Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (59 page)

“So, hypothetically, if this captain was to
disappear, it would sure upset this Faetherton?” asks Illan.

Harlan gives him a smile and says, “To be
sure. Oh, and on a side note, the guard captain at the jail is a
cousin of his as well.”

“I see,” Illan says. Then he extends his
hand to his old friend and continues, “It was nice to see you
again, hopefully next time I’ll have time to stay for awhile.”

“I understand,” Harlan says. “Sorry I
couldn’t have been more help.”

“You take care,” Illan tells him.

“I will,” he replies. As they make to leave,
Harlan says, “Good luck.”

Illan nods his head and gives him a brief
wave as they leave his office. Out in the corridor, as they head
for the stairs, James says, “I wish that had gone better.”

“What do you mean?” asks Illan. “I thought
that went pretty well, all in all.”

“How can you say that?” asks James. “We
still don’t have the captain.”

“No but we will,” he explains. Gesturing
back to the offices they just left, he lowers his voice and says,
“He all but told us to break that captain out of jail.”

“You sure?” James asks.

“Absolutely,” replies Illan quietly. “He
even said the guard captain was a cousin, which to me means we can
treat him roughly if we want.”

“I hope you’re right,” he says.

“Don’t worry,” he tells him.

As they leave the building, he stops by his
son and says, “Tell your mother I’m fine, but things are moving
fast and I won’t have time to visit.”

“I will father,” his son assures him.

Nodding, Illan continues on out into the
courtyard and turns down one of the side streets. Keeping his voice
low, he says, “Let’s go tell the others what we’re going to
do.”

“What are we going to do?” asks James,
afraid he already knows the answer.

“Break that captain out of jail,” he
says.

At the Flying Fish they find the others,
having just finished their meal. As they order theirs, Illan and
James fill them in on what’s going on and what they are planning to
do.

“Now, I can’t be a part of the jail break,”
Illan tells them. Turning to James, he says, “You’ll have to manage
that with the rest of these guys.”

“I’m sure we can do it,” Uther says.

“Yeah,” Keril says from where he’s sitting
with Miko, “it’ll be easy.”

“Hope so,” James tells him. To Jiron he
says, “You and Miko should stay with Illan, with your shoulder the
way it is, you’ll not be much good should trouble develop. We’ll
meet you down by the docks when we have the captain.”

Nodding, he says, “Alright. When do you plan
to do this?”

“After I’m done eating,” he tells him.
“There’s only three of them at the jail so we should be able to
overcome them quickly. And once we’re down to the docks and on the
ship, we’ll be safe. No one’s going to come looking for us anyway
until they discover the guards at the jail and the captain’s
missing. By that time we should be well under way.”

James can see Miko is somewhat disturbed by
this whole plan. “What’s on your mind?” he asks him.

He glances around the table at everyone
before returning his gaze to James. “It just doesn’t seem right
somehow.”

“In what way?” James asks.

“Well, ever since I’ve met you, you’ve done
nothing but what’s right,” he explains. “This just doesn’t seem
like you, going against the laws and all. It’s not like we have to
reach Cardri today, like it’s a life or death situation or
anything.”

“I understand your point,” he says. “But
with the letter from Lord Pytherian, we are justified.”

Illan breaks into the conversation. “That’s
true, Miko. The magistrate all but asked us to break this guy out
so we can fulfill the spirit, if not the letter, of Lord
Pytherian’s request.”

“But it seems the only reason he did was
just to spite that other guy,” continues Miko. “It just seems wrong
somehow.”

“I understand your concern, Miko,” James
says to him. “But I have my reasons for this. True, it’s not
exactly as I would have liked it, but I have my reasons.”
Like
finding a place to hide the Fire before it consumes you.

Miko nods, trusting in him.

Turning his attention back to Illan, James
asks, “Which town should we head for?”

Thinking a moment, Illan replies, “It would
probably be best to dock at Fairview. It’s a little north of
Dragon’s Pass and last I heard, the Empire’s forces haven’t
progressed much past the Merchant’s Pass. It seems they’re making
that their northern line, at least for right now.”

“What’ll we do for horses once we get
there?” ask Jorry. “It didn’t look like the ship could hold them
all.”

Looking to Illan, James asks, “Is there
someone around here who would buy these from us?”

Nodding, he says, “My brother-in-law Michael
deals in horses, I’m sure he’d give a fair price for them.”

“Then why don’t you, Jiron and Miko take
care of that while we’re over at the jail,” he suggests.

“We can do that,” he says, “but it could
take an hour or two to finish the deal. We do have a lot of horses
and Michael may not be around.”

“Just do the best you can,” says James. “If
you can get it done in the time allotted, then so be it. If not,
then just give them to him and we’ll worry about acquiring more in
Fairview.”

“Alright,” he says through a bite of the
beef stew he’s having.

“We’ll give you an hour’s head start before
we head to the jail,” James tells him.

Nodding, Illan says, “That should be enough
time, I hope.”

They finish their meal and everyone goes
outside to retrieve what they intend to keep from their horses
before Illan, Jiron and Miko take them to his brother-in-law’s.

As they’re about to leave with the horses,
Illan says to the rest, “Good luck! We’ll meet you at the docks in
a little over an hour.”

“Don’t be late!” Uther shouts to him.

He glances over to Uther and gives him a
grin. To Miko and Jiron he says, “Let’s go.” Leading the horses,
they walk away down the street.

The others gather around James as Jorry
asks, “What are we to do for an hour?”

“Let’s make our way over near the jail so
we’ll be ready when it’s time,” he tells them. Leading the way, he
takes them through the streets until the jail comes into sight.

Stopping a little distance away, he turns
back to them and says to Uther and Jorry, “You guys make your way
around the building and look for any other exits then come back.
When we do this, we can’t run the risk of anyone getting away to
warn others.”

“Right,” Uther says. Nodding to Jorry to get
moving, they begin making their way nonchalantly toward the
jail.

James and the rest move to the far side of
the street across from the front entrance and try to act like
they’re just hanging around, talking. He casts glances over at
Uther and Jorry as he keeps track of their progress. As they
disappear around the back he gets a little nervous. When they
reappear on the other side, he breathes a sigh of relief, even
though he knew it was unlikely anything would have happened.

Once they’ve made their way back to the
group, Uther says, “There’s one door in the back and another on the
side. But that’s it except for the main entrance.”

Nodding his head while he thinks, James
turns to Keril and Hinney, the youngest of Miller’s band. “You two
go and watch the back and side doors,” he tells them. “Don’t let
anyone in or out.”

“No problem,” Hinney says.

“You can count on us,” assures Keril.

They wait until it’s been about an hour
since Illan left with the horses. Looking around the gathered
faces, James asks, “Ready?” When they all nod in reply, he turns
toward the jail and heads to the front door.

Hinney and Keril break off from the group,
Keril heading to the side while Hinney continues around back.

James is a little nervous as he walks in
through the front door. The same three men are there, this time
they’re all over at the side table playing cards.

They look up when James and the rest walk in
through the front door. “Here to see the captain again?” asks the
watch captain.

James nods his head and replies, “You could
say that.”

The watch captain points at one of the
others who gets up and begins moving to the holding cells.

James moves to follow and has Uther come
with him. He gives Yern a meaningful glance and receives an
answering nod.

The guard unlocks the door and precedes them
through into the back. “You got company again,” he hollers back to
the captain. When he turns around to leave, he comes to a quick
stop. Uther’s sword is out of its scabbard and inches away from his
chest.

James reaches out and takes the keys from
him. “Thank you,” he says.

“You guys are crazy!” the ship’s captain
hollers as he comes over with the keys.

“Probably,” replies James, “but we’re
getting you out.” When he’s unlocked the cell door, the captain
quickly leaves the confines of the cell. Turning his attention back
to the guard, James indicates the now vacant cell and says, “Get
in.”

As the guard turns and walks to the cell
with Uther’s sword in his back, the watch captain and the other
guard enter from the other room. Jorry and Yern have their swords
out as they lead them down to join their comrade.

“Take us with you!” the other two prisoners
plead.

“Sorry,” James says to them. “Only the
captain here.”

“If you don’t, we’ll scream and let everyone
know what’s going on,” warns one of them.

Fifer comes in from the other room with some
rope and cloth. “I’ll take care of this,” he says as he takes the
keys from James and goes to their cell. Opening the door, he says
to them, “If you yell, I’ll cut out your tongue. Cause me problems,
and I’ll just kill you, understand?”

The two prisoners allow themselves to be
tied up and gagged with little problems. He leaves the cell and
then moves down to the guards where he does the same to them. Once
everyone is secured and silenced, they begin moving back to the
main room.

“Go get the other two and meet us out
front,” he tells Jorry.

“Got it!” he exclaims as he moves to round
up Keril and Hinney.

“Now captain,” James says to him, “let’s get
to your ship.”

“Didn’t really believe you when you said
you’d get me out of here,” he admits.

“Don’t blame you,” says James. “I wouldn’t
have either.”

“How long will it take you to get underway?”
Fifer asks him.

“Not very long,” he replies.

Out front, they wait only a moment before
Fifer returns with the other two, then they quickly make their way
down to the docks.

On the way, the captain introduces himself
as Merril Hawls. He had an office in the City of Light but is now
working out of Pyrtlin, a city on the northern shore. “Once we’re
underway, it shouldn’t take more than a day’s sailing before we
reach Fairview.”

“That fast?” Fifer asks.

“Hopefully, but I seldom make the run all
the way there from here,” he explains. “But, yeah, it should.”

As they near the docks, James is surprised
to see that Illan and the others are waiting for them at the
dockmaster’s office.

“Any problems?” Illan asks when they
approach.

Shaking his head, James says, “No. How about
you?”

He pats an extremely fat pouch at his waist
and says, “He was there and quite willing to buy. Seems there’s an
increase in demand for good horses so he gave us a good price. Of
course my sister happened to be there and wouldn’t let him do
otherwise.” He breaks into a short laugh at that.

The Dockmaster is standing there with Illan
and when he sees Captain Hawls, he asks him, “Thought you were in
jail?”

“Was,” he replies, “but these gentlemen
arranged for me to be released.”

He turns an eye to Illan and says, “Oh?”

“We needed a ship,” he says, “and no one
else was willing to accommodate us.”

To the captain, James says, “We better get
underway quickly, before someone comes looking for us.”

“You got that right,” the captain says as he
begins moving toward his ship. When he gets close, he starts
hollering to his crew. After a brief exchange, his crew hops to it
and begins readying the ship to sail.”

“Make sure he doesn’t leave without us,”
James tells Fifer.

“Sure thing,” he replies. Taking several of
the others, they make their way down to the ship where they cross
the gangplank and position themselves on the deck.

“I better be getting over there too,” Illan
tells his friend.

“You’re not getting yourself in trouble
again are you?” his friend asks.

“Probably,” he replies with a grin.

“It was good to see you,” his friend says,
giving him a warm hug.

“You too,” Illan replies. “May not be back
in these parts for awhile, take care.”

“I will,” the Dockmaster replies.

“Let’s go,” Illan says to James and the
others who are waiting with him.

James says his goodbyes to the Dockmaster
too, and then follows Illan down to the ship. As they reach the
gangplank, James hollers up to the ship, “Permission to come
aboard.”

Captain Hawls comes to the side and says,
“Granted, and thank you for that.”

“It’s your ship captain,” James says as he
walks up the gangplank. “Wouldn’t want to presume.”

“Be ready in a couple more minutes,” he
tells him.

“Very well,” James says as he joins the
others. He watches the sailors as they make ready and when all are
in position, two of them run down the gangplank and untie the guide
lines from the dock. They toss them to others waiting at the rail
and then hurry back across the gangplank, pulling it on board after
them.