The Mists of Sorrow_ Book Seven of the Morcyth Saga - Brian S. Pratt [116]
Bam!
A moment later he hears James’ voice coming from the roof above, “I’m here!”
Unwinding the rope from around his waist, Jiron yells, “I’m throwing up my rope, catch it!”
“Right!” he hollers back.
Bam!
Getting enough slack to make it up to James, he leans out and throws it up. He can feel it stop as James catches it. “Now, move down the roof ten feet to your left and brace yourself!” he hollers.
Bam! Crack!
The bolt breaks from the wall as the door jamb shatters.
“Ready!” he hears James yell and the rope’s slack is taken up as James readies himself.
Jiron climbs onto the window ledge and then glances back to the door. Already open a foot, the men on the other side are gradually pushing it and the bed further into the room. Taking a firm hold of the rope, Jiron sees a soldier squeeze through the opening and charge him.
Jumping out and trusting in James, he holds onto the rope tightly. With James holding the upper end of the rope ten feet to the left, he swings out and over to land below where James is located. Now ten feet away from the window, he begins climbing up to the roof. Before he makes it up to the roof’s edge, a soldier sticks his head out and sees him there hanging by the rope. He begins calling out to those below.
“Come on!” he hears James grunt from above him.
Hand over hand, Jiron climbs the rope the rest of the way to the roof. Bolts begin firing at him from the soldiers in the street below. One strikes his pack and embeds itself while the rest go wide. At the roof’s edge, he reaches up and takes hold. Releasing the rope, he pulls himself up and onto the roof.
James takes hold of his shirt and helps him over the edge as bolts continue to fly from below.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Jiron turns his attention to the source of the banging and sees that the trap door leading from the roof has several crates placed upon it. “Orrin said he brought those up here when he first arrived just in case,” explains James.
“Good thinking,” he says. Looking around, he doesn’t see Orrin anywhere. “Where did he go?”
James indicates the far side of the inn facing the rear courtyard. “He had a rope there and was over the side right after we pushed the crates on top of the trap door,” he explains.
Jiron runs over to the rope hanging over the edge and looks down. A dozen men are standing at the base of the rope. When they see him looking over the top, they begin yelling. “Not this way,” he says. Taking his knife, he cuts Orrin’s rope and lets it fall to the street below. Now they can’t come at them from that direction.
Bang! Bang
“That’s not going to hold forever,” Jiron says.
“No,” replies James. “I’ve got an idea but not sure how well it will work.”
Jiron takes in the distances between the inn and the other buildings next to it. None are very close and any attempt to jump will be seen by those below. “Okay, what is it?”
James outlines what he plans to do and Jiron nods with a grin. “Bold and dangerous,” he says, “I like it.” He and James then hurry over to the furthest part of the roof from where the soldiers are attempting to break through the trapdoor.
Kneeling down, James summons the magic and begins tracing out a three-foot by three-foot square on the roof. As his finger moves along the surface, a line forms in its wake. He’s using magic to cut out a section of the roof. When he has two sides of the square done, the edge of the square section that has already been cut begins sinking into the roof. Jiron takes out one of his knives and jams the blade in the crack to prevent it from falling in prematurely.
The only problem with his plan is if he’s doing this above an area that currently has a guest or that the soldiers are in, they’ll be found out quickly. If that happens, they will not get another chance.
Bang! Bang!
Jiron glances to the crates holding the trapdoor closed and sees that they still remain covering the trapdoor. Returning his gaze to James, he sees the third side is finished and the fourth is halfway