the light of the Star. Brother Willim has Miko’s head cradled in his lap and things don’t look very good.
He finds Tinok lying not far away and runs over to him. The barrier which James had around him is gone. “Tinok!” he says as he comes to kneel at his side. When he doesn’t respond, he puts his ear to his chest to see if he’s still alive. A very faint lub-dub is heard as his heart still beats within his chest.
Giving him a gentle shake he says again, “Tinok! It’s me, Jiron.”
His eyes flutter open and at first he is unable to focus well enough to see. Then the sight of his friend’s face comes into clarity and he smiles. “Jiron, thank god you found me,” he says weakly.
“Can you stand?” Jiron asks.
“I think so,” he replies. With Jiron’s help he makes it to his feet. “Oh man,” he says as he sees James there struggling to keep the gate closed.
Jiron turns and sees the Star shining with incredible brilliance. The bulge within the gate moves outward, then recedes. Outward, then recedes again as James struggles to keep it closed.
“I can’t stop it,” James says. “Even with the Star, I can’t prevent him from coming through.”
“What can we do?” Jiron asks.
“Get everyone out,” he says. With sweat pouring down his face, he adds, “Fast.”
Tinok leans on Jiron’s shoulder as they hurry over to where Brother Willim cradles Miko’s head. “We’ve got to go,” urges Jiron. He sees the blood covering the front of his robes and the two halves of his staff lying on the ground nearby.
“Miko’s lost too much blood,” he says. “He can’t make it by himself and I am not strong enough to carry him.”
“Can you help Tinok?” he asks.
“I’m alright,” Tinok says as he lets go of Jiron’s shoulder. “My strength is coming back.”
“Okay.” To Brother Willim and Tinok he says, “You two help each other.” Bending over, he picks up Miko. The hand that had held the dagger is still a little numb, but serviceable as life returns to it. Turning back to James he hollers, “Let’s go!”
James turns his head toward them and they can see the strain etched across his face. “I can’t go,” he says. “If I do, he’ll pass through.”
“You said he’s going to pass through anyway,” he yells back. “We failed.”
Shaking his head, James says, “If the gate is no longer here, he won’t be able to pass through.”
“You mean…?” he asks.
James nods and says, “I’m going to destroy it.” When Jiron hesitates, he says, “I can’t hold this for long.” Reaching into his pouch, he removes the medallion with the warrior priest symbol and tosses it to Brother Willim. “You don’t have much time.”
Brother Willim snatches the medallion and puts it in an inner pocket of his robe. He nods and with he and Tinok leaning on one another, head for the stairs.
Jiron remains motionless as he stares at James.
James meets his eyes and says, “It’s been fun.”
A tear runs down the face of the battle hardened pit fighter.
“Go,” urges James then turns his attention back to the gate.
“Come on Jiron!” Tinok hollers from the stairs.
With the unconscious body of the High Priest of Morcyth in his arms, he hurries after the other two. Moving to the stairs, he begins climbing up. He only pauses a moment when he reaches the point where the stairs leave the cavern. Looking down at his friend, he sees the light from the Star still shining forth. Completely surrounding James is a ring of shadows, not nearly as far back as they had been. “Goodbye James,” he says then continues up the stairs.
“Jiron?”
Stig comes over to where Aleya is lying on the bed. Her eyes are open and she sits up abruptly when she realizes that Stig, Shorty, Reilin and Aku are the only ones in the room.
“What happened?” she asks. When the others fail to answer, she understands. “No!” she cries. Rising from the bed, she starts to head for the door.
Stig steps in front of her and says, “It’s too late. They’re already in the temple.”
From where he stands looking out the window, Shorty says, “The whole temple area is swarming with guards and soldiers.”
Aleya rushes over and looks out across the dark city. Unable to see the temple well from here, she turns to them. “How could you let them go in there alone?” she demands. They can barely meet her accusing eyes let alone answer. “How could he do this to me?” The last question is more to herself than anything else.
Gazing for a moment over to where the temple sits, she then puts her face in her hands and begins to sob. The others in the room glance to each other, none knowing what to do.
Aku gets up from his position in the corner and comes to her. He slips his hand into hers and together they stand there, with only the sound of her sobbing disturbing the silence.
“How many are there?” Potbelly asks. Deflecting a sword stroke with his knife, he follows through with his sword and guts the guard before him.
“I don’t know,” replies Scar. Both of his blades are red with blood from the bodies that litter the hallway from where they stand at the top of the stairs, all the way back to where they first crossed swords.
Ever since the others had left, they’ve held the corridor. Both now sport numerous wounds and have been forced to give ground until they now stand at the top of the stairs. Unwilling to give any more, they decided to make their stand here.
“Wonder if they made it,” Potbelly says as he lashes out with his knife. The man he struck dodges back momentarily when a six inch long cut opens up on lower abdomen,
“Doubt if we’ll ever know,” Scar replies, then he feints with the sword in his left hand. When the temple guard raises his sword to block, he runs him through with his other.
Standing side by side, the two comrades trade blows with all who come. Only rarely do their opponents manage to get through their guard. The skill Scar and Potbelly are facing is woefully below what they’re used to facing in the pits.
“We could always surrender,” suggests Potbelly.
“I’d rather eat bloodworms for breakfast,” replies Scar. “Besides,” he begins then has to pause as his opponent’s sword lunges forward in an attempt to skewer him through the middle. Unfortunately for the guard, he slips on the blood covering the floor and continues forward off balance. It’s easy enough for Scar to trip him up and then nudge him toward the top of the stairs.
Potbelly sees what he did and uses his elbow to propel the guard the rest of the way. As the guard completely loses his balance, he hits the stairs and falls. Tumbling down the stairs, he hits the bottom and doesn’t get back up.
“Besides,” resumes Scar as he readies to meet the next in line, “no one would understand us even if we tried.”
“You do have a point there,” replies Potbelly.
So side by side they continue meeting all comers. Eventually, guards from the city begin to be intermingled with those of the temple. Blades sing and blood flies as man after man meet their fate at the hands of expert pit fighters.
“Move!” urges Jiron. The weight of Miko in his arms is beginning to tire him. Brother Willim and Tinok have fallen behind and he has had to wait for them to hurry up. “James isn’t going to be able to hold off much longer.”
“We’re coming,” Brother Willim hollers back. “Don’t wait for us.”
To himself, Jiron says, “You have the medallion, I have to wait for you.” Then the other two reach him and he moves down an adjoining corridor toward the Hall of Despair. Little Brothers have been their constant companions since leaving James. Most of the time, Brother Willim has one or two who grab hold of his robe and pull him forward. Even they seem to understand the urgency of the situation.
“How much further is it?” Tinok asks. At first he didn’t have much strength, but after walking for awhile, the stamina he once had has begun to return. It must have been the time held inactive here that had done it to him.
