Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [26]
Grabbing Jiron’s arm, James says, “Come with me.” He leads him to the rear cell where Tinok had been, whose little window overlooks the same narrow alley that his had. The girls follow them in there.
“What are we doing?” he asks James.
“Just wait,” he replies as he begins concentrating.
Jiron hears the clash of metal from the hallway and sticks his head out to see how Tinok’s doing. One soldier lies on the floor, bleeding to death, while his knives dance with another. A third soldier has entered the hallway behind the one battling Tinok, but the narrowness of the corridor allows but one to come at him at a time.
He turns back to the cell and watches as James begins tracing the seams of the stones surrounding the barred window. His finger follows the seam all the way around and when he reaches his starting point, he stops and says, “Alright, give me a hand.”
Reaching up to the bars, he begins pulling on them. Jiron steps up and lends his strength to the effort.
“Give up,” they hear the officer exclaim from down the hallway, “you’ve got nowhere to go!”
“Bring ‘em on!” they hear Tinok’s reply. More clashes can be heard as he parries and blocks, giving them time to do what they need to.
“What’s the count?” Jiron yells over his shoulder to Tinok.
“Four!” they hear him hollering back.
James and Jiron pull with all their strength on the bars and a section of the wall surrounding them suddenly slides outward half an inch.
“Five!”
Delia joins them and together, they slowly pull the bars and the adjoining stones away from the wall until the whole thing crashes to the floor with a thud.
James looks out the hole and doesn’t see anyone around, while Jiron goes back to the dead guards in Cassie’s cell and retrieves a sword.
Coming to the hole, he tosses the sword through and then follows it, climbing through the hole.
“Six!”
He takes the sword and comes back to the hole. “Cassie,” he says, “come on!” Keeping an eye out for anyone entering the ally, he offers his hand to help her through.
James and Jiron help Cassie make it through the hole, and then Delia. Once they’re safely on the other side, James climbs through as well. “Tinok!” Jiron yells, “Time to go!”
“Seven!” they hear just before he runs through the door. Upon seeing the hole in the wall, he yells, “Stand back!” as he races toward it and dives through. He sails through the opening, hits the ground on the other side, and then rolls, coming to rest against the wall of the opposite building.
James sees guards rushing into the room after him. When they see the hole in the wall, one yells something back down the hallway as most of them turn and race back the way they had come.
“Let’s get out of here!” James says, as he leads them down the alley. As they reach the end, he looks back the way they had come and sees soldiers entering the alley, hell bent on catching them. They turn and run down the lane, trying to make the edge of town. A guard runs around a corner in front of them, and before he even realizes they’re there, Jiron has cut him down with the sword.
“Good with a sword too?” asks James, panting from the exertion.
“Didn’t always use the knives,” he replies, “I just prefer them.”
When they come to the end of the lane, they realize they’ve made it to the edge of town, rising before them is the mountain. Behind them are dozens of soldiers racing after them and several crossbow bolts fly past, missing by a narrow margin.
They make a break for the mountain and the relative safety of the trees. The ground begins to rise as they reach the treeline.
From behind, they hear the soldiers in pursuit. James glances back and realizes they’re gaining on them. As he runs, James searches the ground for rocks, but in the dusk of early evening, it’s hard to make any out. Spotting a couple, he pauses only momentarily to pick them up before he races to catch up with the others.
He glances back again and now can make out about a dozen and a half soldiers are in pursuit, it doesn’t look as if the officer is among them. “We’re either going