Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [161]
Jiron bends down over the spilled antidote as Councilman Rillian begins to laugh. “Too late,” he cries out in glee. “Without his magic, you’ll never get out of here alive.” He pays no attention to the councilman’s words as the looks down at the shattered remains of the vial. In the center of the shards, he finds a small pool of antidote. Bending over, he dips his finger into it, gathering as much as he can upon its tip.
Getting up, he moves quickly over to James’ side all the while trying not to allow the liquid to drip off his finger. James opens his eyes as he inserts the antidote covered finger inside his mouth. Once he’s felt James suck the antidote off his finger, he says, “You okay now?”
James nods his head and says, “Better.” He tries to sit up, but the spinning of the room causes him to fall back down on the couch. “Not perfect, it seems.” The antidote hasn’t reversed the effects of the poison completely. Hopefully it won’t take longer than they have.
Just then, the door bursts open and they see four men holding a wooden bench as a battering ram come through the broken remnants of the door. The bench is dropped as one guard kicks out with his foot and clears the remaining portion of the broken door out of the way. Then the guards begin moving into the room.
Jiron moves to Councilman Rillian’s side and places a knife at his throat as he says, “Stop! Or he’s dead!”
The guards come to a quick stop, just feet within the room. They take in the scene as the lead one says, “Milord, are you okay?”
“I’m alive” the councilman assures him.
“Now,” Jiron says to the guards, “Get out or I slit his throat.”
“Milord?” asks the guard as he looks to the councilman.
“Stay right where you are,” he orders. “If they kill me, then you kill them. Understood?”
“But…” the guard stammers.
“You heard me!” shouts Councilman Rillian.
The guards glance among themselves and remain where they are.
“I said leave the room!” Jiron hollers at them.
James finds his head is becoming clearer by the second. Whatever that stuff was that Jiron had given him seems to be doing the trick.
From the hallway, a crossbow bolt flies through the door past the guards in the room, and strikes Jiron in the right shoulder. The force of it knocks him backward and away from the councilman. He stumbles for a few feet before falling to the floor.
“Kill him!” Councilman Rillian shouts.
The guards begin rushing forward. A lit candle sitting upon a table before them suddenly flares up and a roar can be heard as fire shoots in their direction, halting their advance.
“It’s the mage on the couch!” he cries out, indicating James with a nod of his head.
The guards see James sitting there on the side of the couch and start to move toward him. The flame from the candle becomes greater as it forms a fiery barricade between them.
“Milord!” cries the lead guard, the heat from the fire too hot for him to come any further into the room.
Attempting to ignore the throbbing pain in his shoulder, Jiron gets back up as he sees the flame from the candle shoot out to block the guards. Leaving the councilman where he is, he moves over to James.
“Can you walk?” Jiron asks him.
Nodding his head, he continues concentrating on the flame as he moves it to force the guards back out of the room. His head is still fuzzy, but is able to maintain the spell as the antidote continues to remove the effects of the drug.
The temperature in the room is rising from the heat of the flames. Everyone begins sweating and a nearby candle begins to droop as the heat softens the wax.
Jiron checks Fifer who’s barely conscious. With his shoulder the way it is, there’s no way he’ll be able to carry him.
By directing the flame, James is able to push the soldiers back out the door. A couple brave souls bear burns from when they didn’t move back fast enough to avoid the flame’s touch.
When the guards are all once more