never find the way down in time,” he says.
“You should never have killed those servants,” states Brother Willim.
Jiron gives him an annoyed look and says, “If they had spoken our language, I wouldn’t have. We need to find someone with whom we can talk.”
Suddenly from the room where the four men are looking over the map, they hear raised voices. Jiron moves to the storage room’s door and peers out to try to see what’s going on. Unable to ascertain anything, he turns back to the others and says, “I better check this out.”
“Be careful,” Aleya tells him.
With a nod to her, he exits from the room and hurries to the end of the corridor. One of the voices within the room has grown agitated and is beginning to yell. Moving to the end, Jiron peers into the room. A fifth man has entered the room and is yelling at the other four. His face is set in an angry expression as is the others whom he’s yelling at.
“I know you,” Jiron whispers when he sees the face of the new arrival. “Ol’ One Eye Miko called you,” he says to himself. He’ll know where James is located. In fact, he’s likely to be the one doing the interrogating. Jiron grins at this stroke of good fortune.
The men argue for another several minutes before a soldier hurries in through another doorway. The talking comes to a halt as the five men turn their attention to the new arrival. He delivers what is most likely a quick report then waits.
The older of the two soldiers says something to the other one who then follows the soldier from the room. The remaining soldier then turns back to face Ol’ One Eye. He says something to him in a calm voice that’s straining to be anything but. Then Ol’ One Eye’s single remaining eye narrows and his lips press together hard when the soldier finishes speaking. Turning on his heel, Ol’ One Eye stalks off across the room and exits through a side door.
Jiron looks at the door and knows that has to be the way to where James and the others are being held. Glancing back to the soldier and the two civilians, he sees the two civilians begin to leave through the door which the soldier had come through earlier. Once they’ve left, Jiron rushes back to the others.
“I think we may have a break,” he says once back in the storage room. Then he briefly tells them what transpired. Miko gasps when he hears that Ol’ One Eye is back in the picture.
“He’ll kill James!” he blurts out.
Jiron looks at him and asks, “Have you felt any murders or deaths since we entered the keep?”
Looking surprised, Miko shakes his head, “No.”
“Then they’re still alive,” he states. “If we hurry they may remain so.” He then jerks his head in the direction of the meeting room and says, “There’s one man still in the room between us and the door Ol’ One Eye took. If we take the soldier out fast, we can follow Ol’ One Eye right to James.”
“Then let’s hurry,” urges Miko.
“Aleya,” he says, “take him out with your bow, it’ll be quicker.”
“No problem,” she assures him. Moving to join him, she pulls an arrow from her quiver and places it to string. Keeping the string relaxed until it’s time, she hurries along beside him. Behind them come Miko and Brother Willim.
At the end of the corridor, Jiron motions for the other two to wait back a ways while he and Aleya proceed. He creeps to the end of the hallway and peers into the room. The soldier remains alone in the room. Turning back to Aleya, he indicates the room and nods. Moving out of her way, he allows her to move into position.
She looks around the corner and sees the man standing there, bent over the map on the table. Taking a calming, centering breath, she steps away from the wall and draws back the bow at the same time. Just before she releases, the man looks up and they lock eyes. Then the arrow is launched. In a blur, the man dodges out of the way, and his hand comes up to snatch the arrow out of the air.
Once she releases the arrow, Jiron pulls his knives and moves to rush into the room just in case the arrow didn’t complete the job. When he sees the man standing there with the arrow in hand, he moves forward to finish it.
“Korgan was right,” the man says as he draws his sword. “The fire in the city was just a ruse so a rescue attempt could be made. I didn’t believe someone would willingly burn down a whole city just to save a few lives.” He then braces for Jiron’s attack. “I’ll have to apologize to him after I’ve killed you.”
Before Jiron can close with him, a noxious looking black cloud forms between them. From the hallway he hears Brother Willim gasp, “Magic!” Jiron comes to a quick stop and backpedals quickly to avoid coming into contact with the black cloud. He doesn’t take two steps before it begins moving quickly his way.
“Down Jiron!” Brother Willim cries out as he enters the room, aglow with power.
Trusting in the priest, Jiron jumps to the side and hits the floor. He no sooner lands on the floor than something strikes the center of the black cloud. One of Brother Willim’s many seeds he carries begins to grow, and as it grows, it absorbs the black cloud. Blossoming into a black orchid, the seed draws all the cloud into it until finally dropping to the floor.
Miko appears with sword in hand and closes with the soldier. Metal clashes as the two blades meet. Both men move with incredible speed, yet Miko is the faster of the two. The time he had the Fire in his possession having given him great skill and speed.
Then Brother Willim is there beside him, his staff smashing into the soldier’s armor. “Help the others Jiron,” the priest yells. “We’ll deal with this.”
Jiron gets up off the ground and motions for Aleya to follow him as they leave the combatants behind. Passing through the door Korgan had used, they enter a smaller corridor. Moving down it quickly, Jiron begins to smell the mustiness of an enclosed area. “We’re close,” he tells her. The clash of swords from the battle they just left follows them as they hurry down the corridor.
Another dozen yards brings them to the top of a narrow spiral stairway descending into darkness. The odor of mustiness is strongest from that direction. “This way,” he says. “Stay close to me.” He sees Aleya nod then begins taking the stairs down.
Whack!
Brother Willim’s staff takes the soldier again in the side of the head. Twice the soldier tried to send the noxious black cloud toward them, and twice Brother Willim countered it with magic of his own. Now, three orchids lie on the floor, all but crushed by the combatants’ feet.
The soldier has been on the defensive since shortly after Miko and Brother Willim engaged him. His armor shows tears and dents from where sword and staff have left their mark.
Miko’s sword is moving almost faster than the eye can see. For every two of his blows that the soldier manages to block, one makes it through his defenses.
Whack!
The soldier’s sword hand is dealt a heavy blow by Brother Willim’s staff which causes him to lose his grip. As his sword flies out of his hand, Miko comes in with a thrust and sinks his sword to the hilt in the man’s breastbone. With a cry, the soldier staggers back and crashes into one of the tables. Smashing though its top, he dies before his body even reaches the floor.
Just then, the door opens up and the two civilians enter the room. They come to an abrupt halt when they see Miko and Brother Willim standing there over the dead body of the soldier. They immediately do an about face and race from the room hollering for help.
“That tears it,” Miko says. He puts his foot on the soldier’s chest as he grips his sword and pulls it from the man’s body. He’s had this sword a very long time. In fact, it’s the one James had improved with magic just before his fateful fight with the warrior priest at the foot of the Dragon’s Pass. And it has served him well since. Using a strip of cloth torn from the dead man’s clothes, he cleans off the blood.
“Let’s go,” he says and takes the lead as they head for the door through which Jiron and Aleya had gone. Before they make it that far, the sound of feet running toward the room comes to them. Glancing back at the door the two civilians ran through, Miko sees the door burst open and guards begin pouring into the room.
“Go tell the others!” he hollers as he pushes Brother Willim through the doorway.
“What about you?” Brother Willim asks.
“I’ll hold them off,” he asserts. Drawing his sword again, he says, “Go!” Turning back, he sets himself to meet the assault.
