The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five (16 page)

“So why did we?” Miko asks as he sinks into
the chair. A serving girl comes over and he orders some ale.

“James wouldn’t leave him alone,” he
explains. “Not after what he’s gone through. Plus, Jiron would’ve
killed him if we had left him there with his sister.”

Nodding, Miko sees the girl returning with
his ale. After he’s taken a sip, he asks, “Any word from Jiron and
Fifer?”

Shaking his head, Illan says, “No, not yet.”
In hushed tones, he goes on to relate what Ellinwyrd told him about
James. When he’s done, he all but has to restrain Miko from rushing
to the castle to rescue him.

“We can’t just sit here and do nothing!” he
exclaims.

“I don’t plan to sit here and do nothing,”
he states. “But we have a day, maybe two and we don’t want to act
prematurely. I think it’s safe to say that they’re not planning on
killing him here. Most likely they are going to return him to the
Empire for interrogation first and find out what he knows.”

“About what?” he asks.

“About that certain something you all found
and which we just recently put away somewhere,” he explains in a
roundabout way in case they’re overheard.

“Oh right,” he says and then mouths ‘The
Fire’.

“Exactly,” he says. “Our first priority has
to be finding Jiron and Fifer. Once we have them back with us,
we’ll be in a much better position to attempt a rescue.”

Miko then tells Illan about what he’s having
those kids of his do, and about the connection between Lord
Kindering and the Ambassador.

Nodding, Illan says, “That puts some things
in perspective.”

“What do you mean?” asks Miko.

“Well, first of all it explains why he was
summoned here,” Illan explains. “From what we’ve found out, Lord
Kindering and Lord Colerain are bound together in some way. Could
be simply trading partners, who knows? Lord Kindering might have
gotten the idea that if he managed to get James here and to the
Empire’s delegates, then they may give Cardri, and thus him, better
terms in the negotiations.”

“So you’re saying they’re giving up James
just to make more money on trade?” he asks.

“Something like that,” agrees Illan. “Though
this is all just conjecture on my part, it does fit with what’s
happening. The fact that it also enables Lord Colerain to extract
revenge upon James is probably just an added bonus.”

Just then, Dave walks in through the front
door. He sees them sitting at the table and simply nods to them as
he makes his way to the stairs and up to his room.

“Hope he stays there,” grunts Miko.

“We’ve got more important things to worry
about than him,” Illan says.

“You’re right,” agrees Miko.

Jiron comes awake and finds Qyrll sitting
against the wall. He turns his head when he sees Jiron sit up.
Nodding over to the candle sitting on the crate, he says, “We’re
almost out of light.” Fifer remains asleep over against the far
wall.

“Is it light out yet?” Jiron asks.

Shrugging, the Parvati says, “It’s hard to
tell, but I think the sun’s been up for some time now.”

Worried, Jiron says, “I was sure James
would’ve found us by now.”

“Maybe he’s otherwise occupied?” suggests
Qyrll.

“Let’s hope not.” Getting up, he stretches
and comes to sit next to the Parvati.

Voices can be heard coming from the other
side of the door as footsteps approach and then continue on past.
“People have been moving along the corridor outside for some time
now,” Qyrll states. “Fortunately none have come in here.”

Gesturing to the room, Jiron says, “Do you
blame them?”

Qyrll just gives him a grin at that as he
shakes his head.

More footsteps approach and they become
silent. This time instead of passing by, the footsteps stop at the
door.

Glancing at one another, they get to their
feet just as the door opens. Swinging wide, several girls in their
late teens come in and stop with a gasp when they see them standing
there.

Jiron is about ready to say they’re not
going to hurt them when one gives out with a scream at the sight of
the Parvati and his extensive tattooed skin.

Fifer starts awake and comes quickly to his
feet.

The girls turn and flee out the door and
down the hallway all the while screaming for help.

“That tears it!” says Jiron as he moves for
the door. “Let’s go.”

He reaches the corridor on the other side
just as a group of six thugs comes at them wielding clubs and
swords. “Back in the room!” he hollers. Once they’ve returned to
the room, he shuts the door and puts his shoulder against it.

Qyrll and Fifer lend their strength in
holding the door closed as the thugs begin hammering on it from the
other side. One of the thugs on the other side shouts for them to
open the door but they pay him little attention.

“There’s no other way out!” Fifer
exclaims.

To Jiron, Qyrll says, “Let them in. We have
to face them some time, they block our only way out. We should do
it now before more come, or the city guard is summoned.”

The incessant hammering on the door by the
thugs has begun to produce cracks in the old door. Jiron realizes
the truth in what Qyrll’s saying. “You guys ready?” he asks.

Standing back, Qyrll draws both swords and
nods.

“Alright,” he says as he too stands back,
knives appearing in both hands, “let’s do it.”

Fifer draws his sword and they wait.

They don’t have to wait long as the next
strike upon the door by the thugs outside splits it down the
middle. When they again strike the door, it completely comes apart
and one of the thugs stumbles through only to be met by Qyrll and
his swords. Off balanced, the man has no chance and falls to the
floor as Qyrll removes his shortsword from the dead man’s
chest.

As the thugs pour through the door, Jiron
lashes out with his knives and another falls to the floor. The
others press on through the shattered door and engage them.

Fifer faces off with one while Jiron and
Qyrll each have two. Qyrll’s swords dance as they block the attacks
from one and strike out at the other.

The thugs are hopelessly outclassed. One
strikes out at Jiron with his club while the other strikes out with
his sword. Easily parrying the club, Jiron twists to avoid the
sword. At the same time, he strikes out with his elbow to the
clubber and connects with his chest, sending him stumbling
backward. The man with the sword strikes down hard with both hands
in an attempt to cleave Jiron in two. Dancing to the side, the
sword misses him by scant inches as he strikes out with one of his
knives, thrusting it deep into his side.

The man cries out as he stumbles to the
side, blood beginning to well from his mouth as his lung fills with
blood from where the knife punctured it. Crashing to the floor, he
coughs up blood in a vain attempt to clear his lungs and soon
passes out.

Qyrll has already killed one of the thugs
and is now facing off with another of the clubbers. His shortsword
knocks the club to the side and he follows through with his
longsword, connecting with the man’s neck and sending his head
flying.

The torso stumbles around as blood fountains
out of the severed neck. Crashing into the crate which had Qyrll’s
candle resting upon it, it sends the candle flying into a heap of
garbage which begins to smolder.

Fifer is having trouble with the man he’s
facing and Qyrll comes up behind him and strikes him down. Glancing
around, they find all the thugs dead. Smoke begins filling the room
as the candle ignites the garbage and the flames start to spread
rapidly.

“Move!” cries Jiron as he races for the
door. A scream greets him as he enters the hallway. People
congregating in the hallway to see what’s going on begin running
away when they see him there with his knife dripping blood. Smoke
from the fire behind him begins filling the hallway as well.

Moving in the direction they originally
entered from the night before, he breaks into a run, the other two
right behind. Those still in the hallway in the direction he’s
running flee in a panicked run when they see him and his blood red
knife coming at them.

Racing out into the alley, Jiron pauses only
a moment to grab an old shirt off the ground to clean the blood
from his knives before returning them to their scabbards. The smoke
is beginning to billow through the doorway as the fire within
consumes more of the old building.

Qyrll, hooded cloak once again hiding his
features, is already moving down the alley away from the fire.
Turning back to where Jiron and Fifer have paused to clean their
weapons, he hollers, “Come on!”

Racing for the end of the alley, they
collide with a squad of the city guard who were on their way to
investigate the commotion. Screaming ‘fire’, Jiron points back the
way they came to the guard captain as he and the others turn and
race away down the street. Glancing behind them, he sees the guards
moving into the alley to see about the fire. Soon, horns begin
blowing as others come to help combat the spreading blaze.

Using the confusion the fire has created,
they make their way to the nearest gate leading into the city and
slip through at the same time that a fire team was coming out. Once
inside, Jiron says to Qyrll, “Keep your hood close to your face.
One look and anyone will know a Parvati is in the city.”

Nodding, he reaches up and holds the bottom
of the hood secure under his chin. Now, only a very close
examination will reveal what lies beneath.

Jiron leads them through the city to the
gates leading past the inner wall. On the other side is the Silver
Bells and hopefully where they’ll find James and the others.

As they near the gates, Jiron notices that
the number of guards has been doubled. Probably due to the events
of last night when the adjutant was killed. They move to a nearby
alley and watch the gates for several minutes.

The guards are stopping everyone going in
and out, asking them a few questions and then allowing them to
continue along their way. Even the carts rolling through are given
a cursory examination before they, too are allowed to pass.

“We’ll never get through there undetected,”
he finally concludes.

“What are we to do?” Fifer asks.

“I’m not sure,” he says. “There’re not many
places around here in which to adequately hide like there were
outside the walls.”

As they stand there in the alley
deliberating their next course of action, Jiron takes notice of a
young boy staring at them. The boy couldn’t be more than fourteen
and looks as if he’s one of the street kids they’ve seen roaming
the streets. He’s sitting on a box further into the alley, eating
some bread.

Hopping down off the box, the boy hesitantly
makes his way over to them. By this time, both Fifer and Qyrll have
noticed his approach and have turned their attention to him. “You
guys in trouble?” he asks.

“Our business is none of yours,” Jiron tells
the boy. “Run along.”

The boy just stands there staring at them as
he takes another bite of the bread. “You’re the fighters they’re
looking for aren’t you?” he asks. “The ones who killed that man
last night.”

“No,” denies Fifer. “I’m sure you’ve gotten
us mixed up with someone else.”

“Don’t think so,” the lad replies, sounding
very sure of himself. “Was there. I saw how you took them out.
Pretty good fight.”

Fifer glances to Jiron and sees him resting
a hand on one of his knives. Giving him a shake of his head, Fifer
turns back to the boy and asks, “What do you want?”

“Got someone who wants to meet you,” he
says. “Was asked to keep an eye out in case I ran across you.”

“Who?” asks Jiron.

“A friend of mine,” he replies as he shoves
the rest of the chunk of bread into his mouth.

“And why does he wish to meet us?” Fifer
asks.

“Said he was a friend of yours,” answers the
lad.

“This friend of ours have a name?” Jiron
asks.

“Miko,” the boy says.

Fifer breathes an audible sigh of relief as
Jiron asks, “Where is he?”

“Said at the Silver Bells,” replies the boy.
“But don’t think you should try to get through the gate right
now.”

“No, I wasn’t planning to,” states
Jiron.

“You wait here and I’ll see if I can get him
for you,” he suggests.

“Very well,” replies Fifer.

“Back in a few minutes,” the lad says as he
strolls out of the alley and walks toward the gate. At the gate, he
passes on through, the guards don’t even give him a second
look.

“Who is this Miko?” Qyrll asks.

“A friend of ours,” replies Jiron.
“Hopefully we can get ourselves out of this situation.”

“Well, well,” a voice says.

Cracking an eye open, James sees Lord
Colerain and another individual standing next to him outside of his
pen.

“Seems the circumstances of our meeting have
greatly improved since our last encounter,” he continues. To his
friend he says, “You have no idea how much satisfaction I have to
see him here like this.”

“We’re getting some very good concessions
from the Empire’s Ambassador for him,” his friend says. “Always
pleasant when you can achieve two goals with but one action.”

James looks out through the drug induced
fog, his mind barely able to even follow what the men are saying.
Their voices sound as if they’re coming to him through water,
probably a side effect of the drug they used on him.

Lord Colerain nods at his friend’s comment
and then turns his attention back to where James is lying on his
side on the bench. “The negotiations will be concluded by this
evening and you’ll be happy to know that you’ll be able to leave
these poor accommodations for others.”

His friend laughs and then says, “We must
return. The negotiations will be starting again soon.”