Shadow Dance...Chapter Thirteen

Shadow Dance...Chapter Thirteen

Jaconis still laid there as the woman’s scream was joined by many others. “The stables are on fire!” The words had stirred him from his fitful slumber for more reasons than the obvious message they conveyed. He knew that the voice he heard calling out the danger belonged to his mysterious visitor.

As he lay there inhaling more and more smoke, he wondered if he should risk leaving his room. Her orders were clear. He was not to leave the room until sunrise. If he did then his life was forfeit, but if he didn’t he might burn to death. Somehow his choices were becoming more and more limited faster than he was able think.

Jaconis slowly stood up from is bed, his lungs burned with his effort as he made his way to the window of his room. As quickly as he could manage, he flung the panes outward and the shutters with them. He ignored the pounding on his door as he breathed in the crisp clean air that came flooding into his room on the cold night’s breeze. It wasn’t until his door was almost battered down that he decided to respond.

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Namir raced as fast as he could through the crowded hallway. With every step he had to fight his way through the throngs of people trying to flee the inn as he made his way towards his remaining companions’ rooms. As he fought for headway, he mentally appraised his position in the building and compared it to where he believed the fire was. His bitter thoughts burned at the edges of his mind as he berated himself for not getting rooms close to one another.

It seemed as if he had been struggling against the flow of people forever when he finally made it to Jaconis’ door. Unfortunately Jaconis’ room was closer than Aves and Hessa’s, but Namir tried not to linger on that thought. He banged loudly on Jaconis’ door cursing at the amount of time he lost in his trek here. Namir waited impatiently as he strained to hear if there was any noise inside the room. His fist pounded a second barrage of rapid knocks and then he pressed his ear again to the door again.

“Why doesn’t he answer…can’t he smell the smoke or hear the commotion?” Namir muttered bitterly. He tried the latch and found it locked. “Damn him!” Namir thought hotly as the thick black smoke started to fill the hallway.

Namir pounded a third time on the door impatiently. This time he used all his strength and heard the door begin to crack under the force of his fists. At odds with himself he waited a few more moments before he started to turn and leave.

The door flung open and Jaconis stood silhouetted by the pale moon light falling into his room through his open window. “What do you want!” Jaconis snapped at Namir’s incredulous look.

“What do I want?” Namir asked, hearing sarcasm fill his voice.

“Yes,” a sneer played along Jaconis’ lips, “I believe that’s what I asked.”

“Can’t you see that the place is on fire! Don’t you hear the commotion of people trying to leave the building!” Namir yelled over the din of the mass evacuation.

“Oh, that’s what is going on.” Jaconis said acting uninterested and uniformed. “I thought I heard someone say the stables were on fire, but I figured that I was just hearing things. Oh well.” Jaconis shrugged as he started to close his door.

With a grunt of disgust Namir forced the door open again. “Oh well? What do you mean, oh well!” Namir screamed. “There is a fire! You can’t just go back into your room! Even if it is just the stables, that’s where our horses are, as well as our wagon with all of our supplies…or have you forgotten!”

“If the supplies are gone then our trip is finished and we can return to Ellsted all the sooner. Even if we have to return on foot. Either way, it is none of my affair.” Jaconis sneered. “Besides, aren’t you the one in charge of our little expedition. Put the fire out yourself if you’re so worried!” With this Jaconis slammed the door and made his way nervously back to his window, hoping with each step that he hadn’t just sealed his fate.

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“He seems used to giving orders,” Jerine commented as he moved deftly to the door. “I hope he has the courage needed to enforce his commands.” He spoke more to himself than to anyone present as he closed the door and turned to face Nurn.

“What are you doing?” Nurn asked amazed as much at Jerine’s comments as he was by his actions. “Namir instructed us to get Halin out of here while he makes sure the others get out safely.”

“Aye, I know.” Jerine replied offhandedly. “But there is something I need to know first.” Jerine stated as he made his way to the window.

“What could be more important than getting to safety?” Nurn asked somewhat surprised by Jerine’s actions.

“Knowing what we are getting into of course.” This time it was Halin that answered his brother’s question. But before Nurn could comment Halin continued, “Doesn’t it seem odd that a fire would start in our inn the very same night that I was attacked?”

“You could be reading too much into this, little brother.” Nurn soothed.

“Aye, he could. But sometimes it is best to overreact than to be slaughtered like sheep.” Jerine rebuked Nurn as he turned back from the window and strode over to the door.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Nurn rumbled; getting more agitated the longer they stayed in the room.

“That means that I fear this fire was planned.” Jerine stated simply as he started to open the door. Turing slightly to look at Nurn he said, “Coming?” Then he vanished into the hallway that was already filling with smoke.

“Nurn,” Halin called to his brother. Seeing him turn he continued, “can you carry me out, that way I won’t slow us down by trying to run.” Seeing Nurn wince a little Halin tried to make it sound more like a joke that had failed miserably.

“Of course,” Nurn moved over and lifted Halin easily. “I just hope that Jerine was telling the truth and that Namir gets the girls to safety.”

“No care for Jaconis?” Halin mused as he was being lifted up by his brother.

“None. For all I care he can burn with the inn. Besides, that worm may have lit this fire for all we know.” Nurn grumbled as he carried Halin through the door and into the smoke filled hallway.

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“Do you think we should stay here?” Aves asked Hessa incredulously as the two lay on the floor trying to breath.

“I don’t know.” Hessa replied as she choked back a coughing fit long enough to reply. It was difficult to get her bearings since she had first awoken trying to breathe in a smoke filled room, which was not how it was when she had fallen asleep. Hessa could feel the temperature rising in the room as they lay in the middle of the floor with their blanket pulled over their heads.

“I remember Saril saying that if you are in a fire and don’t know where the fire is, to stay where you are and try to stay away from anything hot.” Aves remembered aloud. “He also said to take shallow breaths.”

“Well,” Hessa started to say, but then coughed hard for a few moments before she could continue. When she regained control of her voice long enough to speak, she continued. “We know that leaving through the door is not going to work.” She remembered her ordeal as she had attempted to open the door, the thick cloud of pitch black smoke that came rolling in to meet her followed closely by searing blast of hot air. “And the window is just as useless since we are above the stables and it seems like the fire has already consumed most of them.”

“Now would be a good time for your lover to save you.” Aves joked; half hoping her words would prove prophetic.

“Although he isn’t my lover,” Hessa gasped fitfully, “I wouldn’t mind his appearance either.” Hessa tried to hide her smile as she thought of her dark savior, but she failed as badly as Aves did in her pitiful attempt at humor.

“Aves! Hessa!” It was Namir’s voice that made both girls jump. Both of them were too surprised to even move. “Aves!” They heard Namir cough. His voice sounded close, but not close enough for them to see him. “Hessa! Where are you two?!”

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Nurn had just made it down the stairs and was headed for the door when he finally caught up with Jerine. Jerine was standing just past the foot of the stairs and he turned to face them when Nurn realized who it was. It took him a few more moments to realize who it was because Jerine was easy to see, which was not what Nurn had come to think of as normal.

“How well can you defend yourself with a sword?” Jerine asked as Nurn walked over to him.

“I can hold my own in a fight, Carnes trained me after all.” Nurn replied not even struggling with Halin’s weight. “But he never taught me to use a sword, only clubs, daggers and axes.”

“A sword can be used similar to an axe, if needed.” Jerine reached down and took a sword from his belt. He carefully handed the sword and his cloak to Nurn as he continued his thought. “Take these. I hope you won’t need them, but you might. Try to avoid fighting at all costs. With your brother this weak he will need the protection of your brawn and your brains.”

“Where are you going?” Nurn asked quickly as he tried to free up a hand to grasp the bundle that Jerine had thrust at him.”

“I have to ensure the safety of my steed. Once that is…” Jerine started to say as Nurn cut him off.

“You are choosing your horse’s safety over my brother’s life?” Nurn demanded.

“My steed is more than a horse, dear Nurn. And I always choose her over strangers, no matter how important they are.” With that Jerine turned and dashed back into the smoke before Nurn could say anything else.

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To Namir it seemed like he was moving through molasses as he pawed his way through the billowing black smoke, struggling to find the source of the girls’ voices. It had taken Namir a few moments to decide to rescue the girls and leave Jaconis to his own fate after his brief and bitter encounter with Jaconis. Namir had sprinted down the hall towards the ominous cloud of smoke that covered half of the inn and he was thankful that there were less people in his way as he did so. This enabled Namir to move a lot faster than he had been able to mere moments before. As soon as he heard Aves’ voice he ran in the direction they called from, unfortunately the smoke had become increasingly oppressive the closer he came to their room. The biggest problem wasn’t the smoke it was the intolerable heat, which made Namir worry that their room had already been consumed by the burning stables somewhere below them. It wasn’t until he had spent endless minutes groping through their smoke filled room that he realized they had taken shelter under their blanket on the floor and this realization came when he literally fell on them.

“How did you get reach us?” Aves coughed as Namir crawled under the damp blanket.

“I ran.” Namir said a little surprised by the question.

“What Aves means is, how did you get through the fire?” Hessa explained.

“The fire seems to be just outside the hallway, it was extremely hot but the hallway is passable.” Namir explained. “However I don’t think the opening will last too much longer, my shirt almost caught fire as I entered the room and I think some of the ceiling was smoldering at as well.”

“How are we going to get out of here?” Aves asked. The panic rising in her voice was obvious and unrestrained.

“I have an idea,” Namir said, trying to sooth Aves.

“What’s your idea?” Hessa blurted on the verge of panic.

“It depends on what kind of bath they gave you.” Namir said quickly and he anxiously waited for the answer.

“They brought in two tubs, but they removed them after we finished.” Hessa admitted. She felt Namir’s hopes fall as she said this.

“Then the only thing we can do is try to run through the hallway.” Namir slowly backed out from under the blanket as he said this and started to rise to his feet.

Hessa followed, insisting the whole time that Aves keep the blanket on her shoulders to keep the fire off of her. While the two argued about who should wear the blanket as protection, Namir surveyed to room as best he could. All he could see was thick black smoke that seemed to fill the entire room with just a faint glow from the fire coming from where he believed the window was. Crouching he started to move in the opposite direction, towards where he had assumed the door was, when he bumped into the wall. Namir could feel the heat coming through the wall and was a little surprised. Slowly he traced his way up the wall and found, to his dismay, the open window filled with more smoke and flames. As he stared into the smoke he saw a soft blue light ball moving towards them.

“I think we have a problem!” Namir yelled as dove to shield the girls from whatever it was coming at them.

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Skara’s gaze followed Morcant’s finger to the front of the Flying Muses. She crouched abruptly as she saw the guardian emerge carrying a boy in his left arm and his sword out and ready in his right. Her voice was almost a whisper as she muttered, “It looks as if your ploy didn’t work too well. He seems to have chosen the boy over his steed.”

“Shhhh…” Morcant commanded quietly. “Elves have great ears, don’t forget that.” His eyes narrowed as he saw Skara quivering behind the main beam of the roof. Morcant fought the urge to push her out into the open as a distraction to the guardian, it was a hard battle but he eventually overcame his desire to humiliate her. “When they get a little farther from the others, I’ll finish him off.” Morcant boasted, his lips curling away from his fangs in anticipation.

“Do you think the guardian will let the boy die so easily? Besides the Mistress said alive…remember?” Skara chided quietly, scarcely looking over shoulder to spare a look at Morcant.

“Who said anything about the boy? I was talking about the guardian. He robbed me of my fun earlier…now I am going to take something of equal value from him.” Morcant’s eyes gleamed at the thought of revenge, bathing the rooftop in an eerie red sheen.

“Are you mad?” Skara asked in disbelief, almost forgetting to whisper. “Do you really think to take a guardian on alone and survive?”

“Just stay here and watch.” Morcant barked softly as he slowly backed away from the gathering crowd below.

Skara turned from the scene below to watch as Morcant crawled to the far edge of the roof and dropped down to the alley behind the building. She moved silently to the edge of the roof, father away from the guardian just in time to see Morcant dash across the road as quickly and silently as the shadows that he leapt from. She smiled when she realized his ploy as he stole towards the burning stables and the volunteers assembling in their futile attempt to control the flames in order to save what was left of the building.

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Nurn set Halin down momentarily on the bar as he threw the cloak over his shoulders. “This won’t take too long, little brother.” Nurn marveled momentarily at the fact that his clothing seemed to take on the effect of the cloak. In fact, it seemed as if Nurn was no longer himself, but changed into something else completely different.

“How did you do that?” Halin asked as his eyes watered from the smoke.

“Do what?” Nurn answered confused.

“Blend in so well with the smoke. Halin answer as Nurn lifted him again.

“I didn’t, it’s the cloak I think, either that or some enchantment that Jerine cast upon us.” Nurn replied amazed at how well the effect looked. Nurn made his way quickly to the door as he tested the balance of the blade in his hand. The blade moved easily through the air, almost as if it was guiding Nurn’s strong arm instead of the other way around. The blade glowed as the light from the fire played off of its highly reflective surface. This flickering light drifted to its edge as if the sword were drinking it in and its delicate curves seemed to invite movement while attracting the eye to its smooth surface.

After he took a few more practice swings of Jerine’s sword, Nurn moved back over to Halin and lifted him effortlessly with his left arm and carried him into the street. Pausing momentarily to make sure that no one was lying in wait, Nurn turned and slowly made his way towards the market place. Every time that Halin tried to say anything Nurn loosened his grip allowing him to slip a little. The kept him silent long enough for them to get to the deserted booths of the market. After Nurn situated Halin in one of the harder to find booths he bade him to speak.

“Why did we come here?” Halin asked quietly.

“We’re just resting,” Nurn answered tentatively.

“Then where are we going to go?” Halin asked immediately after Nurn finished speaking.

“Hornshir’s town hall.” Nurn growled. “Now be silent and wait here, I’ll be back in a moment.” At that Nurn stood and deftly moved back into the shadows and vanished from Halin’s field of vision.

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As the soft blue light bathed them in its radiance the first thing Namir noticed was the lack of heat. The second thing was the feeling of comfort and peace that spread slowly throughout his body. Namir opened his eyes and turned, keeping his back to the girls the whole time. Before him floated a beautiful woman, clad in a diaphones gown that seemed to float around her like liquid cloth. It shone a brittle white against the soft blue glow that surrounded her. Her hair and skin all appeared to be the same stark white and she hovered a few feet in front of him with her right arm extended as if she wished him to embrace her. Twined in her fingers was a necklace made of the purest silver and Namir was tempted to take it from her. He stood there breathless and stunned as he slowly leaned forward reaching for her outstretched hand.

“Namir!” Aves shouted as her hand connected solidly with the back of his head.

“Ow!” Namir yelled as he spun to look at Aves. He abruptly noticed that the blue light had completely vanished. A pained look stole across his face as if he had been mortally wounded as he made eye contact with Aves.

“Namir, what is wrong?” Aves demanded for the third time.

“Didn’t you see her?” Namir asked still confused .

“There was no one there Namir.” Hessa said anxiously.

“I SAW her! There was a lady bathed in blue light floating right there!” Namir demanded as he pointed to where the lady had been. Namir’s senses reeled as he looked at where the woman had been and saw the smoke filled window gaping directly in front of him.

“Fine! You saw someone that none of us could, can we get out of here now?” Aves snapped as she tried to drag Namir away from the window and towards the door.

Namir pulled himself free and muttered to himself. “The problem is that the fire has spread to the door and the wall has caught fire. We have to go out the window if we want to leave this room without getting burned.” Namir explained forcefully, his patience completely spent.

“Have you gone mad?” Hessa blurted out before she could restrain herself. “We are above the burning stables! There is no way we would survive the fall into the fire!”

“What other choice do we have?” Namir snapped as he regained the rest of his bearings. He noticed that the smoke now completely filled the room and that tears had stained Hessa’s face with soot.

“Why don’t we try the door?” Aves chimed in trying to ease the tension between Hessa and Namir. “Even if there are flames immediately outside the door, couldn’t we run through them fast enough to avoid getting burned?”

After a few moments of awkward silence followed by short bursts of overlapping sentences, both Hessa and Namir seemed to agree that Namir should speak first. “We would surely die if we did. If the fire has engulfed the doorway, then it has filled the hallway as well. Our only chance is to pray that we can come up with an idea or that the gods decide to help us to survive.” Namir exclaimed sarcastically.