Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (52 page)

“Thank you,” James says as they move to
enter the secret passage.

“Just get Korgan before he can implement his
plan,” Henri replies, “whatever that plan may be. I’ll be waiting
at the north gate.”

“We’ll see you there,” James says and then
enters the passage. Once they’re all in, the door is again shut and
locked. They can hear the stack of boxes being slid back in front
of the doorway.

The orb springs to life and James leads them
down the narrow passage. When they reach the end, he finds the
loose stone and presses upon it. Before them, the end of the
passage slides to the side and they see faint light coming in
through the opening.

“We better hurry before it closes,” James
says.

Moving to the exit, he has to push his way
through the bushes before the exit, the others following closely.
Behind them they begin to hear the doorway close once more until it
finally shuts tight.

Peering out from the bushes, they discover
they’ve come out on the northeast side of the castle. James takes a
quick look around and when he’s sure no one is near, steps out with
the others following.

“Which way?” asks Jiron.

“One gate is as good as the other,” replies
James. “I would guess the north gate seeing as how that’s where
Henri is planning to meet us. Most likely, the other guards
stationed there are loyal.”

“Possible,” Jiron says.

Moving with a purpose, they make for the
north gate. They do their best to avoid others who are out and
about on the streets. When at last the gate is in sight, Jiron sees
the same two men on guard there as had been there when he’d snuck
through earlier.

“No guts, no glory,” James says as he walks
purposefully toward the gate.

“But they’ll see us!” Fifer whispers.

“True,” replies James. “But I’m counting on
them not worrying about those leaving nearly as much as those
entering.”

“I hope you’re right,” Fifer says as they
come closer.

When they’re close, the guards take notice
of them but otherwise say nothing as they pass through the gate.
James nods in greeting to them as they pass by, the guards return
his greeting.

“We made it!” Fifer exclaims quietly.

“Figured we would,” Jiron says. “People
always see what they expect to see. The guards back there expected
us to be okay, and since we acted the part, that’s what they
thought.”

As they move away from the gate, two shadows
detach themselves from the darkness. James sees them coming toward
them and stops abruptly.

“It’s okay,” Jiron assures him as he
recognizes Jorry and Uther.

“You did it!” they say, amazed.

“Yeah, but we don’t have time to talk about
it,” he replies.

“What do you mean?” Uther asks.

Fifer quickly fills them in on what’s been
going on.

Jiron says, “You guys go and get the others
stationed out at the other gates and meet us back at the inn.’

“You got it,” Jorry says.

As they head out into the night to round up
the others, James says to Jiron, “Now, take us to Miller.”

Giving him a nod, Jiron moves out toward the
inn.

James follows closely behind and after a
minute, asks, “How’s Miko?”

“Doing okay, last I saw,” he replies.

“I’m getting worried about him,” James
says.

“So am I,” agrees Jiron.

They don’t progress very far before they
begin to smell smoke. Not wood smoke from someone’s chimney, but
more like from a building that’s burning or has just burned
down.

As they near the inn, a large crowd can be
seen gathered around a burned out structure. “I believe that used
to be the inn,” Jiron tells him.

Hurrying forward, they see the crews working
to extinguish the last of the fires. “What happened?” he asks one
onlooker.

“They think it started in the back,” the man
tells him.

Another man steps forward and says, “Yeah,
this bunch came in through the front, a rough bunch by the looks of
them. They went through to the rooms in the back and then we heard
sword fighting. Then all of a sudden, we smelled smoke coming from
the back. By the time we all got out, the fire was spreading pretty
fast. In no time, the whole place was on fire.

“Did anyone from the back make it out?”
James asks anxiously.

Shaking his head, the first man says, “Not
through the front, anyway. No one has said if anyone made it out
the back. Seems dark deeds were done there this night.”

“Perhaps,” says James. “Thank you.”

The men nod and turn back to watch the crews
as they finish putting out the fire.

They move away from the crowd and James
asks, “You heard?”

Jiron nods, “Think he got out?”

“Under normal circumstances I’d say yes. But
now, the way he’s been acting, I don’t know.”

“They said they heard sword fighting,” Jiron
says. “That means Miko would have ‘woken up’, so to speak.”

“I know,” replies James, “that’s what has me
worried.”

“Woken up?” Fifer asks.

“Never mind that now,” James says quickly.
“Let’s move over to the rear of the inn and see if we can find out
anything.”

“Okay,” Fifer says as he leads the way,
scanning the faces of the crowd for any sign of Miller or Miko.

At the rear of the inn, the fire had gutted
it pretty good. Only a few timbers and crossbeams remain. James
begins to move in among the charred rubble before a guard blocks
his way, saying, “It isn’t safe, you’ll have to stay back.”

James looks at the guard and says, “I know,
but we knew someone who was back here. I just wanted to find out if
they made it out or not.”

“It’s not a pretty sight,” the guard
says.

“I realize that,” James says as he looks to
the guard imploringly.

“Alright,” he says. “But be careful, it’s
still very hot in there.”

“We will,” he says to the guard. To the
others, he says, “Come on.”

The heat from the smoldering embers is quite
hot, almost too hot. He begins moving into the charred structure
when Jiron grabs his arm and says, “They were over this way.”

James nods and lets him lead the way.

Jiron steps through what’s left of a wall
and then says, “This was the room.”

“I can tell,” replies James as he looks
around at all the burned, dead bodies scattered about. The remains
of the collapsed ceiling covers most of the bodies but he’s still
able to make them out.

“Look here,” says Jiron.

James moves over and sees the remnants of a
headless body that looks to have once been tied to a chair. Ropes
bind it’s extremities to broken bits of burned wood. “This must’ve
been Shyn,” Jiron explains.

“Good!” he hears Fifer say.

Using their knives to maneuver smoldering
wood away from the bodies, they discover arms, legs and heads that
are no longer attached to anything. Testament to the brutal battle
that had occurred here shortly before the fire.

“You see Miller or Miko?” James asks the
others.

“Hard to tell,” Jiron replies. “I haven’t
found anyone yet that would’ve been the same size as Miko.”

“If Miller’s here,” Fifer states, “I doubt
if we would know for sure. They’re all burned too severe.”

“Fifer!” a cry can be heard coming from the
crowd.

He looks up and sees Jorry and Uther
returning with the others. “Over here,” he hollers, waving.

“Let’s get out of here,” James says.

When they finally make their way out of the
burned building, the others join them. Uther asks, “Man, what
happened?”

“Where’re Miller and that kid?” Jorry asks
right after.

Indicating the burned out building, Fifer
says, “They might be in there, hard to tell. Everything’s burned
beyond recognition.”

“James, the mirror,” Jiron suddenly reminds
him.

“That’s right!” he cries as he quickly moves
to leave the area.

A guard stops them before they get too far
and says, “Where’re you guys going?”

“Trying to find our friends,” James
explains.

“I don’t think so,” he says. “We need to
find out what happened here and you all seem the only ones who know
anything about it.”

“I’d like to help, really,” James replies.
“But this is an emergency.”

“Sorry,” he says. “I need you to stay right
here until the watch captain shows up.”

“When will that be?” Jiron asks.

“Shouldn’t be too long,” the guard says. “He
may need you all to come back to the jail to answer questions.”

“I’m afraid we’ll have to decline the
offer,” James tells him.

Three guards come over and stand next to the
one talking to them. The guard says, “It isn’t a request.”

Miller’s band comes and stands behind James
as he says, “Unless you want a fight, we’re leaving.”

Seeing the odds, the guard just glowers at
James as he and the others begin backing away.

Once they’ve moved a sufficient distance
from the guards, they turn and make their way quickly away from the
fire scene. They find a quiet alley that’s away from people and
move into it.

“What do you think happened back there?”
Uther asks.

They all glance at each other for a moment
then James says, “I think Councilman Rillian sent men there to get
Shyn and things got out of hand.”

“Why?” asks Yern, a red haired member of
Miller’s band.

“So we couldn’t use him as a witness against
him I would expect,” James explains.

“But how did they know he was there?” Uther
asks.

“I’m afraid I mentioned it when we were
being arrested,” admits James. He reaches into his pack and pulls
out the mirror. “If you guys will be quiet for a while, I’ll try to
find out if Miller and Miko are still alive.”

He pulls out the mirror and everyone huddles
around to watch as he tries to find Miller. The image flickers a
moment and then they see the burned out remains of the inn. A
charred corpse lies partially buried under the collapsed roof. “I’m
afraid Miller is dead.”

The men begin cursing and Jiron shushes them
up while James tries to locate Miko.

Fearing the worst, James let’s the image of
Miller go and another one begins to form in its place. He sees Miko
walking as if dazed down a street, bloody sword in hand. He widens
the image and sighs with relief when he fails to see anyone around
him.

“Does anyone know where this is?” he asks.
“It should be fairly close to where the inn was.”

He slowly scrolls the image until one of the
men says, “Yeah, I recognize this place. It’s not too far
away.”

James cancels the image and glances to
Illan, an older man graying at the temples, and asks, “Can you take
us there?”

Illan nods, “Sure, this way.”

Putting the mirror away, James follows Illan
as he leads them down a side street. They cross two more streets
before turning down another side street. “He should be somewhere
around here,” he says.

They move quickly down the street and sure
enough, find Miko walking away from them. “You guys stay here,”
James tells them.

He moves forward alone, and as he nears
Miko, says, “Miko, you okay?”

Miko stops but doesn’t turn around. James
says softly, “Miko, it’s James.”

Turning around slowly, Miko gazes at James
with red rimmed eyes.

James suddenly realizes that Miko is several
inches taller than he had been earlier, and broader as well. The
Fire is having a dramatic effect on him. “You okay?” James asks
him.

“What’s happening to me?” Miko whispers as
he begins to move toward him. He can see tear tracks through the
soot covering his face.

“I don’t know,” replies James. “But we’ll
figure it out.”

When he comes near, James gives him a smile.
Miko returns the smile with a small sad one of his own. Putting his
arm around him, he walks him back to where the others are
waiting.

Jiron’s eyes widen when he sees the changes
in Miko. He glances to James, who only shrugs.

“James!” Miko exclaims, as he suddenly comes
more alive. “Korgan is in the city!”

“Yes, I know,” he replies. “Now that you’re
safely back with me, we can go take care of him.”

To what’s left of Miller’s band, James asks,
“What’re you guys going to do now?”

“There’s a lot to be answered for,” replies
Illan. “Fifer here says you’re going after the ones who did this to
Miller?”

“That’s right,” states James.

“In that case, we’d like to come along with
you,” he says. The others nod their heads, adding their
agreements.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he says
gratefully. Turning to Fifer, he says, “Let them know what’s going
on while I try to locate Korgan.”

“Sure thing,” he replies, then huddles with
his comrades as he fills them in.

James, Jiron and Miko move a little ways
away from the group to give them time to talk while James locates
Korgan. Taking out the mirror once more, he releases the magic as
he gazes upon the surface.

The image begins to come into focus and they
see Korgan’s unmistakable patch and scar. He widens the image and
sees that he’s talking to another man in what looks to be a
basement. What really surprises them is that the basement contains
tables and racks filled with weapons.

“Looks like they could arm an army from what
they have there,” remarks Jiron.

“Probably what they plan to do,” he says. “I
wish this thing had sound!”

He scrolls the image around the basement
where they see five others there with Korgan as well as the other
guy he’s talking to. “Wonder what they’re saying?” Jiron asks.

“My guess is they’re making plans for the
fall of Lythylla,” replies James.

“Then we better find them quickly,” Miko
says from over James’ shoulder.