Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (58 page)

They watch as several other sailors leave
the ship as they continue the transferring of cargo. The sailor
they’d talked to returns to the top of the gangplank and begins
walking down it to the dock. When he comes to where they’re
standing, he says, “The captain said for you to go ahead and come
aboard. You’ll find him at the cargo hatch going over the bills of
lading.”

“Thank you,” Illan says.

He just nods and grunts before taking
another box off the wagon.

Illan glances at James and asks, “Shall
we?”

James nods and then follows Illan as he
moves toward the gangplank. They pause at the bottom while two
sailors leave the ship before walking up it to the ship’s deck.

They see a man, obviously the captain in
question, standing at the cargo hold hatch going over the bill of
lading just as the sailor had told them. He glances over to them as
they begin walking over to him. “Yes?” he asks. “You wanted to see
me?”

“We were hoping to book passage for us and
our friends over to the other side of the Sea,” Illan explains.

“Don’t take on passengers,” the captain
says. “They just get in the way.” A sailor comes on board with a
box and pauses a moment while the captain checks it off. He gives
the sailor a nod who then carries it on down into the hold.

“But our need is great,” insists Illan, “and
we’d be willing to pay.”

“Don’t care,” he says. “I hate having people
on board. Now, if you’ll get off my ship, I have work to do before
we sail.”

“But,” James begins, “we have a…”

Illan shakes his head and waves for him to
stop.

Confused, but willing to follow his lead,
James doesn’t finish.

“Let’s go,” he says to them as he makes for
the gangplank.

James and Jiron follow right behind. When
they’re off the ship and have moved a short ways past the wagons,
they stop. “Why didn’t you want me to mention the letter?” asks
James.

“That would’ve seemed to be the smart thing
to do,” adds Jiron.

“I don’t think it would’ve made any
difference,” he explains. “We should try the other two ships and
find out if they’ll be more agreeable.”

“Alright,” James says as he glances to Jiron
who just shrugs.

The next ship they come to is a single
masted vessel and looks to be deserted. The gangplank is up so
Illan hollers, “Hello ship!”

When there’s no answer, he hollers again,
“Hello ship!”

They wait a minute but no reply is
forthcoming. He turns to the others and indicating the last ship
says, “One more to try.” Moving down to the other end of the docks,
they come to a twin masted vessel where several sailors are sitting
around on deck, looking bored.

“Hello the ship!” Illan hollers.

One of the sailors looks over the rail and
asks, “Yeah?”

“Request permission to come aboard and talk
with the captain,” he says.

“Captain’s not here,” the sailor tells
him.

“Where could I find him?” he asks.

“City jail I’d imagine,” the sailor
replies.

“Jail?” asks Illan. “What’s he doing
there?”

“Cooling his heals for a few days,” the
sailor explains. Several other sailors come over and join him at
the rail.

One of them says, “He got in a fight with
the wrong man and was arrested. They said he’d be in there several
more days.”

“Thank you,” Illan says to them. Turning
away from the ship, he begins making his way back to where Uther
and the others are waiting. “This is perfect!” he exclaims.

“What is?” Jiron asks.

“Don’t you see?” he says. “Though the letter
from Lord Pytherian wouldn’t have much pull with a ship’s captain,
it will have with a magistrate. And if we use it to get the captain
out of jail, then I would think he’d be happy to take us across the
Sea.”

Nodding, James says, “Yeah, I was thinking
the same thing.”

When they get back to the others, Illan
explains to them what they’re planning on doing. “In the meantime,
while we’re getting the captain out of jail, the rest of you go and
find something to eat.”

Miko perks up at that, the mention of food
always does.

“Go down the street until you come to the
blacksmith,” he tells them. “Then turn down the road to the right.
You shouldn’t have far to go before you come to the Flying Fish.
The owner is a lady by the name of Mari, and the food there is very
good. At least it was last time I was in town.”

“When will you meet us there?” asks
Yern.

“Hopefully not more than an hour,” he tells
him.

“Alright then,” Uther says. “We’ll see you
there.”

“You may as well go too,” James tells Jiron.
And then he lowers his voice to a whisper as he adds, “And keep an
eye on Miko.”

“You got it,” he says as he joins the crew
going to the inn.

The bunch going to the inn takes all the
horses with them. Illan and James go down a different street as
they make their way to the city jail.

More people pause when they see Illan
walking down the street, most give him a friendly greeting or ask
him a question. Begging lack of time to talk, he makes his
responses short as he continues down the street.

At the next junction of streets, he turns to
the right and points to a two story building on the right side.
“That’s the jail.”

“Think we’ll have any problems?” James
asks.

Shaking his head, Illan says, “I really
doubt it.”

They walk down to where the front door is
standing open and walk inside. Two guards are sitting at a side
table sharpening their swords, another sits behind a desk and has
the look of the one in charge.

The guard behind the desk looks up as they
enter and says, “Yes? Can I help you?”

Illan walks over and asks, “We’re looking
for the captain of the ship in the harbor. His men said he might be
here?”

Nodding, the guard captain says, “He’s here
all right.” Calling over to one of the guards at the table, he
says, “Rullins, take these gentlemen back to the holding cells.
They want to talk to the captain.”

Getting up, the guard named Rullins replies,
“Yes sir.” To Illan and James he says, “If you’ll follow me.”
Turning toward a door in the side of the room, he takes out a key
and unlocks the door. Opening it, he indicates they should follow
him as he moves past the cells on the side of the walkway.

Five large cells line each side of the
walkway, two of them have prisoners. One has two men who look to
have been beaten up pretty badly, the other holds a solitary
individual. And it’s to the solitary individual that the guard is
taking them.

As they draw near, the man in the cell turns
and watches their approach. “These men want to talk to you,” the
guard tells him. Then to Illan and James, he says, “If you need
help, just holler. We’ll be able to hear you.”

With that, the guard turns around and leaves
the cell area. He leaves the door to the outer room open so they
could be heard should the need arise.

The captain comes near the bars and looks
out at Illan and James. “Do I know you two?” he asks.

Shaking his head, Illan says, “I doubt it,
you don’t look familiar to me.”

“What do you want?” he asks.

“We want to talk about passage across the
Sea, all the way to the other side,” Illan explains.

The captain breaks into a laugh and says,
“You may have to wait for a while.”

“How long are you going to be in here?” asks
James.

Shrugging, the captain says, “I don’t know,
could be a while I’m guessing. I got into a fight with a prominent
personage of some sort. Of course I didn’t realize who or what he
was at the time. I mean, really, who would’ve thought he’d be in a
place like that.”

“If we could expedite your release,” James
offers, “would you take us across the Sea?”

“Of course,” he agrees. “But I don’t see how
you’ll be able to pull that off, I broke the man’s nose.”

“How soon can you be ready to sail,” James
asks.

“You get me out of here and we’ll sail
within the hour,” he states.

“Alright,” Illan says, “we’ll see what we
can do.” He begins to leave then glances back at the captain and
adds, “We’ll be back shortly.”

“I hope so,” he says as they leave the cell
area.

Illan walks over to the guard captain and
asks, “How would we arrange his release?”

The guard captain laughs and says, “Man,
from what I understand, he’s going to sit in there an awfully long
time.” The guards over at the table can be heard chuckling as
well.

“Still, who should we see?” persists
Illan.

“Well, you could try Magistrate Harlan,” he
explains. “He’s probably the only one who could arrange it.”

“Thank you,” Illan says as he makes ready to
leave.

“But don’t get your hopes up,” he tells
them.

Illan casts him a quick glance, gives him a
nod and then they leave the jail.

Once they’re outside, James asks him, “Do
you know this Magistrate Harlan?”

“Oh yes,” replies Illan. “He’s a good man
and we should be able to get things arranged through him.”

“Good,” states James. He follows Illan as he
leads him through town to the Magistrate’s offices.

They continue along, turning once down a
main thoroughfare where they walk past several side streets before
it opens up onto a large courtyard square. Setting on the far side
of the courtyard is a large, imposing structure, obviously the home
of the Magistrate’s offices.

There’s a wall separating the building from
the rest of the courtyard. At the gate through the wall, a guard
stands and smiles when he sees Illan approaching. Coming to
attention, he salutes him as they pass through.

Illan returns the salute and the grin on his
face is just as big as the guard’s is.

As they approach the front doors, James asks
him, “What was all that about?”

Pausing, Illan explains, “He’s my son.”

“Oh, okay,” replies James. Looking back at
the guard at the gate, he can see the resemblance between father
and son.

Illan opens the door just as another man is
leaving. The bandage on his face tells them this must be the man
whose nose had been broken by the captain. Without so much as an
‘excuse me’, he walks through the door and they have to step back
to allow him room.

The man walks straight toward the gate and
passes through to the courtyard beyond. “Nice man,” James says.

“Yeah,” replies Illan. “No wonder he got his
nose broken.”

James nods his head as they enter the
building.

“His office is up on the third floor,” he
tells him.

Leading the way like he’d been here a
hundred times before, he follows the corridor to the stairs winding
up. He climbs them until they reach the third floor and then
follows a hallway down to a pair of ornate doors.

Opening them, he walks right in, James
following close behind. They find themselves in a reception area
with several tables and couches. Another set of double doors across
the room from them must lead into the magistrate’s office.

Illan crosses the room and swings them both
open at the same time revealing a man sitting behind a desk with
his feet propped up on top of it, snoring.

James can hear a quiet chuckle coming from
Illan as he enters the room and comes to stand before the desk
behind which the man is sleeping.

“On your feet soldier!” Illan hollers in his
most commanding voice.

The man behind the desk starts awake and
comes to his feet, standing at attention. His eyes blink several
times and James can see his body visibly relax as he begins to
realize what happened and who it is standing before him.

“Illan you bastard!” the man shouts as he
sits back down in his chair. He glares at him a moment before
breaking out in an uncontrollable laughing fit. After a moment
Illan joins in with him. Even James has a hard time remaining
calm.

“Good to see you again, Harlan,” Illan says
when he’s calmed down some.

“You too, Illan,” Magistrate Harlan replies
as he, too gets his composure back. “Though you about gave me a
heart attack,” he accuses.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist,” he says,
grinning.

“What brings you back to these parts?”
Harlan asks.

“Need your help with something,” he says. He
gestures for James to give him the letter which he does. Once he’s
had a chance to read through it, he explains about the captain and
how they need to cross the Sea.

Harlan leans back in his chair and gives
them a look which could only be called despondent. “If only it was
for anything else,” he says.

“Why?” Illan asks. “We have a letter from
Lord Pytherian himself requesting any and all to help us.”

“I know,” he replies. “But the letter is
only a ‘request’, it’s not an order. So it doesn’t have as much
weight here as you would think.”

“What do you mean?” asks James.

“That captain hit a very important person
around here,” he explains. “Whether he knew it or not is
immaterial. And this person is demanding the stiffest punishment
allowable under the law.”

“Which is?” asks Illan.

“A year,” he replies.

“A year?” exclaims Illan. “For hitting
someone? That’s outrageous!”

“I know, but this man has a lot of influence
in the area, not to mention he’s quite wealthy,” Harlan tells
them.

“Who is he?” asks James.

“His name is Faetherton,” Harlan replies.
“Though since he’s become so influential, he’s been taking to
calling himself, Lord Faetherton.”

“Never heard of him,” states Illan.

“Not surprising,” he explains. “He arrived
in these parts shortly after you left five years ago.”

“So there’s nothing we’re able to do about
this?” asks Illan.

“I’m afraid not,” he says. Lowering his
voice, he continues, “I have to admit, Faetherton has been such an
annoyance, that I for one was glad that captain broke his
nose.”