Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [105]
“Good,” James says.
Jiron slowly opens the door and then shuts it again quietly as he turns to James. “They’re not going to come looking for magic because of that, are they?” he asks, pointing to the glowing orb in James’ hand.
“I wouldn’t think so,” he replies. “It’s hardly using any magic at all.”
With a brief nod, Jiron again opens the door and a dim light comes through it. James cancels the orb and it disappears as Jiron opens the door wider. He cautiously looks down the hallway to either side. He turns back to James and in a barely audible whisper, says, “There’s a light down to the right, to the left is dark.”
“Try the left?” he suggests.
Jiron nods in agreement and then he again checks the hallway. Not seeing anyone, he opens the door wider and silently exits the room to the hallway, making his way down toward the left.
Once he’s out of the room, James follows and then closes the door behind them. He can hear muffled voices coming from the room down the hallway to the right where the light is emanating from, but is too far away to be able to make any of it out.
Jiron stays to the left side of the hallway as he quietly makes his way down to the next door on the right. He pauses a moment as he listens at the door. Not hearing anything, he proceeds further down the hallway. They pass two doors facing each other and after a moment’s listening at each, Jiron continues past them.
A little ahead of them they see light emanating around the corner where the hallway turns to the right. Jiron turns to James and whispers, “Wait here.”
James nods his head and then watches as Jiron silently walks to the edge of the corridor and peers around it. After only a brief look, he brings his head back quickly and then motions James closer. “There’s a guard standing in the hallway about ten feet down. There’s a torch in the wall near him.”
“Should we take him out do you think?” James asks.
“If we do, we may be alerting the whole place that we’re here,” Jiron replies. “He may not even be guarding Delia and the others.”
“Can’t think of any other reason to post a guard in a hallway,” reasons James. “I say we’ve got to do it.”
“Can you do it?” Jiron asks. “I would need to be closer to take him out before he could raise the alarm.”
“Yeah,” James replies, not liking the fact of having to kill someone like this, but what choice does he have. He removes a slug from his belt and silently moves to the corner and peers around. Seeing the guard there, he gathers his thoughts before stepping into the hallway. Before the guard even realizes he’s there, he releases the magic and throws.
The slug flies straight and true, striking him in the head. The guard sags to the floor unconscious. “Come on!” James says to Jiron as he hurries to where the guard lies on the floor.
“He’s not dead!” Jiron exclaims when he realizes the guard lying there is only unconscious. A sizeable goose egg of a bump shows where the slug had hit him in the temple.
“I held back a little,” admits James. “I didn’t want to kill him that way.”
The guard, as it turns out, had been standing in front of stairs leading down.
“Let’s put him in one of the rooms we passed,” Jiron suggests.
“Alright,” agrees James. They lift him up and carry him back to the corner where they pause a moment as Jiron peers down the hallway. Seeing the coast is clear, they go to the first door on the right and open it slowly as they look inside. It’s a bedroom, but empty and doesn’t looks as if it’s been used for some time. They deposit the guard on the bed and then bind and gag him. Once the guard is secured, Jiron returns to the door and opens it a crack as he makes sure the hallway still remains empty. Finding that it is, they leave the room, closing the door behind them.
They quickly make it back to the stairs where Jiron takes the lead as they begin to descend to the lower level. At the bottom of the stairs, they find a door that’s slightly