Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [157]
Crouching behind the bush, Jiron watches as the man leaves the building and closes the door behind him. He breathes a sigh of relief when the man turns and begins walking to the courtyard, away from where he’s hiding.
After the man has moved far enough away, he makes sure the coast is clear and then begins to continue around the courtyard. When he finally reaches the building that sits next to the one he’s after, he pauses as he figures out the best way to enter. The front of the building borders the courtyard and any attempt to enter through there would be discovered in no time by one of the many soldiers out there.
The building he’s crouched next to is the same height as the one holding James. He judges the distance between the two isn’t so great he couldn’t leap across it, roof to roof. It might be easier to gain entrance to this one and then jump across the gap.
He begins examining the exterior of the building and finds a ground floor window open not too far from where he’s standing. Moving quickly and silently, he runs to the window and then pauses while he checks to make sure no one is around. When he determines the area is clear, he grabs the windowsill and swings himself up and through to the room on the other side.
The room looks to be the office of a scribe. From the faint light coming in through the window, he sees a desk with paper and inkwells. Not taking the time to investigate further, he moves to the door and places his ear against it as he listens to the other side. Failing to hear anything, he opens the door a crack and looks out upon a darkened hallway. Leaving the room and closing the door behind him, he moves down to the right hoping to find the stairs.
All the rooms along this hallway are dark and empty so he moves quickly to the end where he finds a dark stairwell leading up. He begins moving slowly up the stairwell, all the while listening intently for the sound of anyone approaching, either from above or below.
When the stairs reach the next level, a hallway branches off to the left or he can turn and continue up the stairs. Down the hallway he sees some lights coming from two different rooms as he pauses a moment to listen before continuing up the stairs to the third level.
Again he finds a hallway extending from the stairs to the left, this time all the offices are dark, or he can continue following the stairs up to the fourth level. Not hearing anything, he continues on up to the top level.
At the top of the stairs, his only choice now is to go down the dark hallway. He begins checking room after room, searching for a trapdoor leading up to the roof. After searching the last room, he comes to the conclusion that there isn’t one. Or it’s so well hidden that he couldn’t find it.
In the last room at the corner of the building, he moves to the window and looks out. The window is facing away from the lights of the courtyard and is currently in shadow. Opening the window slowly, he carefully steps out upon the window ledge and reaches up to the roof. Able to gain a grip on the edge of the roof, he takes a deep breath and then swings out as he pulls himself up onto the roof.
The roof slants a little to allow rain or snow to flow off and makes for treacherous footing. Once up, he begins making his way around to the side across from the Councilman’s offices.
Coming to stand across from the Councilman’s building, he carefully looks down between them. Several soldiers are down there talking, giving no indication that they’ll be leaving anytime soon. Great! If he jumps, they may hear him. But what choice does he have?
He moves further up the roof to give him a little bit of distance to run. Then he takes four quick steps and launches himself across to the opposite roof where he lands with a thud. Quickly grabbing a secure hold as he starts sliding to the edge, he stops his downward slide and becomes very still while he tries to hear if any sort of cry has arisen from those down below. When none is forthcoming, he begins moving along the roof away from the well lit courtyard, and over