Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (20 page)

Beaming again, Salli takes his hand and
shakes it firmly. “Thank you good sirs,” he says. “When would you
like to pick it up?”

“We could just take it right now,” James
replies as he hands over the eight golds.

“But you brought no horses,” Salli says,
taking the coins. “Surely you two will be unable to pull it
yourselves.”

James looks at Roland, “How could we forget
about the horses?”

“I hadn’t,” Roland explains, surprised that
James had. “I just thought you wanted to purchase the wagon
first.”

Turning to Salli, he asks, “Where can I get
a couple horses?”

“There’s a horse trader on the other side of
town, a man by the name of Jiharan,” he explains. “Just tell him
Salli sent you and he’ll treat you fairly.”

“Thanks,” James replies, “we’ll do
that.”

“I’ll have everything loaded and ready upon
your return,” he assures them.

Leaving Salli’s Barrels behind, they head
across town to find Jiharan. They continue down the main
thoroughfare, asking directions from the locals. At one point,
James catches out of the corner of his eye someone who looks like
Delia among the crowd. When he turns his head to get a better look,
she’s gone. Figuring he’s just seeing things, he continues on and
they soon arrive at the horse trader’s establishment.

Jiharan greets them upon entering and when
they tell him that Salli sent them, he breaks into a smile and
cordially takes them to the back where he has a dozen horses of
varying size and shape.

James tells him of their need for horses to
pull a wagon and he shows them two that would fit the bill
perfectly. After some haggling, James hands over most of their
remaining money and they leave with two fine horses. Jiharan,
graciously enough, threw in the traces they would require to attach
the horses to the wagon. He even went so far as to have one of his
apprentices carry the equipment back to Salli’s and help them with
putting it on.

Back at Salli’s, he’s pleased to discover
that not only are the barrels awaiting them in the back of the
wagon, but Salli was nice enough to have them already filled with
water. With the apprentice’s help, the horses are soon attached to
the wagon and they give him a couple coppers for his time before he
returns to his master.

Salli waves a friendly goodbye to them as
they pull out of his yard, James at the reins. As they make their
way through town, he sees a chandler’s shop and stops. He buys some
much needed supplies like better food than just travel rations, and
a couple ladles to use for getting water to drink from the
barrels.

Now with an almost empty coin pouch, they
resume their way back to the caravansary where the others are
waiting. When they get there, James is in for a shock. When they
left, there were two wagons, now there are four. Two boys are there
with the others as well.

As they ride up, Delia comes out to meet
them before they have a chance to get to the camp. Beaming like a
cat that had eaten the canary, she says, “Good news!”

“What?” asks James, looking a bit
perplexed.

She hands him a pouch, heavy with coin.
“While you were gone, Tinok and I delivered a couple packages that
were to be dropped off here and was paid for them.”

“How much?” he asks.

“Forty gold, ten silver,” she replies.

“What about those other two wagons?” he asks
as he nods his head in their direction.

“One of the merchants that we delivered a
package to needed to get a load to Korazan as quickly as possible,”
she explains. “When he found out we were headed there, he asked if
his lads could tag along. Couldn’t see any harm in it, so I
agreed.” She could see that he was dubious of the whole thing,
“Besides, he gave us an extra four golds.”

Beginning to see the advantage in having
others with them, he nods and says, “Good job.”

She beams back at him and walks alongside
the wagon as he brings it back to camp.

Once the wagon is in position with the
others, he gets down and calls Tinok over to help with watering the
horses. He comes over with Cassie holding his hand, they’re both
smiling and happy.

“What’s this?” he asks when he sees a new
necklace around Cassie’s neck.

“Oh, I bought it for her while I was helping
Delia deliver the packages,” Tinok replies.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Cassie asks as she
holds it up for his inspection. It’s a gold, heart shaped medallion
with two small diamonds in the middle.

Unable to help himself, he breaks into a
smile as he says, “Yes, it’s very nice.”

Glancing over to Delia, he sees her grinning
at him. He nods his head and then he and Tinok proceed to water the
horses from the barrels, using the two buckets Salli had given
them.

By this time, the sun has finally fallen
below the horizon and James takes out some of the food that he
bought earlier in town. Everyone is glad to have a break from
travel rations and sets to with gusto. While they are eating, James
spies Ahlim, the ‘caravansary master’ walking off in the distance.
He watches as he greets another caravan and scores some more coin.
He just shakes his head and chuckles to himself, able to see the
humor of it when it’s not happening to himself.

The two lads who will be driving the other
wagons stay off by themselves, apparently having brought their own
provisions.

During the meal, Delia asks him, “Weren’t we
planning on hiring guards?”

Having totally forgotten about it but trying
to hide the fact, he says, “We sure are. Roland and I were going to
go back into town after dinner and hire some.” He looks over to
Roland and asks, “Right?”

With a slightly confused look on his face,
Roland says, “Uh, right.”

“How many do you think we’ll need?” Jiron
asks.

“Maybe eight or ten,” James guesses,
“depends on how much they’ll be.” Finishing his meal, he stands up
and says to Roland, “If you’re ready, let’s go.”

Roland gets up, gives Ezra and Arkie a kiss
goodbye and then joins James as he walks toward town.

“He forgot didn’t he?” Tinok asks Delia
after they’ve moved out of earshot.

“Probably,” she agrees as she watches them
walking back to town.

On their way, James asks Roland, “Where do
you think would be the best place to hire some?”

“There’s usually a guildhall or some other
place where merchants contract for guards,” he explains. “We just
have to know where to look, or who to ask.”

After they enter town, they walk down the
main thoroughfare until Roland sees one of the city’s guards on
patrol. He goes over to him and after a brief discussion, comes
back to James and says, “He says that if we continue down the road,
we’ll come across the merchant’s guild where we’ll be able to hire
guards.”

“Great,” he replies as they hurry down the
road.

After several blocks, they see a three story
building coming up on their right. It stands a floor taller than
any other building near it, and its imposing architecture can only
mean this is the merchant’s guild. Stepping up to the door, they
open it and enter a room decorated to impress those who enter.
Expensive rugs, statues spaced around the room and finely carved
furniture all say, money.

Several people are seated in plush chairs,
sharing some kind of drink as they converse. One man, whose attire
shows him to be a servant, comes over to them after they enter and
says something, at which Roland replies. He says something again
and then turns to cross the room, exiting through a side door.

James looks to Roland, who explains,
“Apparently, only members are allowed within here and only members
are allowed to hire guards from here as well.”

“Where did he go?” James asks.

“He went to get his superior,” he replies.
“Perhaps we could join the guild in order to hire some guards?”

“Maybe,” says James, dubious at the
prospect.

They wait only a moment before the door
opens again and a man emerges, dressed similar to the first one
except this one’s clothes are of much finer quality. Seeing them
standing there, he comes over to them. He addresses Roland again
and then they begin a conversation.

Frustrated, James can only stand there and
wait for the translation.

The other man pauses while Roland turns to
James and says, “It’s unlikely that we’ll be able to join. You must
be either a partner of a current member, be referred by a member,
or over time be invited to join based on your successes as a
merchant.”

“So what do we do?” he asks Roland.

Roland turns back to the man and they
exchange several words before he again translates for James. “He
says we could try the bars, that there are often mercenaries there
who may hire out.”

Not at all liking that idea, he shakes his
head.

Roland says a few words to the man and then
they each bow to the other before the man turns and leaves through
the door he came out of.

“Now what?” Roland asks.

“We go back and explain why we’re returning
with no guards,” James says.

As they leave the merchant’s guild, a man is
waiting for them outside and approaches as they start walking away
from the building. “Excuse me,” the man says, in words heavy with
accent.

They pause as James replies, “Yes?” He looks
at the man; he’s dressed well, neat and trim with a sword hanging
at his hip.

“I was inside and heard that you are looking
for some guards for your caravan?” he inquires.

“That’s right,” James says.

“My fellows and I have just finished a
contract that wasn’t renewed with a merchant, here in the city,” he
explains. “And we currently find ourselves looking for other work.
If you are still in need of guards, we are available.”

“Just a moment,” James says to him as he
pulls Roland aside. “What do you think?” he asks him in a
whisper.

“I don’t know, it just doesn’t feel right,”
he replies.

James nods his head in agreement, “I feel
the same way.” Turning back to the man, he says, “Actually, we
really don’t need your services right now, but thanks for
offering.”

“As you will,” the man says, “apparently, I
was mistaken.” Bowing, the man turns and walks away, disappearing
into the crowd.

Once the man is gone, they resume making
their way back to their camp at the caravansary. When they arrive,
Delia asks, “Where are the guards?”

“You have to be a member of the merchant’s
guild in order to hire any through them,” James explains. “So we
will do the best we can without any for right now.”

Delia hands him a sack. Opening it up, he
sees a sling and twenty iron slugs within. “What’s this for?” he
asks.

“So when you do your thing with the stones,
it won’t seem so,” she explains, pausing momentarily,
“magical.”

“Thanks,” he says graciously.

“You’re welcome,” she replies, “I’ll teach
you how to use it when we are out on the road.”

“Alright,” agrees James. Going over near the
campfire, he upends the sack and pours the sling and the slugs on
the ground and begins inspecting them.

Cassie and Tinok are sitting close together,
heads leaned against one another as they sit there, Tinok with his
arm around her. Both are looking quite content.

Jiron comes over to where James is looking
over his new toy and sits down. “Do you think they’re at Korazan
yet?” he asks him.

“Maybe, though I can’t be sure,” he replies,
stuffing the slugs and sling back in the pouch. He secures the
pouch on his belt to keep it handy.

“Can’t you do that compass thing?” he
suggests.

James nods over to the two lads and says,
“Don’t want to alert them about my abilities until it becomes
absolutely necessary. Don’t know how they’ll react, or even who
they would tell.” Pausing a moment, he turns his head to look at
Jiron in the eye and says, “It doesn’t matter if they are or not,
we can’t get there faster.”

“True,” Jiron says, crestfallen. “I just
wanted to know.”

“So do I, I’m worried about them. But they
should be alright until they get sold and hopefully we’ll be there
before then.”

Jiron just sits there, his mood dark as
thoughts of his sister and what may be happening to her run through
his mind.

Not too long after, they break up and turn
in. The two lads sleep under their wagons while the rest of the
group stays together around the campfire.

_________________________

They’re up and ready to roll by the time the
sun crests the horizon. Now a much larger caravan, they decide to
have Roland drive the wagon in which Ezra and Arkie ride. Jiron
again rides point now that he’s mostly recovered from his ordeal,
while Tinok and Cassie drive the water wagon. James and Delia take
the front wagon with the two lads eating dust at the rear. They
still have the string of five horses they acquired earlier, as well
as Roland’s two, just in case.

The road south of Zereth-Alin slowly begins
to turn hilly the further they ride. The hills are sparsely covered
with scrub brush, the occasional snake or lizard makes an
appearance. There’s not too much traffic on the road, the heat of
summer must keep all non essential travel to a minimum.

During a stop to water the horses, Delia
approaches James and asks, “Ready?”

“For what?” he replies.

“To learn how to use your sling,” she
replies.

Getting down from his wagon and the cool of
the shade he says, “Sure.” He then rummages in the pouch at his
waist and pulls out the sling as well as five of the slugs.

She leads him away from the others and then
takes the sling from him. She also takes one of the slugs and puts
it into the sling’s pouch. “What you want to do is hold it by the
two loops on the ends like this,” she says as she demonstrates the
proper technique. “Then you slowly wind it up and release one end
of the sling when it reaches the proper position that will enable
the slug to fly where you want it. Watch.”