Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (50 page)

“Maybe,” replies James. “Depends on who
‘they’ are, and who’s doing the searching.”

“There have been rumors that spies from the
north have come to the Empire to sow dissension and destruction,”
he tells them. “One of them is a mage of some power, or so the
rumor says.”

James smiles at that, ‘some power’. “What’s
your name?” he asks the man.

“Kristo.”

“Kristo?” Jiron say questioningly, “Doesn’t
sound like an empire name to me.”

“It’s not,” Kristo replies. “My parents
moved us here long ago from our home further to the south.”

“Ah,” replies Jiron.

They continue on up the coast for several
miles and when they can no longer see anyone on the shoreline, they
have him turn and head west, further out to sea.

James has always liked being out on the
water, and with no one trying to immediately kill or capture him,
he’s able to sit back, relax and enjoy it. They continue on for
another hour out to sea before turning to the south and the
island.

By this time, the sun begins its descent
toward the horizon. “How far is it to the island?” James asks
Kristo.

“Not exactly sure,” he says, “but probably
several hours away.” Glancing at the sun, he says, “Be dark by the
time we get there.”

“Will that be a problem?” James asks
him.

“Definitely,” he says. “I’ve never been
there so don’t know the waters or where the dangers are. We could
just sail right into a reef or the side of the island before we
were even aware it was there.”

“Just sail until dark and then drop anchor,”
he tells him. “In the morning, we’ll continue the rest of the
way.”

“Are you sure?” he asks. “This isn’t a deep
sea ship, just a coast hugger. If we’re caught in a squall, we’re
going to go under.”

James glances to the sky and at the clouds
beginning to turn pink. “Pink at night, sailors’ delight.”

“What?” asks Jiron.

“Oh, just a saying from home,” he says.
“‘Pink at night, sailor’s delight. Pink in the morning, sailors
take warning’.” He gestures to the clouds overhead and says, “It
just means if the clouds turn pink at sunset, then the sea should
remain calm through the night.”

“Is that true?.

“Don’t know,” he replies with a shrug. “It’s
just a saying I picked up somewhere.”

Kristo just shrugs as they look at him,
“Don’t ask me.”

They continue sailing until dark and then
Kristo drops the anchor as they await the coming of morning. James
and Jiron take turns keeping watch on Kristo and the boat
throughout the night, not wanting to take the chance that Kristo
might do something.

When the sky starts to lighten with the
dawn, they have Kristo raise anchor and lower the sails. The wind
begins moving them and before too much longer, they’re once more
rapidly making their way across the water toward the island,
hopefully where Miko is.

Using his mirror to locate other ships in
the vicinity, James has Kristo steer around them, keeping a safe
distance between them to avoid detection. “Jiron,” James says after
one such check.

“What?”

“We’re coming up on the island,” he tells
him. “It should become visible pretty soon.”

“And?” he asks.

“I’ve been searching the area and I think
I’ve located where Miko would be,” he says. “There’s a compound on
the northern section that looks to surround a mine entrance. To the
south is a series of buildings with smoke coming from them. I think
they may be processing whatever is coming out of the mines.”

“Iron,” interjects Kristo.

“What?” asks James.

“They’re most likely iron smelters,” he
explains. “They mine iron ore on the island, it’s one of the
Empire’s main sources of iron, or so I hear. Those buildings are
most likely smelters where they extract the iron from the ore.”

“Anyway,” continues James, “there are two
docks, one to the north and one closer to the smelting complex.
They both have guards stationed there so we wouldn’t be able to use
them without notice.”

Turning to Kristo, Jiron asks, “You have any
ideas?”

Surprised at being asked, he says, “Me? Why
would I help you? You break into my estate, kidnap me and steal my
boat.”

Shaking his head, Jiron says to James, “Any
other place we might make landfall, far enough away to avoid
notice?”

“I haven’t examined the island that
thoroughly yet, maybe,” he says as he turns back to the mirror and
begins a more precise examination of the island’s coast.

After several minutes, he looks up and says,
“There is an inlet on the southwestern side of the island, not very
big. It would allow us to drop anchor near shore without being
detected. A forest separates the inlet from the smelters.”

“Perfect,” Jiron says in satisfaction. “Can
you direct him there?” he says, indicating Kristo.

“Definitely,” he replies. Turning to Kristo,
he says, “Steer us to a more westerly direction until I tell you to
swing south.”

With a slight movement of the tiller, Kristo
steers in the desired direction. “That’s good,” says James when the
boat is heading in the right direction.

They continue on the westerly heading until
James determines the ship is at the proper position and then has
Kristo swing due south. A half hour later, the island comes into
view and James points out a large outcrop of the island and says,
“The inlet is just to the right of there. You can’t see it very
well but it’ll open up as you swing around it.”

Sure enough, a small inlet extends some way
past the outcrop. Kristo steers the boat around the outcrop and
into a small, hidden cove. “Drop anchor,” James tells him.

He furls the sails and drops anchor,
bringing the boat to a stop.

James looks over to the shore, twenty feet
away and says, “This will do nicely.”

Jiron grabs some rope and comes toward
Kristo. “What are you going to do?” he asks nervously as Jiron
approaches.

“Tie you up so you won’t take the boat and
leave,” he explains. “We’ll need you to get us off the island.”

Taking him over to the railing, he has him
sit with his back to it and proceeds to secure him to it. When he’s
done, he tests the ropes to be sure Kristo won’t be able to get
free. Nodding satisfactorily, he says, “That should hold you until
our return.”

“What am I to do if you don’t return?” he
asks before Jiron places a gag in his mouth to prevent him from
hollering for help.

“Just pray that we do,” he tells him,
receiving a glare in return.

Standing up, he turns to James and asks,
“Ready?”

“Sure,” he replies as he goes to the rail
and stands up on it. Jumping off, he dives into the water, Jiron
hitting the water just after him. They swim over to the shore and
then climb out. James is shivering slightly from the coldness of
the water.

“Now, let’s go find your friend,” Jiron says
as they enter the forest.

_________________________

After days of working in the mines, his
hands have toughened up and the sores have begun to form calluses.
A friendship has developed between Nate and him, each helping the
other as needed. Even though the work is hard, he finds himself
proud when his team achieves their quota for the day.

There are dozens of teams throughout the
mines and a rough score is kept as far as how well each team
consistently meets their quotas. His team, while at first having
been low in the rankings due to the loss of men and the new ones
joining, is now steadily climbing toward the lead team spot. Essin,
though tough and strict, has been fair in his dealings with his
men.

Since coming to join Essin’s team, there
have been two cave-ins, including the one that occurred on the
first day. The second one, the team caught beneath the falling
rocks hadn’t been so lucky, they were crushed and killed. Miko’s
team wasn’t the one sent to help dig out those poor souls, but had
heard of it through the gossip channels later when leaving for the
night.

Every other day or so, Black Tooth makes an
appearance to give them their water and bread. His scowls have
become so common now that Miko is no longer bothered by them.
Lately, when they leave the mines at night, Black Tooth can be seen
hanging around some of the supervisors, talking and joking with
them. Whenever he sees Miko though, his smile fades from his face
and hatred creeps into his features. He absently rubs his stump
while looking at Miko, almost as if he’s unconsciously reliving the
day he lost his hand. But Miko no longer fears him. He’s never far
from his team and he knows they will stand by him should things
ever get ugly between him and Black Tooth.

A day ago, during a break when bread and
water was brought to them by someone other than Black Tooth, Miko
had bitten into his bread and felt a sharp, jabbing sensation in
his mouth. He reached in and pulled out a sharp rock, stained with
blood from where it had punctured his tongue. If he would have
swallowed it, it would’ve most likely torn apart his insides.

He had taken it to Essin who then proceeded
to yell at the man who brought it. The man said he didn’t know how
it had made its way into the bread but that he would look into it
when he got back. Later that day, when they were leaving the mines,
Miko saw Black Tooth standing near the kitchen building talking to
the one who had brought the bread down to them. He pointed them out
to Nate who said, “Apparently, he’s not through trying to get you,
and he’s enlisting aid.”

“What can I do?” Miko asks him.

Shrugging, he says, “Nothing to do, just
watch out until you have proof to bring to Essin.”

Miko kept glancing over to Black Tooth until
his team reached their room and went inside for the night.

The following morning after they reach their
spot in the mines, all goes as usual and they are able to maintain
their pace to achieve their quota for the day. The day passes
uneventfully as they load wagon after wagon full of ore.

James and Jiron look out from the woods to
where the smelting complex lies. Six buildings bellow smoke from
tall smokestacks, wagons being unloaded into smaller carts which
are then taken inside. Several other smaller auxiliary buildings
surround them. Two wagons enter the complex from a road on the far
side and make their way toward one of the smelters.

“That road must lead to where Miko is,”
states James.

“Let’s work our way around to it,” Jiron
suggests.

Nodding, James makes to move when he’s
stopped by Jiron’s hand on his shoulder. He glances back as Jiron
indicates a group of workers walking along the side of a nearby
building. Remaining motionless, they wait until the men move to the
door in the side of the building and enter.

Working their way through the edge of the
forest, they circumvent the smelting complex and come to the road.
At the road they pause a moment as they look both ways. Not seeing
anyone upon the road, they step out of the trees. James says,
“Let’s take the road. It’ll be faster.”

“Alright,” he says. “But we better keep our
eyes open.”

They travel down the road for a hundred feet
before Jiron suddenly takes him by the arm and whispers, “Someone’s
coming.” Further up the road, movement can be seen.

James follows Jiron into the forest where
they crouch down behind some bushes and trees to wait. Shortly,
they begin to hear the unmistakable sound of a horse drawn wagon
coming toward them down the road. When the wagon reaches them, they
see that it’s heaped full of ore from the mine, heading for the
smelters. Aside from the driver, two guards with crossbows ride
upon the wagon. After the wagon passes and has moved further down
the road, they return to the road and continue down toward the
mine.

An hour later finds them coming to the
stockade wall that surrounds the mine. It appears out of the forest
and then turns to run along the edge of the road. They enter the
forest on the opposite side of the road from the wall before coming
into view of the guards patrolling along the top. Keeping well
within the woods, they make their way slowly alongside the road,
all the while staying out of sight of the guards atop the walls.
When they reach the area directly across from the gate, they stop
and from a hidden location, watch the guards atop the gate.

The guards are fairly lax in their duty,
most of their time is spent either engaged in conversation with the
guard next to them or looking within the compound. Only
occasionally does anyone glance around the outside along the road
and into the forest.

“Looks like they’re not too concerned about
an attack from the outside,” Jiron whispers to James.

“I think they are there more to keep people
in than out,” reasons James.

Jiron looks to him and nods, “That should
make this all the easier, then.”

“Let’s hope so,” he replies. Then he asks,
“Can you get in?”

Shaking his head, he says, “Not with all
those guards on the wall, they would spot me for sure. Let me go
around the walls and see if there might be anyplace that would be
less visible.”

“Should I go with you?” James asks.

“No,” he answers. “I can move a lot quieter
and quicker if I’m by myself. Just stay here and keep an eye on the
gate, see if you can determine some kind of routine for the
guards.”

“Alright,” he says. “You be careful, this
isn’t like sneaking around a city.”

“I will,” he assures him and then begins
moving along the road away from James, keeping in the trees to
avoid detection. When he’s gone far enough away beyond the point
where the wall turns back into the forest, he quickly rushes across
the road and enters the forest on the other side.