Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (46 page)

“Might,” agrees Jiron.

They wait for over an hour before the door
opens up and Fifer walks in. The smile on his face says he’s got
good news.

“You found someone?” asks Jiron
hopefully.

“Ran into Shyn, he was with us when we found
you that first time in the hills,” he explains. “He said the rest
of the group is out on patrol and that he’d taken an injury and is
recuperating.”

“Did he say if he could help us?” James asks
him.

Fifer nods before replying, “He said to meet
him at the gate in an hour and he could be there to vouch for
us.”

“Fantastic!” exclaims James. Then he turns
to Jiron and says, “There’s something I want you and Miko to do
while I go to the castle.”

“What?” Jiron asks.

“The last time I was in a city on the verge
of attack,” he explains, “things went bad fast and we couldn’t get
out.” He glances to Miko who nods his head. “I would like you two
to first get an idea where all the gates are, then see if there may
be another way out in the event of an emergency.”

“Think they’re going to attack?” Miko
asks.

“They’re not sitting over there just to get
a tan,” replies James. “At some point, this city will be attacked.
It’s not a question of if, but when, and I want us to be
prepared.”

“I understand,” Jiron tells him. He glances
over to Miko and says, “Up for a ride?”

Miko nods his head and says, “Anything to
get us out of here!”

James laughs at his enthusiasm. “What time
is it anyway?” he asks.

“The sun’s been up for several hours,”
replies Fifer. “Jiron thought it best if you slept as much as you
could.”

“Thanks, it really helped,” he tells them.
The headache and fatigue are still there, just not so bad.

“Where should we meet you?” asks Jiron.

“Let’s say back here, a couple hours before
sundown?” he suggests.

Jiron gets up and motions for Miko to join
him, “Then we’ll see you in several hours.” They grab their horses
and lead them over to the door.

“Good luck,” wishes James.

“You too,” replies Miko. They lead their
horses through the door and once on the other side, mount up before
heading down the street.

“Shall we go to the gate and wait there for
your friend?” James asks.

“No point in staying here any longer than
necessary,” agrees Fifer.

Leaving their horses in the warehouse, they
step out onto the street and make their way to the gate. For a city
about to be attacked, there sure are a lot of people here. Maybe if
there’re enemy patrols out and about, they may not have much
choice. With that army sitting on their front doorstep, the ones in
charge probably don’t want to provide soldiers to escort civilians.
They’ll be needed on the walls.

As they approach the gate, Fifer says,
“Shyn’s already here.” He points to a man, vaguely familiar to
James. Standing about five foot ten with red hair, Shyn waves a
greeting at their approach.

He steps up to them and says, “Sorry about
last night, lots of strange things been going on around here.” He
turns to the guards and says, “It’s alright, these are the ones I
told you about.”

The guards just nod as they pass on through,
Shyn in the lead.

“So you’ll take us to see Lord Pytherian?”
James asks him.

Shaking his head, Shyn says, “I don’t have
that kind of access.”

“Then how did you arrange for us to get past
the guards?” asks Fifer.

“It wasn’t easy, let me tell you,” he
explains. “I tried unsuccessfully to convince the captain of the
watch and he all but had me thrown out. Practically accused me of
being party to the failed assassination attempt by that other man
posing as you.”

“I finally got an audience with one of the
members of the council. You see, I have a cousin who is one of his
assistants and ran into him as I was leaving the watch captain’s
office. He agreed to take me to the councilman where I convinced
him of who you were and from that point on it was a whole lot
easier.”

“We appreciate your help,” James tells
him.

“Glad to do it,” he replies. “Besides, Lord
Pytherian wants to see you, the people around him must make sure
it’s the right you. You understand, I hope?”

“Oh yeah,” agrees James. “I can see the need
even if I don’t like it.”

“I’m glad you feel that way,” he says.

They come to a large courtyard, at the end
of which is the gates to the castle itself. Shyn doesn’t lead them
there as James at first expected. Instead, he takes them to the
right of the castle where a large four story building borders the
courtyard.

Before coming to the door, he pauses and
says, “This is the offices of the councilman I was referring to. He
said that you should wait in here until the meeting is over. Then
he’d either bring Lord Pytherian here, or have you taken to him,
depending on the wishes of his lordship.”

“Very well,” James says as they enter the
building. Shyn leads them up to the second floor and down the
hallway where he stops before a set of double doors on the right.
He opens them and they walk into a room with several tables laid
out with food. Plush chairs and a couple couches are situated
around the room.

“You can stay here until the meeting is
over,” he says. “Help yourself to the food, it’s here for your
enjoyment. It’s the least we could do for the ones who rescued his
lordship.”

“Thanks,” James says as he goes over to a
table laden with food. When he sees Shyn beginning to leave the
room, he asks, “Aren’t you going to stay?”

Shaking his head, he says, “I need to inform
the councilman that you’re here. I’ll be back shortly.”

“Okay,” says James as he turns back to the
food. His stomach begins to growl as he realizes just how hungry he
is. He takes a plate and fills it with bread and meat, making sort
of a sandwich.

“Not bad,” Fifer says next to him through a
mouth full of food.

Taking a bite, James nods and grunts in
agreement. Then he sees on another table tarts, as well as other
confectionary delights.
Man, Miko would’ve loved this!

Upon leaving the warehouse, Jiron and Miko
follow the street until they come to the west gate overlooking the
bridge. The gate is shut with many archers and soldiers lining the
walls above it.

“I think we can forget about leaving through
here,” Miko says.

“It might be a bit crowded,” agrees Jiron,
chuckling.

They turn to follow the main thoroughfare
along the wall as they continue their reconnoitering. “What exactly
are we looking for?” asks Miko.

“Oh, I’m not really sure,” admits Jiron.
“But getting an idea of where everything is, is usually a good
idea.”

“I suppose so,” agrees Miko. “When the City
of Light fell, James and I didn’t know where anything was. We just
kept running around, trying to find a way out. Eventually we got
separated, and you know the rest.”

“Yeah,” states Jiron. “Let’s hope this time
things will work out better,”

All of a sudden Miko’s stomach cramps when
he catches the delicious aroma of fresh baked bread. Looking
around, he spies a probable source. Several buildings down a side
street sets an inn with a sign hanging outside which may indicate a
restaurant within. His stomach lets out another growl as he
indicates the inn and says, “I’m hungry, let’s go get something to
eat.”

“Good idea. I’m hungry too,” Jiron says as
they turn down the side street and make for the inn. The odor of
fresh baked bread gets stronger the nearer they get. As they near,
they’re able to see that the sign shows a satisfied fat man holding
his stomach.

They secure their horses to the post outside
before walking in. A large fat man, similar to the one on the sign
outside comes over to them as they enter the inn. “Welcome sirs,
how may we help you here at the Satisfied Gent?” he asks with a
broad, friendly smile.

“The mouthwatering aroma has led us here,”
Jiron tells him.

“Ah, of course,” the man says. He gestures
to the crowded common room and says, “Just find a seat anywhere and
someone will be along momentarily to see about your needs.”

Jiron leads them into the room, and sighs
when he finds the only table left unoccupied sits out in the middle
of the crowded room. Really not wanting something out in the open
like that, but not having any other choice, go over and take their
seats.

A girl comes over, and after getting their
order for the roasted beef and ale, returns to the kitchen. She
returns shortly with their food and ale. “Enjoy,” she says as she
places the food before them on the table. She then promptly moves
to another table where a man is signaling for her.

“…now that he’s back, the alliance will
stand firm…”

“…can’t stand the waiting! Wish it would
begin so it…”

They sit and listen to the conversations
around them while they have their meal. For the most part, the
people seem none too worried about the army sitting across the
river. From what they hear, the people in Lythylla have great faith
in Lord Pytherian and the alliance.

“Hate to think what would’ve happened if
Lord Pytherian hadn’t returned,” remarks Miko between bites.

“I know,” Jiron replies. “This city probably
would’ve fallen already. From what we’re hearing, he’s their
strength, their will to fight.”

They continue to listen to the conversations
around them until they’ve finished their lunch. Miko sits back with
a contented look on his face. “Ready to go?” asks Jiron.

“Sure,” says Miko just before letting go
with a loud belch. He gives Jiron a grin, “That was good.”

Outside the inn, they again mount their
horses and continue their way along the street bordering the wall.
They eventually come to another gate situated on the south side,
the one they’d originally come through the day before. The stream
of humanity coming in through the gates continues, the guards doing
their best to keep the gates clear.

“I don’t know if I would come here if I were
them,” Miko says.

“They may have no choice,” Jiron replies. “A
walled city with ample soldiers and a strong leader is preferable
to being out there unprotected, even if the city is on the verge of
being attacked.”

“I suppose so,” says Miko.

They move past the gate as they continue
following the road. Some of the houses have been built against the
wall and may afford a way out, providing of course that the enemy
hasn’t taken the walls yet.

The eastern gate, when they reach it, has a
stream of people leaving the city. Some of the people have wagons
and carts, while the greater majority carries bundles on their
backs, holding what few possessions they can take with them.

“Jiron, over here,” says Miko pointing to
their right.

Looking over to where he’s indicating, he
sees a small grate set in the side of the street which allows
excess water to flow into the sewers below. He dismounts and then
moves over to inspect it. Kneeling down, he takes hold of the grate
and then quickly looks around to see if anyone is watching. Once
he’s certain of not being observed, he tries to pull up the
grate.

Straining as hard as he can, he’s unable to
budge it. “Not this way,” he tells Miko. “I think it’s bolted or
secured in some fashion. It’s not going to budge.” Getting back on
his horse, he leads them further down the street.

Now that they’ve seen one, they begin to see
others of those grates positioned periodically along the side of
the street.

“Too bad we can’t look inside of a house,”
Miko says. “There could be an entrance to the sewers.”

“Possibly,” agrees Jiron. “But I don’t think
we’d want the kind of trouble that could bring right now.”

“True,” says Miko.

Suddenly, Miko exclaims, “Tarts!”

Jiron turns in his saddle and glances over
to him, “What?”

“Look!” he says as he points to a boy
walking down the street eating a berry filled tart. He moves his
horse over to the boy and asks, “Where did you get that?”

The boy looks up at him, some of the filling
smeared around his mouth, and says, “Nannie down the street sells
them.” He points back down the way he had come.

“Thanks,” he says to him.

“What’s that all about?” Jiron asks.

“I’m going to get me some tarts,” he
explains. “I’ll get some for James too, he likes them.”

Jiron just shakes his head but since the
shop is on their way, doesn’t argue. When they come to the shop
with the tarts, he waits outside with the horses while Miko goes
inside.

Several minutes later, the door to the shop
opens and Miko walks out with a large bag stuffed with tarts.
Smiling, Jiron asks, “Think you got enough?”

“Hope so,” he replies not even realizing
Jiron was being sarcastic. He puts the tarts in one of his
saddlebags before remounting. Having a tart in one hand makes
mounting difficult but he manages it.

Once he’s in the saddle, they resume
following the wall as it continues around the city. They find more
houses built against the side of the outer wall, all fall short of
the top by at least twenty feet. Jiron figures this might be due to
a city ordinance designed to prevent unauthorized access to the top
of the wall.

The northern gate is crowded with people
leaving as well. Not too surprising, there’s no one here trying to
enter. Anyone to the north of the city is moving deeper into Madoc,
away from the enemy.

“It doesn’t look like there’s any other way
out of here,” Miko says when they start to return to the
warehouse.

“No,” agrees Jiron, “I didn’t figure there
would be. At least we now have a fair idea of the city’s
layout.”

“Hopefully James will be able to see Lord
Pytherian soon and then we can get on our way back to Cardri.”