Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [5]
Apparently, when Jiron had stumbled upon him during his battle with the soldiers, he was out trying to find his sister who had become separated from him earlier. When he saw James fighting the enemy and had actually driven them off, he decided to save him and bring him here. As far as Jiron knew, no one else has ever been down here in the years they’ve been using it for their secret clubhouse.
Delia sees them first and gets up asking, “Any luck?” Cassie stands up with her and they go over to them as they enter the room.
With a look of disappointment, Jiron replies, “No, and I looked everywhere.”
“I’m sorry,” Cassie says.
Jiron comes over to James and asks, “Can you help find her?”
Shaking his head, James replies, “Not unless you have something of hers I can use?” The look on Jiron’s face tells him that he doesn’t.
Feeling bad for the boy, but unable to help, he says, “She may still turn up.”
“I doubt it,” says Jiron, “I went to everyplace that she would’ve gone and she wasn’t there. I can only assume that they found her and she’s one of the thousands of slaves they captured.”
“Slaves?” James suddenly interrupts. “Where are they being kept?”
“They had a big encampment outside of the walls for them,” Tinok says, “but sometime yesterday, they started marching them south.”
“South?” James asks.
“Yeah,” Tinok replies. “Looks like they are taking them back to the Empire. Your friend is most likely with them.” He looks over to Jiron and adds, “As Tersa may be as well.”
“Can’t we do anything?” asks Cassie.
“Like what?” asks Tinok, “Chase after and rescue them?” He looks at her incredulously, “They have hundreds of guards, not to mention their entire army occupying the city. It would be suicide!”
Jiron had been studying James’ face while the others had been talking. When James glances over at him, he asks, “You’re planning on going after your friend aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” James replies, nodding, “just as soon as I feel better. Miko is a smart kid, he knows I’ll find him. He’ll do what he needs to in order to survive until I get to him.”
“You’re crazy!” Tinok exclaims. “You’re going to get yourself killed!”
“Perhaps,” James says, “but I’ll not leave him to his fate. He wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for me.”
“What do you mean?” Delia asks.
“I came to the City of Light to find out all I could about Morcyth, a god that used to be popular around here a long time ago.” He looks at them and asks, “You wouldn’t by chance have ever heard of him, have you?”
They all four shake their heads no.
“Anyway,” he continues, “Miko tagged along despite my attempts to warn him of the dangers. I had found out some info from Ollinearn, the Keeper of the Great Library here in the City. We were on our way out when the Empire’s forces showed up and then things just went from bad to worse.”
“The last thing I told him was, ‘Find a place to hide, I’ll find you.’” James finishes his bread and cheese then cups his hands together as he drinks water out of the bucket. Sitting back against the wall once more, he glances at the four faces staring at him.
“I’ll go with you,” Jiron states.
“What?” Tinok exclaims in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”
“You’ll be killed!” Cassie cries.
“How can I leave her in the hands of slavers?” Jiron replies. “I’m all she has left in this world and I’ll not rest until either she’s free, or I’m dead!” Turning to James he says, “So, when do we leave?”
James considers the request, and nods his head, “Alright, we’ll go tonight.” He turns his attention to Jiron and asks, “Can we get out of the City unobserved?”
“I don’t know,” he admits, “there are hundreds of troops stationed within the walls and thousands more on the outside. It looks like they plan to defend and hold the City against attacks from our soldiers. Both inside and out, there are many patrols and they’ve been doing routine sweeps of the houses, looking for anyone else still hiding.”
Delia lays her hand on Jiron’s arm and