The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven (33 page)

“He definitely knows something,” he
explains. “But once he learned that what I told Ohan at the Order
of the Scarlet Sword wasn’t entirely accurate, he left.”

“I don’t know if the others told you yet or
not,” James says, “but there were five others with him stationed
out in the trees surrounding the bridge.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured something like that
when the bolt hit the bridge,” he replies.

James motions him over and Miko gets up from
his seat to allow Jiron a closer view of the mirror. Scar and
Potbelly resume their positions by the road to keep an eye on
anyone passing by. However at this hour of the night, the number of
people on the streets is dwindling rapidly.

They continue watching the men work their
way through town. At one point, three of the men depart and head
off on another side street. At the next intersection, another one
leaves as well. The remaining man stays with him the remainder of
the way until he arrives at a very nice townhouse. Four stories
tall, the building is quite impressive.

The two men climb the three steps to the
door where the man reaches in his cloak and removes a key. Placing
it in the lock, he opens the door and enters. The other man follows
him in and closes it behind them.

James cancels the spell and sits back. He
rubs his neck as it grew stiff from bending over the mirror for so
long. “Glad that’s over,” he says. Casting a look to where Jiron
sits next to him he asks, “I suppose it wasn’t just idle curiosity
that prompted you to have me follow him was it?”

Jiron shakes his head. “No.”

“You intend to go after him?” he asks.

“I have to find out where he got the
necklace,” Jiron replies. “One way or another.”

“I thought you would feel that way,” James
says with a sigh. Getting to his feet, he pulls forth his cloth.
Having watched the man in the mirror for as long as he has, he’s
able to get a fix on his location. Letting the magic flow, the
cloth soon points the way to the townhouse the man entered. “Let’s
go,” he says and heads out.

James leads them through the streets until
the townhouse the man entered comes into view down the street ahead
of them. “That’s it,” he says. They then move a little further down
the street before positioning themselves across the street next to
the corner of another townhouse. Here they can remain hidden in the
shadows and still keep an eye on the place.

“Scar, Potbelly,” Jiron says as he turns to
face them. “You two make your way around back. If someone tries to
leave, detain them.” He waits for them to nod and move out before
he turns to James and the others. “The rest of you stay here and
keep an eye on the front. I’m going to have a quick look
around.”

“Be careful,” urges Aleya. He gives her a
hug and a kiss before moving off.

James stands there in the shadows as Jiron
races across the street and disappears into the alley adjacent to
the townhouse. They wait for several anxious minutes before Jiron
appears rounding the far side.

Keeping close to the wall, he moves quickly
along the side of the building in their direction. When he passes
the alley where he originally left the street, he pauses and looks
both ways. Seeing that the street is deserted, he darts across to
where James and the others are waiting.

“There are two other doors beside the
front,” he says when he arrives. “One in the alley on this side and
one in the back. Scar and Potbelly have the back one covered.”

“How do you plan on getting in there?”
Brother Willim asks. For a priest, he sure seems to be taking a
more active interest in this sort of thing than one would
expect.

“On the far side of the building, there’s an
open window on the second floor,” he explains. “The window is dark
so it’s safe to say the room should be empty.”

“Alright,” James says, “Let’s go.” As he
starts to move toward the building, Jiron stops him by placing a
hand on his chest.

“No,” he says. “You and the rest stay here.
I’m taking Stig with me.” When he sees James beginning to object,
he cuts him off by saying, “He’s better suited for this than you
are and I doubt if we’ll have need of magic in there.”

“He’s right,” Miko says. “You’re great with
magic and strategy, but you are horrible at sneaking or remaining
quiet.”

“I don’t think so,” objects James. Then he
catches Aleya nodding too. “I can’t be that bad,” he says.

“You’re not…bad,” she says. “It’s just that
Stig is much better.” Then she turns her attention to him and says,
“In fact, I know someone else who would be much better.”

“Who?” asks Jiron.

“Me,” she replies. “I can sneak up on a deer
and tickle it behind the ears before it even knows I’m there.”

James sees the objection starting to form in
Jiron’s mind. Giving him a grin, he says, “If you say I can’t go
because I’m too loud, then you should at least take the one best
suited for this.”

“But there could be fighting,” he says. “I
need someone who can guard my back.”

The rest of them grow quiet as a dark look
comes over Aleya’s face. That’s when he realizes his mistake. “Are
you saying I can’t handle myself?” she asks with barely controlled
anger. “Are you saying I am some addlebrained woman who should just
stay home and wait for her man to return?”

“That’s not what I’m saying at all,” he
counters. He glances over to James for help but only gets
silence.

“Then what are you saying?” she asks, daring
him to slight her again.

Sighing, he turns and looks at her and says,
“Stig is from the pits. His prowess at fighting is greater than
yours.” He can see her bristle at this and hurriedly continues. “I
don’t say this to lessen your own ability, but he survived in the
pits against some of the meanest fighters I’ve ever seen.” Placing
a hand on her shoulder, he softens his voice. “I know you are
skilled, but we don’t know what’s inside there and I need someone
who can walk silent yet hold their own should things turn bad.”

Not liking this one bit, she can see the
logic in what he’s saying. “Take Stig then,” she says. “See what I
care.” Then she turns her back on him and stalks off further into
the shadows.

Jiron casts a hurt look to James who says,
“She’ll be okay. Go do what you have to and take care of this when
you get back.”

“Alright,” he says. Looking into the
darkness where Aleya disappeared for a moment, he then turns to
Stig and says, “Leave your shield.”

“Right,” he says. Taking it off his arm, he
hands it to Miko. “Take care of this for me will you?”

“Sure,” he replies as he takes the
shield.

“If you hear a commotion,” Jiron says, “come
running.”

“You can count on it,” James assures him.
“Good luck.”

Jiron flicks a final look to the shadows and
then nods for Stig to follow. After a quick glance to make sure the
coast is clear, they race across the street. Once there, they stay
against the side of the buildings until they reach the alley on the
far side of the townhouse.

Moving into the alley, Stig follows Jiron as
he quickly makes his way down until he’s almost at the end of the
building. Coming to a halt, he looks up at the open window Jiron
indicates.

“Wait here,” Jiron says. Then moving to the
wall, he examines it with his hand for a minute. Then using the
cracks and imperfection in the stone wall, he begins to climb. He
never thought that the climbing he and Tinok had done years ago
would prove to be so beneficial. How it came about was that one day
Tinok bet him he couldn’t climb the defensive wall surrounding the
City of Light. That first time he tried it, he lost the bet. Time
and again he came back to the wall and kept trying, he hates it
when something, anything defeats him. It took him the better part
of a year, but when he brought Tinok back to the very same wall and
bet him again, he won the bet. After that, he taught Tinok the
skills he had acquired and before you knew it, they were like
spiders on the wall.

Inching his way upward, he’s soon past the
ground floor and within a foot of the open window. Down on the
ground, Stig watches absolutely amazed. He wouldn’t have thought
anyone could have climbed a sheer wall such as he’s seeing Jiron do
now.

Finally, his hand comes to the window ledge
and takes a firm hold. Then he brings his other hand to the ledge
and pulls himself up and in through the window. The room he finds
himself in is quite dark and wishes he would have thought to have
James make him one of his orbs. Too late now. He removes the rope
coiled about his middle and tosses a length of it out the window
down to Stig below. Bracing himself and taking a secure hold of the
rope, he feels Stig test it to see if he’s ready. Then the tension
on the rope increases dramatically as Stig begins to use the rope
to climb up.

Holding firm with his feet braced against
the wall under the window, Jiron maintains a tight grip on the
rope. In no time at all, Stig’s hand appears at the window. He
grasps the window ledge and lets go of the rope as he begins
lifting himself inside. Jiron releases the rope and moves to help
him in.

Once Stig is safely within the room, Jiron
coils the rope again around his midsection. Moving silently, they
make their way cautiously through the dark room until they come to
the door. Jiron places his ear against the wood of the door and
when he fails to hear anything, opens it a crack.

No light comes through from the other side
as the door opens. Swinging it in further, Jiron looks out into a
hallway passing to the left and right. Sticking his head out, he
looks down both ways, only to find that both are dark. Several of
the doors are open allowing the light from the moon shining
overhead to spill in.

“Doesn’t look as if anyone’s on this floor,”
he whispers to Stig.

“Might be upstairs,” Stig suggests.

Jiron nods agreement. “Let’s find the stairs
up and then work our way down.” Moving out into the hallway, he
turns to the left as one direction is as good as another. Stepping
softly, neither one makes any more sound than the odd creaking of a
floorboard. But even that is minimized by them placing the sides of
their feet right against the wall.

They pass two doorways, briefly checking
them out, before they reach the stairwell that appears to run all
the way from the ground floor to the top. The stairs descending
down to the bottom floor are dark, while light comes from up above.
“Wait here,” Jiron says to Stig who nods that he understands.

Stepping on the flight of stairs going up,
Jiron quickly and silently ascends to the third floor. Muffled
voices reach him before he gains the top causing him to slow. When
it doesn’t look as if they are approaching, he continues the rest
of the way. At the top of the stairs, he hears the voices more
clearly. It sounds as if there are at least five different men and
all are talking in the Empire’s tongue.

Candles burn up and down the hallway on the
third floor in wall mounted holders. Peering around the corner, he
sees the hallway extends to the left and right. The voices are
coming through one of the closed doors down on the right.

Then all of a sudden, one of the doors to
the right opens and a man in armor walks out. In the brief glance
Jiron had of him before he ducks his head back, he could tell this
was not the man he met on the bridge. The man’s footsteps are
leading further down the hallway away from where Jiron waits.

Peering back around the corner, he sees the
man walk to the far end of the hallway where he turns to the left
and disappears. Jiron then glances back down to where Stig waits
and signals for him to come up.

When he joins him on the top couple of
steps, Jiron indicates the hallway extending to the right and says,
“I think there’s a meeting going on in a room down there. At least
four men are in there, another just left.”

“Do you think Azku is in there?” Stig
asks.

“I would think so,” he replies.

“Do we take him now?” he asks.

Shaking his head, he says, “No. First we
have to be sure he’s in there.”

“How do you plan to do that?” Stig asks.

Not for the first time he wishes he could do
some of the things James can. A magic mirror to show him who is in
there would definitely come in handy right about now.

The door to the room the men are in again
opens up and another man steps out. This man is dressed in fine
attire with a sword hanging at his hip. Moving in the same
direction the previous man went, he has soon left the hallway.

“Maybe the meeting is breaking up,” suggests
Stig.

“Could be,” he agrees. Then his eyes notice
that the door the two men had come out of is ajar. “Look!” he says
excitedly as he directs Stig’s attention to it. “Be right back,” he
says and steps quickly into the hallway and moves down to the
door.

The men remaining within the room sound as
if they are still in the midst of some conversation. Jiron moves to
the door and peers through the slight crack. Inside he sees another
man in armor, his helm resting on the table before him sitting
across from the man he saw at the bridge. Just when he places his
hand against the door to push it open a little bit wider to see
better, the voice of the third man comes from right on the other
side of the door. Jiron jumps back just as the door swings
inward.

Plastering himself against the wall, he sets
a hand onto the hilt of his knife and watches the doorway which is
only a foot and a half away. Standing there exposed in the hallway,
he’s sure that he’ll be seen.

The man’s voice comes to them again as he
backs out of the room and continues talking to those still in
there. With his attention directed back into the room, he fails to
notice Jiron there only a foot behind him. The man says a few more
words then closes the door. Without a glance in Jiron’s direction,
he moves to walk down the hallway in the same direction as had the
other two men.