Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (2 page)

Several of the slavers then move to another
wagon where they remove crossbows which they hold ready to prevent
anyone from trying to escape.

One of the slavers climbs onto the bed of a
wagon and faces the newly arrived slaves. “Go ahead and sit down
and rest,” he tells them. “This may be the last chance you’ll have
for a while. No talking and anyone causing trouble will be dealt
with.” He glances around at the faces looking at him a moment then
jumps off the wagon.

Miko does the best he can with his hands
tied behind him and manages to make it to the ground without
falling over. He sits there and rests, looking back to the City
that’s now securely in the hands of the Empire. All that keeps him
from totally losing it is the belief that James will find him.

Over the next hour, several more slave lines
are brought from the City and join with the rest. There are over a
dozen different lines trailing behind several different wagons.
With each line that comes, several of the guards that were guarding
them grab crossbows and join their fellows in keeping watch.

At one point shortly after Miko arrives, a
slaver begins moving down each line and unties the hands of the men
and boys. Once they are all untied, another slaver mounts the wagon
and addresses the people in the slave lines. “We will be passing
out food and water shortly,” he announces. “Don’t waste any, it’s
the last you’ll see until tonight. Your hands shall remain free,
but if you make trouble, they will be secured again. If you try to
escape, you will be shot. This is the only warning you’ll be
given.”

Once the slaver is finished, other slavers
begin passing down the lines, giving each captive a small cup of
food and allowing them a single drink from a ladle, filled from a
water bucket one of them carries. When Miko gets his, he eats the
food ravenously, even though it tastes pretty bad. He drinks all
the water and is about to ask for more when a girl of about sixteen
in another line holds out her cup to a slaver and asks, “Can I have
more?”

The slaver comes over to her and slaps her
hard across the face, “Impertinent slave! You take what we give you
and be happy that you were given anything at all.”

The girl cries, “I’m not a slave!”

All the slavers standing within ear shot
hear her and break out laughing. The slaver who had come over and
slapped her says, “You are now,” and laughs at her.

The girl starts crying hysterically and the
man slaps her across the face again. “You shut up or it’ll be worse
for you.” He grabs her by the hair and pulls her head back so her
eyes stare right at him. “Do you understand?” he asks with an
expression that says, ‘The only answer better be yes’.

Tears streaming down her face, the girl just
nods. The man releases her hair and walks away. She sits there and
sobs to herself quietly.

Miko looks around and can see that until
that moment, some of the people who were tied to the line hadn’t
come to that conclusion yet, that they were slaves. Some begin to
murmur amongst themselves, others start crying. One of the slavers
shouts, “Slaves only speak when spoken to, break this rule at your
peril!” The people begin to quiet down until only muffled sobs can
be heard. Several slavers come and collect the food cups that had
been handed out.

An older slaver walks from the City and
begins speaking with one of the others for a moment. After they are
done talking, the older slaver returns to the City of Light. The
one he was talking to turns to the slaves and shouts, “Everyone on
their feet!”

Miko quickly gets up as do most of the
people around him. Several others, either through stubbornness or
not understanding, remain on the ground. Those that fail to stand
quickly enough for the slavers are whipped until they are up and
standing.

The one that ordered them to their feet
announces, “When slaves are told to do something, they do it
quickly and they don’t ask questions. A slave who doesn’t learn
that rule fast, tends not to survive very long.”

Miko begins to think that the man who’s been
giving them orders is the lead slaver for this group. He hadn’t
noticed it before, but the man’s clothes look slightly superior to
anything any of the others are wearing.

The lead slaver gets up on a wagon and with
a nod of his head to the driver, it begins moving out, pulling the
line of slaves behind it. Soon all the wagons are rolling, each
with the lines of slaves walking along behind.

Marching under the hot sun soon has Miko
exhausted and extremely thirsty. Only after they’ve been on the
road for two hours does a slaver pass down the line, allowing each
of them one cup of water while they’re walking. No one dares to
asks for more this time. This repeats every two hours until they
stop for the night.

While Miko is sitting and eating the small
amount of food they’ve given him, a voice is heard coming from
within the group of slaves. “Where are you taking us?” a woman’s
voice asks.

“Who said that?” one of the slavers asks.
With whip raised in his hands, the slaver rushes over to where the
sound of the voice originated, looking from face to face in an
attempt to determine who dared break the silence. Unable to find
the source of the question, he looks around at them all and says,
“The Slave Markets of Korazan.” After a moment’s pause to let that
sink in, he adds, “Where you will be auctioned off to the highest
bidder, to spend the rest of your lives as slaves.” Laughing, the
slaver goes back over by the fire and resumes eating his meal.

“Oh, James,” Miko sighs quietly. “Find
me!”

_________________________

James wakes to find the two boys are no
longer there. The two girls are over in a corner huddled together,
and talking in hushed voices. He stretches and sits up, asking,
“Where are Jiron and Tinok?”

Startled, Delia and Cassie cease their
conversation and look in his direction. “They’re out looking for
Jiron’s sister,” Delia explains.

“She was separated from us during the
attack,” adds Cassie, her yellow hair shimmering in the candle
light.

Concerned, he asks, “Do you think it’s wise
for them to be about with all the soldiers in the city?”

“They’ll be alright,” Delia assures him.
“Jiron knows how to keep hidden when he needs to.”

Cassie nods her head in agreement.

Worried about the boys, but even more
worried they may lead someone here, he tries to relax. Resting his
back against the wall, he realizes there is nothing he can do about
it now but wait.

He still feels weak and a little drained
from the battle two days ago. Even though he’s had two good nights
of sleep and food, he still feels a little shaky. “Is there any
more food?” he asks after his stomach growls loudly.

“Oh, yes,” Cassie says. She gets up and goes
over to a sack sitting against the wall. She pulls out some bread
and cheese, bringing them over to him along with a bucket of
water.

When she sets the bucket down next to him,
she says, “Sorry, but there are no cups.”

James smiles at her and replies, “That’s
okay.” He takes the bread and cheese from her and removes his knife
from its sheath, before slicing off a chunk of cheese. He only has
to scrape a little bit of mold off with his knife.

While he eats, Cassie returns to Delia and
resumes their conversation. Both occasionally stop talking and
glance over at him, then when they realize he’s noticed them
staring, they quickly turn their heads away.

Sighing, James tries to ignore them. Miko,
what’s happening to you? he silently wonders. He’s feeling better
and stronger, but is still a little too shaky to attempt to go
after him. Upset with his own weakness, he knows all he can do
right now is try to regain strength quickly so he can go after
him.

About that time, Jiron and Tinok come back
in through the collapsed hallway. Earlier, he took a look and found
it choked with stone and wood from when the building above had
collapsed some time in the past. A small space has been cleared
through the debris, wide enough to allow people to pass through in
single file.

Several feet down the passage, a stone
stairway extends up to the ground above, exiting in a corner of a
park. From what Jiron told him, the opening is overgrown with
bushes and grass, effectively hiding the entrance from anyone
passing by.

Several years ago, when he was younger,
Jiron had been playing in the area and stumbled upon the opening.
Excited about finding a secret place, he decided to keep the
knowledge of it to himself. Later, when he and Tinok became close
friends he brought him here. Only because the Empire had showed up
had they allowed Cassie and Delia to come.

Apparently, when Jiron had stumbled upon him
during his battle with the soldiers, he was out trying to find his
sister who had become separated from him earlier. When he saw James
fighting the enemy and had actually driven them off, he decided to
save him and bring him here. As far as Jiron knew, no one else has
ever been down here in the years they’ve been using it for their
secret clubhouse.

Delia sees them first and gets up asking,
“Any luck?” Cassie stands up with her and they go over to them as
they enter the room.

With a look of disappointment, Jiron
replies, “No, and I looked everywhere.”

“I’m sorry,” Cassie says.

Jiron comes over to James and asks, “Can you
help find her?”

Shaking his head, James replies, “Not unless
you have something of hers I can use?” The look on Jiron’s face
tells him that he doesn’t.

Feeling bad for the boy, but unable to help,
he says, “She may still turn up.”

“I doubt it,” says Jiron, “I went to
everyplace that she would’ve gone and she wasn’t there. I can only
assume that they found her and she’s one of the thousands of slaves
they captured.”

“Slaves?” James suddenly interrupts. “Where
are they being kept?”

“They had a big encampment outside of the
walls for them,” Tinok says, “but sometime yesterday, they started
marching them south.”

“South?” James asks.

“Yeah,” Tinok replies. “Looks like they are
taking them back to the Empire. Your friend is most likely with
them.” He looks over to Jiron and adds, “As Tersa may be as
well.”

“Can’t we do anything?” asks Cassie.

“Like what?” asks Tinok, “Chase after and
rescue them?” He looks at her incredulously, “They have hundreds of
guards, not to mention their entire army occupying the city. It
would be suicide!”

Jiron had been studying James’ face while
the others had been talking. When James glances over at him, he
asks, “You’re planning on going after your friend aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” James replies, nodding, “just as
soon as I feel better. Miko is a smart kid, he knows I’ll find him.
He’ll do what he needs to in order to survive until I get to
him.”

“You’re crazy!” Tinok exclaims. “You’re
going to get yourself killed!”

“Perhaps,” James says, “but I’ll not leave
him to his fate. He wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for
me.”

“What do you mean?” Delia asks.

“I came to the City of Light to find out all
I could about Morcyth, a god that used to be popular around here a
long time ago.” He looks at them and asks, “You wouldn’t by chance
have ever heard of him, have you?”

They all four shake their heads no.

“Anyway,” he continues, “Miko tagged along
despite my attempts to warn him of the dangers. I had found out
some info from Ollinearn, the Keeper of the Great Library here in
the City. We were on our way out when the Empire’s forces showed up
and then things just went from bad to worse.”

“The last thing I told him was, ‘Find a
place to hide, I’ll find you.’” James finishes his bread and cheese
then cups his hands together as he drinks water out of the bucket.
Sitting back against the wall once more, he glances at the four
faces staring at him.

“I’ll go with you,” Jiron states.

“What?” Tinok exclaims in disbelief. “You
can’t be serious.”

“You’ll be killed!” Cassie cries.

“How can I leave her in the hands of
slavers?” Jiron replies. “I’m all she has left in this world and
I’ll not rest until either she’s free, or I’m dead!” Turning to
James he says, “So, when do we leave?”

James considers the request, and nods his
head, “Alright, we’ll go tonight.” He turns his attention to Jiron
and asks, “Can we get out of the City unobserved?”

“I don’t know,” he admits, “there are
hundreds of troops stationed within the walls and thousands more on
the outside. It looks like they plan to defend and hold the City
against attacks from our soldiers. Both inside and out, there are
many patrols and they’ve been doing routine sweeps of the houses,
looking for anyone else still hiding.”

Delia lays her hand on Jiron’s arm and says
softly, “So you truly intend to go after her?”

He looks into her eyes and says, “I have
to.”

“Then I’ll go with you,” she says, emerald
eyes revealing the fear she’s trying not to show.

“That wouldn’t be wise,” Jiron tells her.
“You’ll probably die or be taken as a slave if we fail.”

“What chance do I have here?” she asks.
“With all the Empire’s forces occupying the town, what chance do
any of us have if we stay? It’s only a matter of time before they
find us, we can’t hide out indefinitely.”

“I’m coming too!” Cassie says.

Tinok just looks at them like they are
crazy, and then says, “Well, I’m not staying here by myself, better
count me in as well.”

James sits there thinking for a few seconds
while they all stand there, staring at him. He looks at Jiron and
asks, “Can you get us supplies? Like food?”