James then begins slamming the sledge hammer down upon the stone block. The others see what he’s doing as they come into the room and move to help him. Pytherian holds back a moment, doubting the usefulness of this course of action. But then when he sees the block move down half an inch from the blows raining down upon it, he grabs a war hammer and adds his strength to the endeavor.
Inch by slow inch the slab moves down until it falls into the room beneath it. “What’s down there?” asks Miko as he looks into the black hole.
“Don’t know, don’t care,” Jiron says as he moves to the lip of the hole and begins to lower himself over the edge. James moves the orb over the opening and they see the floor of the room is about fifteen feet away.
“Be careful,” James warns him.
He swings over the edge and hangs by his hands a moment before letting go. James watches as he lands on the floor and then looks back up to him. “Come on!” he hears him holler out of the hole.
James looks to Lord Pytherian and says, “Your next milord.”
Lord Pytherian moves to the edge and just like Jiron, swings over the edge and lands next to him.
“Okay Miko,” James says as he indicates the hole. As Miko is lowering himself into the hole, James hears the door crash open. Smashing and clattering comes from the other room as the soldiers begin removing the haphazard barricade they’d erected before the door.
“What was that?” Jiron asks from below.
Nervously, James replies, “They’re in the armory.”
When Miko hits the floor, James moves to the edge and begins to swing down when from the doorway, he sees a soldier appear. Letting go, he falls and then feels hands grab him to slow his descent as he lands on the floor. “Thanks,” he says.
From above them, they see soldiers looking down at them and then another begins to swing over the edge. “This way!” Jiron hollers as he leads them from the room through a doorway.
Once everyone has exited the room, he slams the door and drops a bar across it that was built to hold the door secure.
In the light of the orb, James can see they’re in a passage and by the looks of it, one that hasn’t been used in a very long time. “This might be a part of the dungeons,” he guesses.
“If so then maybe we can get back to the sewers,” Jiron states.
From the other side of the door, they again hear pounding as the soldiers attempt to get through.
Jiron takes the lead with Lord Pytherian close behind. The passage leads on for a hundred feet before ending where another passage crosses from the left to right. Jiron looks back to James who says, “Left!”
Turning to the left, they race down the hallway for several hundred feet, passing openings into other rooms. After a brief examination, they discover each is just another storeroom with no other way out so they continue on down.
Moving along for several minutes, they come to a door at the end of the passage. As James comes up behind Jiron and Lord Pytherian, he sees Jiron take out his knife to begin working on the lock.
“I’m sorry I had my doubts about you,” Lord Pytherian says to James while they wait for Jiron to open the lock.
“We’re not out of here yet,” James tells him.
“You’ve done better than I could’ve expected or hoped for,” he continues. “Frankly, I’m surprised we’ve managed to make it this far.”
Click!
Jiron opens the door and turns to them, “If you guys are done, let’s go.”
“After you,” James says to him.
Turning back, Jiron moves through the doorway and pauses as they go past him. Then he shuts the door, locking it once more. Rushing to take the lead again, he follows the passage as it twists and turns three times before coming out into what looks to be a storage room.
It’s a large dark room with boxes stacked on all sides. To their right, a stairway extends up and on their left is a doorway. In the middle of the room are two bodies. As they move into the room, closer to the bodies, they discover they’re guards and by the fresh pool of blood they’re lying in, were killed recently.
“James, this is the room just above the cells,” Jiron suddenly says.
Looking around, James nods his head. Indicating the guards on the floor, he says, “These two must’ve been killed when the prisoners escaped.”
“That would make sense,” Jiron agrees.
“Then that’s the way out!” exclaims Miko, pointing to the opening opposite the stairs. “What’re we waiting for?” Moving quickly, he hurries through the doorway and begins to descend down the stairs.
James and the others move quickly to follow him, taking the stairs quickly.
They catch up with him at the bottom of the stairs where he’s stopped and peering around the corner. “Look,” he says, pointing down the hallway to the room of the holding cells.
Lights can be seen within and silhouettes moving around. “They must be investigating how the prisoners escaped,” guesses James.
Jiron’s knives leap to his hand at the same time as Lord Pytherian’s sword leaves its scabbard. Jiron turns to Miko and says, “You better stay here and look after James.”
“Alright,” he says.
Jiron glances to James who gives him a nod in understanding as they move to the room at the end of the hallway.
“Looks like there are just a couple,” Lord Pytherian whispers to Jiron as they get closer.
“That’ll just make it easier,” he says.
They’re able to come to the end of the hallway without being seen due to the preoccupation of those inside. Within the room they see two guards and a civilian.
Jiron glances to Lord Pytherian who gives a nod and they burst into the room. Pytherian strikes down one guard before he even knows they’re there.
The remaining guard moves to protect the civilian as he draws his sword. Jiron begins deflecting his attacks as Lord Pytherian joins him. Facing the two of them, the guard has no chance and is soon cut down.
The civilian makes for the door, but Lord Pytherian moves and blocks his exit. He places the point of his sword to the man’s chest and hollers back out to James and Miko, “It’s clear, come on down.”
Turning back to the civilian, Lord Pytherian says, “So, what brings the aide to Lord Hazi Makali down here?”
“My Lord Pytherian,” the man says. “You are certainly the last person I expected to meet here.”
“I would guess so,” he replies, laughing. “Considering the circumstances of our last meeting.”
James comes to the cell room and when he sees the man at sword point, he asks, “Who’s this guy?”
“He’s the aide to Lord Hazi Makali, the military governor in charge of this city,” he explains.
“What are you going to do to him?” James asks.
Pytherian gazes at the man and then motions with his sword to the nearest cell, “Get in.”
The man moves toward the cell and enters. As Lord Pytherian shuts the cell door, the man yells, “You’ll never make it out of the city!”
“I’d say the chances are fairly good,” he replies as he turns the key in the lock. Putting the key in his tunic, Lord Pytherian looks to the man and says, “Give my regards to your Lord and tell him I regret being unable to say goodbye in person.”
He turns to James and says, “Lead on.”
James nods to Jiron who moves toward the door leading to the torture chamber. James sees all the cell doors have been opened, proof that the fighters they’d seen from the tower window had in fact been those being held here. One of the dead guards they’d dragged in here had been pulled near one of the cells. There must’ve been a key or something on him that they’d used to open the doors.
In the torture chamber, the dead man still lies upon the table and the torturers upon the floor. “I see you have already been here,” remarks Lord Pytherian.
“Yeah,” replies James. “We came in this way.”
They exit the torture chamber and move down the hallway to the stairs at the end. Jiron doesn’t even hesitate as he begins to move down the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom, he waits for the others.