"What about the rest of us?" Tersa asks nervously.
"Just stay here with them," James says indicating Stig and the others, "and we'll be back as soon as we find them." He then goes over and explains to them what he and Jiron are about to do and then they begin walking toward the gates to the city.
"We don't even speak the language," Jiron says.
"Hopefully that won't be a problem," James tells him. "I've seen many northerners here so hopefully we won't stick out too much."
"Where are we going to start looking?" Jiron asks before they reach the gate.
"Not sure," he replies.
At the gate, they're looked at by the guards, but other than that cursory examination, are allowed to pass through into the city.
"Going to do that bubble thing again?" Jiron asks.
"Maybe," he says. "Let's look around first through the merchant's district and see if we can't locate them that way." He feels a tingling sensation and looks around. Sure enough, he sees a mage walking through the crowd on the street. He points him out to Jiron as he pulls him close and whispers, "He's doing magic of some sort. I can feel it."
Considering that fact for a second, he whispers back to James, "Will they be able to sense you if you do magic?"
James nods, "I would think so."
"Then maybe we shouldn't do the bubble thing," he says.
"Only if we have to," James replies.
They walk through the streets, looking for any sign of Delia and the others. They pass many merchant's establishments but fail to find any clue as to their whereabouts. By this time it's becoming fairly dark and they see two people with long poles, each with a flame at the end, begin walking the streets. They go from streetlamp to streetlamp, lighting the lamps hanging there to give the people on the street light to see by.
"This is hopeless!" Jiron exclaims, "They could be anywhere."
"I agree, we'll never find them this way. The city is just too large," he says.
James leads Jiron into an empty side alley where he takes out his mirror that he brought along and begins concentrating on Delia. They both gaze into the mirror as her features begin to form. James hears Jiron gasp when they see her sitting on the floor in a small room. The others are there with her and the looks on their faces tells them they're not happy.
"They're in trouble!" says Jiron.
"It would appear so," James replies. "I told her to be careful!"
He expands the view, hoping to see where they are being kept until finally managing to get a bird's eye view of the estate wherein she is being held. He tries to expand it even further when Jiron touches his arm and whispers, "Mage!"
James looks out of the alley to the street where he sees a brown robe walking toward the alley entrance. He stops the spell and immediately the brown robe pauses, turning his head first one way and then the other. It seems almost like he's searching, trying to rediscover the source of the magic. James and Jiron hold their breath and remain pressed against the side of the alley as they watch the mage there in the street, until he finally turns and walks down the street to their right.
"He knew you were doing magic," Jiron whispers.
"Apparently so," James replies as he sticks his head out the alley to watch the brown robe continuing down the street away from them.
"Let's go," he says. "I got a pretty good look at where they're being kept. It's a large estate with plenty of grounds surrounding it."
"Sounds like someone important," Jiron reasons, "or rich."
Stepping out of the alley, they follow the street as it moves closer to the river and the castle. Estates of that size are most likely to be located in that area, hopefully.
They proceed for a few more blocks before coming to the inner wall. A single gate stands open with two guards watching as people pass through.
"Doesn't look as if they're stopping anyone," James says hopefully.
"Maybe it's because they already know them?" Jiron suggests.
Shrugging, James says, "Only one way to know for sure." He steps out, followed closely by Jiron and begins to walk toward the gate, heart beating rapidly in anticipation of a confrontation. The guards see them approach but don't stop or question them as they pass through.
Once through to the other side, James breathes a sigh of relief. They continue down the street, now in a much more affluent section of town. Not too far past the gate, they come to where the street splits. One section continues on toward the keep and the other moves away from the keep. The street moving away from the keep looks to head toward an area with estates.
James glances to Jiron and indicates the area away from the keep. When he sees Jiron nod in agreement, he turns to follow that street.
"Which one is it?" Jiron asks after they've traveled down that street and have begun to enter the estate area.
"I'm not sure," he replies as they continue down the street. Then, on a hill off to their left he sees the estate that was in the mirror. "That's it!" he exclaims as he points it out to Jiron.
"You sure?" he asks.
"Absolutely," James replies.
The estate has a stone wall going all the way around it's perimeter with but a single gate for an entrance. The gate has a well lit guardhouse with a guard keeping watch. The area between the wall and the house is fairly clear except for a small area containing plants and bushes, probably for the lady of the house.
"Let's go around back and see if there's a better spot to try to get in," Jiron advises.
James nods his head as he follows him around the outside of the wall.
"It doesn't seem to be guarded," says Jiron suspiciously.
"We're in the heart of the empire, who would be dumb enough to break into a noble's estate here?" James reasons.
"You may be right," Jiron agrees. He gets close to the wall and jumps up, grabbing the top as he pulls himself up and then quickly scans the area on the other side of the wall for guards.
"See anything?" James asks.
"No, it looks clear," he tells him from the top. Reaching down, he says, "Give me your hand and I'll help you up."
James takes his hand and Jiron pulls him to the top of the wall. They quickly drop down to the other side and squat for a few seconds in the shadows to observe what's going on. The area between the wall and the manor house is dark and they don't see anything moving. With Jiron in the lead, they make their way across the open lawn to the side of the house near a darkened window.
Jiron silently moves to the window and peers inside, but is unable to make out anything in the dark. With great caution, he tests the window and finds it locked. Taking out one of his knives, he slides it in the narrow space between the two sides and lifts the latch. Replacing his knife in his belt, he pulls the window open and then quickly slips inside.
Reaching his hand down, he helps James in through the window and then closes it once again. Jiron begins moving around, trying to find the door when a soft glow begins to fill the room. Looking back, he sees James there with the glowing orb in his hands. The orb is barely giving off any light at all, just enough so they can make out the details of the room and won't be stumbling around.
"Thanks," Jiron whispers.
Grinning, James replies quietly, "No problem."
The light shows that they're in a study of some kind with but a single door leading out. Jiron moves over to it and places his ear against the door, listening for any sound coming from the other side. After a minute, he shakes his head and says, "Nothing."
"Good," James says.
Jiron slowly opens the door and then shuts it again quietly as he turns to James. "They're not going to come looking for magic because of that, are they?" he asks, pointing to the glowing orb in James' hand.
"I wouldn't think so," he replies. "It's hardly using any magic at all."
With a brief nod, Jiron again opens the door and a dim light comes through it. James cancels the orb and it disappears as Jiron opens the door wider. He cautiously looks down the hallway to either side. He turns back to James and in a barely audible whisper, says, "There's a light down to the right, to the left is dark."
"Try the left?" he suggests.
Jiron nods in agreement and then he again checks the hallway. Not seeing anyone, he opens the door wider and silently exits the room to the hallway, making his way down toward the left.
Once he's out of the room, James follows and then closes the door behind them. He can hear muffled voices coming from the room down the hallway to the right where the light is emanating from, but is too far away to be able to make any of it out.
Jiron stays to the left side of the hallway as he quietly makes his way down to the next door on the right. He pauses a moment as he listens at the door. Not hearing anything, he proceeds further down the hallway. They pass two doors facing each other and after a moment's listening at each, Jiron continues past them.
A little ahead of them they see light emanating around the corner where the hallway turns to the right. Jiron turns to James and whispers, "Wait here."
James nods his head and then watches as Jiron silently walks to the edge of the corridor and peers around it. After only a brief look, he brings his head back quickly and then motions James closer. "There's a guard standing in the hallway about ten feet down. There's a torch in the wall near him."
"Should we take him out do you think?" James asks.
"If we do, we may be alerting the whole place that we're here," Jiron replies. "He may not even be guarding Delia and the others."
"Can't think of any other reason to post a guard in a hallway," reasons James. "I say we've got to do it."
"Can you do it?" Jiron asks. "I would need to be closer to take him out before he could raise the alarm."
"Yeah," James replies, not liking the fact of having to kill someone like this, but what choice does he have. He removes a slug from his belt and silently moves to the corner and peers around. Seeing the guard there, he gathers his thoughts before stepping into the hallway. Before the guard even realizes he's there, he releases the magic and throws.
The slug flies straight and true, striking him in the head. The guard sags to the floor unconscious. "Come on!" James says to Jiron as he hurries to where the guard lies on the floor.
"He's not dead!" Jiron exclaims when he realizes the guard lying there is only unconscious. A sizeable goose egg of a bump shows where the slug had hit him in the temple.
"I held back a little," admits James. "I didn't want to kill him that way."
The guard, as it turns out, had been standing in front of stairs leading down.
"Let's put him in one of the rooms we passed," Jiron suggests.
"Alright," agrees James. They lift him up and carry him back to the corner where they pause a moment as Jiron peers down the hallway. Seeing the coast is clear, they go to the first door on the right and open it slowly as they look inside. It's a bedroom, but empty and doesn't looks as if it's been used for some time. They deposit the guard on the bed and then bind and gag him. Once the guard is secured, Jiron returns to the door and opens it a crack as he makes sure the hallway still remains empty. Finding that it is, they leave the room, closing the door behind them.
They quickly make it back to the stairs where Jiron takes the lead as they begin to descend to the lower level. At the bottom of the stairs, they find a door that's slightly ajar. Jiron cautiously opens it further and peers around to the other side where he sees an empty corridor leading away from the door. He opens it further and motions for James to follow him through.
Following the corridor with James right behind, they pass two other closed doors on their way, pausing momentarily to listen at each. Not hearing anything, he continues down to the door at the end, where light can be seen coming through the cracks from the other side.
As they draw near to the door, they're able to hear voices speaking from the other side. "...tell me!" one voice yells and then they hear the sound of someone being slapped hard.
"Again," the voice says and then a female can be heard crying out in pain.
"Delia!" Jiron cries as he races for the door. James readies a slug as Jiron hits the door with his shoulder, causing it to open and swing into the room, slamming hard against the wall. With both knives ready, he quickly surveys the room.
It takes but a moment to realize what's been happening, Roland, Scar and Potbelly are sitting along one wall, hands chained to the wall. Delia lies stretched spread-eagled upon a table, her hands and feet secured with ropes to the corners.
A well dressed man stands next to the table with another whom James can only believe is a dealer in pain. They've been torturing Delia! Two guards spring into action and immediately draw their swords as they move to engage Jiron.
"Jiron!" Potbelly cries out from where he sits against the wall when the door bursts open and sees him enter.
The two guards close with Jiron, one falling when a slug strikes him in the face blasting out the back of his head. Jiron parries a thrust from the other with one knife and then strikes out with the other, catching the guard in the neck, severing the jugular. Grabbing his neck, the guard tries to stop the blood spewing forth as he stumbles and falls to the floor. Jiron kicks out his foot on his way down and can hear a snap when the man's neck breaks.
The well dressed man has his sword out and has the edge lying across Delia's throat. "Enough!" he cries. "Or she's dead."
Jiron stands there, seething with impotent anger. Unable to do aught else, he stops.
James sees a ring of keys on one of the guards and reaches down to pick them up when the well dressed man says, "Don't, or she dies."
"It seems we're in a pickle here," James tells him as he straightens back up. "We're not about to leave without them," he says as he gestures to Delia and the others, "and if you cut her throat you're a dead man."
He just stands there with his sword at her throat, considering the situations. The torturer next to him says with authority, "You dare not hurt the High Lord Cytok. He's the right hand to the Emperor himself!"
"Shut up you fool!" Lord Cytok yells to the man. Turning back to James and Jiron, he says, "You two, get over there next to the others." He nods his head indicating they should go over to where Scar, Potbelly and Roland are sitting along the wall. He menaces Delia with his sword until they begin to move over there.
Delia watches them with her eyes, fear of the sword at her throat preventing her from doing or saying anything.
"James," Jiron says quietly as they move closer to where the others sit, "do something."
"I'm working on it," he replies.
"Go get Kirtch and Prul," he says to the torturer who then moves quickly to the door.
James concentrates on Delia's exposed neck and then releases the magic. "Go ahead," he says to Jiron, "he can't hurt her now."
Trusting in James, Jiron is up in a flash and rushes toward Lord Cytok.
The torturer breaks into a run as he races through the door and begins screaming on his way to the stairs.
Lord Cytok runs his sword across Delia's throat but it only slides along an invisible barrier encasing her throat. Shocked at seeing the ineffectiveness of his sword, he turns to Jiron and prepares to defend himself.
"We need him alive," James says. "We'll never make it out without him."
With a slight nod, Jiron closes with Lord Cytok. Deflecting a thrust with one knife, he strikes out with other but Lord Cytok dances backward and the knife misses by inches. The battle is joined.
James gets the keys from the dead guard and goes over to free Scar.
"Thanks, James," Potbelly says. "We were hoping you might show up."
"Yeah man," Scar says when James had freed him.
He gives Scar the keys to remove the other's shackles before going over to Delia. He takes out his knife and cuts through her bonds. He helps her to her feet just as Roland comes over to assist her. Delia stands up, a little bit shaky and James asks, "Are you alright?"