Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (32 page)

“Never said I was, just work for one,”
replies the creature, as he continues to admire his
accomplishment.

Mama goes into the back and comes out
shortly with an extra large pepperoni pizza. She carries it over
and places it on the table between them, then fetches a pitcher of
soda with two glasses. “Enjoy,” she says before returning to watch
her show.

Taking a big slice, the creature says, “Go
ahead and help yourself.”

James watches as he takes an enormous bite,
sauce trickling down the side of his mouth. Grabbing a slice for
himself, he takes a bite and admits to himself that this is pretty
good pizza.

“This is the one where they have to recharge
the dilitium crystals,” she says from the counter. “I love this
one.”

The little creature just smiles at him as he
continues to eat. James sits there quietly while he eats and
ponders why the creature had brought him here. Maybe it’s for
company as he said, though James considers that highly
unlikely.

“You’re more talkative this time,” he
observes.

“That a problem?” the little guy asks
through a mouthful of pizza.

James shakes his head and says, “No, just
thought you weren’t supposed to answer questions.”

“Can’t you just relax and enjoy yourself?”
the creature says, a little annoyed.

“Okay, okay,” James replies. “You never told
me your name.”

“Its true pronunciation, you’d be unable to
manage,” he says. “Just call me Igor.”

“Igor?” James asks about ready to laugh.

“Yes, Igor,” he replies. “As in Dr.
Frankenstein’s assistant.”

“Alright,” James says, “Igor.”

They sit and continue eating the pizza,
James is amazed at the speed with which Igor consumes each slice.
He’s barely had three before Igor removes the last slice for
himself. Giving out with a loud, satisfied belch, Igor sits back in
his chair while James finishes the last couple of bites.

When the last bite enters his mouth, Igor
stands up and asks, “Shall we?”

James swallows the last bite and asks,
“We’re leaving?”

“Yes, it’s time to take you back,” replies
Igor.

Getting up, James takes his glass and drains
the rest of it before following Igor outside.

“Come back again,” Mama says from behind the
counter as they leave.

On the way back to the truck, Igor pauses as
he looks down at a mud puddle by his feet. James pauses before
entering the cab as he notices him there. Bending over, Igor picks
up something shiny out of the puddle and holds it up for James to
see. “A nickel,” he says happily. “You never know what treasure
you’ll find, even in the dirtiest of places.”

“That’s true, I suppose,” James says as he
opens the cab door and gets in the truck.

Igor gets in, starts the motor and backs out
onto the road. Heading back the way they had come, he soon has the
truck speeding into the night.

They both remain quiet until James asks,
“Did Cassie have to die?”

“Everyone dies, James,” he says, glancing
over to him. “It’s just a matter of when.”

“But they were so happy together,” James
replies. “Couldn’t they have had some time together?”

“Not for me to say,” Igor tells him.

Soon, James sees the fire from their camp up
ahead and Igor brings him right into the middle of it by the
campfire. Looking out the window, he sees everyone still sleeping,
the roar of the truck motor not even causing them to stir. “See you
later,” Igor says as he stops and lets James out.

James opens the door and gets out of the
cab. Before shutting it he pauses, glances back and asks,
“When?”

“When it happens,” Igor says with a smile.
“Good luck,” he says just before James closes the door. Then with a
roar, the truck gets going and James watches until the tail lights
have disappeared into the night.

James continues his watch as he ponders the
meaning of these visits.
Why does he keep showing up? Is it just
for a visit like he says, or is there more to it? And ‘Igor’, what
kind of name is that for a being like him? The pizza was good
though
, he thinks as he belches, bringing forth reminiscence of
pepperoni.

He begins to grow tired and realizes his
time at watch is about over. Moving through the sleeping bodies to
where Stig is sleeping, he wakes him up for his turn at watch.

In the morning when he awakens with the
dawn, he goes over to where the truck had been and isn’t too
surprised when he finds no tire tracks in the dirt. Shaking his
head, he joins the others in preparing the caravan to get underway.
It’s not too long before they are once again on the road, heading
southwest along the river.

Throughout the day as they continue down the
road, they come across little hamlets and villages with increasing
frequency. At one point, they have to pull over to allow a long
column of soldiers to pass on their way north.

“Must be heading to Madoc,” Yorn says,
commenting to Jiron as they watch them pass.

“Probably,” states Jiron. “Hope they get cut
to pieces,” he says, barely above a whisper.

Several heads nod in agreement.

Once the column has passed, they’re able to
bring their wagons back onto the road and continue on their way.
The amount of traffic on the road slowly increases as the day
progresses, and soon James can smell the familiar scent of the sea.
“We’re getting close to the ocean,” he tells them.

“Azzac, the Empire’s capitol, is on the
ocean,” Roland says.

“Must be getting close to it then,” he
figures.

After another mile, the great city of Azzac
comes into view before them. Larger than any city they have yet
seen, it sprawls along the river for over a mile before it meets
the ocean. A large wall surrounds the city as it stretches miles in
both directions down the coastline.

Upon the water beyond the city are dozens of
ships tied to the long line of docks. More are out upon the sea,
some leaving and some preparing to dock. “This place is massive!”
he exclaims.

“Unbelievable,” he hears someone mutter from
behind him.

“Hopefully we can get in and find out where
Miko is fast, then be on our way,” Jiron says.

“Man that’s right,” agrees Shorty.

“James,” Delia says, “it looks like there’s
a place for caravans to the north of the city.”

Looking to where she’s indicating, he sees
the caravansary and angles in that direction. At the caravansary,
an official looking man flanked by two guards comes forward to
greet them. “Welcome to Azzac, strangers,” he says. “If you could
show me your letter of travel?”

James takes it out and offers it to him and
the man takes it. The official looks at it, sees the name and seal
at the bottom and then returns it to him. “There’s a tax of three
coppers per wagon to stay here,” he tells him.

Taking the coins out of his pouch, he hands
them over to him.

“Thank you,” the official says. “Find any
place you like to set up camp.” He then turns and walks back to a
tent set up along the road to the caravansary.

They find a good spot near the river and set
up camp. Delia takes Roland with her to deliver several packages
that are marked for here. She takes Scar and Potbelly along as
well.

“You be careful,” James warns her. “If there
is anyplace we’re most likely to be discovered, it’s here.”

“Don’t fret,” she assures him. “I’ll be in
and out fast.”

James watches as she drives the wagon into
Azzac, worried about the ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ running through
his mind.

After they’ve finished getting everything
settled in, James takes out his mirror and tries to locate Miko.
Jiron and Tersa come over and sit by him as he makes the attempt.
They look at the mirror and watch as Miko’s face begins to appear.
As he broadens the scope, they discover that he’s still riding in a
wagon. As he expands the scene even further, they’re able to see a
large expanse of ocean off to his right.

“So he’s still following the coast south?”
Tersa reasons.

“It looks like it,” agrees James. “At least
he’s alive and appears to be doing okay.”

“As long as he’s not dead yet, there’s still
hope,” Jiron adds.

“That’s right,” he says. “Let’s get Delia’s
deliveries done and get the heck out of here.”

Stig comes over and asks, “Do you think we
might be able to go in and have a drink?”

James just looks at him and says, “After the
last time? I don’t think so.”

“We’ll be careful,” Stig says.

“No,” James tells him, “not here. Down the
road maybe, but not here. Too dangerous.”

“James’s right,” Jiron says.

Disappointed, he goes back to his fellows
and breaks the news to them. Jiron and James can hear groans coming
from them as he tells them his reply. Here the seat of the enemy’s
power? He would have to be mad to allow it.

Three hours later when the daylight begins
to fade, Delia has yet to return. James has been pacing around the
last hour, dread growing with every passing minute. “Something’s
wrong,” he tells Jiron when he comes to a stop next to him.

“Not necessarily,” he says. “She’s been gone
longer than this before.”

“If she waits much longer she may run the
risk of having the gates close on her,” James says.

“Do the gates close here at night?” Jiron
asks.

“I don’t know, but there’s always the
chance,” he replies.

“What should we do?” he asks.

“Let’s go and find her,” James suggests.

“Good, I’m tired of just sitting here,” he
says.

“What about the rest of us?” Tersa asks
nervously.

“Just stay here with them,” James says
indicating Stig and the others, “and we’ll be back as soon as we
find them.” He then goes over and explains to them what he and
Jiron are about to do and then they begin walking toward the gates
to the city.

“We don’t even speak the language,” Jiron
says.

“Hopefully that won’t be a problem,” James
tells him. “I’ve seen many northerners here so hopefully we won’t
stick out too much.”

“Where are we going to start looking?” Jiron
asks before they reach the gate.

“Not sure,” he replies.

At the gate, they’re looked at by the
guards, but other than that cursory examination, are allowed to
pass through into the city.

“Going to do that bubble thing again?” Jiron
asks.

“Maybe,” he says. “Let’s look around first
through the merchant’s district and see if we can’t locate them
that way.” He feels a tingling sensation and looks around. Sure
enough, he sees a mage walking through the crowd on the street. He
points him out to Jiron as he pulls him close and whispers, “He’s
doing magic of some sort. I can feel it.”

Considering that fact for a second, he
whispers back to James, “Will they be able to sense you if you do
magic?”

James nods, “I would think so.”

“Then maybe we shouldn’t do the bubble
thing,” he says.

“Only if we have to,” James replies.

They walk through the streets, looking for
any sign of Delia and the others. They pass many merchant’s
establishments but fail to find any clue as to their whereabouts.
By this time it’s becoming fairly dark and they see two people with
long poles, each with a flame at the end, begin walking the
streets. They go from streetlamp to streetlamp, lighting the lamps
hanging there to give the people on the street light to see by.

“This is hopeless!” Jiron exclaims, “They
could be anywhere.”

“I agree, we’ll never find them this way.
The city is just too large,” he says.

James leads Jiron into an empty side alley
where he takes out his mirror that he brought along and begins
concentrating on Delia. They both gaze into the mirror as her
features begin to form. James hears Jiron gasp when they see her
sitting on the floor in a small room. The others are there with her
and the looks on their faces tells them they’re not happy.

“They’re in trouble!” says Jiron.

“It would appear so,” James replies. “I told
her to be careful!”

He expands the view, hoping to see where
they are being kept until finally managing to get a bird’s eye view
of the estate wherein she is being held. He tries to expand it even
further when Jiron touches his arm and whispers, “Mage!”

James looks out of the alley to the street
where he sees a brown robe walking toward the alley entrance. He
stops the spell and immediately the brown robe pauses, turning his
head first one way and then the other. It seems almost like he’s
searching, trying to rediscover the source of the magic. James and
Jiron hold their breath and remain pressed against the side of the
alley as they watch the mage there in the street, until he finally
turns and walks down the street to their right.

“He knew you were doing magic,” Jiron
whispers.

“Apparently so,” James replies as he sticks
his head out the alley to watch the brown robe continuing down the
street away from them.

“Let’s go,” he says. “I got a pretty good
look at where they’re being kept. It’s a large estate with plenty
of grounds surrounding it.”

“Sounds like someone important,” Jiron
reasons, “or rich.”

Stepping out of the alley, they follow the
street as it moves closer to the river and the castle. Estates of
that size are most likely to be located in that area,
hopefully.

They proceed for a few more blocks before
coming to the inner wall. A single gate stands open with two guards
watching as people pass through.

“Doesn’t look as if they’re stopping
anyone,” James says hopefully.

“Maybe it’s because they already know them?”
Jiron suggests.

Shrugging, James says, “Only one way to know
for sure.” He steps out, followed closely by Jiron and begins to
walk toward the gate, heart beating rapidly in anticipation of a
confrontation. The guards see them approach but don’t stop or
question them as they pass through.