Brian Pratt - Fires of prophesy

James can hear someone enter the hallway from the outer room and the footsteps pause before his cell. He can see the officer looking in through the window in his door and then hears him say something to the soldier with him. A key turns in the lock and the door swings open, the officer walking in. Framed in the doorway is a soldier with a crossbow who has it aimed at James to prevent any mischief.

Once he’s in the room, the officer holds up the amulet James bought from a merchant a while back, the same one that ol’ One Eye had questioned him about earlier in the warehouse back in the City of Light. “Where did you get this?” he asks.

“I bought it at a merchant’s stand a couple weeks ago,” he replies. “Why?”

“Hmmm…” he says as he considers what James had said. “Be that as it may, this changes things.”

“How?”

The man looks to James but doesn’t answer. He leaves the room and James can hear him mumble to himself as he leaves, “Yes, this definitely changes things…”

The soldier with the crossbow closes his cell door and James is left alone to ponder what he just heard. Why does having that amulet change things? That amulet must mean something special, even ol’ One Eye was extra curious about it. Unable to come up with any idea that makes sense, he just sits on the floor with his back against the wall and thinks of his options.

The hallway door opens and then closes as the officer leaves the cell area. Jiron whispers, “James, the guard left with him. What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know,” he replies. “It’s not too long until dark, we better wait until then. Can you pick the lock?”

“No, they took my lock picks when they searched me. You?” he asks.

“Probably,” James responds. “Let me think about it.”

“I’m scared!” they hear Cassie cry pitifully from her cell at the end of the hallway.

“We all are,” Delia tells her. “Just be patient, I’m sure we’ll be able to get out of this.”

“I hope so,” she says, as she once again starts to cry softly.

“This was a stupid idea!” Tinok’s voice rings out. “We should’ve taken ‘em out when we first met them. Now there’s a whole lot more to deal with.”

“We couldn’t risk the girls,” Jiron says.

“Think they’re any safer now?” he asks angrily.

“Shut up!” Delia whispers sternly. “This isn’t doing us any good!”

Everyone quiets down after that. James looks out the little window that overlooks the back alley, but all he can see is the rear of the building across from him.

Just then they hear the hallway door open again and the chair creaks as the guard retakes his position again at the end of the hallway.

They sit there for another hour in silence, each occupied with their own thoughts. James sits by the window and listens to the goings on outside, but aside from the sounds of the occasional horse going by the front of the building, or conversations in the Empire’s language, he fails to hear anything useful. He contemplates several means where magic could facilitate their escape and plans several contingencies.

Outside, the sun begins to go down and the light slowly starts to fade. Suddenly, the door at the end of the hallway opens and two soldiers come in and begin talking to the guard. They exchange words for several minutes, then James can hear them chuckling. The two men begin to make their way down to the end of the hallway and stop outside of Cassie’s door.

He hears a click and then a squeal of rusty hinges as they open her cell door. He hears them saying something to her in their language, and then suddenly a cry from Cassie.

“What’s happening?” Jiron asks.

Tinok, who’s in the cell across from her, says, “They’re going to rape her!”

“Jiron, Tinok, go help her,” James says as he releases the magic. Everyone hears an audible click as their doors unlock.

Without any thought but to help her, Jiron and Tinok burst out of their cells and rush into hers. James comes out and turns to the shocked guard at the end of the hallway. Loosing the power, James slams the man against the wall, knocking him out.

He rushes down to Cassie’s cell and finds the two soldiers dead on the ground, with Delia helping Cassie to her feet. Jiron and Tinok are standing over the dead men, with the dead men’s knives in their hand, dripping blood.

As James enters, Jiron says, “Time to leave?”

“I would think so,” James replies. They come out of her cell just as the doorway at the end of the hallway slams open. The officer strides in to see what the commotion is all about. He comes to a sudden stop when he sees the guard lying before him on the floor unconscious. Looking down the hallway, his eyes widen when he sees their cell doors open and them out of their cells, two with knives that are red with blood. He begins yelling as he quickly turns and exits the hallway, returning back to the front room. Even though James can’t understand what he’s saying, he has a pretty good idea.

“Jiron,” he says, “give Tinok your knife, quick!”

When Tinok has both knives, James says to him as he points down the hallway, “They’re going to be coming through that door. You’ve got to stop them for a minute or two.”

Tinok glances at Cassie, then with an evil grin he says, “You got it.” He walks close to the end of the hallway and awaits the first soldier to pass through the door.

Grabbing Jiron’s arm, James says, “Come with me.” He leads him to the rear cell where Tinok had been, whose little window overlooks the same narrow alley that his had. The girls follow them in there.

“What are we doing?” he asks James.

“Just wait,” he replies as he begins concentrating.

Jiron hears the clash of metal from the hallway and sticks his head out to see how Tinok’s doing. One soldier lies on the floor, bleeding to death, while his knives dance with another. A third soldier has entered the hallway behind the one battling Tinok, but the narrowness of the corridor allows but one to come at him at a time.

He turns back to the cell and watches as James begins tracing the seams of the stones surrounding the barred window. His finger follows the seam all the way around and when he reaches his starting point, he stops and says, “Alright, give me a hand.”

Reaching up to the bars, he begins pulling on them. Jiron steps up and lends his strength to the effort.

“Give up,” they hear the officer exclaim from down the hallway, “you’ve got nowhere to go!”

“Bring ‘em on!” they hear Tinok’s reply. More clashes can be heard as he parries and blocks, giving them time to do what they need to.

“What’s the count?” Jiron yells over his shoulder to Tinok.

“Four!” they hear him hollering back.

James and Jiron pull with all their strength on the bars and a section of the wall surrounding them suddenly slides outward half an inch.

“Five!”

Delia joins them and together, they slowly pull the bars and the adjoining stones away from the wall until the whole thing crashes to the floor with a thud.

James looks out the hole and doesn’t see anyone around, while Jiron goes back to the dead guards in Cassie’s cell and retrieves a sword.

Coming to the hole, he tosses the sword through and then follows it, climbing through the hole.

“Six!”

He takes the sword and comes back to the hole. “Cassie,” he says, “come on!” Keeping an eye out for anyone entering the ally, he offers his hand to help her through.

James and Jiron help Cassie make it through the hole, and then Delia. Once they’re safely on the other side, James climbs through as well. “Tinok!” Jiron yells, “Time to go!”

“Seven!” they hear just before he runs through the door. Upon seeing the hole in the wall, he yells, “Stand back!” as he races toward it and dives through. He sails through the opening, hits the ground on the other side, and then rolls, coming to rest against the wall of the opposite building.