Brian Pratt - The mists of sorrow

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.

“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 rite 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.