Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [146]
The noise from the crate crashing and him hitting the ground must’ve woke up one of the sleepers, for shortly a head sticks out the window and looks around the darkness of the alley.
Lying there perfectly still, Jiron watches as the person continues to look for several seconds before pulling his head back in. He waits for a minute and then lets out a sigh of relief when whoever it was fails to raise the alarm. He mustn’t have seen me here in the dark.
As he gets up, he sees two shapes coming toward him. They quietly say something to him but he doesn’t understand what they’re saying. Backing up slowly, he retreats back down the alley, never taking his eyes off the two approaching figures. Suddenly, a noise from behind and a quick glance shows another shadow approaching from behind.
Again, the figures say something. When he fails to reply, he sees them draw knives and can hear the person coming behind him do the same.
Sudden calmness comes over him as he realizes these are just some local thieves out for a score. Drawing his two knifes, he quickly advances upon the two approaching him.
They’re shocked for a moment as they didn’t expect him to launch an attack, and that moment’s hesitation is all Jiron needed to drop one to the ground. Quickly engaging the other, he blocks the man’s slash with one of his knives while following through with his other.
The man cries out as Jiron’s knife penetrates into his side, sinking five inches of steel beneath the skin and puncturing a lung. Falling to the ground, the man begins crying out and choking as his lung fills with blood.
Turning to the last thief, Jiron stands ready and can see the man is about ready to flee. Then suddenly from overhead, the person who had looked out previously now begins shouting, raising the alarm. That’s all the other thief needed, he quickly backs up and turns as he flees out of the alleyway.
Jiron quickly follows, deciding that the food he has will have to be enough for now. As he races across the street back the way he had come, another person who had stuck his head out his window to see what the other guy is yelling about sees him and starts to holler as well. Several guards, alerted by the shouting, see him running and give chase.
He dodges between buildings as he tries to throw off pursuit, all the while trying to make his way back to where his horse is tied up. He finally throws his pursuers off by ducking into a building and going out a side window. As they run off in the opposite direction, he makes a beeline for the wall and is soon over to the other side.
His horse is right where he left it. Mounting quickly, he turns toward the desert and kicks his horse into a gallop, putting distance between himself and the city.
Not happy with the small amount of supplies he had acquired, he supposes it’ll have to due under the circumstances. He tries to get his bearings in the dark in order to locate the area where he left James.
He rides for several minutes before spotting a light off in the distance. It looks to be a campfire. Don’t tell me James built a fire? That’ll alert everyone to our presence here! Getting mad at James’ stupidity, he rides toward the fire.
As he draws close enough to make out details, he realizes that it’s not a fire but several torches. Now much more cautious, he slows down and stops some distance away from the light, then gets down from his horse. Leaving his horse behind, he makes his way closer on foot and sees that the torches are held by soldiers of the Empire. A wagon is there as well and he watches in shock as an unconscious James is being loaded into the bed of the wagon.
A brown robed man is directing those placing James in the wagon and seems to be the one in charge. When James is finally within the bed of the wagon, the brown robed man climbs up onto the wagon seat as he gives orders to the driver. With a flick of the reins the horses get under way and the wagon begins to trundle back to town.
The dozen foot soldiers accompany them on