Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [110]
As they continue to approach, he says, “How many guards are there?”
“I don’t know,” she replies, “I’ve never been there, my duties were always elsewhere.”
“Then I’m afraid this is where we must part ways,” he says to her.
Her eyes open wide, expecting to be killed on the spot. He moves to a door and listens for a moment. When he doesn’t hear anything, he opens it up and finds another sitting room. This whole area must be guest rooms for visiting nobles. Moving quickly, he looks through to the bedroom and with relief, finds it empty.
Returning to the sitting room, he grabs Elspa and drags her to the bedroom where he gags her mouth and ties her up securely. “I’m not going to kill you,” he tells her. She calms down somewhat when she sees a gold piece appear in his hand. “I appreciate your helping us,” he says as he places the gold piece within a pocket of her outfit.
He gives her a wink and then returns to the front room where the others are waiting for him. Jiron is by the door and when he sees the nod from James, opens it up and checks to make sure the hallway is empty before they step out.
Moving down toward the double doors that Elspa had told them led to the north tower where Pytherian is being held, they quickly cross the distance and stand before them.
Miko keeps watch down both hallways while Jiron listens at the doors. After a minute, he lifts his head away and says, “I think there’re two guards on the other side, can’t be sure. I do hear something though.”
“What do you propose?” James asks him.
“If there are just the two, we might be able to silence them quickly before they alert the whole keep,” he whispers to him. “But if there are more than two, then we’ve got problems.”
“No way to know for sure is there?” James asks him.
He shakes his head, “No, there isn’t.”
“Then let’s move quick and decisively,” he says. Jiron nods in agreement.
Drawing his knives, he makes ready to pass through the doors. James takes three stones out of his pocket, the last ammo he has, and prepares.
Miko takes the handles of the doors as he prepares to swing them open to allow Jiron and James to fight those within.
When both James and Jiron signal Miko that they’re ready, he swings open the doors.
Chapter Nineteen
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When the doors swing open, Jiron rushes in and trips over two bodies entwined on the floor before the door. James looks incredulously at the guard with his pants down around his ankles lying atop the half naked girl. He stands there in shock as they look at him and the girl opens her mouth to scream.
Miko gets over his shock and draws his knife as he dives toward her. Her scream begins to escape her lips just as his hand comes and covers her mouth, silencing her.
The guard reaches for his sword that’s lying next to him, but Jiron has already recovered from his fall and kicks it out of reach.
“Get up!” James orders the guard as he closes the double doors.
The guard keeps his eyes on them as he gets up off the girl and pulls his pants up. The girl tries to cover herself as well, her muffled scream subsiding as she realizes they’ll not be killed immediately.
James gestures for Miko to remove his hand from her mouth and then for the girl to get up. She pulls her clothes around her as she gets to her feet, obviously terrified.
The hallway extends from the double doors twenty feet before ending at a stairway which winds its way up to the tower above. Two doors, one on either side of the hallway, lie between the double doors and the stairs. James nods his head to the one on the left side and Jiron moves over to the door and listens. He looks back to James and shakes his head, indicating he doesn’t hear anything.
“Check it out,” he tells him.
Jiron opens the door and looks inside. He turns back to James and says, “Looks like a storage room.”
James turns his attention back to the guard and the girl. He indicates the storage room and says, “Move inside.”
The guard gives him a defiant look as he walks over to the storage room, the girl following with fear in her eyes. Jiron rips