"Boys," Essin announces as the last wagon of the day rolls away, "I believe that puts us close to being the best team in the mines."
A cheer erupts from the men, Miko feels pride as Nate slaps him on the back and gives him a big grin. "Your hard efforts have not gone unnoticed and tonight you will not find the usual fare brought to your quarters. Tonight, you will have beef and wine."
A gasp escapes some of the men at the news. For those who've been here the longest, beef and wine is something they have all but forgotten. Miko's stomach begins to cramp and growl at the thought.
"If we can continue as we have," Essin tells them, "you can expect similar feasts in the future."
A shout erupts from the men as he turns and leads them from the mine.
Miko is happy. If this is to be his lot for the rest of his life, well, at least it could be much worse. A good crew to work with and an understanding boss, what more could a slave ask for. True, the work is hard and at times unforgiving, but the men he works with make it bearable.
As they continue through the mines, Essin turns his head back and says, "For the number one team, they'll give you women once a month as long as you keep being the best."
The men give out with another cheer and promises to be the best. As they leave the mine and head over to their quarters, Miko's jubilation is again dampened by the sight of Black Tooth carrying a water pail past on his way into the mines. But even his scowl isn't enough to wreck this day for him.
In the back of his mind, he wonders what James is doing, how he's getting along. He doesn't hold ill will to him, he knows that he's just a boy off the streets, not worth risking one's life for. He returns to the present as they enter their room and find the food already there for them.
The older guys snatch the jugs of wine first, but Miko doesn't care, his stomach cramps at the sight of the juicy, roasted beef sitting in heaping mounds on the platter. He grabs several thick slices and takes a big bite as he begins eating. The juices from the beef run down his chin, making tracks in the dust and dirt that coats his body.
For his crew of twelve, there are six jugs of wine, one of which has already been consumed by the others. Nate says to them, "Save some for Miko, he's earned it too."
"Sure thing," says Fez, one of the old timers. He goes over and slaps Miko on the back as he offers the jug to him, "Here you go, Miko me lad."
Miko takes the jug and has just a small drink before giving it back to Fez. He glances over to Nate who's giving him a grin. Nate's being moderate with the wine as well, taking only occasional sips of the wine as he concentrates mainly on the meat and loaves of bread.
When Miko finishes his fifth slice of bread, he begins to notice that Fez is behaving erratically. At first he assumes it's due to the large amount of wine he's consumed. But then he falls over and everyone starts laughing at his antics, thinking he has simply drunk too much.
Concerned, Miko goes over to him and tries to wake him up. "Fez," he says, shaking his shoulder.
"Leave him be," one of the others says. "He'll soon sleep it off."
But something just didn't feel right. Shaking him harder, he calls his name louder, "Fez!"
Turning to Nate, he says, "I think he's dead!"
As Nate goes over to him, another man cries out as he falls to the floor. Sudden pain rips through Miko's stomach as he watches Nate stumble and fall as his stomach, too, begins to cramp with pain.
"Poison!" Nate cries out, holding his stomach as the pain again rips through him.
Poison? thinks Miko as he comes over to where Nate has fallen. Black Tooth! Black Tooth!
Chapter Twenty Nine.
James sits amidst the bushes in his spot across from the gate while Jiron keeps watch from his perch in the tree. As the sun begins to drop to the horizon, he notices Jiron perking up a little and begins gazing intently into the compound. A little after twilight, he comes down from the tree and back to where James is waiting for him.
"Looks like they have all the slaves come out of the mines at night," he informs him. Pointing to the diagram on the ground, he says, "These buildings here are where they keep the slaves for the night."
"You didn't see Miko did you?" he asks hopefully.
"I was too far away to make out more than vague features," he replies. "Can you determine which one of the buildings he's in with your mirror?"
Removing the mirror from his shaving kit, he says, "Possibly." In the fading light, it's actually easier to see the image coming into focus than in broad daylight. The image coalesces and they see Miko eating with the others.
"They sure feed them well here," comments Jiron when he sees the beef Miko is consuming.
Nodding, James expands the image and soon the exterior of the building comes into view. Once the image has zoomed far enough away to be able to see the entire compound, he points to the building where Miko is and then asks Jiron, "Recognize this?"
"Yeah, I know that one," he tells him. "It's on the opposite side of the pit from the gate. That one and the buildings next to it is where I saw the slaves being led."
Replacing the mirror back into his kit, he asks, "How do we get him out?"
"We could go around to where the wall is closest to him and try there," he says. "It's not much better than here, but there might be less scrutiny away from the gate."
"You may be right," agrees James. Getting up, he nods for Jiron to lead the way and then follows him as he moves through the forest away from the gate. At the point where the wall turns back into the forest, Jiron continues on until they've put sufficient distance between themselves and the men walking patrol atop the wall. Then with a quick glance atop the wall to make sure the guards aren't looking in their direction, they dart across the road quickly.
Jiron leads them deeper into the forest as they follow the wall from a distance, always keeping it in sight. He continues until the wall curves away from them and whispers to James that they're close to the building wherein they will find Miko.
Coming to a stop, he glances at James for a second, a question on his lips. He hesitates a moment before asking, "Can you destroy the mine when we leave?"
"What?" James replies in shock, taken off guard by the request. "Why?"
"You saw how much iron ore they've been removing," he says. "I was thinking that if they were no longer able to get iron from here it would seriously hurt their war machine." He turns and looks at James square in the eyes, "It might be enough to force them to leave Madoc, or at least hurt their attempts to take more of it."
"Possibly," he says. "But what about all the slaves here? I might kill them all!"
"Right now they're out and shouldn't be affected by whatever happens to the mine," he says.
"I'll see what I can do," he tells him. When he sees the look in Jiron's eye, he adds, "I understand what you're saying and the logic behind it. If I can, I will, okay? But not until we rescue Miko."
He nods his head, "Thanks."
"Now, what's the best way to get inside?" James asks.
Jiron points to an overhanging limb that comes close to the wall. "I can climb up there and swing over to the wall," he explains. "The only problem is the guards on watch up there." He looks to James and says, "I need you to take them out."
James gazes up at the wall and the guards walking there, considering the plan. He nods his head and says, "I think I can arrange that without alerting everyone to our presence."
"Good. Ready?" he asks.
"As ready as I'll ever be," replies James.
Jiron makes his way to the tree and begins to climb up to where the limb extends near the wall. As he climbs, he keeps as constant a watch on the guards as climbing will allow. Whenever they glance in his direction, he holds still until they once more turn away before continuing.
This section of the wall is not as long as the one by the gate so only has two guards. They're standing next to each other a couple yards from the tree Jiron is climbing, talking to each other. Contemplating what he's going to do, he watches Jiron as he climbs up to the limb that's extending over the wall and sees him give him a signal that he's ready.
James begins concentrating and then releases the magic. The two guards are suddenly pulled over the edge by an unseen force and plummet to the ground on the outside, just as if someone had grabbed them and pulled them off.
As they go over the edge, one of them cries out in startlement and then is silenced when he hits the ground. Running over to them, James finds that one has broken his neck and the other is unconscious. Tying and gagging the one still alive, he looks up to see Jiron lowering a rope down for him to climb the wall. "Hurry up!" can be heard as the rope reaches him.
He grabs the rope and tries to pull himself up but fails, his arms just not strong enough. In gym class, this is one of those things that kept causing him to almost fail every year. He was never able to get the hang of it. When Jiron realizes he's not going to be able to climb the rope, he whispers down, "Make a loop at the end for your foot and I'll pull you up!"
Waving back up to him, James bends down and ties the end in a loop. Putting his right foot in it, he gives two quick tugs on the rope and waves up to Jiron.
The tension in the rope suddenly increases and then the rope begins to rise. Gripping the rope tightly with both hands, he holds on until he's up to the top of the wall. He reaches out and takes hold of the ledge and begins pulling himself the rest of the way. Jiron releases the rope and helps him the last few feet. "Thanks," he says.
Jiron gives him a slight nod and says, "Just pretend you're a guard so if they look up here, all is normal."
"Alright," James says.
"What about those two down there?" Jiron asks him.
"One's dead," he tells him. "Broke his neck when he hit the ground, the other is tied and gagged."
Jiron shakes his head and says, "Should've just killed him."
"I can't do that," asserts James.
Shrugging, Jiron points over to a building twenty feet from the wall and says, "From what you showed me in the mirror, that should be where your friend is."
"How do we get down?" James asks.
Gesturing off to the right, he says, "There's a ladder over there we can use. Once we do though, it's only a matter of time before someone realizes there's no one up here and will come to investigate."
"We better hurry, then," James states as he makes for the ladder, Jiron right behind him. Jiron has him wait while he descends the ladder first to be able to deal with any trouble should it arise.
Just as Jiron reaches the bottom, a guard rounds the corner of a nearby building and walks up to them as he begins talking. His words cut off suddenly when he realizes he's not facing fellow guards but intruders. He turns to run as a cry begins to escape his lips just as Jiron tackles him. A quick strike with his knife and the guard is soon lying on the ground, choking as blood pours out of the wound in the side of his neck. In a moment, the guard is lying still and quiet.
A quick check to be sure no one heard the fight, they leave the dead guard behind and stay to the shadows as they work their way to the corner of the building. The side with the door to Miko's room is illuminated by a line of torches that shed light on the interior of the compound and the mine entrance.
"Don't think we can sneak in," Jiron tells him when he's assessed the situation. "But if we walk as if we belong here, we might make it before anyone realizes what's going on."
"Alright," he says nervously, "let's go."
They look around the corner to make sure the immediate area is clear before Jiron steps out as if he owns the place with James right behind. Going past the first three doors, they stop in front of the fourth where Jiron grabs the handle and pulls it open. The stench that wafts out from within catches him unexpectedly and his stomach tries to spew forth its contents. Keeping it under control, he steps into the room and sees bodies lying all over the floor.
James rushes past him and stops next to a boy with a man's head on his lap. "Miko," James says as he kneels on the floor next to him.
Miko's head comes up and as if he can't believe what he's seeing, asks, "James?"
James nods his head, tears coming to his eyes.
"I thought you had forgotten about me," Miko says.
"Never," he asserts. "We've come to get you out of here."
"I can't leave without Nate," he says indicating the man whose head he's cradling.
Closing the door, Jiron asks from where he stands just within the room, "What happened here?"
A look of anger overcomes Miko's features as he says, "A fellow slave I call Black Tooth slipped poison in the wine and now everyone's dead." Tears come to his eyes as he looks around at the friends he lost. Slaves though they were, they had been a team. His team.
"Why aren't you dead?" James asks.
Miko turns his red rimmed eyes to him and says, "I was too busy eating the meat and didn't drink that much of the wine." He motions to the man in his lap and says, "Nate here didn't drink much either, but he did have more than me."
Jiron comes over and checks Nate, finding him still alive but unconscious. "I don't know if we can take him with us," he says to James. "It's going to be hard enough to do it with just the three of us."
Miko gets a defiant look and says, "Then leave me here with him, I'd be dead by now without him. I can't leave him, he's my friend!"
Jiron glances to James who nods his head and says, "Then we take him with us."
He comes over to James and whispers, "Aren't we going to be a trifle conspicuous carrying an unconscious body around?"
"Be that as it may," James replies, "Miko's not leaving without him so he comes with us. Besides, if he has kept him alive all this time, then I owe him."
"Alright," he says, "but you're going to need to carry him, I'll be too busy fighting off the guards when they see us leave."
Nodding, James gets up and says, "Let me carry him Miko."
Miko removes his arms as James bends over to pick him up. As he slings him over his shoulder, Nate gives out with a slight groan but otherwise doesn't regain consciousness.
Jiron helps Miko to his feet and asks, "Are you alright?"
"Not really," he replies. "I did drink the wine, though just a little bit and it's causing no end of pain in my stomach."
As they make to leave, Miko looks around at the friends he's leaving behind. They were the best.
Jiron moves to the door and cracks it open, "Ready?" When he gets a nod from both of them, he says, "We'll make straight for the ladder and get over the wall. If anyone tries to stop us, they're dead."
Opening the door, they step out and hurry back the way they came. Suddenly a cry goes up and they look over to see a one handed slave looking in their direction as he lets out with another yell.
"Black Tooth!" Miko exclaims with hatred. "He's the one who poisoned us!"
From the door of an adjoining building, Black Tooth continues crying the alarm, as guards come running.
"To the wall," Jiron cries out as he begins running to the edge of the building. When he gets there, a man turns the corner and Jiron's knife flies into his hand and is suddenly tackled from behind by Miko. "He's a friend!" he yells at Jiron as they hit the ground.
"What's going on here?" Essin cries out when he sees Miko on the ground with a man wielding a knife. Eyes widen when he sees James standing there with Nate slung over his shoulder.
"Black Tooth poisoned the wine," Miko tells him as he extricates himself from Jiron. "The whole team is dead, except for Nate and me. We're leaving, come with us."
Jiron gets up off the ground and gives Miko a dirty look and says, "There's no time for talk, let's move!" He then turns the corner after giving Essin an annoyed look and heads for the wall.