The Unsuspecting Mage - Brian S. Pratt [182]
The mother is getting extremely agitated and James feels sorry for the girl when she finally gets a hold of her. The little girl is racing again through the crowd, giggling and laughing when she runs into another of the mass of people on the street.
The little girl doesn’t even realize she’s bumped into someone until he grabs her by the arm. She gazes up to see who has a hold of her and looks into the face of a man with a patch over the right eye and a long angry welt running from his hairline to his jaw.
She looks like she’s about ready to scream when her mother comes and words are exchanged with the man who let’s go and the mother drags the child away, obviously yelling at her.
James goes cold when he sees the man, his memory flashes back to a man with a crossbow in a window and the snapped crosswire catching him in the face.
“Miko!” James says as he starts to get up. “I think I see the man who escaped when I rescued Perrilin.”
“Are you sure?” he asks as he gets up too, grabbing their bags.
“Pretty sure,” James replies. “You see, his crossbow wire had snapped catching him in the face, along the right eye.” Pointing to the man in the road, he says, “And that man has a welt running in about the same area.” He then moves to the front door and leaves the inn.
“Goodbye,” they hear the serving girl say.
As Miko follows James out the front door he asks, “What are we doing?”
“I want to follow him and see what he’s up to,” James replies.
“I thought we were leaving?” Miko asks nervously. “You know, before the Empire gets here?”
“We are, this should only take a few minutes,” he assures him.
Not exactly happy about staying in the City longer, Miko says, “I hope so,” and continues following James as he follows the man.
They keep the man in sight as he continues down the street, then turning right at a main intersection. They briefly lose sight of him when he turns the corner but hurry to the edge of the building and peer around it, again catching sight of him as he makes another turn down a smaller side street. Running, they enter the side street and again pick him up as he continues walking down the road.
The road he is taking eventually leads to the docks where a veritable mob of people are trying to gain passage on the few vessels remaining in the harbor. All the ships have armed guards keeping the people at bay. Near the far end of the dock, in the opposite direction the man is going, a riot is in progress at the base of a gangway leading onto a ship. James can see guards using clubs and swords on the people as they surge toward the gangway.
“There he goes,” Miko says as he directs James’ attention back to the matter at hand. The man had just entered a warehouse standing back from the docks. It looks well maintained but closed at the moment. Seeing a window in the side of the warehouse, they quickly make their way over to it and peer inside.
Within, the man is talking to what looks to be two men in uniforms of the city guard. They see him handing a small vial to one of the men followed by a small sack, possibly heavy with coin.
James hears a noise behind him and as he quickly turns to see what it is, something strikes him hard in the side of the head and everything goes black.
Chapter Twenty Five
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Gasping, James comes to as his head is deluged with a bucket of water. Next to him Miko sputters as he is treated similarly. His eyes are open but his vision is blurry. The side of his head throbs immensely from where he had been struck. He tries to move but finds himself to be tied to a chair with his arms secured behind him.
“Who are you?” he hears someone ask.
He looks around with far less than his normal 20-20 vision, trying to see the one that speaks when a strap comes from behind him and strikes