Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

“Need your help with something,” he says. He gestures for James to give him the letter which he does. Once he’s had a chance to read through it, he explains about the captain and how they need to cross the Sea.

Harlan leans back in his chair and gives them a look which could only be called despondent. “If only it was for anything else,” he says.

“Why?” Illan asks. “We have a letter from Lord Pytherian himself requesting any and all to help us.”

“I know,” he replies. “But the letter is only a ‘request’, it’s not an order. So it doesn’t have as much weight here as you would think.”

“What do you mean?” asks James.

“That captain hit a very important person around here,” he explains. “Whether he knew it or not is immaterial. And this person is demanding the stiffest punishment allowable under the law.”

“Which is?” asks Illan.

“A year,” he replies.

“A year?” exclaims Illan. “For hitting someone? That’s outrageous!”

“I know, but this man has a lot of influence in the area, not to mention he’s quite wealthy,” Harlan tells them.

“Who is he?” asks James.

“His name is Faetherton,” Harlan replies. “Though since he’s become so influential, he’s been taking to calling himself, Lord Faetherton.”

“Never heard of him,” states Illan.

“Not surprising,” he explains. “He arrived in these parts shortly after you left five years ago.”

“So there’s nothing we’re able to do about this?” asks Illan.

“I’m afraid not,” he says. Lowering his voice, he continues, “I have to admit, Faetherton has been such an annoyance, that I for one was glad that captain broke his nose.”

“So, hypothetically, if this captain was to disappear, it would sure upset this Faetherton?” asks Illan.

Harlan gives him a smile and says, “To be sure. Oh, and on a side note, the guard captain at the jail is a cousin of his as well.”

“I see,” Illan says. Then he extends his hand to his old friend and continues, “It was nice to see you again, hopefully next time I’ll have time to stay for awhile.”

“I understand,” Harlan says. “Sorry I couldn’t have been more help.”

“You take care,” Illan tells him.

“I will,” he replies. As they make to leave, Harlan says, “Good luck.”

Illan nods his head and gives him a brief wave as they leave his office. Out in the corridor, as they head for the stairs, James says, “I wish that had gone better.”

“What do you mean?” asks Illan. “I thought that went pretty well, all in all.”

“How can you say that?” asks James. “We still don’t have the captain.”

“No but we will,” he explains. Gesturing back to the offices they just left, he lowers his voice and says, “He all but told us to break that captain out of jail.”

“You sure?” James asks.

“Absolutely,” replies Illan quietly. “He even said the guard captain was a cousin, which to me means we can treat him roughly if we want.”

“I hope you’re right,” he says.

“Don’t worry,” he tells him.

As they leave the building, he stops by his son and says, “Tell your mother I’m fine, but things are moving fast and I won’t have time to visit.”

“I will father,” his son assures him.

Nodding, Illan continues on out into the courtyard and turns down one of the side streets. Keeping his voice low, he says, “Let’s go tell the others what we’re going to do.”

“What are we going to do?” asks James, afraid he already knows the answer.

“Break that captain out of jail,” he says.

At the Flying Fish they find the others, having just finished their meal. As they order theirs, Illan and James fill them in on what’s going on and what they are planning to do.

“Now, I can’t be a part of the jail break,” Illan tells them. Turning to James, he says, “You’ll have to manage that with the rest of these guys.”

“I’m sure we can do it,” Uther says.

“Yeah,” Keril says from where he’s sitting with Miko, “it’ll be easy.”

“Hope so,” James tells him. To Jiron he says, “You and Miko should stay with Illan, with your shoulder the way it is, you’ll not be much good should trouble develop. We’ll meet you down by the docks when we have the captain.”

Nodding, he says, “Alright. When do you plan to do this?”

“After I’m done eating,” he tells him. “There’s only three of them at the jail so we should be able to overcome them quickly. And once we’re down to the docks and on the ship, we’ll be safe. No one’s going to come looking for us anyway until they discover the guards at the jail and the captain’s missing. By that time we should be well under way.”

James can see Miko is somewhat disturbed by this whole plan. “What’s on your mind?” he asks him.

He glances around the table at everyone before returning his gaze to James. “It just doesn’t seem right somehow.”

“In what way?” James asks.

“Well, ever since I’ve met you, you’ve done nothing but what’s right,” he explains. “This just doesn’t seem like you, going against the laws and all. It’s not like we have to reach Cardri today, like it’s a life or death situation or anything.”

“I understand your point,” he says. “But with the letter from Lord Pytherian, we are justified.”

Illan breaks into the conversation. “That’s true, Miko. The magistrate all but asked us to break this guy out so we can fulfill the spirit, if not the letter, of Lord Pytherian’s request.”

“But it seems the only reason he did was just to spite that other guy,” continues Miko. “It just seems wrong somehow.”

“I understand your concern, Miko,” James says to him. “But I have my reasons for this. True, it’s not exactly as I would have liked it, but I have my reasons.” Like finding a place to hide the Fire before it consumes you.

Miko nods, trusting in him.

Turning his attention back to Illan, James asks, “Which town should we head for?”

Thinking a moment, Illan replies, “It would probably be best to dock at Fairview. It’s a little north of Dragon’s Pass and last I heard, the Empire’s forces haven’t progressed much past the Merchant’s Pass. It seems they’re making that their northern line, at least for right now.”

“What’ll we do for horses once we get there?” ask Jorry. “It didn’t look like the ship could hold them all.”

Looking to Illan, James asks, “Is there someone around here who would buy these from us?”

Nodding, he says, “My brother-in-law Michael deals in horses, I’m sure he’d give a fair price for them.”

“Then why don’t you, Jiron and Miko take care of that while we’re over at the jail,” he suggests.

“We can do that,” he says, “but it could take an hour or two to finish the deal. We do have a lot of horses and Michael may not be around.”

“Just do the best you can,” says James. “If you can get it done in the time allotted, then so be it. If not, then just give them to him and we’ll worry about acquiring more in Fairview.”

“Alright,” he says through a bite of the beef stew he’s having.

“We’ll give you an hour’s head start before we head to the jail,” James tells him.

Nodding, Illan says, “That should be enough time, I hope.”

They finish their meal and everyone goes outside to retrieve what they intend to keep from their horses before Illan, Jiron and Miko take them to his brother-in-law’s.

As they’re about to leave with the horses, Illan says to the rest, “Good luck! We’ll meet you at the docks in a little over an hour.”