large structure appears down the street ahead of them. Even two blocks away, they can see that an additional dozen men now stand guard before the front entrance.
Keeping to the edge of the street near the buildings, they slowly make their way closer until they are but four buildings away. “Where are the others?” asks James. He was hoping to have come across Miko and the rest by now. Fear that they may have been captured or even killed begins to grow within him.
“Use your cloth and find them,” Jiron tells him.
Feeling stupid for not having thought of that himself, he can only assume the events of the night must have him rattled. Taking it out, he casts the spell and is surprised to see that it indicates they are in the building he and Jiron are hiding against. “They’re in here,” James says as he pats the wall.
Several feet behind them lies the doorway into the building. Jiron moves back to it and tries the handle. Finding it locked, he removes one of his knives and begins working on the lock. He soon has it opened and they move inside.
“Miko!” whispers James as loudly as he dares once the door is closed behind him. They remain still and listen for a reply. When nothing comes, he again whispers, “Miko!” this time a little bit louder.
A shadow passes across the doorway leading to another room. “James?” he hears Miko ask.
“Yes,” he replies. Then his orb springs to life, barely giving off any light, just enough for them to be able to see each other.
The rest are right behind Miko, even Scar and Potbelly. “Am I glad to see you two,” Scar says.
“We were getting worried that you might not have made it,” Potbelly adds. “But not too much, seeing as how nothing blew up or anything.”
“What did you find out?” Miko asks.
“Nothing,” replies James. “Orrin said for us to abandon her. That to attempt a rescue was tantamount to a death sentence.”
“Are we going after her then?” Reilin asks. No one even bothers to answer him, they all know the answer.
Jiron comes before Scar and Potbelly and asks, “Did you two see anything that might help?”
Shaking his head, Scar says, “Not really. The buildings adjacent to the one holding her are three stories or less. Guards are posted on all four sides including the roof. I’m not sure how we could get in there without being seen.”
“There’s always the sewer,” replies Miko.
An audible groan escapes James. “Only if there are no other alternatives will I do that again,” he says. To Scar he asks, “How close can we get without being seen?”
“Pretty close,” he replies.
“Good, then take me there so I can see what’s going on,” he tells him.
“I’m coming too,” states Jiron.
When Scar nods, Jiron says, “The rest of you stay here.” That’s when he notices Miko has a tart in his hand. Surprised, he glances around and for the first time notices they are in a baker’s shop. Over to one side he sees where the baker’s leftovers from the day before are stacked together. He goes over and helps himself to a quarter loaf of bread and lays three coppers down on the counter next to it.
James notices it too and snags three of the four remaining tarts before Miko has a chance to finish them off. He too lays a couple coins on the counter and then takes a large bite as he follows Scar to the back of the building. “I think the baker is asleep above us,” he explains. James nods understanding.
Scar takes them out the back to the street running behind the building and then quickly over to the mouth of an alley that leads back to the street the Eye’s Court faces. Upon entering the alley, they move quickly to where it opens onto the street. From there, James has a good view of the face of the Eye’s Court across the street as well as the alley directly across from them that runs beside it. The guards in the street are none too far away.
The alley on the other side of the street that runs along the side of the Eye’s Court is wider by far than the ordinary alley. Peering around the corner he can barely see that the alley on the far side of the Eye’s Court is just as wide. He realizes the buildings bordering the Eye’s are further back in order to create a buffer zone that would prevent any attempt at gaining access from their rooftops.
Four men with crossbows are seen in windows on the third and fourth floor facing the front. The side facing the alley across from them has four men in similar position, two on the third floor and two on the fourth. The windows on the fifth floor are dark and closed. Another four men are stationed on the rooftop, each looking out over a different side.
Aside from being set back away from the Eye’s Court, the building across from them is only three stories tall, as are all the others adjacent to it just as Scar had said. James stands there several minutes while he takes in the positions of the men in, on and around the building holding Aleya. It’s definitely a tough nut to crack.
“Alright,” he says and indicates they should return. “I’ve seen enough.”
Just as they are leaving, more soldiers arrive and join those guarding the front of the building. “This just gets better and better,” Scar comments as they withdraw back down the alley.
Once they’ve returned back to where the others are waiting, James gives them a rundown of what he saw. “So,” he summarizes, “any way we go, it’s going to be almost impossible to get inside without being seen.”
“Can you put the guards to sleep?” Miko asks. “Like that time in Cardri when you snuck back in after rescuing Perrilin?”
“I doubt it,” he replies. “Those guards were bored and not alert. The ones here are expecting us to make an attempt and will fight any attempt I make. I’m just not sure I could get them all at the same time.”
“The sewers?” asks Jiron.
“We don’t even know where an entrance is,” he says. “There’s not much time. Once they’ve completed searching near Orrin’s inn, they’ll come here. The sooner we move, the better our chance will be to get away.” He glances at the others and then settles his gaze on Brother Willim. “Is there anything you could do?”
Shaking his head, he says, “I don’t think so.”
“How about a diversion?” asks Potbelly.
“Yeah!” exclaims Scar. “Do something like you did in Al-Kur.”
“It may come to that,” he says. Then he turns to Shorty. “How far away are you accurate with your knives?” he asks.
“How far away are you talking?” he responds.
“From the rooftop of the building next to it, to the guards in the windows,” he replies.
Nodding, he says, “I think so. I don’t have my throwing knives, they took those when they captured me at the inn. All I have are the five knives I took from the guards we killed earlier.”
“Can you do it with those?” Jiron asks.
He takes one from his belt and tests it for balance and weight. “It’s not well balanced for throwing,” he says. “But they’ll do.”
“Good,” says James.
“You got an idea?” Jiron asks.
“Yes I do,” he nods. “But we have to get into the building on the back side, it’s furthest from the guards stationed out front. Hopefully what we do will have a better chance of remaining unobserved back there.”
“Now,” James says as he looks to Jiron, “how do we get across the street?”
“Follow me,” he says. Taking a slice of some honeyed sweet bread, Jiron leads them out the back door. Leaving through the back door again, they follow the street leading away from the direction of the Eye’s Court for about a block. Then they come to a side street that will take them back to the one running in front of the Eye’s Court. Turning into it, Jiron leads them back to the street where he pauses and peers in both directions. Seeing that the guards in front of the Eye’s Court aren’t likely to see them crossing from so far away, he waves the others forward and they race across to the narrow alley on the other side.
From there he leads them in a roundabout way until they’ve reached the building directly behind the one holding Aleya. Using his knife, he picks the lock and soon has the door open.
They find themselves in the residence of a rather affluent individual. Jiron suddenly freezes and holds his hand up for the others to stop. They stand there in the darkened room a moment until the others hear the creaking of a floorboard above them. Someone is awake and moving about.
“Wait here,” he says. A knife springs to his hand and he moves to the door leading from the room.
