Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (47 page)

“Let’s hope so,” says Jiron.

They continue down the street, making as
good a time as they can in the press of people. The crowd begins to
grow thicker as they approach an intersection of streets. A wagon
sits crooked with a broken wheel, effectively congesting the
traffic flow down both streets.

Several men are trying to replace the wheel,
all the while those passing by shout obscenities at them. Jiron
feels sorry for those guys as he slowly moves forward, creeping
closer to the blockage.

From where he sits next to him, Miko
suddenly gasps and grabs his arm. “What?” he says as he turns to
see what’s the matter. A shiver runs down his spine when he sees
Miko’s pale face staring down the side street.

He never takes his eyes from where he’s
looking as he whispers, “Look there!”

Jiron gazes where he’s indicating but
doesn’t understand what he’s trying to show him. “I don’t see
anything,” he tells him. Then he notices a group of men standing
outside a store, talking among themselves. “That group of men
there?” he asks, pointing to them.

Nodding his head, Miko says, “See the one
there, the one with the patch over one eye?”

Giving the men a closer look, he nods his
head, “You mean the one with the scar running across his face?”

“That’s him,” Miko says breathlessly. “He’s
the one who poisoned the guards back at the City of Light and
opened the gates for the Empire’s army.”

“Are you sure?” he asks.

“Positive,” he replies. He glances at Jiron
as he says, “He had me and James captured and was torturing James
before we managed to get out.” Lowering his voice, he continues,
“He’s definitely an agent of the Empire.”

The crowd finally begins moving again and
they make it around the blockage. Getting down from their horses,
they take them to a post out front of an inn where they secure
them. Jiron pulls Miko close and says, “We need to tell
someone.”

“But who?” Miko asks. “When James gets back,
we can tell him and then go to Lord Pytherian. He needs to know
about this.”

“James might not be out for hours,” he says
to Miko. “We should follow them and see what they’re up to. If we
lose them, we might never find them again before whatever they’re
planning comes to fruition.”

“Alright, but let’s be careful,” Miko says.
He then follows Jiron as they move back to the corner of the street
where he peers around to watch the group of men. The group is
breaking up and most of them are moving together down the street
away from where he’s watching.

“They’re moving,” he says just before
stepping around the corner as he proceeds to follow them. With the
amount of people on the streets, it’s fairly easy to keep them in
sight without being spotted.

Ol’ One Eye and the others are moving deeper
into the city. As the group progresses down the street, the others
with him begin to break off as they go down various side streets
until finally only One Eye is left. When they come to realize where
he’s heading, they can’t quite believe it. As he approaches the
gate to the castle area, the guards on duty nod to him in
acknowledgement before passing on through.

Jiron indicates an alley and they move into
it, all the while keeping the gate in sight. “This can’t bode
well,” he says to Miko. “If he has access to the castle, then there
must be someone of rank here in the city behind his
activities.”

“Could whatever he’s planning be what the
army across the river is waiting for?” asks Miko.

“Could be,” agrees Jiron. “We better get
back to the warehouse and wait for James to return.”

“What if One Eye decides to do something?”
asks Miko.

“Nothing we can do about it right now,”
replies Jiron. “We’re going to have to hope we can contact James
before he does.”

“We should tell someone!” he insists.

“And who would we tell?” Jiron asks. “If we
tell the wrong person, we’ll be silenced and then no one will know
what’s going on.” Pointing back up to the gate, he adds, “Those
guards up there knew him, or at least had seen him often enough to
recognize him. I wouldn’t know who to trust other than Lord
Pytherian.”

“I guess you’re right.” Not happy about it,
Miko tries to think of an alternative to just sitting and waiting
but is unable to come up with anything. Sighing, he looks to Jiron
and nods.

They make their way back to where their
horses are tied and then ride back to the warehouse. As they
approach, the guards who had bothered them earlier in the day about
being in the warehouse, are leaving from a side door. Pausing until
the guards move further down the street and out of sight, they
return to the warehouse where they get comfortable as they wait for
the return of James and Fifer.

The closing of the door brings him back to
consciousness, or something close to it. Opening his eyes, he
quickly shuts them tight again as he shuts out the nauseatingly
swirl of the room. His head feels foggy and he can’t think
straight.

A moan next to him tells him Fifer is in the
same state as he, maybe worse. Hands suddenly grab him and sit him
up straight on the couch he’d been lying upon. A hand slaps him
hard across the face, and then someone pulls open his eyelid as he
stares at his pupil.

The blurry face of the man is somehow
familiar but he can’t quite recall from where. His mind won’t focus
long enough to draw out the memory.

“They’ve taken too much,” the voice says
with impatience. “They’ll be worthless for hours!”

“Forgive me,” another voice begs. “We didn’t
know what they were going to eat so we laced everything. That they
were so hungry was unexpected this late in the morning.”

“Let me know when they’re able to talk,” the
first voice says commandingly.

“Yes, sir,” the second voice says,
distraught over the dissatisfaction of the other. “First
thing.”

Suddenly the door opens and closes, and
James is again resting in blissful silence.

“Where are they?” asks Jiron from where he’s
pacing back and forth in front of the warehouse window. He again
stops his pacing as he looks outside, night has long since fallen
and he’s getting worried.

“Maybe we should inquire at the gate for
them?” Miko asks for the third time.

Jiron turns from the window and says,
“Alright.” When he sees Miko going for the horses, he says, “Leave
the horses here, they’ll just get in the way.”

Miko stops and comes over to him as he opens
the door to leave. Outside on the street, the crowd of people from
earlier in the day has dwindled dramatically and they are able to
move more rapidly than before.

Keeping their eyes open for One Eye, they
move quickly toward the gate where they’d been turned away the
night before. “Damn!” Jiron silently curses when he sees the same
guard on duty from the previous night.

When the guard sees them coming, he gets a
smirk on his face as he moves to meet them. “Back again?” he says.
“I thought I told you guys you couldn’t pass through.”

“I understand that,” Jiron says, trying not
to provoke anything. “But earlier, two of our friends were admitted
to the castle area. We were to meet them but they failed to return.
Could you tell us if you’ve heard anything about them?”

“You mean those other two guys that were
with you the other night?” the guard asks.

“Yeah, that’s them,” replies Jiron
hopefully.

“Sorry, haven’t heard anything,” the guard
replies. He looks over to the other guards and asks, “You guys hear
anything?” The others just shake their heads no.

“Don’t know what to tell you,” the guard
says.

“Thanks anyway,” replies Jiron as he turns
to leave. The guard watches them until they turn the corner and
pass out of sight.

Miko says, “Now what’re we going to do?”

“I don’t know, but we’ve got to find out
what happened to them,” says Jiron. “Wish I could do that mirror
thing that James always did,” he tells Miko.

“Yeah, that would be nice right now,” agrees
Miko. They walk a ways in silence before Miko says, “If Miller and
his men were in the city, where would they be?”

“I don’t know,” replies Jiron, “probably
back in the castle area. Why?”

“I don’t think they’d be there,” Miko says.
“This place is overrun with guards and soldiers of the various
alliance factions. They would have to be billeted somewhere out in
the city, only the highest ranking soldiers would be permitted
within the castle area.”

Jiron stops and looks at Miko as he
contemplates his words. He begins nodding his head as he says, “You
may be right. If that were the case, wouldn’t they be put in a
cheap inn?”

“Most likely,” agrees Miko.

“Let’s try searching for them,” Jiron
states. “It’s all we have to go on.”

An hour and fifteen less than desirable
establishments later, they still hadn’t found them. The last place
had tested even Miko’s limits on cleanliness. James must be rubbing
off on him.

The next inn they come to is near the north
gate. As they approach they find several soldiers and mercenaries
standing around outside, which gives them some hopes they’ll find
them inside. Jiron swings the door open and steps inside just as a
bottle smashes into the door near his head. Instinctively ducking,
he looks around the common room at the brawl going on. To their
amazement and relief, Miller’s band is right in the middle of
it.

One man, the proprietor most likely, is
shouting for them to desist but only gets socked in the jaw for his
efforts.

Everyone but the participants in the brawl
move to the side of the room, giving them some space. Those that
were outside come in to watch the fight, calling out to the various
fighters as they encouraged them on to greater endeavors. Jiron can
see money changing hands as some of them bet on the outcome.

Miller’s band appears to be getting the
better of the others as they’ve more men left standing, so Jiron
and Miko just stay on the edge of the crowd. Miller and one of his
men tosses one of the other combatants through the air, bystanders
scramble out of the way as the man sails through the door and out
into the street.

Miko waves at Miller when he sees him
looking in his direction, distracting him just as a fist connects
with his jaw. Flailing backward, he trips over a table and lands on
his back. Rubbing his jaw, he gets to his feet quickly and rejoins
the fight.

The last of the opponents fall fast until
only Miller’s band is standing. A cheer erupts from the crowd and
everyone moves back to where they were before the fight erupted.
Miller comes over to them and says, “You made it? I really didn’t
think to ever see your faces again.” He looks around and says,
“Where’s that layabout, Fifer and that other guy, James?”

Jiron flashes a quick glance to Miko and
then says, “Didn’t Shyn tell you we were here?”

“Shyn?” asks Miller, a dark look building
upon his face. “I haven’t seen that rat since we entered the city,
he disappeared shortly after we arrived. I’ll kill him when I see
him!”

“We need to talk,” Jiron says as a
foreboding feeling comes over him. “Right now and in private.”

Miller studies his face and says, “Let’s go
to my room, we can talk there.” He hollers over to his men, “Be
back in a minute.” His men just give him a wave as they down more
ale.

Leading Jiron and Miko down a dark dingy
hallway, he takes them to a small room in the back. After they have
entered and shut the door, he asks, “Now, what’s all this
about?”

Jiron proceeds to tell him about the
incident at the gate the first night. Then he goes on to tell of
Fifer’s finding of Shyn and how he helped James and Fifer get into
the castle area.

“Out on patrol?” Miller cries out. “Hah!
We’ve been sitting on our butts in this damn inn since coming to
this city. And if he’d suffered an injury, it’s nothing compared to
what I’m going to do to him when I finally lay my hands on
him!”

“There’s more,” says Jiron. He waits a
second for Miller to compose himself then tells him of Shyn leading
them into the castle area, and then of their failure to meet them
again at the warehouse. “I think they may be in trouble, and Shyn
is the key to finding them.”

Miller considers what he’d said a moment,
then says, “Let me get my boys.” He opens the door and goes back
out to the common room.

“You didn’t tell him about One Eye,” Miko
says.

“Let’s worry about one thing at a time,” he
replies.

Just then, Miller returns with his men and
they all manage to squeeze into the small room before shutting the
door. He gives them a rundown on what’s going on, several get dire
looks on their faces and Miko almost feels sorry for Shyn should
they ever find him again.

“Okay boys, here’s what we’ll do,” Miller
announces. “Let’s quickly comb the city and return here in an hour.
The one who brings Shyn to me gets a bonus, alright? Alive,
preferably.” They all nod. “Okay, get a move on. Back in one
hour.”

His men hurry out the door and quickly leave
the inn as they begin combing the city for Shyn.

“Think they’ll find him?” Jiron asks.

“If he’s not holed up somewhere,” Miller
says, “they’ll find him.”

“Why have you just been sitting here in this
inn?” Jiron asks.

“Orders,” he tells him. “We were told to
stay here until word came for us to go on patrol or the enemy
attacked.”

“Who gave you those orders?” inquires
Jiron.

“A guard in the livery of the city watch,”
he answers. “Why?”

“It just seems too convenient for you to be
here at an inn that’s about as far from the castle as you can be,”
he explains. “If Shyn’s up to something, or in with the enemy, it’s
sure been helpful to have you all stashed here where you’re
unlikely to discover whatever he’s up to.”