Free Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two by Brian S. Pratt

gets down and the rest of them follow
suit. Then the officer goes in through the front door, leaving it
open behind him. They glance to each other, fear in their eyes, but
not knowing what else to do. The three crossbowmen are still
sitting astride their horses, looking casual but with the crossbows
pointed in their general direction. Not exactly threatening with
them, but they could definitely aim and fire in very little
time.
    With James in the lead, they walk up to and
then pass through the front door. They enter a large room where the
officer is already seated behind a desk across the room. “Do come
in,” he says to them as they hesitate in the doorway.
    “There’re no supplies here!” James says
accusingly as they enter the room. Tinok, who’s bringing up the
rear, is nudged in the back with something sharp. Looking behind
him, he sees one of the crossbowmen right behind him, the crossbow
close to his back. The other two crossbowmen have dismounted and
are following them inside.
    The officer smiles at them and says, “Of
course not, I’m surprised you even believed me.” He gestures to
four other crossbowmen on the second floor balcony overlooking the
room. “Please, don’t try anything,” he says to James and the
others, “it would be, unpleasant.”
    “What are you going to do?” Jiron asks.
    A couple soldiers enter from a side door and
begin taking their things from them, including James’ backpack. “My
orders are simple; detain anyone passing through the area.”
    They search them and take their weapons,
including the knives of Jiron and Tinok.
    “What happened to the people who use to live
here?” Delia inquires.
    “Alas, they objected to us being here so had
to be dealt with,” he explains.
    “Dealt with?” she asks, afraid of the
answer.
    “Yes my dear, dealt with,” he says to her.
“Now they stay in their homes and don’t bother us any more.”
    When they’re done with removing everything
from them but the clothes on their back, they place all of it on
the desk. The officer says a few words to one of them in their
language and then turns to their prisoners. “Now, just follow this
soldier here and he’ll take you to your cell.”
    “Why are we being locked up?” Tinok asks
angrily.
    “Would you rather we just kill you now?” he
asks.
    James can hear Cassie gasp and quickly says,
“No, that won’t be necessary.”
    “Good,” he says, giving them a smile, “then
please follow along peacefully and you won’t be hurt.”
    A soldier leads them through a back door
into a hallway lined with solid looking wooden doors, each
containing a small barred window. The soldier opens the cell doors
and has them enter, one per cell. He puts three of them on one side
and three on the other. Once they’re in and the doors are secured,
the soldier takes up position in a chair at the end of the
hallway.
    James hears Cassie sobbing, but fortunately
everyone has the good sense to keep quiet while the guard is there
and can overhear everything they say.
    “Don’t worry Cassie,” Tinok’s voice can be
heard saying. “I’m sure they’ll let us go once they realize we’re
no threat to them.”
    James can hear someone enter the hallway
from the outer room and the footsteps pause before his cell. He can
see the officer looking in through the window in his door and then
hears him say something to the soldier with him. A key turns in the
lock and the door swings open, the officer walking in. Framed in
the doorway is a soldier with a crossbow who has it aimed at James
to prevent any mischief.
    Once he’s in the room, the officer holds up
the amulet James bought from a merchant a while back, the same one
that ol’ One Eye had questioned him about earlier in the warehouse
back in the City of Light. “Where did you get this?” he asks.
    “I bought it at a merchant’s stand a couple
weeks ago,” he replies. “Why?”
    “Hmmm…” he says as he considers what James
had said. “Be that as