making sure it isn’t too close to where he, Jiron, and Stig stand he says, “Leech times a hundred.” Continuing its forward motion, it rolls down the stairs, leeching from everyone it nears.
The cries still as the burning men no longer have the strength for it and James advances among them, stepping carefully. At the landing of the third floor, he finds bodies stacked one atop the other. There had been many soldiers standing there waiting their turn to attack. James has to move them with his foot in order to find a secure spot for his feet. “Cancel,” he says to make his sphere dormant.
Behind him he hears Aleya’s voice exclaim, “What do you mean you don’t have my bow?”
“I was a bit more concerned with finding you” replies Jiron.
“My father gave me that bow,” she says in a rather accusing manner.
“You would think someone who was a prisoner a moment ago would have a little more appreciation,” he retorts. Then he appears at James’ side.
To Jiron he says, “Somewhere around here is my sphere.” Looking at the pile of bodies he shakes his head. From the stairs leading up from the second floor, footsteps are heard as more men move to attack. “I need time to find it,” he says.
Jiron nods. “Scar! Potbelly! We got company,” he hollers behind him. Pulling his knives he makes his way through the pile of bodies and moves further down the stairs. He can hear Aleya say, “Sure would be handy to have my bow right about now.” As the first man appears around the turn in the stairwell, he puts her out of his mind and moves still further down to engage them. Scar and Potbelly arrive just as more appear and soon all three are battling with the enemy. Between the unevenness of the stairs and the bodies piled on them, the footing is quite treacherous.
“Give me a hand,” James says to the others as he tries to ignore the clash of metal on metal. Pulling a limp body up, he realizes that the man isn’t dead. “Be careful, some of them aren’t dead,” he announces. Then he looks under the body and doesn’t see his sphere. Laying the man on top of another, he begins pulling up another in search of his sphere.
All but the three fighting in the stairwell begin moving bodies as they hunt for his sphere. “Here it is!” Brother Willim exclaims. Three steps down from the third floor landing, he finds it lying on a step under one of the dead men.
“Don’t touch it!” yells James when he sees the priest reaching down to pick it up. “Might not be a good thing to do.” Coming over to where the glowing sphere lies, he picks it up and then begins making his way down where Jiron, Scar and Potbelly are holding off the soldiers.
Jiron and Potbelly stand next to each other as they hold off the attackers. Scar with his double swords is forced to stay behind them as there isn’t enough room for all three of them to fight side by side. They’ve actually been able to push the Empire soldiers down several steps and have reached where the stairs make a turn back on themselves as it continues down to the second floor.
“Need some room,” he says to Scar as he taps him on the shoulder.
Scar nods and moves out of his way.
Just as before, James moves to take position just behind Jiron and Potbelly. Holding the sphere in his hand, he says “Watch out,” to the pair as he extends his hand forward. Knowing what is about to happen, they quickly disengage and take a step back. The two men they were fighting think they are fleeing and with a yell, charge forward just as James yells, “Incinerate!”
The force of the blast knocks them backward as the fire surging out of the sphere engulfs them. The narrowness of the stairwell focuses the power and the flame roars forward. Screams and yells of men in pain come to them from further down the stairs. Then James tosses the sphere so it will roll down the stairs and says, “Leech times a hundred.”
Men on fire that had but a moment before been shrieking in pain, suddenly grow quiet as they flop to the floor. The smell of burnt flesh and hair is nauseating.
Potbelly is about to move forward when James stops him. “Not yet,” he says. The last thing he wants is for Potbelly to enter the leech radius of the sphere. He didn’t make it very wide for safety’s sake, but should you move one inch into it, you’ll feel the full effect.
“Cancel,” he says and then indicates they can move forward.
Jiron is the first one down the stairs followed closely by Scar and Potbelly. They make it to the second floor landing and continue down to where the stair turns back on itself. The bodies of the men slain by the leeching of the sphere end halfway down to where the stairs turns back on its way down to the ground floor. Just as Jiron moves to turn to where the stairwell continues down, three crossbow bolts barely miss him as they slam into the wall inches away. Backpedaling quickly, he moves back around the corner.
“They’re not coming up this time,” he tells Scar.
“Looks like they finally learned their lesson,” Scar replies.
Jiron glances back toward the second floor landing where James and the others are searching for his sphere. When at last they find it, James picks it up and joins him at the turn in the stairwell. Jiron then apprises him of the situation.
James moves to the turn and peers around to look down at the assembled men on the lower level. He gets a flight of crossbow bolts fired at him for his trouble. He then opens the palm of his hand and looks at the deeply glowing sphere. If he tries leeching again, it might reach critical mass and explode. Going to have to release some of the bottled up power before he does.
To Stig and Shorty he gestures down the second floor hallway and says, “See if there’s another way out. Also check to see if the windows on the other sides of the building are being watched.”
“You got it,” Shorty replies and they quickly move down the hallway checking the rooms.
“I doubt if there is one,” Jiron says, “or they would have come at us from that way too.”
“I know,” James tells him. “I was sort of hoping that they were all down below and we could sneak out a window or something without them knowing.”
“Doubt it,” he replies.
“Me too,” admits James. Then he shrugs and says, “But you never know.”
“That’s true,” agrees Jiron. “Though keep in mind, the longer we wait, the more soldiers will arrive.”
Shaking his head, James says, “I don’t think there are that many more here in Morac.” When Jiron looks to him, he adds, “They weren’t expecting an attack so there would have been no reason to have a large garrison here.” Indicating the men lying dead on the stairs both here and above, he then nods toward those waiting down below and says, “Frankly, I’d be surprised if there were many more than what’s already showed up.”
“You got a point there,” admits Jiron.
Down below, it has grown fairly quiet. Jiron moves to where the stairs turn and takes a peek around the corner. He darts back as several bolts fly by and embed themselves in the wall.
“Still down there I take it?” asks Reilin. Jiron simply gives him a look as if to say ‘That was a stupid question’.
Stig and Shorty arrive shortly after that and report that the other sides are being watched, but only by a few. “There are only three in the back,” Stig tells them.
“The sides have a few more than that,” adds Shorty, “but not that much more.”
“Can we take the three out in the back quickly?” he asks.
“Probably could if I had my bow,” states Aleya.
Jiron rounds on her. “Enough already,” he exclaims. “I said I am sorry and this constant distraction from the matter at hand is not helping anyone!”
She returns his look with a stern one of her own then nods her head.
He turns back to Shorty and asks, “Can we?”
“Possibly,” he says. “I can take one, maybe two before they realize it. But the third?”
They all look to James. Shaking his head, he holds up the sphere and says, “This is all I have until the drug wears off.”
“That’s not going to start to happen until we get out of here,” Brother Willim adds. “Even then it will take hours.”
“Where are the men situated back there?” Jiron asks.
Suddenly, they hear a creak from the lower stairway. Shorty picks up one of the knives from the dead lying at the second floor landing and moves to where the stairs turn back to the first floor. Moving quickly, he dodges around
