A brown robed man is directing those placing James in the wagon and seems to be the one in charge. When James is finally within the bed of the wagon, the brown robed man climbs up onto the wagon seat as he gives orders to the driver. With a flick of the reins the horses get under way and the wagon begins to trundle back to town.
The dozen foot soldiers accompany them on their way back. Jiron is momentarily stunned that James could’ve been taken with so few soldiers. He’s seen him blast away dozens before, the area should’ve at least looked devastated. But looking around, it looks like they just walked right up and threw him in the wagon.
Whatever happened, he doesn’t have time to just stand there and ponder the imponderable. Hurrying back to his horse, he mounts up and follows the wagon at a discreet distance. When they arrive at the town, he’s glad they’re entering a different area than the one where he stirred things up earlier. Securing his horse to a tree outside the wall, he again jumps up and pulls himself to the other side as the wagon passes through the nearby gate.
He follows them through town, staying within the shadows and alleys. When he comes to avenues that he must cross in order to follow, he just strides right out and blends in with the few people on the street. Looking like you belong has always been the best way for him to remain undetected. If you look like you’re about your business, most people fail to even notice you.
The wagon continues rolling through town until it comes to an estate with a wall more formidable than the outer town wall had been. Guards are posted at the gates and the robed man says a few words to them as the wagon passes through. Once the wagon is within the estate, the gate closes. The accompanying foot soldiers turn and march down the street away from the estate.
The wall surrounding the estate has nasty looking spikes along the top to deter anybody from going over. Jiron has scaled those types before, but never made it over unscathed. He’s anxious to get in for he doesn’t know how much time James will have before they begin the interrogation. Hopefully they’ll most likely wait at least until he regains consciousness. But with mages, you never know what they can do to revive someone. He’s got to get in there!
He does a quick survey of the wall encompassing the estate, which by the way is fairly large and discovers the spikes run its entire length. Sighing, he comes to the conclusion that he’s going to have to risk the spikes.
Going over to a neighboring house, he acquires several shirts which are lying in a heap at the back door. He wraps them around his arms. Though they’re not very good protection against the spikes, they’re still better than nothing.
Glancing around, he makes sure he’ll remain unobserved and then jumps up, grabbing the top of the wall. Using extreme care, he pulls himself up and braces himself as he crosses over the spikes. A sudden pain erupts from his left thigh as a spike pushes through his leggings and punctures his skin.
He pushes his leg off the spike with his left hand and then a pain erupts from his left arm as another spike scores through the layers of shirts. When he finally makes it down to the other side, he has several pinpoint punctures on his arms and legs. Fortunately, none are very deep or serious, just bleeding slightly. He knew people back in the City of Light who had attempted a similar feat and had muscles and tendons tore from the spikes. Removing the shirts from his arms, he leaves them on the ground by the wall.
Looking toward the estate, he watches from the shadows as the wagon stops in front of the main entrance. The brown robed man gets down as several waiting attendants remove James from the wagon. Following behind the mage, they carry him into the house and the door closes behind them.
Continuing to watch the house for a few minutes, he finally sees a light appear in a second story window, most likely where they’ve put James. Turning his attention back to the grounds surrounding the estate, he takes notice of two guards walking a set path around the estate. After watching them for several circuits around the house, he observes a gap between their paths that he may be able to take advantage of. When the first guard passes in front of the house, the second one is patrolling behind it, leaving a gap of several seconds before he makes his appearance again.
Jiron waits until the first guard has passed over halfway past the front of the house and then leaves his hiding spot in the shadows by the wall. Silently running across the open space to the side of the house, he keeps an eye on the back of the first guard until he turns the corner. Ducking behind a bush, he hides himself from view just as the second guard turns the corner. Holding very still, he watches the guard from behind the bush as he passes by.
Looking up from his position behind the bush, he sees the window that he believes James is in directly above his head on the second floor. The first floor window near him is ajar so he waits for the first guard to pass again before quietly opening it and slipping into the house. Once inside, he closes the window before the second guard turns the corner.
The room he finds himself in looks to be a library, shelves of books line the walls and several comfortable looking chairs are spaced around the room. James would love this. A single door leads from the room. Making his way over to it, he places his ear against the door and listens for any sound coming from the other side. Not hearing anything, he opens the door a crack and finds the hallway on the other side to be dark and empty.
Exiting the room, he closes the door behind him and then looks down both directions of the hallway. The hallway to the left is dark, further down to the right is a barely perceptible light. Deciding in favor of the light, he moves silently down the hallway toward it. He passes several closed doors before reaching a flight of stairs leading up to the second floor. The light is coming from the flickering of an unseen candle in the hallway beyond the top of the stairs.
Taking the steps quickly and quietly, he ascends to the top where he pauses to peer around the corner. Several burning candles line the empty hallway, allowing no shadows in which to conceal himself. A door further down to the left stands ajar several inches, voices can be heard emanating from within.
He decides to risk detection and creeps quickly down the hallway to the door, peering inside. Within the room are several people, including the brown robe. James is sprawled out unconscious upon a bed to the side of the room and one of the men is examining his eyes. The man turns to the mage and makes a comment as he lets go of James’ eyelids, allowing them to close.
All of James’ things are sitting on top of a nearby table, including the medallion that he used to open the secret door back in the City. A few more words are exchanged and then they all turn and move toward the door behind which Jiron is spying on them.
Panicking, he bolts back to the stairs and descends to the bottom as fast as he can to avoid being seen. Once there, he listens from around the corner and hears their footsteps coming down the hallway toward the top of the stairs. About ready to run back down the hallway to the library, he stops when he realizes they’re continuing down the second floor hallway past the stairs.
Relieved, he again creeps to the top of the stairs and peers around the corner. Two guards stand at the door to the room holding James. He pauses there at the top of the stairs and ponders the situation. Apparently, they’re not going to interrogate James immediately, it didn’t look as if he was even conscious. Gotta get in that room!
Deciding on a plan that’s rather risky in nature, he returns to the room where he initially entered the house and goes back to the window. Watching for the patrolling guards, he soon sees the first one pass. He opens the window and slips outside, shutting it before the second one turns the corner.