The Chronicles of Lumineia: Book 01 - Elseerian (16 page)

Within moments Taryn allowed himself to be disarmed and was led through the gate and into the field.
Right on time
, Taryn thought, forcing his heart to beat slower.

He staggered and muttered enough to maintain the act but he kept his eyes roving around to look for any snags in their plan. By the time they had crossed the field and gotten to the prison entrance, Taryn had managed to get a good look at the patrols and structures inside the walls. The guard he’d hit with the ladle opened a heavy ironbound oak door and led him into the expected entryway. Five men stood in neat rows against the wall on his left, mirrored by five more on the right. All of them stared at him with hard eyes and hands resting easily on sword hilts. Dumont himself sat behind a desk flanked by five more soldiers on either side of him, also against the walls. Nothing else adorned the bare room except the large strongdoor directly behind the desk and another, smaller, door on the right of the room that presumably went to Dumont’s office.

When Taryn and his companion walked through the door Dumont looked up and waved them forward. Taryn was careful to keep up the façade by staggering and lurching. Despite his disguise, he felt a flash of concern as one of the guards from the docks looked like he might recognize him, but just then the smell from his clothing hit the room. Some of the guards blanched as the enclosed space enhanced the odor tenfold. Dumont wrinkled his nose when they stopped in front of his desk.

“What is that horrendous stench?” he demanded, leaning back and gagging.

The guard nodded at Taryn while discreetly keeping his distance. “Got a nutter here, he’s stone drunk and I think he fell into a wagon of manure.”

“Lock him up until he sobers, then bring him to me again—and by Skorn, clean him up before I see him again.” He signaled another guard to bring some irons forward.

Taryn took a quiet breath and prepared himself for the hardest part. Because they put shackles on prisoners before they took them through the prison entrance, he had to disable the guards and get through the door before someone locked it from the inside. Finishing his mental preparation, he took a deep breath and promptly slumped onto the desk and started to snore. The guard next to him cursed and tried to pull him off Dumont’s desk while Dumont yelled at a few other guards to get him into the shackles.

Right at the moment that the man yanked on his shoulder, Taryn leaned back and smashed his head into the guard’s face. Maintaining the act, he flailed around in a seeming half-conscious stupor. As more guards jumped forward in an attempt to restrain him, he spun around and smashed his fists into faces. Guard after guard slumped to the ground, knocked out by subtly precise hits. It didn’t take long for Dumont to realize that this was no ordinary prisoner. Seeing the recognition light the guard captain’s eyes, Taryn threw off the smelly cloak and kicked the oak desk as hard as he could at the exact same moment that Dumont began shouting.

Whatever he was about to say never got out, because the heavy desk clipped him, knocking him down as it flew across the room and shattered against the open strongdoor. The force of it blasting apart was so great that most of the guards along the back wall went down with it. Pieces of wood and kindling exploded around the room as everyone, including Taryn, ducked to avoid the wooden shards that ended up sticking into walls or knocking over men that didn’t dive for cover.

While everyone froze in shock, Taryn was a blur of motion the instant wood stopped flying. Darting around the room he delivered quick, well-placed blows to the guards’ temples, kidneys, necks, or anything else available, knocking them out before they could recover from the shattered desk. As he swept through the room in a controlled whirlwind, he was careful to keep an eye on the strongdoor. As long as it remained open, he could continue knocking out the entrance guards.

In a matter of seconds, most of the men were incapacitated by the desk or Taryn’s fists. Only four guards were able to recover enough to present a united defense before he could get to them. Three of them drew their swords and advanced towards him while the fourth dashed behind them towards the jail door. To complicate the situation, Taryn could hear footsteps pounding up the stairs from the inside of the jail. He only had a matter of moments to deal with the crisis before either the guards from inside or the one running towards the door could lock him out.

Taking the initiative, he leapt to the right of the three guards and sidestepped a fumbled thrust from the nearest man. Spinning up the sword to gain momentum, he grabbed the guard’s extended sword wrist and a fistful of his tunic. Still spinning, he planted his feet and leaned back. Now continuing to rotate with the guard in his grasp, he stopped hard and heaved the man in the direction of the iron door, leaving his sword in Taryn’s grasp.

The guard that had been running towards the prison door glanced back at the same moment the flying man’s body collided with him. Yelping in surprise, they both tumbled through the door and crashed into the guard on the stairs. Crashing downward, they ended up in a heap of tangled limbs.

One of the two remaining guards had looked away to watch the body flying past him, and Taryn didn’t hesitate for a second. Seeing the distracted guard, he flicked his sword tip into the man’s weapon just above the hilt, knocking it flying from his loose grip.

Then Taryn was forced to leap back to avoid a desperate slash from the last guard, giving the now weaponless man time to recover from his surprise and reach for a stray weapon at his feet. Not wanting to lose his advantage, Taryn waited just long enough for the slash to pass his body then darted in behind the swing. The guard tried to reverse the direction of his sword to stop him, but Taryn reversed his own sword to rest along his forearm and deflected the strike.

Still moving forward, he took his sword hilt and smashed it into the guard’s face while the man was still struggling to bring his weapon back into play. As the man collapsed, Taryn turned towards the one picking up a sword and kneed him in the face before he could fully stand up.

By the time their unconscious forms had hit the ground, Taryn was through the strongdoor, landing lightly on the stairs. He needn’t have worried. By the bumps, it looked like two of the guards had hit their heads and the only conscious one had been pinned underneath the others. Struggling with all his might to free himself, the trapped guard didn’t see Taryn until he felt the sword tip at his throat. The man wilted instantly.

“Please don’t kill me,” he pleaded.

Looking stern, Taryn spoke quickly, knowing he didn’t have much time. “I won’t harm you if you do exactly what I say.” When the man nodded he said, “For the moment stay still and quiet. I'll be right back.”

He turned and ran back up the stairs to the entrance room. Dashing to the front door he locked it, and while he listened for any commotion outside he began checking the still forms. Rezko had made it clear that they shouldn’t kill any guards unless in the most dire of circumstances. Worried by how hard he’d kicked the desk, he checked Dumont first. Although he boasted a large lump growing on his head and what was sure to be a wicked bruise on his chest from where the desk had hit him, he was alive. Taryn breathed a sigh of relief and turned to check the others.

As he hurried through the room, he felt a twinge of guilt for the destruction he’d caused. He’d never had a need to use his full strength on anything, so seeing the desk burst apart had been a complete surprise. Then a thought struck him, causing him to pause. Where did his strength come from? It didn’t come from training, so it naturally came from his heritage, but who in his lineage had such strength? Elves and humans did not possess such strength . . .?

Without time to consider it, he pushed the thought aside and finished checking the room before entering the jail, locking the iron door behind him and jamming a couple pieces of wood underneath it for good measure. Less than ten minutes had elapsed since he’d first entered the room until he locked the prison door behind him.

A rush of elation burst over him as he realized he’d managed to get past the first part. Until now, he wouldn’t have admitted to anyone that he had doubted their plan’s chances of success. Struggling to control his sense of triumph, he reminded himself that he wasn’t out of danger yet, and with an effort, took a deep breath to settle his pounding heart.

Estimating that he was slightly ahead of schedule, he returned to the pinned guard. Taking a moment to check the two men on top of him, Taryn removed all three weapons while the man was still trapped. Sliding the two unconscious guards off of him, he warily helped him to his feet.

Without preamble, he demanded, “How many guards are down here? And don’t lie to me.”

The man hesitated, swallowing hard, “I . . . I can’t help you. I can't afford the punishment.”

Taryn suppressed a grin, admiring the man’s honest courage. “I’m just here to find an innocent man, and I’m not going to kill you. I don’t kill innocent people.”

Something in his tone must have convinced the man because he bobbed his head, seeming to believe him. “Lately I have seen a lot of innocent men get taken below.”

Taryn gave a tight smile and shook his head. “Please, I just want to get him and leave.” Seeing the man still hesitate he added, “And I will knock you out when we’re done so no one thinks you were involved.”

The man snorted but finally relented. “OK. My name is Danian, by the way.”

Taryn placed his hand on Danian’s shoulder. “Thank you, Danian, for myself and for his family.”

The man sighed and asked, “Who are you looking for?”

“His name is Thacker, probably came in earlier today with a couple of pirates.”

Danian’s face broke into a smile. “I know exactly who you are talking about. They said he was a pirate, too, but he certainly didn’t look like one.”

“Good. Now how many guards do we have to get past?”

Danian started hurrying down the stairs. “Normally there are twelve, five on each floor with two on the stairs.”

Seeing Taryn glance down the stairs, he answered the next question before Taryn could ask it. “The other guard with me stepped out a few minutes ago to relieve himself. He should be back any second.” As he admitted this, Danian shrugged apologetically, but Taryn smiled to reassure him, mentally speeding up his timetable. “We’d better hurry then.”

The guard obediently turned and continued down the stairs, but pulled up short and looked back. “It would be best if you were dressed as a guard. It’s not well lit down here at this time of night and we might be able to walk past the others without raising suspicion.”

Taryn considered the idea, realizing that the extra time to put on some guard clothes might stave off a fight. “OK, stay right here and don’t move.”

Without turning, he backed up the stairs to the downed guards and, picking the one that looked to be the same size, stripped him of his tunic and trousers. Deciding he didn’t have time to check if the boots fit, he quickly put on the guard’s clothes. They were a little baggy, but would have to do. As he dumped the last of the smelly clothes he’d been wearing he breathed deeply of the clean air. Trin’s armor had worked, but he wouldn’t care to don it a second time.

Once he had changed, he rejoined his guide and motioned for him to go downward. Keeping his eyes on Danian, he strained his ears for any sound as they descended into the shadows. The guard led him down the steps and turned right when they reached the first basement. Noting that another set of stairs led up in front of him, he turned to follow. Rows of cells disappeared into darkness on the left and right with only a few smoky torches casting flickering shadows around him. Then Danian led him down dim hallways, threading his way past countless barred doors.

By the rustling and clinking in the cells, it seemed that quite a few of them were full, and Taryn wondered how many other innocent men were down here. Suddenly a guard came into view, making Taryn tense, but Danian greeted him without stopping and the bored man passed them with only a nod.

They passed two more roving guards without incident and reached another set of stairs that turned right and went deeper. His guide turned down them without hesitation, although when they reached the bottom he paused to whisper to Taryn.

“Only one guard holds the keys down here.” He raised one eyebrow. “You might have to . . . incapacitate him."

Taryn hid a smile and nodded, at which the guard continued, “He is usually in his small office at the center of the cells, but sometimes he roams around checking if the others are awake.”

“Take me there and then get out of sight, I don’t want him thinking you have helped me.” Taryn said.

The man nodded gratefully and turned into the sub-basement, which looked to have the exact layout as the one above him. Only one sentry crossed their path before they reached a small office that Taryn guessed sat underneath Dumont’s office.

In contrast to the gloomy jail, the office was well illuminated with several bright torches. A thin man sat hunched over a small desk, writing on a piece of parchment. Muttering to himself, he finished and stretched, finally catching sight of Taryn in the door.

“Is there a problem?” He blinked and focused on Taryn’s face. “What are you doing away from your post?” he asked, his voice suspicious—then he stood and reached for his sword, “wait—who are you? You shouldn’t be here!”

Taryn launched himself over the desk in a one-handed lift and kicked the man in the chest before his weapon had cleared its scabbard. Papers scattered everywhere and were still floating downward as the captain smashed into the back wall and crumpled to the floor. Landing next to him, Taryn jabbed him on the side of his head as he groggily tried to get to his feet, sending him to the floor.

“Where are the keys?” Taryn demanded of his guide hiding outside.

Danian poked his head into view, appearing shaken at how Taryn had knocked his captain out. “Uh, I think he keeps them in the desk.”

Less than a minute later he found what he needed and with the keys in hand Taryn ordered, “Take me to Thacker.”