As he gets closer, he begins to hear the unmistakable sounds of someone snoring. He looks through the doorway and sees a large bed with two bodies sleeping under covers. Backtracking quickly and quietly he goes back to where the others are waiting by the door.
Jiron opens the door and peers out to see if the guards are still there. Bringing his head back in, he says, “They’re gone.”
“Good, there’s someone sleeping in the other room,” James tells him as he points through the doorway.
“Then let’s go,” he says as he takes Elspa and returns to the hallway. The others follow and Miko closes the door quietly behind them.
“How far to the tower?” James asks her.
“Not very,” she replies. She points to a set of double doors further down where the hallway turns to the left and says, “That’s the entrance. It’s the only way I know to get there.”
As they continue to approach, he says, “How many guards are there?”
“I don’t know,” she replies, “I’ve never been there, my duties were always elsewhere.”
“Then I’m afraid this is where we must part ways,” he says to her.
Her eyes open wide, expecting to be killed on the spot. He moves to a door and listens for a moment. When he doesn’t hear anything, he opens it up and finds another sitting room. This whole area must be guest rooms for visiting nobles. Moving quickly, he looks through to the bedroom and with relief, finds it empty.
Returning to the sitting room, he grabs Elspa and drags her to the bedroom where he gags her mouth and ties her up securely. “I’m not going to kill you,” he tells her. She calms down somewhat when she sees a gold piece appear in his hand. “I appreciate your helping us,” he says as he places the gold piece within a pocket of her outfit.
He gives her a wink and then returns to the front room where the others are waiting for him. Jiron is by the door and when he sees the nod from James, opens it up and checks to make sure the hallway is empty before they step out.
Moving down toward the double doors that Elspa had told them led to the north tower where Pytherian is being held, they quickly cross the distance and stand before them.
Miko keeps watch down both hallways while Jiron listens at the doors. After a minute, he lifts his head away and says, “I think there’re two guards on the other side, can’t be sure. I do hear something though.”
“What do you propose?” James asks him.
“If there are just the two, we might be able to silence them quickly before they alert the whole keep,” he whispers to him. “But if there are more than two, then we’ve got problems.”
“No way to know for sure is there?” James asks him.
He shakes his head, “No, there isn’t.”
“Then let’s move quick and decisively,” he says. Jiron nods in agreement.
Drawing his knives, he makes ready to pass through the doors. James takes three stones out of his pocket, the last ammo he has, and prepares.
Miko takes the handles of the doors as he prepares to swing them open to allow Jiron and James to fight those within.
When both James and Jiron signal Miko that they’re ready, he swings open the doors.
Chapter Nineteen
When the doors swing open, Jiron rushes in and trips over two bodies entwined on the floor before the door. James looks incredulously at the guard with his pants down around his ankles lying atop the half naked girl. He stands there in shock as they look at him and the girl opens her mouth to scream.
Miko gets over his shock and draws his knife as he dives toward her. Her scream begins to escape her lips just as his hand comes and covers her mouth, silencing her.
The guard reaches for his sword that’s lying next to him, but Jiron has already recovered from his fall and kicks it out of reach.
“Get up!” James orders the guard as he closes the double doors.
The guard keeps his eyes on them as he gets up off the girl and pulls his pants up. The girl tries to cover herself as well, her muffled scream subsiding as she realizes they’ll not be killed immediately.
James gestures for Miko to remove his hand from her mouth and then for the girl to get up. She pulls her clothes around her as she gets to her feet, obviously terrified.
The hallway extends from the double doors twenty feet before ending at a stairway which winds its way up to the tower above. Two doors, one on either side of the hallway, lie between the double doors and the stairs. James nods his head to the one on the left side and Jiron moves over to the door and listens. He looks back to James and shakes his head, indicating he doesn’t hear anything.
“Check it out,” he tells him.
Jiron opens the door and looks inside. He turns back to James and says, “Looks like a storage room.”
James turns his attention back to the guard and the girl. He indicates the storage room and says, “Move inside.”
The guard gives him a defiant look as he walks over to the storage room, the girl following with fear in her eyes. Jiron rips off two lengths of cloth from the girls dress and uses them to gag their mouths. Then he proceeds to bind their hands and legs. Once they’re secure, they leave the room and close the door behind them.
Suddenly, from the other side of the double doors, the sound of someone whistling comes to them. Jiron motions for James and Miko to move out of the way as he takes position near the door.
The whistling draws near and Jiron gets ready. The door opens up, a guard enters with a smile on his face and a bottle of wine in his hand. He stops abruptly when he sees Jiron there in the hallway before him.
Jiron moves quickly, but not before the guard realizes what’s going on and tries to shut the door. Slamming into the door with his shoulder, Jiron knocks it open. The guard is forcefully pushed back and falls to the floor, the bottle of wine flies out of his hand and smashes against a wall several feet away. As he hits the floor, the guard draws his sword while at the same time attempting to roll out of Jiron’s way to regain his feet.
But Jiron doesn’t allow him the opportunity to do that and kicks him hard in the side. The guard groans as Jiron kicks out again, knocking the sword from his hand. As the guard starts to cry out, he kicks one more time, this time in the side of the head and silences his cry.
He picks up the unconscious guard and carries him over to the storage room where the others are bound and gagged. Miko picks up the guard’s sword and brings it to the storage room as well. Once Jiron has him gagged and tied up, Miko removes the sword belt from the guard and secures it around his own waist.
When he sees James looking at him, he says, “May need it before we’re out of here.”
“Just be careful,” he advises.
“I will,” replies Miko. “Don’t worry.”
As they again leave the storage room and shut the door, James says, “That must’ve been the other guy’s partner.”
“I’d hate to be them when they’re discovered in there with that girl,” Jiron says with a grim smile. “They’ll be hard pressed to explain what she’s doing there, and in that state of undress.”
Chuckling, James nods his head.
They move to the end of the hallway where Jiron takes the lead as they begin to climb up to the tower. After making two complete circles, the stair comes to the next level.
This level is dark and has the look of a storage area. They continue on past, following the stairs up as it continues spiraling toward the top.
Voices begin to be heard coming from the level above them as they finish the first circle after the storage area. Light can also be seen coming from above them as well. Jiron motions for them to stop as he proceeds alone to investigate.
They watch him as he follows the stairs around, disappearing where the stairs curve out of sight. James waits anxiously for several moments before he returns back down the stairs. Coming close he whispers, “The next level looks to be a guard room. I saw at least six guards taking their ease there. Also, these stairs end there. I think I saw another flight going up over on the other side of the guard room.”