“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.
A crossbow bolt strikes the building next to where Essin is standing and everyone turns to see the guards coming toward them.
Crumph!
The ground beneath the guards explodes upward. Essin gasps at the sight and then nods his head as he turns to follow Miko and the others to the wall.
“Get down!” James says to Jiron who is already several rungs up the ladder. Coming to the wall, he places his hand upon it and begins concentrating.
Jiron looks down to him, realizing what he’s about to do and then jumps to the ground as far from the wall as he can. James releases the magic and a section of the wall fifteen feet across explodes outward, leaving them a clear exit from the compound. His knees begin to wobble and Essin comes to his side and says, “Let me carry Nate.”
With relief, James hands the still unconscious Nate over to the man, who slings him over his shoulder and then follows the others. Once they’ve passed through the trees for a ways, James glances behind them and realizes none of the guards have followed them through the opening in the wall.
“Wait a second!” he hollers, bringing everyone to a halt. “Keep a watch out and I’ll try to arrange a slight distraction for them.” Sitting down he tries to relax as he calms himself as he summons the magic and begins to sink his senses down through the earth, to the depths where the magma flows.
Searching for fissures and cracks, he uses the magic to create a path up to the lowest level of the mines. Just like bringing the water up in the desert, he creates a pathway for the magma to travel. Widening the way here, closing off another route there, he continues to bring the magma up to the floor of the mines. The ground begins to shake violently from the pressure he’s creating, causing those on their feet to lose their balance and fall to the ground.
Finally, his senses detect that the magma has broken through and has begun seeping into the mines. He is also able to sense a continued building of pressure as more magma presses to push through the path he made. Realizing an eruption may be imminent, he gets back to his feet as the shaking finally subsides. “We’ve got to move! NOW!” he shouts to the others. Essin again takes Nate and they race through the forest until they come to the road. Without even pausing, they burst out of the trees and run to the south to where their boat is waiting for them. As they race down the road, the ground begins to shake once more. With visions of volcano movies in his head, James gets ready to live his last moments on earth.
“What did you do?” Jiron shouts at him over the roar of the earthquake.
“Let nature loose!” he replies as they continue running, doing their best to remain upright as the tremors steadily increase in intensity.
Suddenly the ground stops shaking and all becomes unnervingly quiet. “Get down!” James yells. From behind them a massive explosion rips through the night as fire and lava burst from the ground and shoots up into the sky. The shockwave rolls over them, burning them as it goes. But just as soon as the burning starts, it stops. They get up, singed and feeling like they have just been roasted over a campfire. The smell of burnt hair permeates the air.
Looking back, they watch as lava balls are shot into the air and then come to land in the forest with terrible force. Fires begin to rage wherever one of them lands.
“You can’t do anything halfway, can you?” Jiron yells at him.
James just gives him a look as he stands up. “I don’t think it’s over yet! Come on, we have to get off this island!”
They continue to race down the road as more lava balls are ejected from the mine. One arcs through the air toward them. “Watch out!” Miko cries out. Everyone pauses as they turn to watch the lava ball fly over their heads and strike the road a hundred feet ahead of them, entirely blocking the road with flame and setting the nearby trees on fire.
Immediately, Jiron leads them off the road in the direction of where they left Kristo and his boat. The sound of screams and yells come from all around as people flee the hot magma spilling out of the mine. Behind them, the sky is aglow from the numerous fires burning all across the island, the smell of sulfur infuses the air and begins causing them to cough.
Suddenly, three guards fleeing the eruption appear in the forest ahead of them, both sides surprised at seeing the others. One of the guards hollers something out and then all three draw their swords as they advance.
Jiron moves forward to meet them, both knives at the ready as one of James’ stones sails past and takes one full in the chest, spraying gore upon the one behind. As the man in front of him falls, the gore covered guard stands there in shock and belatedly recognizes the threat Jiron poses as he approaches. Jiron is able to easily dispatch him and then steps around his lifeless body as he joins with the third guard.
This remaining guard, finally able to release his pent up anger and fear by all that has happened, comes at him with a vengeance. Crying a battle cry, he wields his sword in both hands as he slashes at Jiron.
With agility gained from hundreds of fights in the pits, Jiron maneuvers to avoid the sword and returns with a strike to the leg, drawing blood as his knife sinks an inch into the man’s thigh.
Crying out in pain, the man brings his sword around for another attack which Ji
ron deflects with one knife while following through with the other, opening a four inch long cut along the man’s left forearm.
The wound causes him to falter in his next swing, leaving him open to a thrust through the breastbone. Puncturing his heart, Jiron’s knife becomes wedged between two ribs and is ripped out of his hands as the man falls to the ground. Bending down to retrieve his knife, Jiron has to place his foot on the man’s lifeless body in order to pry the knife from where it’s trapped.
Wiping the blood from his knives on the man’s shirt he quickly gets his bearings and then continues to lead them through the forest toward the boat. The forest begins to fill with smoke as more and more of the trees catch fire, the roaring of the inferno behind them continues to grow with every passing second.
At last they come to the cove where they left Kristo and Jiron comes to a stop, cursing.
“What’s wrong?” James asks as he comes to stand next to him. He looks out over the inlet and understands.
The boat is gone.
“I knew we should’ve killed him!” Jiron exclaims. “Now he’s going to raise the alarm that the ones they were looking for on the mainland are now here.” Behind them, another blast erupts into the night, throwing fire and lava in all directions. He looks to James and continues as he gestures behind them, “As if they wouldn’t be able to figure it out with that going on.”
“How are we to get off the island now?” Miko asks.
“There’s still the dock over by the smelters,” James replies. “It’s further south a ways, but it’s our only hope.” The weight of impending doom seems to be dropping down upon him, “I don’t think we have all that much time.”
As they get moving though the forest, Essin asks, “Time for what?”
James glances back toward where the fire and lava shoots to the sky, “Before the entire island goes.”
“Goes?” Miko asks.
“ Kaboom!” he shouts loudly, raising his arms into the air, “taking everything and everyone with it. Apparently, this area use to be volcanically active long ago, and I seem to have begun a series of events which are going to bring this area back alive again.”
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