Another shadow says something in an excited and animated fashion while pointing toward him.
Jiron takes in the situation. Without James to worry about, he probably would have little difficulty with these guys. But with him to protect and pursuit on the way, he just isn’t sure what to do.
He begins backing into the alley away from them and watches as another ten shadows detach themselves from the dark and join the ones already moving his way. The street behind the approaching shadows begins to lighten up and the sound of running feet can be heard approaching.
One of the shadows from the edge of the alley says something and the one who appears to be the leader of the group barks out a command. Suddenly they all become still as they melt back into the shadows to either side of the alley.
Jiron realizes they’re trying to remain unnoticed by those approaching. And then they will finish dealing with him. He decides to take a chance and when those running along the street begin to pass in the front of the alley, he shouts out, “Okay boys, let’s take ‘em out!”
The men passing by come to a sudden stop and turn to look in the alley. The light from their torches reveals the thieves standing against the walls of the alley, their knives out. One of the men on the street shouts a command and three crossbow bolts fly into the alley. Thieves cry out as they’re struck by the bolts and fall to the ground. The men out on the street then rush into the alley with their swords drawn as they move to attack.
The leader of the thieves shouts something to the approaching men, but whatever he says fails to have any effect. Left with little choice, the thieves proceed to defend themselves against the attackers.
Jiron watches in satisfaction as the men and thieves begin to fight. He moves to the rear of the alley, away from the fighting and hunts for a way out. Near the end he finds a closed door. Carrying James over to it he checks it and finds it locked. Drawing his knife, he uses it on the lock and manages to get it open. Passing through the door, he glances one last time at the embattled men and grins as he closes it behind him and resets the lock. The thieves are getting the worst of it.
The sound of fighting follows him as he makes his way further into the dark room, searching for a way out. In total darkness he stumbles about, once almost losing his balance as he trips over a small stool sitting in the middle of the floor. He eventually comes across the door. Opening it a crack, he looks out onto a dark hallway that has a faint light coming in through an open doorway further down.
Moving down the hallway, he reaches the doorway where the light is emanating from. Peering in, he sees an empty living room. The light turns out to be moonlight coming in through a window by the front door. He cautiously makes his way though the living room to the window where he looks out onto the street. First one way, then the other, he checks to make sure no one is out there. Not seeing anyone, he moves to the door and opens it slowly.
Suddenly, banging can be heard coming from the door to the alley, the fighting back in the alley must have come to an end. Floorboards creak overhead as the owner of the house is awakened and begins making his way down to see what all the commotion is about.
Jiron slips out the front door and shuts it behind him. His shoulders begin to ache from James’ dead weight as he quickly makes his way along the side of the street, trying his best to keep to the shadows. He passes several buildings until he comes to an inn on the right. Ducking down the alley on this side of the building, he hears his pursuers entering the street from the house he just left. For a brief moment he wonders what happened to the men who had originally accosted him in the alley, but that question will have to remain unanswered.
As silently as possible, he makes his way down the alley to the courtyard behind the inn. The gate is open and he hurries through just as the pursuers pass the mouth of the alley he just vacated, on their way to search for him further down the street.
He glances back down the alley, thankfully discovering none of those hunting for him had thought to come this way. Setting James down against the inner wall of the courtyard, he makes his way over to the stables, in search of a couple of horses.
Once within the stables, he finds a stableboy asleep in a small room at the far end. He wakes him up by placing a knife at his throat and motions for him to remain quiet. The boy nods and remains quiet as Jiron ties him up and places a gag in his mouth to keep him quiet. Then he goes back to the horses and begins saddling two of them.
After he’s saddled them, he returns to where he left James. Picking him up, he carries him over to the stable where he puts him on one of the horses. Taking out a length of rope, he ties him securely to the saddle. Once James is secured, he goes over to where the stableboy is tied up and places ten gold pieces on the ground before him. He points to the gold and then to the horses and the stableboy nods his head. Whether he understands the gold is for the horses’ owners or not, Jiron isn’t sure, but his conscience is clear.
Mounting up, he takes the reins of James’ horse and leads him out of the stables to the courtyard. Pausing momentarily at the entrance to the alley, he makes sure it’s clear before leaving the courtyard and entering into the alley. He makes his way toward the end of the alley where he again pauses to look in either direction down the street.
For the moment, the street appears deserted, but he can hear commotion on neighboring streets as the search for them continues. He enters the street with James’ horse in tow and begins heading toward the part of town that seems to have the least amount of disturbance going on.
Moving as quickly as he can, he continues along toward the edge of town, somehow avoiding the roving patrols. Coming out of an alley he sees the wall ahead of him. Keeping close to the buildings, he rides along in the shadows until reaching a gate. Where before there had been but two guards, now they have been increased to a squad of twenty and the gate is shut and locked. His plan to ride through the guards at the gate is no longer feasible, he’ll have to find another way out of the city.
Realizing he’s now sitting on useless horses, he makes his way to a side alley and dismounts. James begins mumbling incoherently as Jiron removes him from his horse. “Not now!” he whispers vehemently to him. The last thing he needs is for James’ nonsensical ramblings to attract notice.
Once removed from the horse, James continues to mumble, thankfully not very loud. He throws him across his shoulders again as he quickly makes for the wall. Upon reaching it, Jiron pushes him up and rests him across the top before he climbs up next to him. He then carefully lowers him down to the other side and then swings over as he lets go, feet landing on the ground next to where James had settled. It doesn’t take him long to realize that he is now on the opposite side of the town from where his horse waits for him.
Shouldering James once more, he begins making his way to the other side of town, detouring occasionally when a search party on horseback comes into view. During one such time while he was hiding among some bushes, waiting for a search party to pass, he notices that James’ eyes were open and looking around.
“You awake now?” he asks him.
James nods his head yes, but is still having trouble talking, slurring his speech so bad as to be unintelligible.
“Can you walk?” Jiron asks.
He shakes his head no.
“Damn!” Jiron silently exclaims as he hoists James across his shoulders yet again and hurries along. When he comes to the spot where he had left his horse, he finds that it’s no longer there. He quickly looks around the area but finds no trace of it anywhere. Someone must’ve come along and helped themselves to it.
Without horses, they’re not likely going to make it very far. He sits James down and says, “Stay here!” When he gets no response, he asks, “Understand?”