Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

“But they’ll see us!” Fifer whispers.

“True,” replies James. “But I’m counting on them not worrying about those leaving nearly as much as those entering.”

“I hope you’re right,” Fifer says as they come closer.

When they’re close, the guards take notice of them but otherwise say nothing as they pass through the gate. James nods in greeting to them as they pass by, the guards return his greeting.

“We made it!” Fifer exclaims quietly.

“Figured we would,” Jiron says. “People always see what they expect to see. The guards back there expected us to be okay, and since we acted the part, that’s what they thought.”

As they move away from the gate, two shadows detach themselves from the darkness. James sees them coming toward them and stops abruptly.

“It’s okay,” Jiron assures him as he recognizes Jorry and Uther.

“You did it!” they say, amazed.

“Yeah, but we don’t have time to talk about it,” he replies.

“What do you mean?” Uther asks.

Fifer quickly fills them in on what’s been going on.

Jiron says, “You guys go and get the others stationed out at the other gates and meet us back at the inn.’

“You got it,” Jorry says.

As they head out into the night to round up the others, James says to Jiron, “Now, take us to Miller.”

Giving him a nod, Jiron moves out toward the inn.

James follows closely behind and after a minute, asks, “How’s Miko?”

“Doing okay, last I saw,” he replies.

“I’m getting worried about him,” James says.

“So am I,” agrees Jiron.

They don’t progress very far before they begin to smell smoke. Not wood smoke from someone’s chimney, but more like from a building that’s burning or has just burned down.

As they near the inn, a large crowd can be seen gathered around a burned out structure. “I believe that used to be the inn,” Jiron tells him.

Hurrying forward, they see the crews working to extinguish the last of the fires. “What happened?” he asks one onlooker.

“They think it started in the back,” the man tells him.

Another man steps forward and says, “Yeah, this bunch came in through the front, a rough bunch by the looks of them. They went through to the rooms in the back and then we heard sword fighting. Then all of a sudden, we smelled smoke coming from the back. By the time we all got out, the fire was spreading pretty fast. In no time, the whole place was on fire.

“Did anyone from the back make it out?” James asks anxiously.

Shaking his head, the first man says, “Not through the front, anyway. No one has said if anyone made it out the back. Seems dark deeds were done there this night.”

“Perhaps,” says James. “Thank you.”

The men nod and turn back to watch the crews as they finish putting out the fire.

They move away from the crowd and James asks, “You heard?”

Jiron nods, “Think he got out?”

“Under normal circumstances I’d say yes. But now, the way he’s been acting, I don’t know.”

“They said they heard sword fighting,” Jiron says. “That means Miko would have ‘woken up’, so to speak.”

“I know,” replies James, “that’s what has me worried.”

“Woken up?” Fifer asks.

“Never mind that now,” James says quickly. “Let’s move over to the rear of the inn and see if we can find out anything.”

“Okay,” Fifer says as he leads the way, scanning the faces of the crowd for any sign of Miller or Miko.

At the rear of the inn, the fire had gutted it pretty good. Only a few timbers and crossbeams remain. James begins to move in among the charred rubble before a guard blocks his way, saying, “It isn’t safe, you’ll have to stay back.”

James looks at the guard and says, “I know, but we knew someone who was back here. I just wanted to find out if they made it out or not.”

“It’s not a pretty sight,” the guard says.

“I realize that,” James says as he looks to the guard imploringly.

“Alright,” he says. “But be careful, it’s still very hot in there.”

“We will,” he says to the guard. To the others, he says, “Come on.”

The heat from the smoldering embers is quite hot, almost too hot. He begins moving into the charred structure when Jiron grabs his arm and says, “They were over this way.”

James nods and lets him lead the way.

Jiron steps through what’s left of a wall and then says, “This was the room.”

“I can tell,” replies James as he looks around at all the burned, dead bodies scattered about. The remains of the collapsed ceiling covers most of the bodies but he’s still able to make them out.

“Look here,” says Jiron.

James moves over and sees the remnants of a headless body that looks to have once been tied to a chair. Ropes bind it’s extremities to broken bits of burned wood. “This must’ve been Shyn,” Jiron explains.

“Good!” he hears Fifer say.

Using their knives to maneuver smoldering wood away from the bodies, they discover arms, legs and heads that are no longer attached to anything. Testament to the brutal battle that had occurred here shortly before the fire.

“You see Miller or Miko?” James asks the others.

“Hard to tell,” Jiron replies. “I haven’t found anyone yet that would’ve been the same size as Miko.”

“If Miller’s here,” Fifer states, “I doubt if we would know for sure. They’re all burned too severe.”

“Fifer!” a cry can be heard coming from the crowd.

He looks up and sees Jorry and Uther returning with the others. “Over here,” he hollers, waving.

“Let’s get out of here,” James says.

When they finally make their way out of the burned building, the others join them. Uther asks, “Man, what happened?”

“Where’re Miller and that kid?” Jorry asks right after.

Indicating the burned out building, Fifer says, “They might be in there, hard to tell. Everything’s burned beyond recognition.”

“James, the mirror,” Jiron suddenly reminds him.

“That’s right!” he cries as he quickly moves to leave the area.

A guard stops them before they get too far and says, “Where’re you guys going?”

“Trying to find our friends,” James explains.

“I don’t think so,” he says. “We need to find out what happened here and you all seem the only ones who know anything about it.”

“I’d like to help, really,” James replies. “But this is an emergency.”

“Sorry,” he says. “I need you to stay right here until the watch captain shows up.”

“When will that be?” Jiron asks.

“Shouldn’t be too long,” the guard says. “He may need you all to come back to the jail to answer questions.”

“I’m afraid we’ll have to decline the offer,” James tells him.

Three guards come over and stand next to the one talking to them. The guard says, “It isn’t a request.”

Miller’s band comes and stands behind James as he says, “Unless you want a fight, we’re leaving.”

Seeing the odds, the guard just glowers at James as he and the others begin backing away.

Once they’ve moved a sufficient distance from the guards, they turn and make their way quickly away from the fire scene. They find a quiet alley that’s away from people and move into it.

“What do you think happened back there?” Uther asks.

They all glance at each other for a moment then James says, “I think Councilman Rillian sent men there to get Shyn and things got out of hand.”

“Why?” asks Yern, a red haired member of Miller’s band.

“So we couldn’t use him as a witness against him I would expect,” James explains.

“But how did they know he was there?” Uther asks.