The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven

by Brian S. Pratt

  Stig jumps up and connects with the jaw of the man who struck Jiron, sending him stumbling backward into another table. Reaching down a hand to help Jiron up, he gets jumped by yet another man who kidney punches him hard. Striking out behind him with his elbow, he has the satisfaction of feeling it connect solidly with the man’s midriff. “Come on man,” he says to Jiron with a grin. “Don’t just lie there!” Turning, he lashes out at the man as he comes back for another attack.

  The place erupts into a full scale brawl. Chairs fly, mugs and tankards are used as projectiles. Jiron and the others hold the center of the tavern and the perimeter surrounding them is strewn with broken chairs, tables and unconscious bodies.

  Reilin is still engaged with the woman and looks to be getting the worse of it. Blood drips from his nose and a goose egg sized lump is forming on the side of his head where one of the flying mugs connected with him when he tried to stand and get away from the woman.

  The pit fighters are in their element. None are able to close with them without being pummeled hard. All the frustration Jiron has kept bottled up during the search for Tinok has been released and he feels better than he has in a long time.

  Suddenly from the right, Shorty jumps back and cries out as a knife leaves a three inch long shallow cut across his forearm. A lull develops in the brawl as both sides size the other up. What once was a friendly fight has evolved into something more.

  Weapons are now held in the hands of many of those who stand against them. One, the man who had been behind the bar, holds a crossbow leveled directly at them. He shouts something at the woman who now has Reilin in a strangle hold. When she doesn’t respond, he nods for two of the men to come and drag her out of there.

  When they get her off of Reilin, Jiron asks him, “You okay?”

  “I’ll live,” he says then takes in the situation. “If we get out of here that is.”

  The barman with the crossbow begins talking to them and Reilin translates. “You picked the wrong place to mess around in,” he says. “We don’t take kindly to troublemakers.”

  “We’ll pay for the damages and just go,” Jiron says. Any chance of learning more about the necklace here is gone.

  “No, I don’t think so,” he replies.

  Jiron sees Shorty standing next to him and nods to the innkeeper. “You got him?” he asks.

  “No problem,” he replies in a barely heard whisper.

  The barman raises his crossbow and aims it directly at Jiron.

  “Kill them!” screams the woman who’s being restrained from attacking them by two men.

  “Now,” Jiron says.

  Before the barman has a chance to release the crossbow bolt, one of Shorty’s throwing knives embeds itself in his chest. Looking down at the handle sticking out of his chest as if wondering how it got there, he staggers and then topples over.

  Without hesitating, Jiron draws both knives and leaps at the man across from him. Even though the man’s sword is out of its scabbard and in his hand, the unexpected move by Jiron catches him totally off guard. Bringing his sword up too late, he fails to block the thrust that takes him through the throat. Kicking out, Jiron knocks the man off his knife as he moves to the next. With a cry, the other pit fighters draw their weapons and the battle is joined.

  Leaping up atop a table, Shorty pulls forth a throwing knife, takes aim and releases. The knife sails through the air and penetrates a man’s chest to the hilt. By the time the man begins to fall, another knife has already left Shorty’s hand with deadly results.

  Two men with swords and another with a knife rush Scar and Potbelly. The first one falls to Scar’s swords before he even realizes what he’s facing. Potbelly then takes the one on the right and Scar the one on the left. With his knife, Potbelly deflects aside his opponent’s thrust while striking out with a slash of his own. He feels his blade connect with the man’s thigh. As the man’s leg gives way due to the severed muscles, Potbelly kicks out with his foot and connects with his face, sending him stumbling backward.

  Reilin blocks a downward thrust and sees the sword of another man coming at him when Stig’s mace strikes the blade, breaking it in half. “Thanks,” Reilin says as he blocks another strike by his opponent. Stig nods his head and engages another.

  Faced with the deadly skill of the pit fighters, not to mention the fact that they have already mowed down half the people there, the rest of the patrons of the tavern begin to flee. Once the first person breaks off and races for the door, the rest of them quickly follow.

  Reilin sees the woman running out the back door of the tavern. “Jiron!” he yells getting Jiron’s attention. Indicating the open door where the woman fled, he says, “Her sister is the one we need to talk to.”

  With a nod, Jiron hollers, “After her!” Kicking out with his foot, he sends his opponent reeling backward then races to follow her. One man stands between him and the door. When he sees Jiron coming toward him, he dives out of the way rather than face his knives.

  Jiron hits the doorway with the others right behind. As Shorty is about to pass through, he glances back at the grisly scene behind them. Fifteen men lay either dead or wounded, ten tables lie broken and tipped over, blood is everywhere. Then he runs to catch up with the others.

  Racing down the hallway on the other side of the door, Jiron sees her flee out the door at the end of the hall. Lining the hallway are doors, most are closed but a few are open. Within are people in the throes of biloci. Either lying on beds or on top of blankets laid out across the floor, they are oblivious to the carnage in the other room.

  Jiron reaches the door and flies out into the alley on the other side. Glancing to the left and right, he sees her fleeing form running down the alley to the right. “This way,” he says to the others as he races to follow. “Stop!” he yells to her but his words have little effect.

  She ducks into a doorway to the left and it slams shut. He hits the door running and bursts through after her. A small room lies on the other side of the door, another closed door sits in the opposite wall. He runs to it and tries to open it but find it’s locked.

  The others are quick to join him as he pulls a knife to work on the lock. “Stig, you stay here in case she doubles back,” he says. “The rest of you fan out around the building in case she gets out. Reilin, you come with me.”

  As the others race back out into the alley, Jiron feels the lock click open. Replacing his knife in its sheath, he opens the door to find another hallway stretching further into the distance. On his right is a narrow spiraling staircase going up to the second floor.

  He motions for Reilin to be still as he listens for any indication of where she might be. Then above them a floorboard creaks heavily as if a person of weight is moving around up there. That has to be her!

  “Up the stairs,” he says and takes them two at a time. Upon reaching the second level, he finds another hallway extending in the same direction as the one below had. The sound of the creaking floorboard had sounded like it was right above them when they were still on the first floor. So whoever is up here must be in one of the rooms near the stairwell.

  Moving to the door to his right, Jiron kicks out with his foot and bursts the door open. A young woman stares at him with wide, fearful eyes from her bed. “Not this one,” he says and moves to the next. Reilin tells the woman, “Sorry,” then closes her door.

  Making his way quickly over to the door on his left, he kicks it open. The woman from the bar is there with her back to a wall, in her hand she holds a knife out threateningly.

  Jiron sees that she’s all alone. Holding up his hands, he says to Reilin, “Explain to her that we mean her no harm. That I have no intention of hurting her.” Reilin translates for the woman.

  His words do little to convince her of his sincerity. Jiron steps into the room and the woman raises her knife a little bit higher. Reaching slowly into his pocket, he holds up a gold coin. Her eyes widen at the sight of it and the point of the knife drops slightly.


  “Tell her that I’ll give this to her for some information,” he tells Reilin. When Reilin translates his message, her knife drops even further.

  Footsteps are heard coming up the stairs and Scar makes his appearance. He quickly scans down both directions of the hallway and sees Reilin in the doorway to the woman’s room. Coming over, he enters the room and brings his mouth close to Jiron’s ear. “Make this fast, the city watch has shown up,” he tells him.

  Jiron nods and says, “Go get the others.” Scar then races back downstairs to do as bidden. To Reilin he says, “Tell her I just want to ask her sister a question.”

  When Reilin translates, the woman’s eyes get a calculating look and the knife falls even further. Finally, the woman puts the knife back in its sheath though her hand still rests upon its pommel. Then she asks something and Jiron looks to Reilin.

  “She’s asking what you wanted to ask her?” he explains.

  He holds up the necklace so she can get a good look at it. Her eyes widen slightly in recognition as he asks, “Where did her sister get this?”

  Then from below they hear many feet running along the floor. Then at the bottom of the stairs up to their level they hear a voice with the air of command shouting orders. “They’re searching the building,” Reilin says. Then from the stairs they hear the sound of several people on their way up. “We got to get out of here!”

  The woman just stares at him as Reilin takes him by the shoulder and urges him back into the hallway. With one last look at the woman, Jiron curses and puts the necklace back in his pouch. Racing down the hallway away from the stairs, they come to an open doorway on their right. Without hesitation, Jiron runs through the doorway just as the guards reach the top of the stairs.

  From behind them, they can hear the woman’s voice screaming. He looks to Reilin who says, “She’s telling them where we are.”

  “Damn!” swears Jiron. Closing the door, he throws the bar. Not very large, the bar won’t hold long if they really want to come in. And he’s pretty sure they will.

  A single window is the only other exit from the room. Moving over to it, he shoves it open and looks down. In the street below several people are milling about, none of them bear the uniforms of the city watch.

  “Come on Reilin,” Jiron says as he puts a leg through the window.

  Bam!

  The door is struck hard from the other side. A voice hollers to them through the door and Jiron doesn’t need Reilin’s translation to understand what it’s saying. Taking hold of the window ledge, he swings himself out and then hangs briefly by his hands before letting go. He lands right next to someone and scares him to death. After jumping almost a foot in the air in shock, the man races off into the night.

  Jiron scans the area for approaching trouble, but other than a few bystanders looking in his direction, everything is calm. Looking up, he sees one of Reilin’s legs emerge through the window followed shortly by the other. As the rest of his body follows his legs out the window, a group of four men turn the corner of the building.

  His heart skips a beat before he realizes that it’s Scar and the others. “Over here!” he hollers to them.

  Reilin lets go and drops from the window as the other four join them. Then all of a sudden, around the corner the others had just emerged from come a dozen guards. “Let’s get the heck out of here!” Jiron says and bolts down the street. The guards see them run, and with a holler to stop, give chase.

  Up ahead lies an opening of an alley and Jiron quickly ducks inside. Within the opening is a pile of old broken crates and other refuse. Jiron comes to a quick stop and grabs Shorty by the arm. “I want you to stay here and keep an eye on that serving woman,” he explains quickly. “She’s back in that building on the second floor, maybe she’ll lead you to her sister.”

  Just then the guards round the corner and practically run into them. Scar and Potbelly knock the first two to the ground with well placed blows.

  Shorty dives to the side of the alley near the pile of boxes and Jiron knocks them down on top of him. “Let’s go!” he yells then races down the alley.

  Stig takes one of the crates and throws it at the guards as he and the others high tail it out of there. The flying crate causes the guards to halt a brief moment before resuming the chase.

  Jiron races through the alley and into the street on the other side with the others right on his tail. Hoping Shorty isn’t discovered, they run and then quickly duck within a doorway that’s half open. Stig’s the last one through and shuts the door a second after the guards exit the alley.

  They find themselves inside an herbalist’s shop and the herbalist is sitting behind a counter with a surprised look on his face. Jiron pulls a knife and puts his finger to his lips indicating for the man to remain quiet. “Get behind the counter,” he tells the others. Moving quickly, they pile in behind the counter.

  No sooner Does Jiron duck back there after them than the door opens and two guards come in with swords drawn. The herbalist glances down at the men hiding under his counter and Jiron menaces him with his knife and again puts his finger to his lips.

  Licking his lips and beginning to perspire with fear, the herbalist greets the guards. They exchange words several times and then the guards leave. Jiron looks to Reilin who says, “He didn’t say anything about us being here.”

  Jiron gives the herbalist a grin and says “Good.” Removing three silvers from his pocket, he lays them on the counter. “Tell him they are for his trouble.” When Reilin translates, the herbalist nods but remains where he is and doesn’t reach for the coins.

  “Out the back gentlemen,” Jiron says. As they leave, Jiron again turns toward the herbalist and pantomimes running his knife across his throat in warning. When he sees the herbalist nod his head, he follows the others out the back door.

  In the alley behind the herbalist’s shop, they pause a moment and listen for where the searching is going on. Determining that the street the alley exits out onto on their left is quieter, Jiron takes them that way.

  For the next hour, they steadily work their way back to the inn where they left the others. Patrols of guards are out combing the streets and at times they’re forced to wait in hiding for them to past. Finally, they see the inn down the road.

  The street running in front of the inn is quiet. They watch for half a minute from the darkness of a nearby alley until they’re sure no one is about. Then they race down the street toward the inn. When they get there, they duck down the side alley and enter the inn through the courtyard entrance.

  Moving steadily but not seeming in too much of a hurry, they pass through the back half of the common room and up the stairs to their rooms. Outside of the room he’s sharing with James, he places his ear against the door and can hear Miko inside talking in a normal tone. Relieved, he opens the door and enters.

  At the opening of the door, James turns and sees him there in the doorway. Blood from the fight at the Split Navel stains his clothes, as it does all of them. Coming to his feet, he puts his hands on his hips and with an expression bordering on anger, he asks, “Just what have you done now?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  _________________________

  Standing there under James’ withering glare, Jiron and the others tell him everything that happened. Hardly pleased with the situation, James has Reilin change out of his bloody clothes and then go down to the common room to keep an eye and ear out.

  Once they all are in a fresh change of clothes, James pulls out his mirror and brings an aerial view of the inn into focus. Finding everything calm, he then concentrates on Shorty to see how he’s making out. Casting a quick glance to Jiron he asks, “Do you really think that woman’s sister will help you now? After everything you did?”

  Shrugging, he says, “I can but try. It’s the only thing that we have to go on now that your magic can no longer locate him.”

  Turning his gaze back to the mirror, he finds Shorty shrouded by darkness. It looks like he�
��s just within some alley and is staring out across the street to a well-to-do building.

  “She must be in there,” observes Jiron from where he’s looking over James’ shoulder at the mirror.

  “Must be,” agrees James. Expanding the image to include a much wider area, he checks for any squads of guards that may be searching for them. The streets are quiet. Scrolling the image first in one direction then another, he fails to see any concerted search being conducted. “Doesn’t appear as if they are continuing the search.”

  “A whole group of people dead, and they do nothing?” asks Brother Willim.

  “Maybe the death of a bunch of potheads doesn’t really concern them too much,” James says. “Also consider this. The penalty of using or distributing biloci is death in the Empire. Who is going to come forward and say anything? Any who do will also have to admit their guilt.”

  “That’s a good point,” nods Scar. “They’d be sticking their own neck out for the executioner.”

  James abruptly stands up and says, “I don’t care if they are looking for you guys or not. We’re leaving Inziala right now.” To Scar and Potbelly he says, “Go take our things down to the stables and get the horses ready to ride.”

  “What about that woman’s sister?” objects Jiron. “I’m not leaving until I talk to her.”

  “Relax,” James tells him. “You and I are going to go find Shorty and this woman, talk to her and then get the heck out of here. The rest of you stay here. Better yet, go down to the stables and wait there so we won’t have to spend the time to come back up here for you.”

  “As you will,” Brother Willim says.

  “Let’s go,” urges Jiron.

  James nods his head and indicates for him to leave the room. Following him into the hallway, he puts his mirror back in his belt pouch. Once down in the common room, they flag down Reilin who has taken a seat at a table near the door. He gets up and comes over to James who then quietly explains what they intend to do.