“Yeah,” Miko replies, smiling with pride.
“Good work,” James congratulates him. “We need to get out of here, but not before we take care of some things.” He gets up and moves toward the men he killed with the sharpened boards. Removing the board from the closest dead man’s chest, he says, “I don’t want anyone to know I can do magic. Collect the other two and put them in a sack with the trowel, we’re taking them with us.”
“Why bother?” Miko asks as he grabs a sack. He takes the one blood stained board from James, then begins removing the boards from the other dead men and placing them in with the one already in the sack.
James goes over and picks up the sword that belonged to the gutted man, and stabs one of the other three through the place where the stick had impaled him. “I want anyone who sees this to think that we were rescued, that we didn’t get out by ourselves. That way in the future we may have an edge in a similar situation.” Going over to the other two he stabs them in a similar matter. “I doubt if forensic science has evolved very far around here for someone to be able to tell that they were not killed by a sword.”
“Forensic science?” asks a confused Miko. He stands there watching James, the sack with the sticks and trowel in hand.
“It means the study of a crime to tell what actually happened,” he replies.
“Oh,” responds Miko. “Why would that be important?”
James walks over and then places the sword back into the hand of the man on the ground. Seeing the orb on the ground he cancels the spell, causing it to disappear.
“Knowledge is power,” he says as he proceeds to each of the four men, searching their pockets. Some coins and two small gems and his pouch they had taken from him are in the pocket of one man at the table. Around the neck of another he finds the medallion the little creature had given him. His other amulet he finds in the man’s pouch with several coins.
He puts the medallion around his neck and tucks it inside his shirt. His other amulet, coins and the other valuables go into his pouch. Turning to Miko he says, “What people know will determine what they will do. The better your information, the more effective your course of action will be. And if your information is wrong, it could lead you into actions which may be a waste of time or even cause you problems. Understand?”
“I think so,” he replies, not sounding very convinced.
“Regardless, let’s get out of here before someone comes by.” James moves to the door leading outside and opens it slowly, peering out. It’s still very dark, the street outside is illuminated mainly by the light spilling past him through the door. The street appears deserted so he steps out into the night, quickly closing the door after Miko exits. Once again the street is plunged into darkness.
After proceeding down the street a little ways, they come across a refuse pile heaped against the wall of a building. Making sure no one is watching, they pry up a portion of the pile and place the sack with the sticks within before covering it back up again. Satisfied that the evidence is well hidden, at least for the time being, they continue on down the street.
A shadow watches from the darkness as they make their way from the refuse pile. Once they move off a suitable distance, the shadow disengages itself from the dark and crosses over to the refuse pile where it digs until it finds the sack with the bloody boards. The shadow then removes the sack and takes it with it as it hurries down the road after James and Miko.
They don’t travel long before James realizes that they are on the outside of the outer wall, in the poor sector. Moving down the road at a quick pace, they are soon approaching the gate leading back into the city. The smaller gate for travelers stands open and is brightly illuminated by several torches. The two guards standing watch suddenly turn and look through the gate at the sound of an approaching horse. Shortly a rider appears and nods to the guards as he leaves the city.
James and Miko stay hidden in the shadows as the rider makes his appearance. James feels Miko’s hand grip his arm as he points to the rider passing through the gate. “James, that’s one of the guards who chased us from Lord Colerain’s estate.”
“Are you sure?” he asks.
“Very sure,” replies Miko.
They watch the rider come through the gate and turn down the lane they had just vacated.
James starts for the gate when Miko suddenly stops him. Turning toward Miko he hears him say, “If we go through the gate now, and should Lord Colerain’s men later question the guards about those who entered tonight, then they will know we’re back in the city.”
Considering the possibility a moment, James says, “Good thinking, I wouldn’t have thought of that. What do you propose we do?”
“Find someplace to hole up for the night and then come in with the crowd in the morning,” whispers Miko.
“Where do you suggest we go that won’t leave us robbed or dead by morning?” he asks.
“Out of town a ways,” he suggests. “Perhaps down by the river.”
“Alright,” agrees James, “let’s do it.” He leads Miko down the street again until they come to a junction with a road heading away from town. They turn down that road and continue for another half hour until they’ve left the outer buildings of Cardri far behind. At that point they look for a spot to hole up for the night. Off the road to the west sits a field of tall grass, James leads them out into it where they lodge some of it to make a camp of sorts.
Lying down under the stars, they settle in and soon fall asleep. The shadow watches from the road, and once it’s sure they are down for the night, leaves and heads back to town.
Morning dawns another sunny and soon to be warm day. James’ head still throbs, but nothing like last night. He can still feel a tender lump on the back of his head when he gingerly checks it with his fingers.
Looking over the tall grass, they see the road to Cardri is already beginning to swell with the traffic of the day. They get up and join the people entering through the gates. The guards pay them no notice, they are simply another set of anonymous faces entering the city.
Making their way through the streets they arrive at the Dancing Squirrel. Going up to their room, they find most of their belongings still there except of course for the tarts and crumb cake that their captors had taken with them.
“What do we do now?” asks Miko as he settles down on one of the beds.
“We do what we came here to do and get out as soon as possible,” replies James.
“Exactly what are we here for?” he asks.
James takes out his medallion and shows it to him. Indicating the design on the face of it he says, “I want to find out if this design has any special meaning.”
Looking closely at it, Miko asks, “Why, what’s so special about it?”
“I can’t really explain, but let’s just say it’s something I think I need to do,” James explains. “I also want to keep the fact that we’re investigating this medallion a secret, okay?”
“Sure, I understand,” Miko agrees, intrigued by all the secrecy. “If you like, I could go out in the street and see if there is any place around here where you could do that. Someone like me could get around without arousing suspicion, I’m just another of the street brats.”
“Okay, but be very careful,” James cautions as he begins to gather the rest of their baggage. “Lord Colerain may yet have other plans in the works for capturing us. I still can’t believe he’s still after us just because we were trespassing.”
“That’s the way with some nobles,” explains Miko. “Especially, Lord Colerain. I once heard of a boy who on a dare from some of his friends, threw a tomato at his carriage as it was passing through town. Two days later, the boy disappeared and was never seen again. It was never proven that Lord Colerain was the one who took the boy, but that’s the general belief.”
“Sounds like someone we need to stay clear of,” he says. “I’m planning on moving us to the Silver Bells, the inn where Perrilin said he was engaged to play. When you find out anything, meet me there.”