Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (41 page)

Black Tooth’s grip loosens slightly but it’s
enough for Miko to wriggle away from him. In his haste to get away,
Miko trips over a sleeping slave who cries out in protest.

In the dim light filtering in through the
windows, he sees Black Tooth begin approaching him, something held
in his hand, glinting in the dim light. Miko starts hollering
“Help! Guards!”

Black Tooth says something and then rushes
toward him.

Miko keeps hollering as he tries to get away
from Black Tooth. The other men in the pen realize what’s going on
and quickly move to the edge to get out of harm’s way. Some begin
calling out and before you know it, the whole area is in a roar
with words and cheers, none of which Miko understands.

A door opens and light fills the pens from
several torches brought in by the guards to see what the commotion
is about.

Black Tooth continues chasing him around the
pen as the guards enter the holding area, and when Miko gets close
to the men at the side, one of them trips him. Falling to the
floor, Miko quickly rolls on his back and sees Black Tooth right on
top of him.

The knife held in his hand strikes down,
opening up a long cut on his left forearm.

Suddenly, the door to the pen is opened and
guards rush in and grab Black Tooth before he can strike again.
They immobilize his arm and remove the knife from his hand. They
holler to others and as they take Black Tooth out of the pen. Two
slavers come in with a wooden block and set it on the floor outside
of the pen.

They take Black Tooth to it and lay his
right arm, the one that held the knife, across the top of it as one
of the guards draws his sword. With a quick motion, he severs Black
Tooth’s hand from his arm.

Black Tooth cries out in pain as his hand
falls to the floor and blood begins to spray out of his stump.

One of the guards takes a torch and places
it to the stump, cauterizing the wound and stopping the blood flow,
which causes Black Tooth to cry out again as his flesh begins to
sizzle in the flames. The smell of burnt flesh and hair fills the
pen with a nauseating odor.

When the wound is sealed, they throw Black
Tooth back into the pen and one of the guards makes an announcement
which Miko is unable to understand. But he gets the gist of it,
don’t cause trouble or you’ll be punished severely.

Then the guards take the block away and once
more leave them in darkness as they file out of the holding area.
Once Miko’s eyes become adjusted again to the gloom, he can make
out Black Tooth on the ground, holding his stump as he moans in
pain. He can’t see, so much as feel the hate for him radiating from
Black Tooth.

His own wound seeps blood all night but by
morning has stopped and a scab is beginning to form.

That was several days ago, just how many
Miko isn’t sure. He’s lost count as every day is the same. He looks
down to where Black Tooth still sits and whenever their eyes meet,
naked hatred is all he sees reflected in his eyes. He’s sure that
given the chance, Black Tooth would kill him. But without his right
hand, Miko is confident that he can defend himself against any
attack he may try.

A day or so ago, the road turned south as it
continues following the coastline. They had rolled into a large
city and made their way down to the docks to drop off two slaves
while picking up three more. They now number six wagons with
sixteen slaves jammed into each.

The ships with their sails gave Miko a
moment’s pleasure as he imagines sailing upon the seas in them,
like many a story he heard from bards and minstrels. To feel the
sea air and the spray of the waves as your ship crashes through
them, ah, Miko can only dream. But the dream was to be short lived,
for they once more returned to the road and continued on their way,
leaving the ships behind them.

Miko looks to the sea as they ride and
occasionally can see the ships passing by on their way to who knows
where. Ever since being in the port, he’s had a desire to be upon
one.

That night, during the wee hours of the
morning, Miko is awakened by shouting as guards begin rushing
about. He sees a couple of them with crossbows mounting their
horses and heading off into the desert. The slaves begin muttering
to themselves until a slaver comes over and tells them to be
quiet.

Miko lies back down, wondering just what all
that was about. In the morning when he awakens and gets back on the
wagon, he sees at the edge of the camp, four dead bodies. Slaves
that he later comes to understand had tried to make a break for it
last night.

Wish one of them had been Black
Tooth
, he thinks wistfully.

Another couple of days finds them rolling
into another port town and heading toward the dock area. Several
ships docked there are in the process of loading or unloading
cargo. The wagons pull up next to one and a slaver gets down off
the lead wagon and walks up the gangplank onto the ship.

Miko is figuring on them transferring more
men either to or from the ship. When the slaver comes back to the
top of the gangplank, he hollers to the other slavers and they
begin removing all the slaves from the wagons who are then led up
to the ship. Excited about being on a ship, but apprehensive as
well, Miko looks around as he walks up the gangplank and led over
to a hatch where he’s led down into the hold.

The hold is a place of stale air and
unpleasant odors. They are led over to where eye rings have been
secured to the hull and their manacles are secured to them. Left
there in the dark, Miko begins to get scared and a little nauseous
from the motion of the ship and the smells from the hold.

After what seems like hours, the ship
finally begins to move. Even though he’s held in the cargo hold as
a slave, Miko enjoys the roll of the ship despite being nauseated
as it makes its way out to sea.

After twenty minutes into the voyage, one of
the slaves further down from Miko starts throwing up when the
rocking of the ship gets the better of him, spraying it all over.
The odor only adds to the already unbearable stench in the hold.
Miko’s stomach begins to protest as he continues to smell the other
man’s vomit.

Before too long, others begin vomiting as
well, including Miko whose stomach can no longer stand the combined
odor and the rocking of the ship. The voyage that started out as
one of excitement for him, now is pure misery as he gets sicker and
sicker, vomiting several more times.

At last, the rocking of the ship diminishes
and they feel the hull scrape alongside another dock. The ship
comes to a stop and they hear footsteps on the deck above them
coming over to the hatch. The hatch above them opens, allowing
light and fresh air to come in, much to everyone’s relief.

A sailor comes and begins removing their
manacles from the eye rings in the floor. They’re then told to come
up and when Miko steps out of that foul hell hole, he sees that the
ship is resting next to a small pier on a heavily wooded island, at
least he thinks it’s an island. At the end of the pier are several
buildings as well as a guard tower upon which two guards with
crossbows are standing watch.

The men are disembarked from the ship and
formed into lines upon the pier. A guard steps forward and takes
several papers from the captain of the ship and then turns to the
slaves. After making a short speech that Miko is unable to
comprehend, they begin marching along the pier toward an area with
several large barrels. A slave stands with a bucket near the first
barrel.

As the first of the new arrivals reaches the
slave with the bucket, he pours the water in the bucket over the
slave’s head who then commences to rub as much of the filth he
acquired in the hold off as he can. When it’s Miko’s turn, he steps
forward and feels the water flow over him gratefully, the stench
from the hold of the ship at last being washed away. A faint odor
still remains despite his efforts to remove it all, but nothing
like what they smelled like before, a hot bath would do the trick a
whole lot better. After the last of the slaves has had a bucket’s
worth of water poured over him, the line begins moving again.

They march for about an hour, the fresh air
and exercise is a pleasant change after the length of time on the
wagon and then in the bottom of the cargo hold. From out of the
forest ahead of them, a wooden palisade suddenly appears and begins
running along the side of the road. Guards armed with crossbows can
be seen walking along the top of the wall and look their way as
they approach.

A gate large enough to accommodate a wagon
swings open as they near the middle of the palisade and they’re
marched through. Once on the other side of the gate, Miko sees a
large open pit in front of them, with a winding road that follows
the outer edge as it circles down into the depths.

Surrounding the pit are many wooden
buildings, with the wall encompassing the entire area. Wagons are
rolling along the road as they make their way from out of the
depths of the pit. The guards march Miko and the others over toward
the road that leads into the pit and then follow the road as it
descends into the pit.

_________________________

James awakens to the sound of waves crashing
upon rocks. Though his head hurts like it’s about to split open, he
sits up and sees Jiron sitting over near the entrance to a cave,
staring out at the water. Their two horses are standing over by the
opposite side of the cave.

A groan escapes from James as he sits up.
Jiron glances back over his shoulder at him and smiles. “Didn’t
think you were ever going to come back to the land of the living,”
he says.

Holding his head in his hands to try and
ease the pain, James replies with a raspy voice, “Not sure that I
have.”

Jiron gets up and brings him a water bottle,
“Like some water?”

Reaching out his hand, he takes the offered
bottle and drains the entire contents. Looking around, he asks,
“Just where are we?”

“In a cave near the ocean,” Jiron
explains.

“How did we get here?” he asks as he hands
the bottle back.

“After we left Al-Kur,” he begins to
explain, “I initially took us out into the desert but ran across a
patrol, they saw us and gave chase. I had to back track toward the
coast, we didn’t lose them until night fell. After that, we rode
all night until I saw this cave opening revealed in the
moonlight.”

“Been here for two days,” he tells him.
“Wasn’t sure if you were going to make it at first, but by the end
of the first day you were getting less restless and began to quiet
down. I was afraid the noise you were making would alert anyone
passing by to our presence here. I did some scouting around and we
seem to be in a remote area, I doubt if anyone will think to look
for us here.”

“Me too,” agrees James, his throat still a
little raspy. “Do we have any food?” he inquires.

“A little,” he replies and then moves over
to one of the saddle bags. He takes out a cloth containing some
rations and brings it over to James. “I figure we have a day’s
worth left,” he says, “maybe more.”

James takes it and when he takes his first
bite, his stomach lets out a large growl and he begins eating in
earnest.

“Are you going to need more rest?” Jiron
asks him.

“I think so,” James replies just as a yawn
escapes him. “Most likely another day at the most, then I think
I’ll be okay to travel.”

“In that case I better go and find us more
food or we’ll be out by morning,” he tells him. “It looks like
you’re going to be needing a lot.”

“I usually do after major magic like I did
back at Al-Kur,” he explains.

Jiron looks to him and asks, “Will you be
okay by yourself?”

He shrugs and says, “If no one shows up,
yes. I doubt if I could do anything to defend myself now if someone
should come by.”

“I won’t be long,” he says as he goes over
and begins to saddle one of the horses.

James finishes eating and already his body
is telling him it’s time to rest. Trying to stifle another big yawn
he says, “Hurry back.”

“I will,” he assures him. Leading the horse
outside the cave, he mounts and glances back inside to James before
he leaves. Already, he’s fallen asleep.

Jiron quickly leaves the cave behind as he
makes his way through the hills, away from the beach area. The
rolling hills give him some cover as he follows the coast south,
hoping to come across a town where he can acquire some food.

The light begins to fade as the sun drops
below the horizon. The approach of darkness makes Jiron more at
ease, in the dark is when he’s most effective. Before the sun slips
completely beyond the horizon, he comes across a small fishing
village. A couple dozen huts and one main building is all there is
to it. A small dock extends into the water and several small boats
are tied to it.

Satisfied to have found a town so readily,
Jiron turns around and leads his horse away from the village. He
finds a place back in the hills that will keep his horse hidden
while he goes in search of food. Taking the reins, he ties him to a
scrub tree in a hollow between two hills. Patting him on the neck
before returning to the village, he says, “I’ll be back soon,
boy.”

Working his way back to the village on foot,
he stops when he begins to see the light coming from the outlying
buildings. He waits there, hidden in amongst some trees and bushes
as he observes the inhabitants, thankful that there are no soldiers
or guards patrolling the streets. This place is just not big enough
to warrant any.

Once darkness has completely set in, he
stealthily makes his way to the outskirts of town and over to one
of the houses that remains dark. Hoping that since the house is
still dark, there would be no one within, he creeps to a window and
looks inside.