Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [24]
With James in the lead, they walk up to and then pass through the front door. They enter a large room where the officer is already seated behind a desk across the room. “Do come in,” he says to them as they hesitate in the doorway.
“There’re no supplies here!” James says accusingly as they enter the room. Tinok, who’s bringing up the rear, is nudged in the back with something sharp. Looking behind him, he sees one of the crossbowmen right behind him, the crossbow close to his back. The other two crossbowmen have dismounted and are following them inside.
The officer smiles at them and says, “Of course not, I’m surprised you even believed me.” He gestures to four other crossbowmen on the second floor balcony overlooking the room. “Please, don’t try anything,” he says to James and the others, “it would be, unpleasant.”
“What are you going to do?” Jiron asks.
A couple soldiers enter from a side door and begin taking their things from them, including James’ backpack. “My orders are simple; detain anyone passing through the area.”
They search them and take their weapons, including the knives of Jiron and Tinok.
“What happened to the people who use to live here?” Delia inquires.
“Alas, they objected to us being here so had to be dealt with,” he explains.
“Dealt with?” she asks, afraid of the answer.
“Yes my dear, dealt with,” he says to her. “Now they stay in their homes and don’t bother us any more.”
When they’re done with removing everything from them but the clothes on their back, they place all of it on the desk. The officer says a few words to one of them in their language and then turns to their prisoners. “Now, just follow this soldier here and he’ll take you to your cell.”
“Why are we being locked up?” Tinok asks angrily.
“Would you rather we just kill you now?” he asks.
James can hear Cassie gasp and quickly says, “No, that won’t be necessary.”
“Good,” he says, giving them a smile, “then please follow along peacefully and you won’t be hurt.”
A soldier leads them through a back door into a hallway lined with solid looking wooden doors, each containing a small barred window. The soldier opens the cell doors and has them enter, one per cell. He puts three of them on one side and three on the other. Once they’re in and the doors are secured, the soldier takes up position in a chair at the end of the hallway.
James hears Cassie sobbing, but fortunately everyone has the good sense to keep quiet while the guard is there and can overhear everything they say.
“Don’t worry Cassie,” Tinok’s voice can be heard saying. “I’m sure they’ll let us go once they realize we’re no threat to them.”
James can hear someone enter the hallway from the outer room and the footsteps pause before his cell. He can see the officer looking in through the window in his door and then hears him say something to the soldier with him. A key turns in the lock and the door swings open, the officer walking in. Framed in the doorway is a soldier with a crossbow who has it aimed at James to prevent any mischief.
Once he’s in the room, the officer holds up the amulet James bought from a merchant a while back, the same one that ol’ One Eye had questioned him about earlier in the warehouse back in the City of Light. “Where did you get this?” he asks.
“I bought it at a merchant’s stand a couple weeks ago,” he replies. “Why?”
“Hmmm…” he says as he considers what James had said. “Be that as it may, this changes things.”
“How?”
The man looks to James but doesn’t answer. He leaves the room and James can hear him mumble to himself as he leaves, “Yes, this definitely changes things…”
The soldier with the crossbow closes his cell door and James is left alone to ponder what he just heard. Why does having that amulet change things? That amulet