Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [25]
The hallway door opens and then closes as the officer leaves the cell area. Jiron whispers, “James, the guard left with him. What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know,” he replies. “It’s not too long until dark, we better wait until then. Can you pick the lock?”
“No, they took my lock picks when they searched me. You?” he asks.
“Probably,” James responds. “Let me think about it.”
“I’m scared!” they hear Cassie cry pitifully from her cell at the end of the hallway.
“We all are,” Delia tells her. “Just be patient, I’m sure we’ll be able to get out of this.”
“I hope so,” she says, as she once again starts to cry softly.
“This was a stupid idea!” Tinok’s voice rings out. “We should’ve taken ‘em out when we first met them. Now there’s a whole lot more to deal with.”
“We couldn’t risk the girls,” Jiron says.
“Think they’re any safer now?” he asks angrily.
“Shut up!” Delia whispers sternly. “This isn’t doing us any good!”
Everyone quiets down after that. James looks out the little window that overlooks the back alley, but all he can see is the rear of the building across from him.
Just then they hear the hallway door open again and the chair creaks as the guard retakes his position again at the end of the hallway.
They sit there for another hour in silence, each occupied with their own thoughts. James sits by the window and listens to the goings on outside, but aside from the sounds of the occasional horse going by the front of the building, or conversations in the Empire’s language, he fails to hear anything useful. He contemplates several means where magic could facilitate their escape and plans several contingencies.
Outside, the sun begins to go down and the light slowly starts to fade. Suddenly, the door at the end of the hallway opens and two soldiers come in and begin talking to the guard. They exchange words for several minutes, then James can hear them chuckling. The two men begin to make their way down to the end of the hallway and stop outside of Cassie’s door.
He hears a click and then a squeal of rusty hinges as they open her cell door. He hears them saying something to her in their language, and then suddenly a cry from Cassie.
“What’s happening?” Jiron asks.
Tinok, who’s in the cell across from her, says, “They’re going to rape her!”
“Jiron, Tinok, go help her,” James says as he releases the magic. Everyone hears an audible click as their doors unlock.
Without any thought but to help her, Jiron and Tinok burst out of their cells and rush into hers. James comes out and turns to the shocked guard at the end of the hallway. Loosing the power, James slams the man against the wall, knocking him out.
He rushes down to Cassie’s cell and finds the two soldiers dead on the ground, with Delia helping Cassie to her feet. Jiron and Tinok are standing over the dead men, with the dead men’s knives in their hand, dripping blood.
As James enters, Jiron says, “Time to leave?”
“I would think so,” James replies. They come out of her cell just as the doorway at the end of the hallway slams open. The officer strides in to see what the commotion is all about. He comes to a sudden stop when he sees the guard lying before him on the floor unconscious. Looking down the hallway, his eyes widen when he sees their cell doors open and them out of their cells, two with knives that are red with blood. He begins yelling as he quickly turns and exits the hallway, returning back to the front room. Even though James can’t understand what he’s saying, he has a pretty good idea.
“Jiron,” he says, “give Tinok your knife, quick!”
When Tinok has both knives, James says to him as he points down the hallway, “They’re going to be coming through that door. You’ve got to stop them for a minute or two.”
Tinok glances at Cassie, then with an evil grin he says, “You got it.” He walks close to the end of the hallway and awaits the first