may alert her that we are here and she will flee.”
James can see the warring desires within Jiron. Finally he comes to see the logic in what Shorty said and nods his head.
They wait there a half hour before the door they are keeping an eye on opens. Two figures leave the building and begin walking down the street. “Is that them?” James asks.
Both are cloaked with hoods over their heads. One is rather bulky and the other is slightly shorter and looks thinner. “It could be,” Jiron says. Taking a step from the alley, he says, “Only one way to find out.” Moving quickly, he crosses the street to confront them.
Before he has a chance to close half the distance, the larger of the two quickly glances in his direction. Seeing him approaching, the cloaked figure grabs the shoulder of the smaller and together begin running down the street.
“I guess that clinches it,” Shorty says as he runs to help Jiron catch them. James and Reilin hurry to keep up.
The larger of the two begins slowing down while the smaller starts to pull ahead. Finally, the larger one shouts something to the other and comes to an abrupt halt. Pulling a large club from out of her cloak, the large woman from the tavern turns to face Jiron. So unexpected and quick was the maneuver, that Jiron fails to see the club in time and is forced to dive to the side in order to avoid the blow.
Hitting the street, he comes up with knives at the ready. “Get the other one!” he hollers to the others as they speed by. Turning to face the large woman, he draws his knives.
“Don’t kill her!” James insists as he flies past with the other two in pursuit of the second cloaked figure.
Jiron makes no reply as he and the large woman stand there, each sizing up the other. “I don’t want to kill you,” Jiron says in a mild tone.
“I know,” the woman tells him in heavily accented northern. “But you are going to hurt my sister.”
Surprised, Jiron exclaims, “You understand me?”
“Yes,” she replies.
“All I want is information,” he tells her.
She looks at him like he’s lying. “You are a killer,” she says. “You come and kill and destroy.” Stepping forward, she swings the club at Jiron’s head.
Ready for the blow this time, he easily sidesteps the descending club. Moving in close, he strikes her on the side of the head with the pommel of one of his knives and then jumps back to avoid another blow. But another blow fails to materialize.
The woman staggers backward from the blow to her head, the club falls from her hand and she slams backward onto the street. Jiron cautiously moves forward and finds her eyes closed. Worried that he might have killed her, he’s relieved when he sees her chest rise and fall as she draws in a breath. He’s glad she is alive, he
