The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven (28 page)

He holds up the necklace so she can get a
good look at it. Her eyes widen slightly in recognition as he asks,
“Where did her sister get this?”

Then from below they hear many feet running
along the floor. Then at the bottom of the stairs up to their level
they hear a voice with the air of command shouting orders. “They’re
searching the building,” Reilin says. Then from the stairs they
hear the sound of several people on their way up. “We got to get
out of here!”

The woman just stares at him as Reilin takes
him by the shoulder and urges him back into the hallway. With one
last look at the woman, Jiron curses and puts the necklace back in
his pouch. Racing down the hallway away from the stairs, they come
to an open doorway on their right. Without hesitation, Jiron runs
through the doorway just as the guards reach the top of the
stairs.

From behind them, they can hear the woman’s
voice screaming. He looks to Reilin who says, “She’s telling them
where we are.”

“Damn!” swears Jiron. Closing the door, he
throws the bar. Not very large, the bar won’t hold long if they
really want to come in. And he’s pretty sure they will.

A single window is the only other exit from
the room. Moving over to it, he shoves it open and looks down. In
the street below several people are milling about, none of them
bear the uniforms of the city watch.

“Come on Reilin,” Jiron says as he puts a
leg through the window.

Bam!

The door is struck hard from the other side.
A voice hollers to them through the door and Jiron doesn’t need
Reilin’s translation to understand what it’s saying. Taking hold of
the window ledge, he swings himself out and then hangs briefly by
his hands before letting go. He lands right next to someone and
scares him to death. After jumping almost a foot in the air in
shock, the man races off into the night.

Jiron scans the area for approaching
trouble, but other than a few bystanders looking in his direction,
everything is calm. Looking up, he sees one of Reilin’s legs emerge
through the window followed shortly by the other. As the rest of
his body follows his legs out the window, a group of four men turn
the corner of the building.

His heart skips a beat before he realizes
that it’s Scar and the others. “Over here!” he hollers to them.

Reilin lets go and drops from the window as
the other four join them. Then all of a sudden, around the corner
the others had just emerged from come a dozen guards. “Let’s get
the heck out of here!” Jiron says and bolts down the street. The
guards see them run, and with a holler to stop, give chase.

Up ahead lies an opening of an alley and
Jiron quickly ducks inside. Within the opening is a pile of old
broken crates and other refuse. Jiron comes to a quick stop and
grabs Shorty by the arm. “I want you to stay here and keep an eye
on that serving woman,” he explains quickly. “She’s back in that
building on the second floor, maybe she’ll lead you to her
sister.”

Just then the guards round the corner and
practically run into them. Scar and Potbelly knock the first two to
the ground with well placed blows.

Shorty dives to the side of the alley near
the pile of boxes and Jiron knocks them down on top of him. “Let’s
go!” he yells then races down the alley.

Stig takes one of the crates and throws it
at the guards as he and the others high tail it out of there. The
flying crate causes the guards to halt a brief moment before
resuming the chase.

Jiron races through the alley and into the
street on the other side with the others right on his tail. Hoping
Shorty isn’t discovered, they run and then quickly duck within a
doorway that’s half open. Stig’s the last one through and shuts the
door a second after the guards exit the alley.

They find themselves inside an herbalist’s
shop and the herbalist is sitting behind a counter with a surprised
look on his face. Jiron pulls a knife and puts his finger to his
lips indicating for the man to remain quiet. “Get behind the
counter,” he tells the others. Moving quickly, they pile in behind
the counter.

No sooner Does Jiron duck back there after
them than the door opens and two guards come in with swords drawn.
The herbalist glances down at the men hiding under his counter and
Jiron menaces him with his knife and again puts his finger to his
lips.

Licking his lips and beginning to perspire
with fear, the herbalist greets the guards. They exchange words
several times and then the guards leave. Jiron looks to Reilin who
says, “He didn’t say anything about us being here.”

Jiron gives the herbalist a grin and says
“Good.” Removing three silvers from his pocket, he lays them on the
counter. “Tell him they are for his trouble.” When Reilin
translates, the herbalist nods but remains where he is and doesn’t
reach for the coins.

“Out the back gentlemen,” Jiron says. As
they leave, Jiron again turns toward the herbalist and pantomimes
running his knife across his throat in warning. When he sees the
herbalist nod his head, he follows the others out the back
door.

In the alley behind the herbalist’s shop,
they pause a moment and listen for where the searching is going on.
Determining that the street the alley exits out onto on their left
is quieter, Jiron takes them that way.

For the next hour, they steadily work their
way back to the inn where they left the others. Patrols of guards
are out combing the streets and at times they’re forced to wait in
hiding for them to past. Finally, they see the inn down the
road.

The street running in front of the inn is
quiet. They watch for half a minute from the darkness of a nearby
alley until they’re sure no one is about. Then they race down the
street toward the inn. When they get there, they duck down the side
alley and enter the inn through the courtyard entrance.

Moving steadily but not seeming in too much
of a hurry, they pass through the back half of the common room and
up the stairs to their rooms. Outside of the room he’s sharing with
James, he places his ear against the door and can hear Miko inside
talking in a normal tone. Relieved, he opens the door and
enters.

At the opening of the door, James turns and
sees him there in the doorway. Blood from the fight at the Split
Navel stains his clothes, as it does all of them. Coming to his
feet, he puts his hands on his hips and with an expression
bordering on anger, he asks, “Just what have you done now?”

Standing there under James’ withering glare,
Jiron and the others tell him everything that happened. Hardly
pleased with the situation, James has Reilin change out of his
bloody clothes and then go down to the common room to keep an eye
and ear out.

Once they all are in a fresh change of
clothes, James pulls out his mirror and brings an aerial view of
the inn into focus. Finding everything calm, he then concentrates
on Shorty to see how he’s making out. Casting a quick glance to
Jiron he asks, “Do you really think that woman’s sister will help
you now? After everything you did?”

Shrugging, he says, “I can but try. It’s the
only thing that we have to go on now that your magic can no longer
locate him.”

Turning his gaze back to the mirror, he
finds Shorty shrouded by darkness. It looks like he’s just within
some alley and is staring out across the street to a well-to-do
building.

“She must be in there,” observes Jiron from
where he’s looking over James’ shoulder at the mirror.

“Must be,” agrees James. Expanding the image
to include a much wider area, he checks for any squads of guards
that may be searching for them. The streets are quiet. Scrolling
the image first in one direction then another, he fails to see any
concerted search being conducted. “Doesn’t appear as if they are
continuing the search.”

“A whole group of people dead, and they do
nothing?” asks Brother Willim.

“Maybe the death of a bunch of potheads
doesn’t really concern them too much,” James says. “Also consider
this. The penalty of using or distributing biloci is death in the
Empire. Who is going to come forward and say anything? Any who do
will also have to admit their guilt.”

“That’s a good point,” nods Scar. “They’d be
sticking their own neck out for the executioner.”

James abruptly stands up and says, “I don’t
care if they are looking for you guys or not. We’re leaving Inziala
right now.” To Scar and Potbelly he says, “Go take our things down
to the stables and get the horses ready to ride.”

“What about that woman’s sister?” objects
Jiron. “I’m not leaving until I talk to her.”

“Relax,” James tells him. “You and I are
going to go find Shorty and this woman, talk to her and then get
the heck out of here. The rest of you stay here. Better yet, go
down to the stables and wait there so we won’t have to spend the
time to come back up here for you.”

“As you will,” Brother Willim says.

“Let’s go,” urges Jiron.

James nods his head and indicates for him to
leave the room. Following him into the hallway, he puts his mirror
back in his belt pouch. Once down in the common room, they flag
down Reilin who has taken a seat at a table near the door. He gets
up and comes over to James who then quietly explains what they
intend to do.

Jiron then leads James and Reilin out to the
street through the front door and heads down in the general
direction of the tavern. James pulls out his cloth and concentrates
on Shorty. The cloth quickly rises and becomes rigid as it points
to somewhere off to their right. He shows it to Jiron who allows
him to take the lead. Following the direction indicated by the
cloth, they are soon at the alley wherein Shorty watches.

As they come close, Shorty disengages from
the shadows and steps forward. Waving for them to join him in the
alleyway, he retreats back into its darkness. When they are there
with him, he tells them what’s going on. “I followed that woman
when she left the building,” he explains. “She came straight here
and went in through that door.” Pointing across the street, he
indicates a door in the building directly across from them.

“How do we know she’s still in there?” asks
Jiron. “She could have left through a back door.”

“That’s always a possibility,” replies
Reilin.

“Now what?” asks Shorty.

“We wait,” James says.

“Wait?” asks Jiron. “I say we go in there
and find out what we need to know.”

“Look,” counters James, “We don’t need more
trouble. I doubt if she would leave by a back door, unless she knew
she had been followed.” Turning to Shorty he gives him a
questioning look.

“She didn’t,” Shorty tells him. “Besides, if
you start knocking on doors, you may alert her that we are here and
she will flee.”

James can see the warring desires within
Jiron. Finally he comes to see the logic in what Shorty said and
nods his head.

They wait there a half hour before the door
they are keeping an eye on opens. Two figures leave the building
and begin walking down the street. “Is that them?” James asks.

Both are cloaked with hoods over their
heads. One is rather bulky and the other is slightly shorter and
looks thinner. “It could be,” Jiron says. Taking a step from the
alley, he says, “Only one way to find out.” Moving quickly, he
crosses the street to confront them.

Before he has a chance to close half the
distance, the larger of the two quickly glances in his direction.
Seeing him approaching, the cloaked figure grabs the shoulder of
the smaller and together begin running down the street.

“I guess that clinches it,” Shorty says as
he runs to help Jiron catch them. James and Reilin hurry to keep
up.

The larger of the two begins slowing down
while the smaller starts to pull ahead. Finally, the larger one
shouts something to the other and comes to an abrupt halt. Pulling
a large club from out of her cloak, the large woman from the tavern
turns to face Jiron. So unexpected and quick was the maneuver, that
Jiron fails to see the club in time and is forced to dive to the
side in order to avoid the blow.

Hitting the street, he comes up with knives
at the ready. “Get the other one!” he hollers to the others as they
speed by. Turning to face the large woman, he draws his knives.

“Don’t kill her!” James insists as he flies
past with the other two in pursuit of the second cloaked
figure.

Jiron makes no reply as he and the large
woman stand there, each sizing up the other. “I don’t want to kill
you,” Jiron says in a mild tone.

“I know,” the woman tells him in heavily
accented northern. “But you are going to hurt my sister.”

Surprised, Jiron exclaims, “You understand
me?”

“Yes,” she replies.

“All I want is information,” he tells
her.

She looks at him like he’s lying. “You are a
killer,” she says. “You come and kill and destroy.” Stepping
forward, she swings the club at Jiron’s head.

Ready for the blow this time, he easily
sidesteps the descending club. Moving in close, he strikes her on
the side of the head with the pommel of one of his knives and then
jumps back to avoid another blow. But another blow fails to
materialize.

The woman staggers backward from the blow to
her head, the club falls from her hand and she slams backward onto
the street. Jiron cautiously moves forward and finds her eyes
closed. Worried that he might have killed her, he’s relieved when
he sees her chest rise and fall as she draws in a breath. He’s glad
she is alive, he didn’t really want to hurt her.

Getting to his feet, he turns and races
after the others. The street ahead of him is deserted and quiet, he
hopes he’ll be able to find them.

Leaving Jiron behind to deal with the club
wielding woman, Shorty races after the other fleeing figure.
Suddenly, the hood of the cloak falls back and reveals a much
younger and prettier woman than the one facing off against Jiron.
When she passes through light spilling from a window, Shorty is
shocked to see just how lovely she is.
This
can’t
be that woman’s sister!