out and on the street, the young man closes the door and plunges them into darkness.
Perrilin stops and turns to them. “It would be best if we parted ways here,” he says. “Never know who may be out and about.”
James nods and extends his hand. “Thank you for your help,” he again says.
Taking the hand, Perrilin grins. “Until we meet again,” he says. Then he turns and quickly walks down the street.
“Now let’s go find this guy,” Jiron says.
“Not yet,” James tells him. “Let’s find the others first and then we’ll pay Mr. Baku a visit.”
Jiron nods and then heads down the street in the general direction toward where they left the others. As they go, James wonders if Buka will even remember Tinok, not to mention what happened to him. He’s not sure what Jiron plans to do in that event, but he would hate to be in Buka’s place should that be the case.
Chapter Twenty Six
They work their way through the city until the outskirts come into view. Moving quickly, they reach the last of the outlying buildings before the road once more enters the desert.
James brings them to a halt and then after scanning the area for a second, leads them to a spot near the building’s edge where light is spilling from a window. Moving near the light, he pulls forth his mirror and brings Miko’s moon illuminated image into view. Expanding it slightly he finds the others still together, most of them are sleeping.
“Good,” he says as he puts his mirror back into his pouch, “they’re alright.” Then he removes the strip of cloth he uses to search with and soon is on his way into the night. Following the direction indicated by the cloth, they hurry across the moonlit landscape.
When Cyst is five minutes behind them, a shadow moves to intercept them which turns out to be Scar and Potbelly materializes out of the night a moment later. James’ orb springs to life on his palm. “Everybody up,” he says as he enters the camp.
“We know where this Buka is,” Jiron says as he bends over to give Miko a shake to bring him back to consciousness. “If things go bad, we may need to get out of here in a hurry.”
“What?” asks a bleary eyed Miko as he sits up and looks around.
“Where is he?” Brother Willim asks.
“In the slaver compound,” Reilin says. He moves over to where the horses are tethered and begins to put the saddle on his.
“You’re going to storm the place I take it?” Aleya asks.
“Not exactly, no,” Jiron assures her. “Just slip over the wall and have a little conversation with him.”
“Just like that?” She eyes him disapprovingly.
“No other way I’m afraid,” he explains. “From what we learned this night, he isn’t going to be too helpful as it is.”
She lays a hand on his shoulder. “Didn’t you tell me that you gave your word not to harm him? That you would leave him as you found him?”
“Yes, I did,” he acknowledges.
Raising her voice she exclaims, “Then how are you going to convince him to tell you what he knows?”
“We’ll figure a way,” James says as he comes up behind them.
She looks from one to the other and shakes her head.
“Not much night left,” Stig says as he joins them. “An hour, maybe two.”
“Then we best be on our way,” replies Jiron. With a last look to Aleya, he walks past her and over to where his horse waits for him. Taking the saddle from the ground, he begins readying his horse.
Several minutes pass before they are all in the saddle and ready to ride. James extinguishes his orb and Jiron takes the lead. Heading back toward Cyst, he angles toward the wall encompassing the slaver compound. Many buildings have sprouted around its walls, and Jiron brings them to a halt before they draw too close to them.
Turning to the others, he says, “The rest of you wait out here while James and I go in and talk to Buka.” He and James then dismount.
“Aren’t you going to need me?” asks Reilin.
Shaking his head, Jiron replies, “Not this time. As Guildmaster of the Slaver Guild, I would expect him to be able to speak our language.” He hands the reins of his horse to Shorty.
“So would I,” agrees Scar.
As James and Jiron make ready to return to Cyst, Potbelly says under his breath, “I’m tired of always staying behind.”
“You got that right,” Scar says with a nod.
Jiron glances to James and rolls his eyes, otherwise ignoring the pair. “Shall we?” he asks.
“Better get this over with before the sun rises,” he says. Off to the east, the sky remains dark. The onset of dawn still has yet to makes its initial appearance. Moving quickly, they leave the others behind and are soon making their way through the outlying buildings.
In no time at all, the wall of the slaver compound appears ahead of them out of the night. Lights are seen within the compound and they make it to the wall without being noticed. This early in the morning, very few people are awake.
The wall is twelve feet high. Jiron makes a running jump and leaps toward its top. Barely reaching the upper lip, he grabs hold and makes sure his grip is secure before he pulls himself up to look over the other side.
Hanging there, he looks over and finds no one in the immediate vicinity on the other side of the wall. Pulling himself up the rest of the way, he stays as flat against the top to avoid being outlined against the light any more than is absolutely necessary. There’s no ramp or walkway on the other side either, just a similar drop to the ground as on the outside.
Once he’s gained the top, he swings over and lands on the other side. He then plasters himself against the base of the wall to see if anyone may have noticed his entry. When no one comes to investigate, he unwinds the rope from around his middle and throws a section over the wall to James. He takes a secure hold when he feels James taking up the slack. Then the rope grows taught as James begins climbing the other side.
The rope goes taught, then becomes loose. Grows taught again then goes loose. When he feels James try for the third time to scale the wall, Jiron sighs and says quietly, “Tie a loop at the end and I’ll pull you over.” He feels two quick tugs on the rope and shakes his head. He had forgotten how inept James is at things like this. When it comes to magic, he’s almost unparalleled in what he can do. But physical stuff such as scaling a wall? Forget it.
“All set,” he hears from the other side as the rope is tugged twice in quick succession. He begins taking in the slack, and when the rope becomes taught starts pulling James toward the top. It’s a hard pull with James’ weight on the other side. Hand over hand and inch by inch he gradually brings him closer to the top of the compound’s wall.
As he comes near the top, James reaches up and takes hold with his right hand. As soon as he has a secure grip with one hand, he lets go of the rope with the other and helps Jiron by pulling himself up. “Okay, I made it,” he says as he climbs onto the top. Taking his foot out of the loop, he tosses down the rope.
On the ground, Jiron begins coiling the rope once more around his middle under his jerkin. He keeps one eye on James’ progress in getting down from the top, and the other on the immediate vicinity. So far, no one has made an appearance.
He no sooner gets the rope securely in place than James drops down to the ground next to him. “Ready?” he asks. James gives him a nod and then they set out toward the building wherein they saw Buka with the mirror.
The room in question is within one of the larger buildings in the compound and not too far from where they crossed over the wall. They keep in the shadows of the wall as they steadily work their way closer. Two men’s voices suddenly come out of the dark ahead causing them to freeze and plaster themselves against the wall.
Standing still, they listen as the men’s footsteps approach closer. As they come nearer, Jiron is able to discern the two dark outlines of the men. It doesn’t look as if the direction they are walking will bring them very
