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“Still down there I take it?” asks Reilin. Jiron simply gives him a look as if to say ‘That was a stupid question’.

Stig and Shorty arrive shortly after that and report that the other sides are being watched, but only by a few. “There are only three in the back,” Stig tells them.

“The sides have a few more than that,” adds Shorty, “but not that much more.”

“Can we take the three out in the back quickly?” he asks.

“Probably could if I had my bow,” states Aleya.

Jiron rounds on her. “Enough already,” he exclaims. “I said I am sorry and this constant distraction from the matter at hand is not helping anyone!”

She returns his look with a stern one of her own then nods her head.

He turns back to Shorty and asks, “Can we?”

“Possibly,” he says. “I can take one, maybe two before they realize it. But the third?”

They all look to James. Shaking his head, he holds up the sphere and says, “This is all I have until the drug wears off.”

“That’s not going to start to happen until we get out of here,” Brother Willim adds. “Even then it will take hours.”

“Where are the men situated back there?” Jiron asks.

Suddenly, they hear a creak from the lower stairway. Shorty picks up one of the knives from the dead lying at the second floor landing and moves to where the stairs turn back to the first floor. Moving quickly, he dodges around the corner, throws the knife then dives back just as half a dozen bolts fly through where he had just been.

From below, they hear a man cry out from where the knife found its mark. “We don’t have a whole lot of time,” Shorty says. Again the creaking comes as men from below once more begin to work their way up.

Scar and Potbelly says, “You guys go take them out and we’ll hold them off here.”

James and Jiron glance to each other and nod simultaneously. “Let’s go,” Jiron says then turns to Shorty. “Show me where the guards are.”

“This way,” Shorty says as he begins running down the hallway.

Jiron follows with James right on his heels. Shorty turns into an open doorway and before James passes through, the sound of Scar and Potbelly engaging the enemy comes down the hallway. Leaving the hallway, James enters what looks like an office of some kind. A desk with papers resting in neat stacks dominates the room.

“Over here,” Shorty says from where he’s looking out the window.

James crosses the room until he’s next to him. Looking out, he sees the three men not more than ten feet away. They have their swords out and look very alert. The window through which James is looking is closed. They’ll have to open it before they will be able to effectively strike out at the three men. He moves to the window to begin opening it when Jiron stops him and shakes his head. “What?” he asks.

Instead of replying, Jiron shoulders him out of the way and begins to open the window himself. A little hurt that Jiron didn’t think he could do it, James backs up and watches him lift the window.

Inch by inch the window rises and when it is open seven inches, it lets out with a squeal. Jiron immediately stops and moves away from the window. Peering out from the corner of it, he sees one of the three men looking up in their direction. After a moment of staring their way, the man returns to looking down the alley.

Sighing in relief, Jiron returns to the window and manages to open it fully. From the hallway, the sound of the fighting is growing closer, Scar and Potbelly must be having to give ground.

Jiron turns from the window and glances to Shorty. He then nods his head in the direction of the men on the ground. Shorty nods as he pulls two knives from his belt.

“Wait,” whispers Brother Willim as he lays a hand on Shorty’s arm. A subtle glow surrounds Brother Willim and from outside, the sound of a growling dog is heard.

Glancing out the window, Jiron sees the three men facing away from them and toward a rather large dog that is growling most menacingly at them. He looks back to Brother Willim who says, “Slip out the window while they are distracted.”

Jiron nods and begins moving through