Malki had been placed to watch the front of the inn since he and others had come to take those people away. Though he wasn’t told why they were taken, he knew they had to have been wanted by people in high places. Especially if you consider who it was that put the whole operation together. Whenever you see his face, you know that whatever is going on concerns the highest levels of the Empire.
He and the others who are staking out the inn are looking for a couple other people, and should they appear, they’re to take them too.
The front door of the inn opens and he turns his attention to those coming through. Two people emerge, a couple by the looks of it. The man is leaning heavily upon the woman who is working to keep her man upright. Malki grins at the way the drunken man tries to negotiate his way down the few steps to the street.
Cursing at her man, the woman loses her hold on him as he stumbles down the remaining two steps and crashes to the street. Giving him a swift kick to the side in anger, she drags him back to his feet and together they work their way down the street.
Behind the couple comes another pair, two men this time. One has a stiff leg that looks as if it’s unable to bend it at the knee. He limps and shuffles alongside the other. Upon making it down to the street, both men turn and go the opposite way that the woman and her man had gone.
Not the people he’s interested in, Malki remains in the shadows and keeps a watch upon the door.
Once Miko is sure the inn is out of sight behind them, he takes Brother Willim down a side street. Moving into the shadows, he helps Brother Willim remove his staff that had been hidden beneath his tunic. It had been secreted within his trouser leg, which gave him the appearance of having a stiff leg. Having walked so far pretending that his right leg was stiff has made his left one ache.
“Is anyone following?” Brother Willim asks as he finally gets the staff free of his clothing.
Miko stares back down the street for a second then shakes his head. “I don’t think so.”
“I really didn’t think it was going to work,” he admits.
“Let’s go to the rendezvous and pray that Jiron and Aleya made it there safely.” Miko then takes the lead. With the pack wherein lies the Book of Morcyth slung securely across his back, they hurry to the appointed place.
It isn’t far and when they arrive they find Jiron and Aleya already there. Another minute and the man who is going to lead them to the Keep appears.
“Let’s go,” Jiron says to the man. He’s a little put out that the man has yet to offer him his name. But like James always says, ‘What you don’t know can’t be tortured out of you’.
Taking numerous side streets they work their way across town to the Keep, only taking the main thoroughfares when they have no other choice. When the Keep finally comes into view, he takes them to a spot down a block from the main entrance. Standing in the lee of the building where the shadows are the thickest, they have a commanding view of the gate.
The gate stands in a curtain wall which surrounds the inner keep. Outside the gate stand six soldiers, three of which have crossbows. Atop the curtain wall, additional soldiers are seen walking to and fro as they keep watch. Beyond the curtain wall, the Keep itself rises high.
“Beneath the Keep is an extensive dungeon where prisoners are taken and interrogated,” the man tells them. “That’s where you’ll find them.”
“How do we get in?” Miko asks.
“That’s up to you,” the man says. “I managed to arrange for a diversion. It’s not much but should draw the attention of the guards on the walls for several minutes.”
“When will it begin?” Jiron asks.
“Once you figure out what you are going to do to get in,” he says, “I’ll go and get it started.” He points off to an area of town back the way they came. “When it happens, it will come from that direction.”
Jiron nods. Indicating the curtain wall on the opposite side from where the distraction will take place, he says, “So our best bet would be to try something in that direction.”
The man nods in agreement.
Turning his attention to Aleya, Miko and Brother Willim he says, “You three stay here.” Then to the man he adds, “You come with me. We’re going to take a look around.”
“Be careful,” warns Aleya.
“I will be,” he says. “Be right back.” With the man in tow, he stays next to the buildings across the street from the curtain wall and makes his way to the far side. Once he reaches where the curtain wall curves and begins moving directly away from the street, he comes to a stop.
Scanning the street he makes sure it’s clear, then turns his attention to the closest guard atop the wall. The guard is moving toward the corner of the wall where sits a guard tower. From the guard tower, the wall turns ninety degrees and moves directly away from the street. Another wide thoroughfare runs alongside the wall as it moves further away.
Jiron remains motionless as he watches the guard approaching the guard tower. When the guard comes to within three feet of the tower, he turns about and begins heading back the other way.
“Come on,” Jiron urges then races across the street with the man right behind.
Aleya watches Jiron make his way down the street then pause a moment before darting across. Her eyes move to the guard on the wall, and is relieved when he fails to react to Jiron’s crossing.
“Relax,” says Miko. “Jiron’s done this sort of thing many times from what James tells me.”
Aleya doesn’t comment, simply nods her head as she continues to stare at the place where Jiron disappeared. She waits an agonizing fifteen minutes before he reappears. Darting across the street with the man right behind, he then works his way back to where she and the others wait.
When he rejoins them, he announces, “I think there may be a way to get in.”
“How?” she asks.
He looks her in the eye and says, “It’s going to depend on how good you are with the bow.”
“What do you want me to do?” She then listens as he lays out the gist of his plan to them. Nodding her head, she can see where her bow will play a pivotal role in what’s to come. When he’s finished laying it out, he asks, “Anyone see something I may have missed?”
Brother Willim shakes his head, “Not I. You seem to have it all worked out fairly well.”
Jiron turns to the man and says, “Go tell them we’re ready.”
The man nods his head and melts into the night on his way to begin getting the distraction underway.
After he leaves, Jiron turns to Brother Willim and hesitates a moment. Then he asks, “You know there’s a chance we’ll not get out of there without a fight?”
Brother Willim only nods in reply.
“I need to know I’ll be able to rely on you should the situation arise,” he says.
Gazing at him with sadness in his eyes, he says, “You know the priests of Asran are not allowed to hurt fellow human beings. That to do so will mean dire repercussions in this life and the next.”
“Brother, I understand that,” replies Jiron. “But you also know that if we don’t get James out of there and into Dmon-Li’s High Temple before the moon turns dark, it could well mean the end of everything. Your dreams, more than any of the others, tell us that.”
“I know,” he states.
“You once said that to keep a garden healthy, there comes a time when a gardener must prune to save the whole,” Jiron tells him. “This is the case as it stands now. You may need to prune to save the whole.” He can see the pain in the Brother’s eyes.
Miko comes and lays his hand on Brother Willim’s shoulder. “Asran will understand,” he assures him. “It’s for the greater good.”
Griping his staff in a grip so tight that almost causes him pain, Brother Willim nods. “I will do what I have to,” he says in a voice taut with pain. But the pain he is feeling is not that of the body, but of the soul. He has vowed to never take the life of an ordinary man. As the leader of the Hand of Asran, he had been trained to defeat those of power such as the warrior priests. Never had he believed that his skill would be used against those whom he vowed to protect. The fact that they may worship another besides Asran does not matter. Giving a silent prayer to Asran to forgive him for what he may be called to do, he gives Jiron a nod. “Let’s go.”
Jiron gives him a comforting pat on the back and then says, “Follow me.” Taking them along the front of the buildings across the street from the curtain wall, he brings them to a halt once they’ve reached the place where he crossed the street before. A street as wide as the one they are on runs along the wall as it turns and moves away from them.
He has them wait there until the guard atop the wall reaches the guard tower then turns back to go the other way. “Now!” he whispers as he bolts across with the others right behind.
Melding in with the shadows across the street from the wall, he takes them further down until he reaches a point where two of the guards walking upon the wall are visible at the same time.
Stopping, he indicates the guards on the wall. Then he shows them a statue of a warrior with an upraised sword that stands between them upon the edge of the wall. To Aleya he says, “That’s where I want you to put your arrow, between the upraised sword and the statue’s head. Can you do it?”
She gauges the distance and nods. “I believe so,” she replies.
“Can you do it with a rope tied to the arrow?” When she looks at him he raises his tunic to show her the rope secured about his waist.
“I…I don’t know,” she admits. “I’ve never shot an arrow with a rope tied to it before.” She then looks to his eyes and nods, “But I’ll give it a try.”
“Pick your best arrow,” he tells her as he begins uncoiling the rope from around his middle.
She removes the quiver of arrows from her back and begins going through them one by one. The third one she comes to is slightly thicker than the others and is very straight. Holding it up, she says, “This one.”
Jiron takes it and ties the end of the rope to it very, very tightly. When he’s sure it won’t come off in flight, he hands it back to her. “It’s going to drag some due to the tension of the rope,” he tells her.
“I understand,” she says. Holding the arrow, she feels how the rope alters its balance and increases its weight twofold.
“Ready?” Jiron asks.
Placing the arrow to string, she looks at him and nods, “Ready.”
“Take aim but don’t shoot right away,” he tells her. “When the two guards are both walking away from the statue at the same time, I’ll say ‘now’ and then let it go.”
“Okay,” she says. She looks up at the statue on the wall, raises her bow and pulls the string back. Holding it there, she gets her aim set and waits. Three seconds later, Jiron whispers ‘now’ and she lets go.
The arrow and rope sail through the air and cracks into the wall a good three feet below the feet of the statue. They freeze as they look to the guards to see if they heard the noise, but neither one of them even so much as glances back.
Jiron quickly pulls in the rope until it and the arrow are back with them. The head of the arrow is cracked from its impact with the stones of the wall. “We’ll try it again,” he says.
Aleya nods and begins searching through the quiver for another arrow. Feeling bad that she didn’t make it the first time, she vows to make it the second. Handing the next arrow to Jiron, she waits for him to secure the rope to it once more. Then once he’s handed it back to her, she again places it to string and takes aim at the statue.
“Now,” Jiron says and she again lets the arrow loose. And just as the first one, it impacts upon the wall in almost the same place as the first one had.
Jiron begins pulling in the rope when Miko places a hand on his shoulder. “Someone’s coming,” he hears him whisper in his ear. Dropping the rope, he looks where Miko is indicating and sees a guard turning the corner and begins walking down the street toward them. They move further back into the shadows and hold still.
Then his eyes go to the middle of the street where the end of the rope lies with the shattered arrow still attached to it. The way the guard is moving down the center of the street, he’s going to walk right over it.
“Jiron!” Miko whispers as he points to the arrow.
“I know,” he says. Never taking his eye off the approaching guard, he draws one of his knives.
Thirty feet from the arrow, the guard still fails to notice it. At twenty feet, one of the men atop the walls hails him and they wave to each other. At fifteen feet, he turns his attention back to street level as the guard atop the wall resumes walking his patrol. At ten feet the guard starts humming a tune as he continues along. At five feet, he’s still oblivious to the fact that an arrow tied to a rope lies across the street. Then his foot steps on it.
The guard stops and lifts his foot. Bending over, he looks to see what it was that he stepped on. Picking up the arrow, he looks at it for a second and then rope attached to it. He sees how the rope is tied to the end of the arrow and that it extends into the shadows on the other side of the street. Pulling on the rope, he looks more closely into the shadows. Then all of a sudden, one of the shadows breaks off and rushes him.
Before the man knows what hit him, Jiron attacks and silences him before he can sound the alarm. Then with Miko’s help, he drags the guard’s lifeless body back into the shadows before the guards on top of the wall notice what happened.
Once he’s sure the guards on the wall failed to see them, he pulls in the rope. By this time Aleya has another arrow already selected. He again secures the rope to it and hands it back to her. “We don’t have much time,” he tells her. “We must be ready when whatever distraction they are planning goes into effect.” When she takes the arrow, he puts his hands on her shoulders and gives her a quick kiss. “I know you can do this.”
Nodding, she puts the arrow to string and sights on the space between the statues head and the upraised sword. She takes a deep calming breath to center herself as her father always taught her. He could do this, she thinks to herself. He could do anything with a bow.
And so can you.
It’s almost as if she can feel him there behind her as he always did when teaching her the bow. A hand on her waist, another to help steady the bow. The words he use to say when passing on his wisdom. Steady on girl, take your time. Patience, always patience, never rush it.
“Now!” she hears Jiron say. But she doesn’t release the arrow. Only when it’s time, Aly. Then it almost feels as if a hand raises her bow ever so slightly higher. “Now!” urges Jiron.
“Do you sense that?” Brother Willim asks Miko.
“Yes, I do,” he replies. “What is it?”
“I’m not sure,” Brother Willim says.
Now, Aly.
Releasing the bowstring, the arrow shoots forward. They hold their breath as they watch it arc through the air toward the statue. Then it sails perfectly between the head and sword.
“I did it father,” she says quietly to herself. And she can almost feel a pat on her back, the same as her father use to give her when she successfully learned what he was trying to teach.
“Yes!” says Jiron. When all the slack in the rope is gone, it yanks against the end he’s holding in his hand. Looking to the two guards, he sees they still have their backs turned. Rushing over to the wall, he begins pulling the slack back in until he feels the arrow catch in the crook of the statue between the neck and the upraised arm. Giving it a couple tugs, he ensures it’s not going to slip out.
Then he holds still as the guards turn and begin approaching the area where the statue is located. Praying for them not to notice the arrow and rope, he waits. The watch they are walking takes them to within several feet of the statue. But then they both reach the end of their watch, turn and begin to walk away from the statue again.
Leaving the rope where it is, he runs back over to where the others are hidden in the shadows. “Now,” he says once he’s rejoined them, “we wait for the diversion.” Another ten minutes go by before a commotion begins to develop. The guards on the wall turn their attention to the far side of town, and one of them points to something. Coming together, they begin talking excitedly to one another.
“Aleya, you need to take them out fast,” he tells her.
Nodding, she removes two arrows from her quiver and sets one point first into the ground before her. The other, she puts to her bowstring and aims. This is something she is confident she can do with little problems.
Releasing the first arrow, it flies true and strikes one of the guards in the back. Before the other guard realizes something is happening, another takes the second guard through the spine just below the neck. The first man topples onto the top of the wall while the second one falls off and lands in the street not far from where Jiron and the others wait.
Indicating the guard, Jiron says to Miko, “Get him out of sight. When I get to the top, the rest of you climb up. Before he runs over to where the rope is hanging against the wall, Brother Willim stops him.
“I’ve never climbed a rope before,” he admits.
“Don’t worry,” he assures him. “James never could either. Let the others go first then tie a loop in the end of the rope. Then we’ll pull you up.”
“Alright,” Brother Willim says.
Moving to the wall, Jiron takes the rope and very carefully begins climbing up. He understands that he can only apply steady tension to the rope. That to suddenly jerk on it may snap the arrow in two. So hand over hand, he slowly and steadily works his way to the top. As he climbs the rope, he can hear raised voices coming from within the Keep area on the other side of the wall.
When he finally reaches the base of the statue, he grips the top of the wall with one hand and then pulls himself up. Once on top, he looks over to the far side of town and sees what the diversion is.
“Not much huh?” he mumbles to himself. The damn fools set fire to the town. And so it appears, for fires are burning in several different sections of the city. Men are running through the streets on their way to put them out.
He casts a quick glance to the guards on the other walls, and the gaze of each is directed to the far off fires. The grounds within the Keep area are fairly deserted, a few guards walk to and fro as they keep watch. One man, a civilian, hollers to one of the guards down there. Together they quickly make their way through the gates and toward the fires.
Sure that everyone’s attention is averted, Jiron removes the arrow from the statue and unties the rope. He’s just taking a firm hold of it when he feels the rope grow taut as someone down below pulls on it. Jiron gives the rope two quick tugs to let them know he’s ready, then braces himself.
He receives two quick answering tugs before someone begins climbing up. In a moment Aleya appears and he offers her a hand which she takes. He then pulls her the rest of the way up onto the wall.
The first thing she notices are the fires burning throughout the city. “What do they think they’re doing?” she asks.
“I don’t care as long as the rest of the guards are looking away from us,” he says. Gesturing to the guard she killed with her bow, he adds, “Grab his crossbow and make like you are him walking the wall.”
Nodding, she says, “Right.” Then moves over toward the dead guard.
Another two pulls announces Miko’s turn up the rope. He has a much more difficult time at it than Aleya had, but after a few tense moments, he makes it. Jiron has him pretend to be the other guard that should be up here instead of dead down below.
He sets himself for hauling up Brother Willim while Miko moves further down the wall. When the rope jerks twice, he begins hauling him up. Pulling up a person is much more strenuous than holding while they climb. When he figures he has pulled Brother Willim up about half the distance, the rope suddenly vibrates. Sensing there may be trouble, he calls for Miko and together they rapidly pull it up.
As the end of the rope reaches the top, they find Brother Willim holding on with one hand to the loop where his foot should be. In the other hand he’s gripping his staff. “What happened?” Miko asks as they haul him the rest of the way up.
“My staff slipped,” he admits somewhat embarrassed. “When I moved to catch it, my foot slipped out of the loop. I almost didn’t catch hold of it in time.”
Miko grins and says, “That would have hurt when you hit the ground.”
Nodding, Brother Willim sits on the wall and tries to calm his trembling nerves.
Jiron coils the rope in his hands as he looks over the wall and into the courtyard below. There are still few guards upon the grounds down there but none in close proximity to the section of wall they’re on. A check toward those upon the walls finds them still staring at the fire burning in the city. So far, none of the guards have yet to notice that something is going on.
“Aleya,” he says and when he has her attention waves for her to come over to him. “There are three guards down below,” he tells her and then shows them to her. One is on the far side and is just moving beyond the Keep’s wall, another is walking across the middle of the courtyard, while the third is closer and moving their way.
“Take out the man coming our way,” he says.
“You got it.” Removing an arrow from her quiver, she places it to string and aims at the approaching man. When she’s sure she’s got him, the arrow is released. Flying true, it strikes the man in the chest and knocks him backward to the ground.
“Miko!” Jiron says as he begins lowering the rope over the side of the wall to the courtyard below. “Get down there fast and get that guard out of sight.” When the rope is played out and he has a firm grip, Miko begins to rappel down the other side. As soon as he’s down, he says to Aleya, “You’re next.”
Nodding, she takes the rope and descends to the ground below.
Once she’s down, he turns to Brother Willim and asks, “Can you make it down by yourself?”
He holds up his staff and says, “Not holding this I can’t.”
Jiron gives him an annoyed look and shakes his head. Then he grabs the staff and throws it over the side. “Now can you?”
Brother Willim looks over the side and watches his staff as it lands on the ground below. Turning back to Jiron he nods, “I think so.”
“Then please hurry,” he says. “Our luck won’t last forever.”
“Right,” he says. Taking the rope, he begins to work his way down. When he reaches the halfway point, he loses his grip and begins sliding down. By the time he hits the bottom, he has a good case of rope burn on both of his hands. Praying to Asran, he uses his magic to heal the burns.
“Stop!” exclaims Aleya.
The urgency of her cry breaks his concentration and the spell stops. “What?” he asks.
“You were glowing like a candle,” she explains. Looking around, she’s relieved to discover no one noticed his magical aura.
“Sorry,” he says. “Forgot about that.”
Jiron lands on the ground next to him and whips the rope back up where it dislodges from the place he had secured it. As it falls to the ground, he begins coiling it back around his middle. He had seen the green glow surrounding the priest but had been too far away to alert him.
Miko joins them and brings Brother Willim his staff. “Here you go,” he says as he hands it to him.
“Thank you,” he replies. He takes the staff gingerly as his hands still throbs with pain.
“If you need to heal yourself,” Jiron says, “Best to wait until we get inside.”
“And how are we to do that?” he asks. “Through the front door?”
“Actually, that is exactly what I intend for us to do,” he says. “Currently, the courtyard here is free of guards. One’s around back and will reappear soon. The other one just disappeared in through the main entrance, which as you’ll notice remains open. If we hurry, we might be able to make it.”
“No guts no glory?” Miko asks with a grin.
Jiron nods with an answering grin. He recognizes another one of James’ expressions. “Let’s go.” Running swiftly they cross the courtyard, taking advantage of what shadowy areas there are. No cry ensues by the time they reach the area before the Keep’s gate. Doubling their speed, they race through the entrance.