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“Why aren’t you dead?” James asks.

Miko turns his red rimmed eyes to him and says, “I was too busy eating the meat and didn’t drink that much of the wine.” He motions to the man in his lap and says, “Nate here didn’t drink much either, but he did have more than me.”

Jiron comes over and checks Nate, finding him still alive but unconscious. “I don’t know if we can take him with us,” he says to James. “It’s going to be hard enough to do it with just the three of us.”

Miko gets a defiant look and says, “Then leave me here with him, I’d be dead by now without him. I can’t leave him, he’s my friend!”

Jiron glances to James who nods his head and says, “Then we take him with us.”

He comes over to James and whispers, “Aren’t we going to be a trifle conspicuous carrying an unconscious body around?”

“Be that as it may,” James replies, “Miko’s not leaving without him so he comes with us. Besides, if he has kept him alive all this time, then I owe him.”

“Alright,” he says, “but you’re going to need to carry him, I’ll be too busy fighting off the guards when they see us leave.”

Nodding, James gets up and says, “Let me carry him Miko.”

Miko removes his arms as James bends over to pick him up. As he slings him over his shoulder, Nate gives out with a slight groan but otherwise doesn’t regain consciousness.

Jiron helps Miko to his feet and asks, “Are you alright?”

“Not really,” he replies. “I did drink the wine, though just a little bit and it’s causing no end of pain in my stomach.”

As they make to leave, Miko looks around at the friends he’s leaving behind. They were the best.

Jiron moves to the door and cracks it open, “Ready?” When he gets a nod from both of them, he says, “We’ll make straight for the ladder and get over the wall. If anyone tries to stop us, they’re dead.”

Opening the door, they step out and hurry back the way they came. Suddenly a cry goes up and they look over to see a one handed slave looking in their direction as he lets out with another yell.

“Black Tooth!” Miko exclaims with hatred. “He’s the one who poisoned us!”

From the door of an adjoining building, Black Tooth continues crying the alarm, as guards come running.

“To the wall,” Jiron cries out as he begins running to the edge of the building. When he gets there, a man turns the corner and Jiron’s knife flies into his hand and is suddenly tackled from behind by Miko. “He’s a friend!” he yells at Jiron as they hit the ground.

“What’s going on here?” Essin cries out when he sees Miko on the ground with a man wielding a knife. Eyes widen when he sees James standing there with Nate slung over his shoulder.

“Black Tooth poisoned the wine,” Miko tells him as he extricates himself from Jiron. “The whole team is dead, except for Nate and me. We’re leaving, come with us.”

Jiron gets up off the ground and gives Miko a dirty look and says, “There’s no time for talk, let’s move!” He then turns the corner after giving Essin an annoyed look and heads for the wall.

A crossbow bolt strikes the building next to where Essin is standing and everyone turns to see the guards coming toward them.

Crumph!

The ground beneath the guards explodes upward. Essin gasps at the sight and then nods his head as he turns to follow Miko and the others to the wall.

“Get down!” James says to Jiron who is already several rungs up the ladder. Coming to the wall, he places his hand upon it and begins concentrating.

Jiron looks down to him, realizing what he’s about to do and then jumps to the ground as far from the wall as he can. James releases the magic and a section of the wall fifteen feet across explodes outward, leaving them a clear exit from the compound. His knees begin to wobble and Essin comes to his side and says, “Let me carry Nate.”

With relief, James hands the still unconscious Nate over to the man, who slings him over his shoulder and then follows the others. Once they’ve passed through the trees for a ways, James glances behind them and realizes none of the guards have followed them through the opening in the