The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven (29 page)

She ducks down a side alley and Shorty
follows. He casts a quick glance back to see James and Reilin not
too far behind before he enters after her. The woman ahead of him
shouts something into the dark as she runs and then all of a sudden
several forms detach themselves from the shadows. He sees the
moonlight glint off the weapon in one of their hands.

Before he’s even conscious of the decision
to draw one of his throwing knives, one is in his hand. The four
forms ahead of him move to block his way and call out to him. Even
though he can’t understand what they are saying, he knows they want
him to stop. But if he lets that woman get away, they may never
find her again.

Letting fly his knife, he draws another
quickly as the first one strikes home and sends one of the forms to
the ground. No sooner does the first one hit the ground than
another begins to fall with a knife embedded in his chest.

Suddenly, light fills the alley as an orb
springs to life in James’ hand. The two remaining men stand
blocking the way with swords drawn. Shorty draws his fighting
knives and advances, Reilin comes up behind him to give
support.

As they engage the two men, James looks
further into the alley and sees a face framed by yellow hair watch
the fighting from a doorway. She locks eyes with James for a brief
moment then ducks into the building, slamming the door shut.

Reilin blocks his opponents thrust and then
lashes out with his fist, connecting with the man’s face. Blood
bursting from his nose, the man reels backward. Beside him, Shorty
has managed to get within the defense of his opponent and sinks a
knife to the hilt just below the man’s sternum.

Shorty shoves his man to the right and
Reilin bowls over his man to the left just as James races between
them toward the door where the girl had looked out. Following along
behind, Reilin and Shorty keep a look out for any others who may
try to impede them.

At the door, James finds it’s barred from
the inside. Placing his hand against the door, he sends his senses
to the other side. Finding the sliding bar that’s holding the door
closed, he gives out with a micro burst of magic and splinters the
bar in two. Pulling on the handle, the door now swings open and the
light from the orb reveals a room on the other side.

Small and dirty, this room looks to have
been the living quarters of vagrants. Possibly even that of the men
they left in the alley behind them. Another door stands ajar on the
far side of the room. Crossing the filthy room, James opens the
door and enters the hallway extending into the building.

Dark and quiet, the hallway reveals no clues
as to the whereabouts of the woman. He pulls out his cloth and with
the hope that the brief glimpse he had of her will be enough, sends
forth the magic to find her. Concentrating on the face he saw, he
directs the magic and the cloth rises to show the way. It points
down the hallway and slightly to the right.

Moving slowly with Shorty and Reilin right
behind, he makes his way down the hallway. As he progresses, the
cloth at first moves slowly to the right. Then as they approach the
fourth door on the right, it begins to move quicker until they come
abreast of the doorway and it points directly to the door.

Putting away the cloth he turns to the
others and whispers, “She’s in there.”

Shorty nods and moves to the door. Placing
his hand upon handle, he slowly turns it. With a knife in his other
hand, he opens the door into the room. The interior of the room is
dark, and when he has the door half a foot into the room, a hand
wielding a knife strikes out at him.

Dodging backward, he avoids the blow and
grabs the attacker’s arm. Pulling hard, he kicks the door open at
the same time and the yellow haired girl is dragged from the room.
With a cry, the woman loses her balance and falls to the floor.
From within the room, a small child begins crying.

Shorty and Reilin wrestle with the woman and
pin the arm with the knife behind her back. “Drop it!” Reilin tells
her. Shorty pulls her arm up, increasing the pain until her fingers
let go and the knife drops to the floor.

From up and down the hall, doors open and
faces peer out only to slam shut once again when they see what’s
going on.

James opens the door and says, “Bring her
inside.” Keeping an eye out for any other possible attacks from
within, he enters the room.

Sitting on the floor in the corner is a
small boy who is the source of the crying they heard. Arms
outstretched to the woman, his cries intensify when she doesn’t
immediately go to him.

To Reilin James says, “Tell her that we’ll
let her go to the boy if she promises not to try to run or attack
us again.”

Reilin talks to the woman and receives an
answer. “She says she won’t cause any trouble,” he tells them.

“Then let her go to the boy,” James
says.

Shorty and Reilin release her. Running over
to her son, as that is who it must be, she takes him in her arms.
Putting her back to the corner, she looks at them with fear in her
eyes as she talks softly to him. His cries begin to settle down now
that he’s in her arms.

“Go find Jiron and bring him here,” James
tells Shorty.

“Be right back,” he replies then leaves the
room quickly.

Once he’s gone and the door closes, James
turns back to the woman. He feels bad to have scared her and the
boy. Unfortunately, the world being what it is, there is little
trust in strangers. “Tell her that we don’t plan to harm her or the
child,” he tells Reilin.

When he tells her that, she relaxes only a
fraction. Then she says something to him. “She says she knows why
we are here,” Reilin relays to him.

Turning to look at the woman he asks, “And
what would that be?”

After asking and receiving her reply, he
says, “She says that her sister told her of what transpired at The
Split Navel. Also Jiron’s visit at her home.”

“Ask her if she knows anything about the
necklace that Gryll had,” he says. When he spoke Gryll’s name, she
visibly perked up.

“You know Gryll?” Reilin asks her.

“Yes,” she replies with eyes downcast.

“Do you know anything about the necklace
bearing a heart and two stones?” he asks.

A tear wells in her eye as she nods her
head.

Turning to James, Reilin says, “She knows.
But something about this has her very upset.” After a second he
adds, “And I don’t think it’s us.”

Then she starts speaking and the words just
gush forth, as do her emotions. It takes her several minutes but
when she’s done, she cuddles very closely with her son as sobs
wrack through her. His tiny hand pats her head as if he’s trying to
reassure her.

“She got pregnant with the boy before being
married,” he says. “Around here that means no man can honorably
marry her. She is considered ‘soiled’. The lives of such can be
very bad at times, many don’t survive or wind up in brothels.”

“Then she and her sister came up with a
plan. They figured that considering how beautiful she is, she might
be able to win the heart of a man before he found out about the
boy. While her sister kept the boy, she began frequenting places
the affluent go. She met a man and worked her charms on him. Their
plan had been working off and on for some weeks. During this time,
the man had given her the necklace as a present, he never said
where he had gotten it.”

“Deciding she couldn’t put off telling him
any longer, she told the man about her son. He became enraged at
her for deceiving him. He demanded the necklace back but she new it
had to be worth many coins that she and her son would need. Saying
that she would bring it to him, she then went and hid until her
sister said the man had left town.”

“Then about a month ago she was at The Split
Navel with her sister, sometimes she picks up work there to help
feed herself and her son. Well anyway, she happened to be going
through a rough time and needed coins. So she asked around and
finally Gryll had agreed to purchase it for far lower than its
value. But she didn’t argue, she desperately needed the coins. That
was the last and only time she had met Gryll.”

As Reilin draws his narrative to a close,
James looks at the girl huddling with her child. By this time her
sobs have subsided and she sits there just holding her son
protectively. Sadness for her situation prompts him to reach into
his money pouch and remove a fistful of coins. He moves across the
room toward her and she cringes back away from him. Stopping
halfway, he sets the coins down upon the floor then returns to
where he was.

In amongst the copper the glint of silver
and gold can be seen. James had even managed to scoop up one of his
few remaining gems, for a green sparkle can be seen lying at the
edge of the coins.

Her eyes widen at the sight of what for her
must be an absolute treasure. Just then, the door behind them opens
and Shorty walks in with Jiron right behind.

“I found him several streets over,” Shorty
says.

“So have you found out anything?” Jiron
asks.

Not wishing to have her story rehashed
again, he gives them the gist of it. Jiron starts to move toward
her, but James puts a hand on his shoulder and says, “Let me. I
think she’s beginning to trust me.”

Jiron looks to see the panic that has
returned to her eyes when he began to approach and nods. “Alright,”
he says and then backs up.

“Tell her the coins are for her and her
child,” he says. When Reilin translates and her eyes light up,
James nods for her to go ahead and get them.

She started to set the boy down until he
began to start fussing. So with him in one arm, she goes over and
scoops the coins into her tattered dress then returns back to her
position with her back in the corner.

“Now, ask her if she could tell us the name
of the man who gave her this necklace and where we might find him,”
he tells Reilin.

Nodding, Reilin asks her and then waits for
her reply. After she’s through, he turns back to James and says,
“His name is Azku and the only city he ever mentioned was Morac.
That was where he was going when he left here.”

“Morac,” says James. “That place sounds
familiar.”

“It should,” Jiron tells him. “We went
through it during our search for Miko.”

Nodding his head, he says, “Right. It’s
further south of here.”

“Everything is leading us south,” observes
Shorty.

“It does seem that way doesn’t it,” agrees
Jiron.

“What can you tell us about him?” James asks
her through Reilin.

“Not much,” she admits. “He’s slightly
shorter than you, dark hair. I think he is a merchant of some kind
though he was never very specific about it.”

“Did he say anything else that might help us
in finding him?” Jiron asks.

“There was one thing,” she says. “He
mentioned having to meet someone there when he arrived. I think the
name of the place was The Cracked Ladle or something like
that.”

Turning to Reilin, James says, “Tell her
that we thank her for her help.” As Reilin starts talking to her,
he adds, “And tell her that if she ever makes it Al-Ziron, to speak
to the lord there and tell him that James would consider it a favor
if he were to find her work.” It’s not much and she may not be able
to make it that far, but he can’t just leave her in her present
situation.

He adds the final message and her face
lights up and she nods. “Now,” James says, “Let’s get out of
here.”

Shorty opens the door and they file into the
hallway. Just as James exits the room, a roar comes from the end of
the hallway they originally entered from. Turning toward the noise,
he sees the girl’s sister charging them with club in hand. “Forget
her,” he hollers when he sees Jiron moving to intercept.

Racing down the other way, they flee the
oncoming woman. When the roaring stops, James glances back to find
the other sister standing in the hallway with her son, blocking the
woman’s path.

The door at the other end of the hallway
opens onto one of the streets of Inziala. “Which way is the inn?”
James asks. Completely turned around, he has no idea which way to
go.

“It’s this way,” Shorty says as he indicates
they should move down the street to their right.

“You sure?” James asks.

“Pretty sure,” he replies.

Gesturing for him to take the lead James
says, “Lead on.” With Shorty in the lead, they make their way
through the dark, deserted streets until the inn finally appears
before them.

Once there, they go to the stables where
they find everyone but Stig asleep in the stalls. James hadn’t
thought they were gone all that long.

“About time you guys showed up,” Stig says
as they enter. “I was getting worried.”

The sound of his voice awakens the others
and Potbelly asks, “Did you find out anything?”

“Yes we did,” replies Jiron. “I’ll tell you
on the way out of town.” Even though no apparent search is going on
over the incident at The Split Navel, they have no desire to tempt
fate by remaining in Inziala any longer than they have to.

It takes but a minute for everyone to mount
their horses. Then with Jiron in the lead, they leave the stables
and make their way onto the street. The clip-clop of their horses’
hooves echo through the night. Moving quickly they reach the
outskirts of town and have soon left Inziala behind as they take
the road to the south.

Once past the last building, Jiron gets them
up to a quick canter where they stay for an hour and then pull off
the road for a brief rest stop until morning.

As the sun makes its way above the horizon,
they break camp and make ready to ride. Jiron takes the lead with
Reilin close behind in case they are approached along the road. The
day goes by rather uneventfully. They pass through many small towns
and when the sun begins its descent back to the horizon, the town
of Jihara appears in the distance ahead of them.