Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [166]
Nodding, James expands the image and soon the exterior of the building comes into view. Once the image has zoomed far enough away to be able to see the entire compound, he points to the building where Miko is and then asks Jiron, “Recognize this?”
“Yeah, I know that one,” he tells him. “It’s on the opposite side of the pit from the gate. That one and the buildings next to it is where I saw the slaves being led.”
Replacing the mirror back into his kit, he asks, “How do we get him out?”
“We could go around to where the wall is closest to him and try there,” he says. “It’s not much better than here, but there might be less scrutiny away from the gate.”
“You may be right,” agrees James. Getting up, he nods for Jiron to lead the way and then follows him as he moves through the forest away from the gate. At the point where the wall turns back into the forest, Jiron continues on until they’ve put sufficient distance between themselves and the men walking patrol atop the wall. Then with a quick glance atop the wall to make sure the guards aren’t looking in their direction, they dart across the road quickly.
Jiron leads them deeper into the forest as they follow the wall from a distance, always keeping it in sight. He continues until the wall curves away from them and whispers to James that they’re close to the building wherein they will find Miko.
Coming to a stop, he glances at James for a second, a question on his lips. He hesitates a moment before asking, “Can you destroy the mine when we leave?”
“What?” James replies in shock, taken off guard by the request. “Why?”
“You saw how much iron ore they’ve been removing,” he says. “I was thinking that if they were no longer able to get iron from here it would seriously hurt their war machine.” He turns and looks at James square in the eyes, “It might be enough to force them to leave Madoc, or at least hurt their attempts to take more of it.”
“Possibly,” he says. “But what about all the slaves here? I might kill them all!”
“Right now they’re out and shouldn’t be affected by whatever happens to the mine,” he says.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he tells him. When he sees the look in Jiron’s eye, he adds, “I understand what you’re saying and the logic behind it. If I can, I will, okay? But not until we rescue Miko.”
He nods his head, “Thanks.”
“Now, what’s the best way to get inside?” James asks.
Jiron points to an overhanging limb that comes close to the wall. “I can climb up there and swing over to the wall,” he explains. “The only problem is the guards on watch up there.” He looks to James and says, “I need you to take them out.”
James gazes up at the wall and the guards walking there, considering the plan. He nods his head and says, “I think I can arrange that without alerting everyone to our presence.”
“Good. Ready?” he asks.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” replies James.
Jiron makes his way to the tree and begins to climb up to where the limb extends near the wall. As he climbs, he keeps as constant a watch on the guards as climbing will allow. Whenever they glance in his direction, he holds still until they once more turn away before continuing.
This section of the wall is not as long as the one by the gate so only has two guards. They’re standing next to each other a couple yards from the tree Jiron is climbing, talking to each other. Contemplating what he’s going to do, he watches Jiron as he climbs up to the limb that’s extending over the wall and sees him give him a signal that he’s ready.
James begins concentrating and then releases the magic. The two guards are suddenly pulled over the edge by an unseen force and plummet to the ground on the outside, just as if someone had grabbed them and pulled them off.
As they go over the edge, one of them cries out in startlement and then is silenced when he hits the ground. Running over to them, James finds that one has broken his neck and the other is unconscious. Tying and gagging the one still alive, he looks up to see Jiron lowering a rope down for him to climb the wall. “Hurry up!” can be heard as the