The Jongurian Mission (52 page)

It was late and these thought
s were getting him nowhere. He decided to douse the lamp and lay down on the dirty straw mat once again to get what sleep he could.

He was rudely awaken when the door to the office was thrown open and Ko came in quickly with a lantern.

“Sir, we’ve spotted three of the Adjurians coming into the city. Wen is with them,” Ko said as shone the lantern down on Leisu and started to help him up.

Leisu rubbed the sleep from his eyes
and jumped to his feet, grabbing his sword from the desk to fasten to his belt. “Wen is with them?” he asked.

“Well, it’s a Jongurian, we know that much, and I don’t think these men would have anyone else’s help.
He must have followed them north from Bindao,” Ko said.

Immediately Leisu regretted his decision to send ten men further north.
If Wen was aiding the Adjurians then they’d need all the men they could get.

“Where are they now,” Leisu asked as he began to head out of the office and toward the door leading to the wooden staircase.

“They were just coming through the gates. They must have spotted the men sometime today so are probably on their way here now.”

“Where are our men at?”
They were walking down the stairs along the outside of the warehouse and Leisu wanted to make sure that they had a sufficient force to stop the men before they reached their friends.

“We have ten spread out around the city gates and the other ten are here in the warehouse,” Ko answered.
“I’ve already ordered that all men return to the warehouse.”

“Good.
Have three good men guard the office where we have the two Adjurians. Send another three to the city gate in case they make some kind of escape. The rest we should place on the first floor of the warehouse; that’s the first place the Adjurians’ll check.”

“Sir, do you really think we should divide our forces like that?
Those other six men could prove decisive in the fight,” Ko said.

“Both of us will prove quite decisive, I think,” Leisu answered.

They reached the door on the ground level of the warehouse and Ko gave a knock. A moment later it was opened and they headed inside to see ten heavily armed Jongurian soldiers. They had all manner of swords, several had bows slung over their shoulders, while two of the men held crossbows instead of swords. Leisu had never liked the weapon, he thought it took too long to reload, but he knew that the garrison forces here in Waigo liked them. Some of these men had served in Waigo during the war so had probably grown fond of the weapon. Whatever got the job done was fine with him.

Ko barked a few quick orders and
three of the men went out the door, their footsteps audible as they moved up the creaking stairs outside. Another knock came at the door and Ko answered and exchanged a few words.

“I’ve told some of the men to head back to the gates,” he told Leisu.

Leisu nodded. “Where are they now,” he asked, referring to Wen and the two Adjurians that’d come into the city.

“They
’re coming this way through the side streets along the wall,” Ko told him.

“Prepare yourselves,” Leisu said to the men gathered around the door.
“Find a good spot to defend against an attack. As of now there are only three men coming, but one of them is an accomplished fighter and should
not
be underestimated.”

The men spread out around the warehouse floor, taking up what defensive positions they could behind the few crates and large boxes.
Leisu and Ko headed toward a large crate set against the same wall as the door and leaned down against it.

“Now we wait for them to come to us,” Leisu told him as he looked toward the door.

After a few minutes Leisu heard something bump the outside of the door, then a moment later he could hear the wooden stairs outside the building creak as if someone was stepping on them. More creaking soon followed, and it was obvious that more than one man was heading up those stairs. He waved over at several of the men nearest the door to find out what was going on. They got to the door and tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge.

They looked over at Leisu and Ko.
“Something is blocking the door,” they shouted. Several more men came to their aid and pushed against the door. It budged some, and they could see that a large crate was blocking the door from the outside while two wooden doorjambs had also been pushed under the door. Just then a few shouts could be heard from the second floor of the warehouse. The Adjurians had made it to their friends it seemed, and were now attacking the three men guarding them. The men at the door pushed with more force and soon there was a larger crack in the door as the crate was pushed further away. Suddenly an arrow sailed through that crack and took one of the men right in the throat. Blood sprayed all over the door and the men around him jumped back as they too were covered in it. The man was dead before he hit the floor. Another foolishly went up to the door and peered out the crack and another arrow sailed through taking him right in the eye. He fell atop the other man, just as dead.

Two men in just a few seconds, Leisu thought, and he didn’t even know what was happening upstairs or outside.
How could they have known that the Adjurians were being held upstairs? It was useless to think that now, the damage had been done.

“Well, what are you waiting for, get that door open,” Leisu yelled at the men staring at the blood-soaked door.
No one moved toward the door, so Leisu pulled his sword out. “Get that door open, I said.”

This time three men moved toward the door and began pushing on it.
It budged slightly, but they were staying as far from the crack as they could, so their efforts weren’t accomplishing much. One of the men began to kick at the two jambs stuck under the door, and it seemed he got one, for the door suddenly opened a few more inches. He began to kick again when an arrow sailed in and struck him right in the leg. He fell howling to the floor and another man came to drag him back toward the crates. More creaking could be heard from the stairs outside and it sounded as though several men were now descending the stairs.

“Get that door open
!” Leisu yelled. Two more men rushed up to the door and hit it with all of their force. It opened another few inches and one of the men thought the gap sufficient to test. He squeezed himself partway through the half-open door when an arrow struck him somewhere in the part of his body exposed outside the door. He yelled out in pain and tried to squeeze back into the warehouse, but he was stuck. Another arrow took him in the throat and he feebly tried to grasp at it with the arm that was stuck outside the door.

“Hack it down,” Leisu yelled at the men, and they drew their swords and began to swing them wildly at the door sending splinters flying everywhere.
The door was thick and heavy, however, so their efforts quickly proved useless.

“Stop
!” Ko yelled, holding up his hand toward the men at the door, and their swinging ceased. “Listen,” he said.

Leisu strained his ears as best he could.
There was no sound from overhead where for the last few minutes there’d been shuffling and bumping. The stairs outside no longer creaked but were silent. The only sound was some faint gurgling noises coming from the man with the arrow in his throat who was still wedged between the door and its frame.

“They’re gone,” Ko said a moment later looking at Leisu.

Both men immediately rushed to the door and pushed on it with all their might.
The two men who’d just been hacking at it joined them and after it opened a few more inches the dead man fell from the door into the warehouse. They pushed a bit more and then Ko slipped out. Leisu could hear him charging up the stairs and then his footsteps on the floor above. Leisu motioned at the other men in the warehouse and they too rushed to the door. Soon it was open far enough that they all could get out easily. Leisu came out just as Ko was descending the stairs.

“They’ve killed the three above and taken the two prisoners,” he said, “but they lost one in the process.”

“One of the prisoners?” Leisu asked.

“
Yes, the Adjurian,” Ko answered.

“They can’t have gotten far,” Leisu said to the men around him.
“Fan out, head toward the gates, they’ve got to be leaving the city.”

The men all ran off toward the side streets.
Leisu turned to Ko.

“They killed six
of us, freed their two friends, and only lost one in the process,” Ko said. “Most likely any of the men I sent to the gates to stop them are dead too and they’re already heading toward the canyons that lead around the city.” He paused and looked at Leisu for a few moments. “What would you have me do, sir?”

Leisu thought for a minute.
Ko was right; most of the men he’d brought with him from Bindao were probably already dead. He had fourteen left in the city, maybe less, where just a few minutes ago he’d had twenty. Ten more were heading north and completely useless to him. He was just about to speak when one of the men who ran off suddenly came around a building and ran up to them.

“They didn’t go through the gates,” he said between gasps for breath.
“Three men followed them a ways from the gate when they first came in and saw them throw a rope over the wall. One of them came to tell us before they reached the warehouse, but they killed him before he got to us. The other two stayed, waiting for us to send reinforcements. Instead they saw four men come back to the rope and scale the wall. One of them grabbed onto the rope when it began to be pulled back over and managed to shoot one of them and kill him, but he was then shot through with an arrow. The rope was pulled over before the other man could get over.”

Leisu slammed his fist into his palm.
“Damn.”

* * * * *

For ten minutes nothing happened as Bryn looked through his spyglass to where the rope hung down from the city wall. It was a dark night but the moon was half-full and the lights from the city spread outward from the wall,allowing him to see a little.

“They’ve been captured too,” Jal said from where they crouched down behind some boulders on top of the ridge overlooking the city.

“Give it time,” Rodden said.

Then through the glass Bryn saw Trey and Flint stand up as if they
’d heard something, and he saw the rope move.

“Something’s happening
!” Bryn said excitedly.

As Bryn watched, Flint grabbed the rope around his waist with both hands and planted his feet firmly in the ground.
A few seconds later Jurin came over the top of the wall, pausing for a moment to look back down the other side before starting to climb down toward Flint, dropping the last few feet to the ground. Trey helped him up, and it was obvious to Bryn as he looked on that Jurin was injured. He held his right side and wasn’t moving very fast. Then suddenly Halam came up from behind the wall and came down the other side. He sprang to his feet after dropping and immediately went to Jurin, putting the man’s arm around his shoulders and helping him toward the road. Willem was over immediately after and also went to Jurin’s aid. A few more tense moments passed while he waited for Pader and Wen to appear. It looked like Trey called something up to the top of the wall, and then a moment later Wen was visible. He swung over the wall and dropped down to the ground, motioning and talking quickly to both Trey and Flint. Trey began running to catch up with Halam, Willem, and Jurin while Flint started to untie the rope from around his waist as Wen pulled it over the wall.

“They don’t have Pader,” Rodden said when it became clear that Wen was pulling the rope back over the wall.

As Bryn looked on Wen tensed. The rope was caught on something, or someone. He gave it a few more yanks, but it wouldn’t budge. All of a sudden a different man appeared at the top of the wall, the rope in his hands. He stood up on the wall and pulled a loaded crossbow from behind his back, took aim, and fired. The quarrel dug itself into Flint’s chest and he collapsed to the ground. Wen had already begun to take the bow from behind his back at the sight of the man and just as Flint hit the ground an arrow embedded itself into the man’s chest, quickly followed by another. He toppled backward off of the wall and into the city. Wen crouched down to examine Flint, but just as quickly stood back up. He began pulling on the rope once again, this time bringing it up and over the wall. After coiling it into a circle around his arm he ran across the ground toward the road.

“Someone else came over the wall and shot Flint
!” Bryn said. “I think he’s
dead
.” Bryn suddenly felt a little queasy.

“No
!” Conn shouted, snatching the glass from Bryn’s hands to have a look. It wasn’t easy to see in the darkness, but Conn saw enough to convince him that Bryn spoke truly, and he handed the glass back wordlessly, a look of shock on his face.

“Let’s get moving toward the road,” Rodden said.
“We need to meet the rest of them.”

They got up and began running.
Trey was there to meet them and Halam, Willem, and Jurin weren’t far behind.

“What happened?” Rodden said to Halam when they got close.