The young man makes his appearance and the Slavemaster says to him, “Escort him back out.”
Giving the Slavemaster a slight bow, the young man turns to James and says, “If you’ll follow me?”
James gives the Slavemaster a brief bow then turns to follow the young man from the room. They leave through the same doorway and are again in the darkened passage. They proceed for a ways then James feels the young man’s hand on his shoulder as he directs him to stop and enter a narrow opening. It’s on the opposite side of the passage than the one he trailed his hand along on the way in.
Moving through this new passage which is barely wide enough to accommodate them, they continue for a ways until the passage turns to the right. Then the young man takes him another hundred paces and brings him to a stop.
“Give me your hand,” the young man says.
James holds out his hand and feels the young man take it. Moving it to the side of the passage, he places James’ hand in a recess in the wall. “You must climb this until you get to the top,” the young man says. “There you’ll find a small wooden panel to your left. Push it open and crawl through.”
“What’s on the other side?” James asks.
“A chandler’s shop,” is the reply. “The shopkeeper has already left for the day. Do not touch anything and be careful when you leave not to let anyone see you.”
“Aren’t you coming with me?” he asks.
“No, you go by yourself from here,” he says. “Good luck.”
“Thanks,” replies James. Then he hears the footsteps of the young man moving away in the dark.
Turning back to the wall, he feels around and finds a series of recesses moving from the floor up the wall. Putting his hands in the ones at eye and chest level, he then finds two for his feet. Then very carefully, he lifts one of his hands above his head and feels around until he finds the next one. One by one, he slowly makes his way up the wall in the dark.
After what seems like twenty or more different recesses have taken him over ten feet from the floor of the passage beneath him, his hand touches the stone ceiling above him. Feeling around he realizes that he’s come as far up the wall as he can. Searching to his left, he finds the small wooden panel of which the young man told him. Pressing it outward, he feels it give. Pushing harder, he swings it wide. A small amount of light comes through from the other side.
The light reveals that the opening is going to be a tight squeeze for him. He then moves toward it and reaches a hand in and begins working his body through to the other side. Though it’s small, he manages to wriggle through and comes out beneath a table and finds himself on the floor of the chandler’s shop.
Turning back to the opening, he discovers the outside of the wooden panel has stone attached to it. When he swings the panel closed, it blends in perfectly with the stone of the wall. He then comes out from under the table and scans the shop for the way out. The door opening onto the street is to his right and he makes his way to it. Looking out, he sees the street passing in front of the shop still has people upon it. With it still being an hour until sundown, he’s sure to be spotted quickly if he were to leave that way.
He makes his way through the shop and finds the back door. Opening it slowly, he discovers an alley running behind the shop. He peers out cautiously only to find there’s no one in the vicinity. James then exits the building quickly and shuts the door behind him.
Once out in the alley, he turns down to the right and hurries to the end. Then, walking like he has a purpose, he enters the street and tries to figure out how to get back to the inn.
Chapter Thirty Six
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“He’s not in there.”
Jiron quickly turns around from where he’s been watching the guards outside the narrow alley that James and the young man disappeared into some time ago. He and the others had followed them to here, but after James and the slave had passed into the alley, these guards showed up and have been hanging around the entrance to the alley ever since.
When he turns around, you could imagine his surprise when he finds the slave who escorted James into the alley standing there. “What did you say?” he asks.
“Your friend isn’t in there anymore,” the young man replies. “He’s probably back at the inn by now.” He gives them a grin and then makes to move onto the street.
Jiron grabs him by the arm and stops him.
“Take your hand off me or I will scream,” the young man says.
Removing his arm, Jiron asks, “Is he okay?”
“Yes,” he replies. “You really should get back there to him.”
“Why?” asks Miko.
The young man doesn’t reply, instead he steps quickly and is soon out on the street among the people passing by.
“Let’s go,” Jiron says. “Something’s up and we need to get back there fast.” With a last glance to the guards before the alley, he moves out onto the street. Beside him walks Reilin and together they lead the others back to the inn.
Jiron is cursing in his mind the decision of James to go with the young man. He knew there was going to be trouble. Setting a brisk pace, they work their way through the early evening crowd on the street and eventually the inn appears ahead of them.
As they move to the front door, they see James in his loincloth moving toward them from down the street. “What happened?” asks James and Jiron of each other at the same time when they come together.
They both pause a moment then James asks, “Is everyone alright?”
Jiron nods then begins to ask him a question in turn when Brother Willim steps forward and says, “Maybe we should discuss this inside?”
Glancing around them, they can see they have begun to draw the attention of the other people passing on the street. After all, they are a large group standing in the middle of the road.
Nodding to the inn James says, “When I tried to go up to my room, they kicked me out. I don’t know what they were saying, but it definitely wasn’t nice.”
“Could’ve been they didn’t recognize you,” suggests Stig.
James glances to him and says sarcastically, “You think so?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem now,” Shorty says. “Not with us here.”
“Hope you’re right,” replies James. He then indicates for Reilin to take the lead.
Moving to the inn, they pass through the front door and make a beeline for the stairs leading to their rooms. James sees one of the workers who had kicked him out take note of his presence. Their eyes lock for moment but the worker fails to make any move toward him.
Once at the top of the stairs, they go down to the room where they left Aleya and Aku. When Jiron cracks the door open, he finds them both lying on the bed asleep. Aleya has her arms around the boy. It’s such a tranquil picture that he closes the door and takes the others down to the next room so as not to disturb them.
After they are all in the room with the door closed, James fills them in on his meeting with the Slavemaster. When he gets to the end where the Slavemaster said that Jiron and the others won’t be bothering them, Jiron suggests that he probably meant the guards who had blocked the alley entrance.
“It’s a good thing they did too,” James tells them. “There’s no way you could have followed me through that courtyard where they were loading the wagons. You would have been seen for sure.”
“Seems as if the whole thing was very well planned and executed,” Scar observes.
Nodding, James says, “Yes it did. There has to be more to this Slavemaster than meets the eye.” Glancing to the others he asks, “Anyone ever heard of him before?” When everyone shakes their head he adds, “He must be just a local mover and shaker.”
Jiron meets his eye and says, “The question now is, do you trust him?”
“I think so,” replies James. “If he can give us a diagram of some kind, it would sure help facilitate matters when we enter the temple.” Then to Brother Willim he asks, “This ri
te he mentioned that the priests of Dmon-Li perform during the dark of the moon, ever heard of it?”
“Not specifically no,” he says. “But every religion has days that are holy to them and each has specific rites that they must perform during that time. It sounds plausible.”
“That’s two days away,” Jiron states. “Isn’t that cutting it kind of close?” When everyone looks to him he adds, “I mean, Tinok could be dead by then.”
“If they are performing a rite to Dmon-Li,” Brother Willim says, “then that’s when they will be the most distracted. Thus entering the temple would be less perilous.”
“And Cassie did say he had until ‘Killian’s Shroud blinded the giant’s eye’,” James adds.
“Isn’t that considered to happen at midnight?” asks Shorty.
Nodding, Brother Willim replies, “Yes. Midnight is the darkest part of the night, and thus would hold special meaning to those worshiping a god such as Dmon-Li.”
James gets a thoughtful look. “Any idea when they would start the rites that night?” he asks Brother Willim.
“No,” he admits. “It could be right at midnight or some time before.”
“Any way to find out by then?” Stig asks.
“I don’t know,” Brother Willim says. “Any attempt to find out would surely raise their suspicions.”
“I say we wait until the Slavemaster sends the diagram,” James says. “He said it would arrive tomorrow.”
Nodding, Jiron glances to him and breaks into a smile.
“What are you smiling at?” James asks. Then he looks down at himself and remembers he’s in naught but a loincloth and blushes. Turning to Brother Willim he asks, “Is there anyway in which to remove the pigment you put on me?”
“Of course,” he says. “Just need to scrub it vigorously in hot water and it should come right off.”
“Then Reilin, go down and see about arranging for a hot bath here in the room right away,” he says to him.
“Will do,” Reilin replies. Heading for the door, he’s stopped by Miko who puts in a request for one as well. Turning back to the others, he asks, “Anyone else?” Everyone remains silent. Shrugging, Reilin turns back to the door and is soon out in the hallway.
“I’ll meet you all downstairs once I’m presentable again,” James tells the others.
Getting the idea he would like them to leave, they file out of the room. James stops Jiron before he can leave and says, “It might be wise to set up a watch through the night. This close to our goal, I don’t want anything taking us by surprise again.”
“Good idea,” he says then leaves with the others out the door.
Once James is in the room alone with Miko, he goes over to where his clothes and packs are. Digging in one of his belt pouches, he removes his mirror. Then, he uses it to try and see just what he looks like. When he finally gets a good idea, he just shakes his head and puts the mirror away. He notices Miko with a thoughtful look on his face as he remembers his time as a slave. Then they both take their ease on the beds to wait for the baths to arrive.
The following day Jiron takes most of the others and they go check out the temple. Basically seeing if there’s any indication of preparations of the rite the Slavemaster told James of. Also to get a good idea of the layout of the buildings, routes the temple guards take as they patrol the grounds, those sorts of things.
James, having scrubbed himself clean the night before and looking very much his normal self, decides to remain at the inn to await the arrival of the diagram the Slavemaster promised. Miko and Brother Willim agree to wait with him. Also remaining at the inn are Aleya and the slave boy Aku. Now in regular clothes, the boy is quite happy to simply do nothing but stay in the room with Aleya. It was decided he shouldn’t go out in public, no sense risking the chance that someone may recognize him and blame him for the death of his master.
Sometime after the noon meal, there’s a knock at James’ door. When he opens the door, one of the workers of the inn hands him a rolled message. As Reilin is out with Jiron, he is unable to question him about who dropped it off. So he nods his head to the lad and closes the door.
“Is that it?” asks Miko. He and Brother Willim are sitting at the table and have been discussing various finer points to being a priest. To James it appears as if Miko is really taking being High Priest to heart. At least he desires to be the best that he can.
James unrolls the paper, or rather papers, as there are two separate sheets. He brings them over to the table and with the other’s help, spreads them out. The first one shows the layout of the temple complex. One building is circled.
Pointing to the circled building James says, “This must be the temple.”
Miko nods his head and then points to what looks like the routes the temple guards take while patrolling the grounds. “With this we should have little trouble in reaching the temple,” he comments.
The other sheet is a bit more detailed. It shows the inner layout of the temple. Not all of it, just the route to the room holding the teleportation dais. There are annotations at three points along the way to the dais room, but none of them can read the annotations. It’s written in the Empire’s language.
“Wonder what it’s trying to say?” Brother Willim asks.
“I don’t know,” replies James. “It would have been more helpful if they were written so we could understand them.”
“At least we have the map,” Miko says hopefully. “With this we should be able to reach the dais quickly.”
James nods his head but still looks at the three places where the annotations are the thickest. It worries him what they might be trying to say.
They study them for an hour or so before Jiron and the others return. When Jiron sees the maps, he begins comparing the one of the outer temple complex to what he had just been observing. “This looks like the routes we saw the guards taking,” he says.
“Then we can assume the other is just as accurate?” asks Scar.
“I would think so,” replies James.
“The patrols of the guards within the temple aren’t noted,” Shorty says.
“It’s possible they couldn’t get those,” offers Stig. “Or maybe there aren’t any guards roaming their halls.”
“You have a point,” agrees Reilin. “I mean really, who in their right mind would enter the temple uninvited?”
James glances at Jiron and grins. “Who indeed?”
Jiron grins back. “I’m going back to the temple,” he announces. “I would like to make sure the routes the guards take are indeed the same as those depicted here.” Picking up the diagram of the temple complex layout, he places it within his shirt.
“Be sure to take Reilin with you, just in case,” suggests James.
“I’ll take Shorty and Stig too,” he says. Then to Stig he adds, “You better leave your shield here until we return.”
Stig nods and removes his shield.
Knock! Knock!
Shorty opens the door and finds Aleya and Aku standing there in the hallway. Stepping back, he opens the door wider so they can enter.
“I got tired of sitting in the room,” she tells them as she and the boy enters. “What’s going on?”
They bring her up to date on what’s been happening, also on Jiron’s next excursion out to check on the temple guards. “See if you can scare me up some arrows too,” she says. “The two I have left won’t do much good if things go bad.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” he assures her.
Aku takes his seat on a chair in the corner and watches them as they talk. He remains fairly quiet for the most part, almost completely unobtrusive. But then again, that’s probably something slaves have to do. He’s taken to Aleya, and of all of them, seems to relax most around her. After what he’s been through and the way he’s been treated, it could be a while before he’ll be able to fully trust anyone.
“The boy doing alright?” asks Brother Willim.
“Yes,” she replies, “he�
�s adjusting well.”
Miko catches Jiron’s attention before he walks through the door and says, “Bring back some tarts if you can.”
“Look,” he says as his gaze moves across those gathered there, “I am not going on a shopping trip. If you want something, get it yourselves.”
“Alright, fine,” states Miko defensively. “But if you do run across a baker, I’m sure Aku would love some.”
“As well as the High Priest of Morcyth I would imagine,” Stig says with a grin.
Miko returns the grin. “I’m sure he wouldn’t turn any away.” At that the rest of them chuckle, if not outright laugh.
Jiron shakes his head and hurries through the door before something else delays him. Reilin, Shorty and Stig follow right behind.
While they’re gone to verify the accuracy of the temple complex diagram, the others adjourn to the common room for dinner and entertainment. Brother Willim and Miko opt to remain in the room and look after Aku, allowing Aleya the opportunity to have some fun.
When Jiron and the others return several hours later, they join the party in the common room. “Everything is exactly as the paper says,” he tells them. Scar gets up from his chair and takes another seat to allow Jiron to sit next to Aleya. “Thanks,” he tells Scar as he sits down.
“Not a problem,” Scar replies.
“If that one is correct, then it’s safe to say the other should be as well,” Reilin says quietly.
James nods his head, “All we have to do now is wait for tomorrow night.”
“Fortunately that will allow us to be at full strength when we begin,” Jiron says. Signaling the server, he indicates that he and the others who just arrived with him would like an ale. In short order she arrives with four mugs and sets them on the table.
After knocking back almost half of his in one long swig, Stig leans forward and says in a hushed tone, “While we were there they brought a long string of slaves into the temple.”
“I can imagine what use they’ll be put to tomorrow night,” says James. His imagination begins churning through different ways they might be used during the rites. Sacrifice, blood offering, or maybe just stealing their life for dark magics. The thought of the theft of their life for magic brings him back to the question his own morality. About how he had done the same when he used the sphere back in the Eye’s Court. Is he really any better than they are?
The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven Page 50