Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [113]
“No,” replies James, mystified. “I don’t know who they are.”
“I do,” replies Miko. They all turn to him as he continues, “They’re those prisoners in the cells down in the dungeon.”
“But how did they escape?” asks James.
“They must’ve gotten a hold of the guards we killed and managed to escape their cells,” figures Jiron.
“That tears it!” exclaims James. “They’ll be here to check on him,” he says as he points to Lord Pytherian, “once they’ve dealt with them. If they’re not already on the way.”
“Then let’s move!” Jiron says as he heads for the stairs.
They follow him as he quickly moves down the stairs. When they reach the guard room, Lord Pytherian pauses a moment to remove a scabbard from a fallen guard and buckle it around his waist. As they hurry through, he takes out the sword and tests its balance. Satisfied, he returns the sword to its scabbard and hurries after them.
Almost running down the stairs, they reach the bottom just as the double doors open up and a squad of eight soldiers enters, led by a man richly dressed. Both groups pause momentarily in stunned silence at seeing the others before the soldiers draw their swords and charge.
James hears a strange cry behind him as Miko rushes past, sword in hand. He meets the lead soldier and in two passes of his sword, the man lies dead at his feet.
Jiron and Lord Pytherian follow and the battle is joined.
Deflecting a sword thrust with a knife, Jiron follows through with the other and is able to stab the man in the exposed armpit. When the knife is pulled out, blood flows quickly from the artery that was severed.
Lord Pytherian, with a war cry, wades into the soldiers. He deflects one sword thrust and quickly brings around his sword and slices into the man’s leg, practically severing it. Another soldier engages him and he blocks a downward hack as he kicks out at the man’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to stagger back.
The man staggers back near Miko who almost absentmindedly swings his sword in that direction and takes the man’s head off. The head flies and bounces off the wall as the torso falls to the floor, blood spraying everywhere.
Then all of a sudden it’s over. James glances over to see Miko looking around. His eyes catch sight of Lord Pytherian standing there and begins moving toward him to attack. “Miko!” he yells.
Lord Pytherian sees him coming and backs away from him, sword at the ready.
“Miko!” he cries one more time.
Miko slows and then suddenly comes to himself. He looks around at the dead bodies and almost without thinking, reaches down and cleans his sword on a fallen soldier before replacing it in its scabbard.
Lord Pytherian glances from Miko to James and back again. “What’s wrong with him?” he asks.
“No time to explain,” replies James. “Just stay away from him when he’s fighting.”
He nods and then looks around at the dead, “Where’s the other guy?”
“What other guy?” Jiron asks.
“The one that was with them, the one in the fancy clothes,” replies Lord Pytherian.
They look around but fail to find him among the dead. “He must’ve gotten away,” James says.
“Then we’re out of time,” Lord Pytherian says. “He’ll bring the whole army to hunt for me.”
“He’s got to find us first!” Jiron cries as they hurry out through the double doors. A couple servants can be seen in the hallway, looking around confused. But when they see them burst through the double doors, all covered in blood, they begin to scream and yell as they run away down the hallway.
Jiron leads them down to where they left the girl and opens the door. He looks in but finds her gone.
“Where to?” asks Lord Pytherian as he continues glancing down the hallway.
James looks to Jiron and says, “Back the way we came?”
“As good a way as any,” he replies as he moves toward the banquet hall. Before they come very close to it, a group of soldiers enters the hallway from there, the fancy dressed man in the fore.
He hollers to the soldiers and they rush to attack.
Turning around, they run back the way they’d come and turn down the other hallway