“Damn!” says Stig. “Run!”
“But what about James and Jiron?” Miko asks.
“They’ll meet us back where we left Scar and Potbelly,” he explains. “Now move it!” Running for their lives, they flee down a side alley.
The soldiers move to the inn and surround it. Smashing in the front door, the soldiers and guards run inside.
Crash!
The noise from the soldiers smashing the inn’s door in comes to them even here on the third floor. Orrin stands up and yells “You led them to me!” Grabbing a pack on the floor, he heads for the door.
Jiron grabs him by the shoulder and demands, “What about the building?”
“If your friend is being held within the Eye’s Court, there’s nothing you can do” he says. Throwing open the door, Orrin glances back at them and says. “You better leave her there and get out of Morac while you still can.” Then locking eyes with James he says, “The Eyes have dealt with mages before, be careful.” With that, he knocks off Jiron’s hand and runs into the hallway.
James is at the window looking down at the street below. “They’re everywhere,” he says. Down below he can see soldiers staked out all along the street with more arriving from all directions every minute. “Hope the others got away safely.”
“Stop talking and let’s get out of here!” urges Jiron. Leaving the room, they begin to head for the stairs when Orrin emerges out of them at a run. Behind him they hear the pounding of feet of soldiers on their way up.
“To the roof!” he yells. “Follow me.”
Just as he passes them and continues down the hallway, the first soldier emerges from the stairs. Jiron pulls his knives and says, “Follow him. I’ll hold them off until you are on the roof.”
“Good luck,” James says as he turns and races after Orrin.
Completely nestled within his element, Jiron feels all the frustration, fear and anxiety that has been his companion for the last few weeks burst out of him in a flurry of action. The first soldier who reaches him strikes out with his sword only to have it deflected by one knife as the other sinks three inches into his side. Kicking out, Jiron knocks the man back into the others coming out of the stairs.
Rather than wait, Jiron takes the battle to them. Anger takes one, frustration another as the pent up emotions find release in combat. With every strike he makes, he loses more of the emotional turmoil and peace comes to fill its place.
Block, stab, twist, deflect, blow after blow he deflects only to strike back with devastating results. Three men now lie upon the hallway floor, their blood flowing as life leaves them. Still more emerge from the stairs, almost as if they are eager to feel the kiss of his blades. Jiron is only happy to oblige.
As the press of men steadily moves him backward down the hallway, he expects to hear James hollering to him that he’s reached the roof. A little concerned that he hasn’t as yet, he puts the worry aside and lets his blades dance.
Suddenly to his right, a door opens and a man with a sword strikes out at him. The unexpectedness of the blow causes him to fail to dodge in time and the man scores a shallow wound on his right shoulder.
He kicks out at the soldier he is currently engaged with and sends him backward into his fellows then turns to the civilian in the doorway. As the man strikes at him once more, Jiron easily dodges the blow. The man didn’t take into account the possibility of missing and thus has thrown himself off balance.
Lashing out at the man, Jiron takes him across the throat with a knife then elbows him back into the room. Just then he hears James holler that he’s made it to the roof. Leaping into the man’s room, he slams shut the door and throws the bolt.
Such a flimsy bolt might deter the common thief, but there’s no way it will long hold out against sustained blows. Moving over to the bed, he quickly drags it over to the door as blows begin to hammer on it from the other side. Using his boot to scoot the dead man out of the way, he settles the edge of the bed against the door.
Bam!
Hoping that will give him enough time, he moves to the window and throws it open. He sticks his head out and turns his face to the roof. “James!” he hollers.
Bam!
A moment later he hears James’ voice coming from the roof above, “I’m here!”
Unwinding the rope from around his waist, Jiron yells, “I’m throwing up my rope, catch it!”
“Right!” he hollers back.
Bam!
Getting enough slack to make it up to James, he leans out and throws it up. He can feel it stop as James catches it. “Now, move down the roof ten feet to your left and brace yourself!” he hollers.
Bam! Crack!
The bolt breaks from the wall as the door jamb shatters.
“Ready!” he hears James yell and the rope’s slack is taken up as James readies himself.
Jiron climbs onto the window ledge and then glances back to the door. Already open a foot, the men on the other side are gradually pushing it and the bed further into the room. Taking a firm hold of the rope, Jiron sees a soldier squeeze through the opening and charge him.
Jumping out and trusting in James, he holds onto the rope tightly. With James holding the upper end of the rope ten feet to the left, he swings out and over to land below where James is located. Now ten feet away from the window, he begins climbing up to the roof. Before he makes it up to the roof’s edge, a soldier sticks his head out and sees him there hanging by the rope. He begins calling out to those below.
“Come on!” he hears James grunt from above him.
Hand over hand, Jiron climbs the rope the rest of the way to the roof. Bolts begin firing at him from the soldiers in the street below. One strikes his pack and embeds itself while the rest go wide. At the roof’s edge, he reaches up and takes hold. Releasing the rope, he pulls himself up and onto the roof.
James takes hold of his shirt and helps him over the edge as bolts continue to fly from below.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Jiron turns his attention to the source of the banging and sees that the trap door leading from the roof has several crates placed upon it. “Orrin said he brought those up here when he first arrived just in case,” explains James.
“Good thinking,” he says. Looking around, he doesn’t see Orrin anywhere. “Where did he go?”
James indicates the far side of the inn facing the rear courtyard. “He had a rope there and was over the side right after we pushed the crates on top of the trap door,” he explains.
Jiron runs over to the rope hanging over the edge and looks down. A dozen men are standing at the base of the rope. When they see him looking over the top, they begin yelling. “Not this way,” he says. Taking his knife, he cuts Orrin’s rope and lets it fall to the street below. Now they can’t come at them from that direction.
Bang! Bang
“That’s not going to hold forever,” Jiron says.
“No,” replies James. “I’ve got an idea but not sure how well it will work.”
Jiron takes in the distances between the inn and the other buildings next to it. None are very close and any attempt to jump will be seen by those below. “Okay, what is it?”
James outlines what he plans to do and Jiron nods with a grin. “Bold and dangerous,” he says, “I like it.” He and James then hurry over to the furthest part of the roof from where the soldiers are attempting to break through the trapdoor.
Kneeling down, James summons the magic and begins tracing out a three-foot by three-foot square on the roof. As his finger moves along the surface, a line forms in its wake. He’s using magic to cut out a section of the roof. When he has two sides of the square done, the edge of the square section that has already been cut begins sinking into the roof. Jiron takes out one of his knives and jams the blade in the crack to prevent it from falling in prematurely.
The only problem with his plan is if he’s doing this above an area that currently has a guest or that the soldiers are in, they’ll be found out quickly. If that happens, they will not get another chance.
Bang! Bang!
Jiron glances to the crates holding the trapdoor closed and sees that they still remain covering the trapdoor.
