Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [125]
“Our horses are all the way across town,” Jiron informs him. “It’s going to take us a while to get there.”
“I know,” he replies, “lead on.”
Looking out of the alley, Jiron checks to make sure the street is clear of guards before exiting. When the coast is clear, they exit the alley and follow the street in the interest of speed. Breaking into a run, they head toward the inn where their horses are stabled.
Street by street they make their way closer to the inn. Many times they’ve had to duck down alleys or into buildings to avoid being spotted. Back on the street after one such incident, they suddenly see a group of six soldiers turn onto the street ahead of them. Fortunately they’re moving the other way down the street so fail to notice them.
“Soldiers now?” James says as they quickly turn off the street into another alley.
Leading them further into the alley, Jiron replies, “Guess we really got their attention.”
“That was the plan,” James says from behind. “Could be the ones who’ve been following us the last few days, too,” he adds.
“Possibly,” agrees Jiron.
Coming to the end of the alley, they pause as they watch a dozen or more soldiers running past on their way further into the city. They’re just moving past the alley where James and Jiron are waiting, when from up above them, a woman begins crying out to the soldiers.
James looks up as she continues yelling and pointing to where they’re hiding in the alley. Glancing back toward the soldiers, he sees them turning and begin running in their direction.
“Damn!” he hears Jiron curse as they race back down the alley. Before they reach the end of the alley, Jiron grabs James and ducks into a side door of the building opposite the one with the woman.
James slams the door shut and locks it. That’s when he realizes Jiron has led them into someone’s home. Jiron takes the stairs leading up to the second floor with James following close behind. Before they reach the top of the stairs, banging can be heard coming from the door leading to the alley.
Emerging from the stairs onto the second floor they see before them a long hallway running the length of the home. From the far end a door can be heard slamming shut and what sounds like furniture being piled behind the door to prevent them from gaining access to it.
They do a quick search and locate a narrow stairway leading up to the roof. As Jiron steps upon the ladder to go up to the roof, they hear the door to the alley burst in. Moving quickly up the stairs they reach the roof.
Jiron pauses momentarily as James clears the ladder. “Where now?” James asks him.
He scans the buildings adjacent to them and finds one with a small enough gap between them that they will be able to jump. “Follow me,” he tells him as he runs and jumps over the gap between buildings.
James runs as fast as he can and with heart beating wildly, jumps across. Sailing through the air he glances to the alley below and panics. When he lands on the other side, he loses his balance, falls to the roof and rolls a couple of times before coming to a stop.
Jiron is there to help him back to his feet and then they run to the opposite side where they once more jump the gap. James makes it this time without falling.
A noise behind them causes James to turn and he sees soldiers pouring onto the roof of the building they had originally exited. “One more time,” he hears Jiron say as he makes once more for the edge of the building where he jumps across to the other side.
Looking over his shoulder before he starts to run for the edge, James sees the soldiers beginning to jump the first gap in pursuit. Bracing himself for another jump, he runs quickly and soars over to the other building where he lands well, maintaining his balance.
Jiron is standing by an open trapdoor that leads down into the building. “Hurry!” he yells over to him as he begins to climb down.
James reaches the trapdoor and starts to climb down when he hears Jiron fighting with someone on the inside. When he clears the top,