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Miko nudges him back into motion. Startled, he hadn’t realized he had come to a stop. Resuming his run, he catches up to the others who have already made it to the top. Jiron and Shorty have already dispatched the guards stationed up here and Shorty is in the process of reclaiming his knives, plus adding the ones of the four dead men as well. Once everyone has reached the top, James cancels the ramp.

“Over here!” Stig hollers quietly from where he’s found the trapdoor leading into the building.

Everyone quickly moves to join him and Jiron says, “We have to be fast. It won’t take them much longer before they discover what happened.” Turning to James he asks, “Do you know where she is yet?”

Shaking his head, James says, “I haven’t had time to find her.” Removing his mirror, he concentrates on her and soon her image appears in the mirror. Looking the worse for wear, she’s sitting in a small room with light coming in through a window in the door. Though alone and looking afraid, she’s at least not being tortured.

Then James slowly moves the image upward and she suddenly disappears as the view moves to the level above her. The area is dark and nothing but indistinct shadows show in the mirror. Moving upward yet again, the image suddenly changes and they see the roof. “She’s on the fourth floor,” he tells the others.

“Where on the fourth floor?” Jiron asks.

Taking out his cloth, he casts his finding spell and the cloth moves to point down and to the left. Moving in the direction indicated, he walks that way until the cloth bends and points straight down. “She’s directly below,” he says as he puts the cloth away.

Jiron gets her position in relation to the trapdoor set in his mind and nods. “Alright,” he says, “let’s go get her.” Moving quickly to the trapdoor, he nods for Stig to open it.

Chapter Twenty Two

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When Stig throws open the trapdoor, a strong odor wafts out. Rather unpleasant but bearable, he asks, “What is that?”

Brother Willim comes forward and smells it. “I think it comes from the berac plant,” he says. Glancing to James he adds, “The leaves when burned produce a smoke that will prevent a mage from using his powers.”

“Orrin did say this Eye knew how to deal with mages,” Jiron states. “Guess he doesn’t want you in there.”

“What are you going to do?” asks Shorty.

“It’s too late,” he says, “I’ve already inhaled it.” Even now he can feel his mind growing numb. Holding out his hand, he creates a small sphere the size of a marble before his magic fails altogether. Similar in nature to the one that he made in a similar situation back in Cardri, only this one will be slightly more versatile. It won’t be limited to just three commands, he’s worked on expanding its capabilities ever since the incident on the boat. Now, it should prove much more effective.

“Don’t worry about me,” he says to Jiron. “Aleya has to be our first concern.”

Nodding, Jiron moves to the opening and starts climbing down the ladder. The hallway is dark with just a small amount of light with which to see. Once off the ladder, he moves quickly in search of the stairs down and finds them at the other end of the hallway. Scar and Potbelly have already made it down and are now beside him. The others are still making their way down from the roof.

“Go on!” Stig hollers as he makes it down the ladder from the roof. “We’ll catch up.”

Jiron nods then turns back to the stairs. With Scar and Potbelly right behind, he descends the stairway slowly. Light from the fourth floor illuminates the stairwell, and voices can be heard in conversation. He motions for Scar and Potbelly to wait as he continues down to where the stairs reach the fourth floor. There’s a small landing from which the fourth floor hallway extends further into the building before the stairs continue their way down to the third floor.

Keeping his shoulder against the edge of the stairwell, he takes the steps slowly until he’s on the second step from the bottom. He listens to the two men talking,