Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (36 page)

A door on the opposite side of the room
stands open, James moves toward it and looks out. “Another
hallway,” he hollers back. “Doesn’t look as if anyone is in
it.”

Their pursuers suddenly hit the door on the
other side and the door swings open a little before Lord Pytherian
puts his weight against it and closes it once more. “I can’t hold
this very long,” he hollers to them as the soldiers on the other
side continue throwing their weight against it.

James comes over and places his hand against
it as he casts a spell of holding. When he’s done, he says, “You
can let go now milord, it won’t open.”

Lord Pytherian gradually reduces the
pressure he’s exerting and the door continues to hold even with the
soldiers hitting it from the other side. He looks to James and
raises an eyebrow, “Mage?”

James nods his head.

“Then we do stand a chance,” he says with a
grin.

“Come on!” cries Miko from where he stands
next to Jiron. “We’ve got to get out of here!”

Lord Pytherian and James run across the room
as the soldiers continuously beat upon the door behind them. As
they reach the others, Jiron moves down the hallway to the right.
Running quickly with no pretense of being quiet, they turn left
when the corridor does and see more soldiers coming toward
them.

As Jiron stops next to a door on their left,
a cry goes up from the advancing soldiers as they break into a run
to attack. Throwing his weight against the door, he bursts into the
room. The rest follow, Lord Pytherian closes the door behind them.
The dark room blossoms with light as James’ orb springs to
life.

Lord Pytherian’s eyes widen slightly and
James shrugs and says, “It’s useful.”

A slight smile breaks out upon his face as
he says, “I would think so.”

“Here!” Jiron hollers as he tosses a poleaxe
toward Lord Pytherian who uses it to brace the door. James comes
over with another and they get them wedged in just as the solders
begin pounding upon the door from the other side.

Miko comes over and says, “This might work
better.” He reaches up and pulls an iron bar from the door jamb and
sinks it into a recess on the other side. With the added strength
of the bar, the door will hold a long time.

They turn to look at the room they’ve found
themselves in and discover they’ve run into an armory. Racks of
swords, pole arms, bows, and every other type of weapon imaginable
are lined in racks along all the walls.

“James, come here,” Miko hollers from where
he stands next to a large barrel.

When James comes over, he sees the barrel is
filled with the lead slugs he’s been using. Giving Miko a pat on
the back, he proceeds to refill his belt as well as filling a pouch
that was lying on a nearby table. It may weigh a little bit, but he
feels better for having them. Once the pouch is bulging, he secures
it to the belt around his waist.

They suddenly hear pounding as the soldiers
out in the hallway try to beat their way in. But the door with iron
bar firmly secured is strong enough to hold against them.

Jiron comes in from the only other doorway
leading out of the room and says, “There’s just another room back
there with shields and some armor.” He points to the door the
soldiers are beating upon and continues, “That’s the only way
out.”

Miko turns to James and asks, “Now
what?”

A translucent bubble forms in front of James
and Lord Pytherian asks, “What’s that?”

“It should show us a way out of here,” he
replies. But the bubble floats around a moment and then goes over
to the door leading out to the hallway and the soldiers. “Damn!”
exclaims James.

“No other way out?” asks Jiron.

“Doesn’t look like it,” he says.

“What are we to do now?” he asks.

James looks from one to the other and says,
“Give me a moment.” He then begins considering the situation as he
starts to pace.

Suddenly, the sound from the door begins to
change. A steady thumping sound starts to beat on the door. Lord
Pytherian says, “It won’t be long now. It sounds like they’ve found
a ram.”

James’ pacing leads him into the other room.
There he finds the area where the blacksmith would’ve worked on
fixing the broken or dulled weapons and armor. An anvil sits in the
corner as does a bellows; a hole can be seen in the roof that would
allow the smoke to escape from the forge.

A large bucket of water sits on the floor
and next to it is a depression in the stone with a small drain that
would allow the used water to drain away. Suddenly, an idea hits
him and he sends out his senses beneath the floor and realizes that
there’s an open space beneath them.

From the other room, Lord Pytherian hollers
out, “That door’s not going to stand much more of this!”

“Got an idea!” James yells back to him. “I
need a few minutes.”

“Better hurry,” Jiron says from the
doorway.”

James glances over to him and nods. Then he
begins tracing the creases around one large stone in the floor with
his finger, letting the magic flow as he loosens the bonds holding
it to the ones next to it.

When Jiron sees what he’s doing, he nods his
head as he remembers how they’d escaped the jail back in
Mountainside. He turns to the others and says, “Let’s move as much
of this stuff before the door to slow them down once they’ve broken
through.”

Everyone begins moving tables and pulling
racks of weapons off the walls as they create a blockade in front
of the door. By the time they’ve created a pile extending several
yards away from the door, they hear James holler from the other
room, “I need your help!”

Jiron is the first to enter the room and
sees James standing there with a sledge hammer. “Grab a hammer or
something and help me smash this block down,” James tells him.

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.