"Now, what's the best way to get there?" he asks. Then he adds, "Without being discovered."

"There's no direct way to get there," she tells him. "And the whole tower is full of guards, you'll never make it to where they're keeping him."

"You let us worry about that," he says. "Now, I understand that servants often have a way of moving about to avoid being underfoot. I want you to take us along those ways as best you can."

She nods her head. "It's this way," she tells him, pointing down to where she had just entered the corridor.

James nods to Jiron who takes her by the arm and holds her close as she begins to lead them down the hallway. As they reach the door that she'd exited from, she pauses a moment before opening the door.

They move through into a narrow hallway. "This leads to the lower kitchens," she says as she continues along. "Another of these pa.s.sages leads from the kitchens to the main banquet room which should be relatively empty at this time of night."

"What about the kitchens," Jiron says. "Will there be anyone there?"

Sighing, she replies, "There's always someone there but any other way and you risk being spotted even more."

"Alright," James says.

They continue down the hallway until they begin to smell the yeast of many loaves of bread rising as they're being prepared for the morning meal. Slowing down, Jiron hands the girl to James as he moves forward to check the kitchen.

The kitchen is a large room with many tables and ovens. Ten tables are lined with loaves of bread dough, and beneath one of them is a boy sleeping. The boy appears to be the only one currently in the room.

He goes back to the others and tells them what he'd seen. "That's Kibby", she tells them. "He's the baker's apprentice and is there to make sure the bread is ready for baking in the morning." She looks to them and asks, "You're not going to hurt him are you?"

"If we can get through without waking him," James a.s.sures her, "then I see no reason to harm him."

She nods her head and they move closer to where the hallway opens up into the kitchen. She points off to the right where another small hallway leads away from the kitchen, "That's the one you want."

James indicates with a nod of his head for her to precede them. She moves out, stepping cautiously, trying to remain as quietly as she can as she moves around the table where Kibby is sleeping.

As they move through the kitchen, Miko snags some bread sitting on a counter that was left over from the night before and begins munching on it. When James looks at him, he just gives him a smile as he continues chewing. James grabs one as well.

They reach the hallway and James glances back at the still sleeping Kibby beneath the table. Then he turns back and follows Elspa as she continues to lead them through the Keep.

From up ahead, they hear someone coming toward them. They duck down another side pa.s.sage and hold still and quiet as the person approaches.

Jiron holds a knife to Elspa's throat to prevent her from crying out. Then a man walks by their hiding spot and continues down the pa.s.sage. Once the man's footsteps can no longer be heard, they return to the pa.s.sage.

"That was Olyth, the baker," she tells them once Jiron has removed his knife from her throat.

"Let's go, we're running out of time," urges James.

She begins leading them again down the pa.s.sage. They go for several hundred feet when she again comes to a stop. Indicating further down the pa.s.sage ahead of them, she says, "Up ahead, it opens into the banquet room."

Jiron moves forward and then pauses at the end of the pa.s.sage. He returns quickly and says, "She's correct, it's the main hall alright. It looks empty."

They move to the end of the pa.s.sage and James asks, "Where now?"

She points over to another, wider pa.s.sage across the hall and says, "We'll have to take that one, there's no servant's way on that side of the keep."

"Where does it lead?" James asks her.

"To the north tower," she tells him. "There'll be guards, you'll have no chance to sneak in there."

"We'll see," he says. Moving to the edge, he glances around the room and then they move quickly across to the other hallway.

It's much wider than the one they'd been in and has more candles keeping it well lit. Moving down the pa.s.sage, they pa.s.s many doors made of finer quality than the ones they'd seen earlier.

Suddenly from up ahead, three guards suddenly move into the pa.s.sage heading in their direction. James opens the door they're closest to and they all rush into the room before the guards spot them.

Once the door is closed, Jiron keeps his ear to the door as James looks around the room. It looks to be a sitting room, where ladies could visit and entertain guests. A doorway leads to another room and James moves toward it to see if there's anyone there.

As he gets closer, he begins to hear the unmistakable sounds of someone snoring. He looks through the doorway and sees a large bed with two bodies sleeping under covers. Backtracking quickly and quietly he goes back to where the others are waiting by the door.

Jiron opens the door and peers out to see if the guards are still there. Bringing his head back in, he says, "They're gone."

"Good, there's someone sleeping in the other room," James tells him as he points through the doorway.

"Then let's go," he says as he takes Elspa and returns to the hallway. The others follow and Miko closes the door quietly behind them.

"How far to the tower?" James asks her.

"Not very," she replies. She points to a set of double doors further down where the hallway turns to the left and says, "That's the entrance. It's the only way I know to get there."

As they continue to approach, he says, "How many guards are there?"

"I don't know," she replies, "I've never been there, my duties were always elsewhere."

"Then I'm afraid this is where we must part ways," he says to her.

Her eyes open wide, expecting to be killed on the spot. He moves to a door and listens for a moment. When he doesn't hear anything, he opens it up and finds another sitting room. This whole area must be guest rooms for visiting n.o.bles. Moving quickly, he looks through to the bedroom and with relief, finds it empty.

Returning to the sitting room, he grabs Elspa and drags her to the bedroom where he gags her mouth and ties her up securely. "I'm not going to kill you," he tells her. She calms down somewhat when she sees a gold piece appear in his hand. "I appreciate your helping us," he says as he places the gold piece within a pocket of her outfit.

He gives her a wink and then returns to the front room where the others are waiting for him. Jiron is by the door and when he sees the nod from James, opens it up and checks to make sure the hallway is empty before they step out.

Moving down toward the double doors that Elspa had told them led to the north tower where Pytherian is being held, they quickly cross the distance and stand before them.

Miko keeps watch down both hallways while Jiron listens at the doors. After a minute, he lifts his head away and says, "I think there're two guards on the other side, can't be sure. I do hear something though."

"What do you propose?" James asks him.

"If there are just the two, we might be able to silence them quickly before they alert the whole keep," he whispers to him. "But if there are more than two, then we've got problems."

"No way to know for sure is there?" James asks him.

He shakes his head, "No, there isn't."

"Then let's move quick and decisively," he says. Jiron nods in agreement.

Drawing his knives, he makes ready to pa.s.s through the doors. James takes three stones out of his pocket, the last ammo he has, and prepares.

Miko takes the handles of the doors as he prepares to swing them open to allow Jiron and James to fight those within.

When both James and Jiron signal Miko that they're ready, he swings open the doors.

Chapter Nineteen.

When the doors swing open, Jiron rushes in and trips over two bodies entwined on the floor before the door. James looks incredulously at the guard with his pants down around his ankles lying atop the half naked girl. He stands there in shock as they look at him and the girl opens her mouth to scream.

Miko gets over his shock and draws his knife as he dives toward her. Her scream begins to escape her lips just as his hand comes and covers her mouth, silencing her.

The guard reaches for his sword that's lying next to him, but Jiron has already recovered from his fall and kicks it out of reach.

"Get up!" James orders the guard as he closes the double doors.

The guard keeps his eyes on them as he gets up off the girl and pulls his pants up. The girl tries to cover herself as well, her m.u.f.fled scream subsiding as she realizes they'll not be killed immediately.

James gestures for Miko to remove his hand from her mouth and then for the girl to get up. She pulls her clothes around her as she gets to her feet, obviously terrified.

The hallway extends from the double doors twenty feet before ending at a stairway which winds its way up to the tower above. Two doors, one on either side of the hallway, lie between the double doors and the stairs. James nods his head to the one on the left side and Jiron moves over to the door and listens. He looks back to James and shakes his head, indicating he doesn't hear anything.

"Check it out," he tells him.

Jiron opens the door and looks inside. He turns back to James and says, "Looks like a storage room."

James turns his attention back to the guard and the girl. He indicates the storage room and says, "Move inside."

The guard gives him a defiant look as he walks over to the storage room, the girl following with fear in her eyes. Jiron rips off two lengths of cloth from the girls dress and uses them to gag their mouths. Then he proceeds to bind their hands and legs. Once they're secure, they leave the room and close the door behind them.

Suddenly, from the other side of the double doors, the sound of someone whistling comes to them. Jiron motions for James and Miko to move out of the way as he takes position near the door.

The whistling draws near and Jiron gets ready. The door opens up, a guard enters with a smile on his face and a bottle of wine in his hand. He stops abruptly when he sees Jiron there in the hallway before him.

Jiron moves quickly, but not before the guard realizes what's going on and tries to shut the door. Slamming into the door with his shoulder, Jiron knocks it open. The guard is forcefully pushed back and falls to the floor, the bottle of wine flies out of his hand and smashes against a wall several feet away. As he hits the floor, the guard draws his sword while at the same time attempting to roll out of Jiron's way to regain his feet.

But Jiron doesn't allow him the opportunity to do that and kicks him hard in the side. The guard groans as Jiron kicks out again, knocking the sword from his hand. As the guard starts to cry out, he kicks one more time, this time in the side of the head and silences his cry.

He picks up the unconscious guard and carries him over to the storage room where the others are bound and gagged. Miko picks up the guard's sword and brings it to the storage room as well. Once Jiron has him gagged and tied up, Miko removes the sword belt from the guard and secures it around his own waist.

When he sees James looking at him, he says, "May need it before we're out of here."

"Just be careful," he advises.

"I will," replies Miko. "Don't worry."

As they again leave the storage room and shut the door, James says, "That must've been the other guy's partner."

"I'd hate to be them when they're discovered in there with that girl," Jiron says with a grim smile. "They'll be hard pressed to explain what she's doing there, and in that state of undress."

Chuckling, James nods his head.

They move to the end of the hallway where Jiron takes the lead as they begin to climb up to the tower. After making two complete circles, the stair comes to the next level.

This level is dark and has the look of a storage area. They continue on past, following the stairs up as it continues spiraling toward the top.

Voices begin to be heard coming from the level above them as they finish the first circle after the storage area. Light can also be seen coming from above them as well. Jiron motions for them to stop as he proceeds alone to investigate.

They watch him as he follows the stairs around, disappearing where the stairs curve out of sight. James waits anxiously for several moments before he returns back down the stairs. Coming close he whispers, "The next level looks to be a guard room. I saw at least six guards taking their ease there. Also, these stairs end there. I think I saw another flight going up over on the other side of the guard room."

"So in order to continue up, we'll have to pa.s.s through the guard room and the guards stationed there?" asks James.

Jiron nods his head, "I didn't see any other way."

James glances to Miko who nods his head and draws his sword. "Alright then," he says to them. "Let's strike hard and fast."

With Jiron in the lead, they climb the remainder of the stairs until they near the landing which opens onto the guard room. James can hear the guards talking amongst themselves as they come near.

Jiron looks back to him, both knives drawn. James gives him a nod and they burst into the room. He strikes out at the nearest guard, taking him across the throat. Two stones fly in quick succession, taking out two more across the room.

The remaining three guards quickly recover from their initial shock at seeing them and draw their swords. The one closest to Jiron moves to engage while James' last stone flies and takes out one of the others.

Coming straight for James and Miko is the last guard, sword ready and war cry on his lips. James readies a spell but Miko shoves him aside as he moves to engage.

As James stumbles to the side, he cries out "Miko! You'll be killed!"

But Miko blocks the thrust of the guard and deflects the blade to the side. He follows through with a counter attack which the guard blocks.

Jiron is fighting with the remaining guard and is unable to come to his aid. But Miko seems to not need any as he again blocks an overhand hack. He kicks out with his foot and connects with the man's chest, knocking him backward.

Miko immediately follows the man as he trips over a chair behind him and runs him through with his sword before the guard hits the ground. Putting his foot on the man's chest, he yanks out his sword as he turns to the sound of Jiron battling the last guard.

Before Miko has the chance to make it over to help him, Jiron deflects a thrust with the knife in his right hand, twirls and smashes his left elbow into the guard's jaw as he comes around.

The guard stumbles backward, blood streaming down his face from his broken nose. Jiron follows through with a quick series of attacks and succeeds in plunging one of his knifes into the guard's chest, puncturing his heart.

As the man falls, Jiron pulls his knife out of his chest and turns back to the others when out of the corner of his eye he sees a sword coming down toward him. With reflexes honed through years in the pits, he brings up a knife and blocks the attack.

Miko brings his sword around for another attack when James yells, "Miko!"

Startled, Miko pauses as his eyes begin to focus on who stands before him. Lowering his sword, he stands there dazed for a moment.

Jiron and James look to each other, and James mouths the words 'The Fire' silently as the points to Miko's pouch.