"I'll be fine," she assures him.
Scar and Potbelly have taken the guards' swords and stand to the door to keep a look out. Scar turns back to the others and cries, "We've got company!"
Suddenly, a crash and James looks over to see Lord Cytok's sword lying on the ground and Jiron with his knife to his throat.
"Tell your men out there to drop their weapons and come inside," Jiron orders him.
A man from the hallway hollers something to Lord Cytok.
Jiron begins pressing the point of his dagger into his throat and says, "One of us understands your language, so don't do anything stupid."
He hollers back to his men.
Jiron looks to Roland and asks, "Did he tell them to drop their weapons?"
Roland shakes his head and replies, "They asked if he was okay and he told them he's okay, but held at knifepoint."
"Tell them to drop their weapons and come inside, NOW!" Jiron insists as a drop of blood wells from where the point of the knife had punctured the skin.
Lord Cytok hollers to his men and James glances to Roland who nods his head.
Soon they hear weapons falling to the ground and then his men, four of them, step into the room. The torturer isn't among them.
"Where's the other guy!" Jiron demands when he realizes he's not among them.
Roland asks and when one of the men replies, Lord Cytok begins laughing.
"What's so funny," Jiron asks.
"He's gone to raise the alarm," he tells him. "Soon this whole area will be swarming with soldiers." With a satisfied smirk on his face, he stares at James.
"We'll never make it out!" Potbelly exclaims.
"Maybe," says James, "if we're fast enough."
"Secure them to the wall," James tells Scar and Potbelly who start taking Lord Cytok's guards and placing them in the chains that had once been theirs. "Gag them too," he advises them.
"Right," Scar says as he picks up the most dirty, disgusting rags available, taking great pleasure in stuffing them in their mouths.
"Now, milord," James says to Lord Cytok. "I hate to ask but please lie down on the table here."
"Never!" he says adamantly.
Once Scar and Potbelly have the guards secured, they come over and force Lord Cytok onto the table, securing his arms and legs to the restraints. "Use a cleaner rag for his gag," James tells them, "after all, he is a Lord."
When he's secured and gagged, James says, "You guys go on up and see what's going on while Roland and I help Delia up the stairs."
"I can walk," she says as the others run down the hallway and up the stairs. Roland puts one of her arms across his shoulders to help support her. For despite her assertion that she can walk, her legs are a little unsteady. With James in the lead, they make their way to the stairs.
When they reach the top, they see Jiron racing back toward them. "Nothing yet," he tells them.
"Good," says James as they continue down the hallway, going back the way they had come. Moving past the room where they saw the light earlier, James notices it's empty now. Most likely whoever had been in there is now back in the room with Lord Cytok, chained to the wall.
A little further past the room, the hallway opens up onto the foyer where they see Scar and Potbelly looking out the front door. Scar turns at their approach and says "It looks clear out there."
"Then let's move," Jiron urges as they leave the house and run toward the gate. The guard that had been there earlier is absent, most likely sitting in the basement with his fellows. Potbelly reaches the gate first and opens it. He moves through to the other side and looks for anyone in the vicinity. Not finding anyone, he motions for the others to pass through to the street.
They begin running, making their way down the road a short ways before they see a large group of armed men running toward Lord Cytok's estate.
They duck down a side alley and remain motionless as they wait for them to race past. Several brown robes could be seen among the running soldiers.
"Mages," James says once they're past. "How are we going to get out of here now?"
"I don't know," Scar replies. "But we better hurry before it's too late.
Jiron looks out on the street and sees the way the soldiers had come is clear for the moment. They step out of the alley and race down the street away from Lord Cytok's estate, hoping to escape the city before it's too late.
Chapter Nineteen.
The streets begin to fill as more soldiers and guards race toward Lord Cytok's estate. Having had to duck into another alley to avoid detection, they wait for the squad of men to pass. Then James spreads his hands wide as ten small floating spheres appear before him. With a wave of his hand, they begin floating away in different directions.
"What're those going to do?" Jiron asks. "Aren't they going to attract any mages in the area?"
"That's the idea," replies James. "Hopefully they'll be so intent on tracking down what they think are rogue mages, that we'll be able to slip though, unnoticed."
"Let's hope so," Jiron says. Once the spheres have left the alley, he takes one more look up and down. Not seeing anyone in the vicinity, he reenters the street with the others right behind. He keeps them to one side of the street as they quickly make their way to the gate leading out of the inner walled area.
As they approach the gate to the outer area, they see a squad of soldiers with a mage stationed there. The mage is looking down the street they are approaching on but has yet to detect them.
"Damn!" James exclaims when he sees them. They duck down an alley where they stop to determine what they're going to do.
"Now what?" Delia asks.
"I'm thinking," he replies as they pause for a moment.
"Think faster," Scar says as he points to several squads of soldiers entering through the gates. The mage there gives them directions as they move past and the squads split up as each moves in a different direction.
A squad turns to head in their direction and looks to be heading for the alley they're hiding in. "Move!" Jiron urges as he leads them further into the alley, away from the approaching soldiers.
"The whole army is on the move to find us," Potbelly says from the rear.
"We invaded the home and humiliated a very powerful and important leader," Roland explains. "They'll not let us just walk away."
The alley ends at another cross street. To their right, the street approaches the wall before intersecting with another street running perpendicular to it. A three story building has been built right up against the wall. James takes a closer look and realizes the top of it is only several feet from the top of the wall.
Jiron glances up to where James is looking and grins, "That'll work." Making sure the street is currently clear of soldiers, they leave the alley and run down the street to the building. It looks to be someone's residence. He goes to the door and tries to open it, but discovers it's locked. No time for niceties, he kicks it in and the door swings wide, slamming into the wall.
Rushing inside, they quickly close the door behind them. Potbelly moves to a window and looks out. "I don't think anyone saw us," he tells the others.
Jiron finds the stairs going up and begins to climb them when a man appears at the top with a drawn sword. The man holds his sword menacingly as he descends three steps before saying something that could only be 'Get out of my home!'
"I don't have time for this," Jiron says as he draws his knives and moves to the top of the stairs. In a quick exchange, the man's sword lies on the stairs and Jiron has a knife threatening him. Turning the man around, he propels him back to the top of the stairs.
A woman is standing further down the hallway with three children held tightly to her. Her eyes widen in fear when she sees her husband emerging from the stairs with a knife held against him. She says something to him and he replies, motioning for them to stay back.
"Tell them to get in that room," Jiron says to Roland, indicating one that's near the woman.
Roland tells them and the woman slowly backs her way into it, taking the children with her. One of the young girls begins to cry and she does her best to quiet her. "Tell them to be quiet and we won't kill them," Jiron says as he pushes the man into the room with his family.
Grabbing his children, the man turns to Roland and listens to what he's being told and then nods his head and replies.
Roland says, "They'll be silent."
Jiron nods his head as he shuts the door on the family. They find another set of stairs leading up and they race to the third floor. "Split up and find the access to the roof," Jiron tells everyone as he continues down the hallway from the stairs. Doors begin to open as they all search the rooms for a way to the roof, they know that time is against them.
"It's in here!" they hear Scar yell from the far end of the building. Set in the roof of a small room is a trapdoor with a rope hanging down from it. Pulling on it, the trapdoor swings open and a ladder extends down allowing access to the roof. With Scar in the lead, they climb the ladder and once everyone is on the roof, James severs the rope for the trap door before pulling it closed behind them.
The inner town wall is just five feet above the roof of the building. Jiron runs over to it and jumps, grabbing hold of the top, and then pulls himself up onto the wall. He reaches down a hand and helps Scar up just as a guard patrolling the wall sees them and begins crying the alarm. Drawing his sword, the guard rushes toward them.
Once Scar has reached the top, he draws his sword and moves to engage the approaching guard while Jiron helps the others up. In trepidation, he observes three more are on their way behind the first guard. "Hurry up man, we've got company!" he hollers to Jiron just before he parries a thrust by the guard.
Jiron helps Potbelly up who rushes to Scar's aid. Delia next, Roland and then James gain the top of the wall.
Scar and Potbelly have disposed of the first guard and are moving to intercept the three oncoming guards. Jiron runs to help them as James tries to figure out where they need to be going. On the other side of the wall, all the houses are at least fifteen feet away. Makes sense Makes sense, he reasons, they let people on the inside build close because they're not worried about people getting out so much as they are about them getting in. they let people on the inside build close because they're not worried about people getting out so much as they are about them getting in. It's a thirty foot drop to the ground so they won't be jumping down that way. The wall they're on extends all the way to the outer wall. It's a thirty foot drop to the ground so they won't be jumping down that way. The wall they're on extends all the way to the outer wall.
James looks over to where Jiron and the others are fighting just as the last guard falls. He cries out, "Toward the outer wall, hurry!"
Two more soldiers are running to intercept them from the direction of the outer wall, and the fighters move to engage. Roland and Delia move quickly to follow Jiron and the others, with James right behind. Jiron takes the first one as Potbelly blocks a downward thrust from the second and then follows through with a thrust, taking him through the stomach, just below the breastbone. He kicks the guard off his sword with his foot as Jiron pushes the guard he was fighting over the wall, the man's scream can be heard all the way down until he hits the ground below.
Behind them, eight guards are running down the wall to catch them. One has a crossbow and lets a bolt fly but it goes wide, narrowly missing Scar.
James turns and takes out a slug which he throws, hitting the crossbowman square in the chest, causing him to stagger and then fall off the wall.
"Here!" Roland hollers to them. They turn and see him there with a bucket that's tied to a long rope. "We can climb down," he explains.
James glances down the outward side of the wall and doesn't see anyone there, guess they figured on them not being able to get down here. "Looks clear," he tells them. He and Roland hold the rope as Jiron shinnies down.
Scar and Potbelly have positioned themselves to hold off the oncoming guards, giving the others a chance to get down. As Jiron makes it to the ground, the guards reach Scar and Potbelly, and the crash of swords can be heard as they engage.
Turning to Delia, James says, "You're next." He and Roland hold the rope secure while she makes her way down. Glancing over to the fighting, James sees one of the guards has already fallen but that Scar and Potbelly have to give ground as they're being pushed backward by the remaining seven.
Roland tells James, "Go on!"
Shaking his head, he says, "You first."
Not wanting to take the time to argue, Roland takes the rope and swings over the side as James holds onto it. He glances back to Scar and Potbelly and it doesn't look good. Even though another guard has hit the ground, there's still too many, it's only a matter of time before one or the other falls.
The tension on the rope disappears and he looks down, seeing that Roland has made it to the ground. "Come on!" he hollers up to him.
Securing the end of the rope around a merlon he hollers over to the fighters, "Let's go!"
Scar replies, "We'll never make it!" He parries with one sword and then takes the guard through the stomach with his other. "You go," he tells him, "we'll hold them off!"
Potbelly is holding his own, but there's just too many for them to last. As he watches them fighting, anger and frustration build within him until it's like a white hot sun.
"Scar, Potbelly! Get down, NOW!" his voice thunders behind them.
Almost reflexively, they drop to the ground as an invisible wave passes over them and they watch as the guards are lifted and thrown backward, some screaming as they fall to their deaths to the ground below. Once it's past, they get up and hurry over to James where he's staggering a little. Scar asks, "You okay?" as they steady him.
Nodding his head, James just says, "Let's get off this damn wall." He sees a couple of the guards are getting back up from where they had been thrown backward along the top of the wall.
They let James go first and then Scar with Potbelly coming last. When James reaches the ground, he says to Jiron, "What I did up there is going to be like a beacon for every mage in the city. They're going to know where we are."
"Then let's get the hell out of here!" Jiron says as they start to race toward the main gates to the city. A squad of five men turns into the street ahead of them, coming in their direction. When they see James' group running toward them, they let out a cry and draw their swords as they rush to attack.
A slug strikes one, felling him before they even get close. Jiron takes the next one, knives flashing as they parry and strike.
Potbelly and Scar face the remaining three; Scar's two swords quickly take out one while Potbelly holds his own with the second but is unable to gain an opening to finish him. Scar engages the remaining one and soon has him on the ground as well. "You got him?" he asks, looking over to Potbelly as he continues exchanging blows with the guard.
"Yeah!" he replies as he blocks and holds his opponent's sword with his knife, while following through with his sword, taking him through the chest. His sword gets caught in between his opponent's ribs and is unable to pull it free. Leaving the sword there, he grabs the dead guard's sword just as Jiron's opponent falls to the ground. Then they're off again for the gate.
This area is relatively clear as most of the guards and soldiers have gone to the inner section of the city to hunt for them. They're able to run quickly through the streets without fear of being attacked and it isn't long before the gates appear ahead of them. "There they are!" Jiron shouts to them as they race for freedom.
They come to a quick stop when they see at least thirty soldiers in formation before the gate, as well as a mage. "You cannot escape!" the mage hollers to them where they've stopped in the middle of the street. "You are greatly outnumbered."
James takes a slug and throws it at the mage who erects a barrier, causing it to ricochet off harmlessly.
The mage just smiles, as he makes ready to cast a spell. James counters with a spell he's been devising for just such a time and is able to release it before the other can cast his. The mage knows James has done something but can't detect anything. He releases a bolt of power and the shield he erected around himself to ward off the slug suddenly turns orange as the bolt of power bounces off the shield, turning back onto the mage.
With a scream of pain, the bolt blasts through the mage before hitting the shield again and then bounces back. The bolt then proceeds to fly from one side of the shield to another until finally running its course. James releases his spell on the shield and the mage, now a charred corpse, falls to the ground.
In stunned silence, the guards at the gate stare for a second at the smoking remnants of their mage lying there in the street and then a cry erupts from then as they charge forward.
Crumph!
James releases the power again and the ground under the approaching men explodes upward, tossing bodies and debris in every direction. A few men were forward of the area that erupted and are thrown forward by the blast. Jiron and the other pit fighters quickly take them out before they have a chance to recover.
Behind them, they can hear running feet as hundreds of guards and soldiers, who had been in the inner area of the city, race to catch them. "To the gate!" James cries as he begins running through the devastated area littered with dead bodies before them.
"But it's closed!" Delia cries as she hurries behind him.
"Leave that to me," James tells her as they race toward the gate.