The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven (53 page)

With the third barrier no longer needed,
James is better able to maintain the remaining two. “Thanks,” he
says to Miko.

Miko gives him a nod then moves to the next
one where he repeats the process.

Brother Willim and Jiron are still not able
to get the better of the warrior priest they are up against. Staff
and knives are no match for the skill and speed with which their
opponent attacks. Even with the power of his god, Brother Willim
has received numerous wounds as he’s unable to keep up with his
opponent’s speed.

Jiron tries to help, but he isn’t able to
get in close enough with just his knives.

“Miko!” Scar yells urgently from where he
and the others are by the horses.

Miko takes his eyes off the hell hound he’s
working to destroy and sees the shadow that is even now approaching
James. The magic of the Star disappears from around the hell hound
as he turns it onto this new threat.

James sees the shadow approaching but
there’s nothing he can do. When the glow surrounding the hell hound
winks out, it appears again surrounding the shadow. Stopping it in
its tracks, the glow begins sucking the life out of the shadow and
sending it back to where it came from.

It’s all up to him now. James concentrates
on the barrier of the hell hound Miko had all but destroyed and
begins to shrink it still further. Despite the resistance he feels
from the creature within, he’s able to at last implode it and
destroy the creature.

The shadow encased in the glow of the Star
begins shrieking as the white glow burns into its blackness. With
one final ear piercing scream, it vanishes.

James now works on shrinking the barrier
encasing the final hell hound. “Miko!” he hollers. When Miko turns
toward him he yells, “We can’t stay. Go help Brother Willim and
Jiron.”

Miko gives him a nod and rushes over to them
with the light of the Star blazing forth. Drawing his sword, he
joins the fray. Brother Willim disengages, his staff becoming still
as Miko’s sword begins attacking the warrior priest.

“Jiron,” Brother Willim says, “Miko and I
will finish here. Get to the horses.” Then from the corner of his
eye he sees the first warrior priest that Miko took out beginning
to stir. “Now!”

Jiron too sees the warrior priest beginning
to recover. Running, he reaches the horses just as the barrier
around the final hell hound implodes completely, destroying the
creature. “James,” he yells. “Time to go!”

James nods his head and starts toward where
the others are already mounted. Suddenly his legs give way and he
falls to the ground. The strain of fighting to control three
barriers against the struggle of the hell hounds took all he had.
Weak as a kitten, he tries to get back up but his arms are too
leathery.

Then Jiron is at his side and helps him to
his feet. Scar is there a split second later and together they get
him over to the horses. “Are you able to remain in the saddle?”
Jiron asks as they reach the side of his horse.

“Yes,” he replies. “Just help me up.”

With Scar’s help, Jiron helps him into the
saddle. A bit wobbly but he should be able to maintain his balance
enough to get out of here. Tied across the back of another horse he
sees the still body of Stig. “Is he alive?” he asks Potbelly.

“Yeah,” Potbelly replies. “But if we don’t
get out of here and let Miko take care of him, I’m not sure for how
long.”

Brother Willim is suddenly moving past
James’ horse toward his own. Looking back at the warrior priest, he
sees him entrapped with vines. “That’s not going to hold him long,”
Miko says as he appears and mounts his horse.

“Let’s get out of here!” Jiron yells.

Taking the lead, Miko holds aloft the Star
to maintain the clearing within the mist. Aleya and Shorty are
riding double and Perrilin has the reins of the horse carrying
Stig. James hangs on for dear life as Miko leads them back out of
the mist. Bringing up the rear are Scar and Potbelly.

Then suddenly Scar cries out as his horse is
struck from behind. Another hell hound has appeared and took a
massive chunk out of his horse’s rear flank. Jumping clear of the
saddle before the horse crashes to the ground, Scar hits the
ground, rolls twice and comes up facing the approaching beast with
both swords out.

The beast cries out as a shimmering field
encases it and stops its forward movement. “Hurry!” yells James.
Spots begin to dance before his eyes and he is leaning precariously
in the saddle.

Potbelly kicks his horse and gallops back to
Scar He reaches down a hand and Scar takes it, swinging up behind
him. Kicking his horse, Potbelly races to rejoin the others.

“Alright?” James hollers to him as they come
abreast of him.

“Just bruised,” Scar replies.

Then James feels the tell-tale prickling
that always accompanies the working of magic. “They’re coming!” he
hollers. Unable to spend the time to finish off the hell hound, he
simply maintains the barrier as long as possible as he races away
with the others.

Sagging over the neck of his horse, it’s all
he can do now to simply hang on. If he had the strength he’d tie
himself to the saddle, but he doubts if he can do even that little
bit. As his horse runs, he begins to notice green shoots growing in
the ground they’re racing over. Turning his head to look behind
them, he sees brier bushes growing rapidly from the ground. A
glance back to the front reveals the green glow around Brother
Willim as he spreads seeds upon the ground as he rides.

Unable to hold the barrier any longer, he
hopes they have a big enough lead on the hell hound to enable them
to get away.

“How much further?” Reilin asks.

“I don’t know,” replies Miko.

From his position at the rear, James
continues glancing back into the mist. He prays that they’ll be
able to get out and away before the warrior priests or the hell
hound can catch up with them.

Then all of a sudden, they’re out of the
Mists. From the way the sky is beginning to darken, it has to be
just before dark. “Don’t stop!” yells James. Looking back, their
pursuers have yet to make an appearance.

The light of the Star fades and finally
winks out. Miko no longer needs it to keep back the mist. Riding
hard, they race across the ground away from the wall of mist. When
no pursuit is forthcoming out of the mist, Jiron has them slow down
and then come to a stop.

“Why aren’t they pursuing?” Shorty asks.

“Who cares,” Scar says. Then to Miko he
adds, “You better take a look at Stig.”

Miko sees him tied across the back of his
horse and says, “Get him down.” As Scar and Potbelly remove him and
lay him upon the ground, Miko says to Jiron, “Let me know instantly
if anything comes out of the mist.”

“You got it,” he assures him.

Miko then goes over to Stig and with the
Star begins working to revive him.

Jiron dismounts and goes over to where James
is all but falling out of the saddle. “Here,” he says as he reaches
his side. “Let me help you.”

Allowing him to help him down, James is soon
sitting on the ground. “Shorty, keep an eye on the mist will you?”
he asks.

“Already doing that,” he says. “What are we
to do now?”

James looks up to see Perrilin coming over
to sit next to him. “I don’t know,” he replies.

Perrilin looks him up and down with a
worried look on his face. “You look tired,” he says.

“I am,” James replies. Sighing, he puts his
head in his hands and closes his eyes in an attempt to stop the
world from spinning.

“Are we to camp here?” Jiron asks.

“I don’t think doing so within sight of the
mist is a good idea,” he replies. “It does move you know.”

“We all need a break,” Jiron says. “I
wouldn’t push it more than another hour or so.”

“James!” Shorty exclaims as he gets to his
feet and looks back the way they came.

They turn and see two figures emerging from
within the mist. They stand there a moment, obviously looking
toward where they have stopped, then return back into the mist.

“They mean not to follow?” asks Shorty.

“Looks that way,” replies James. “At least
not at the moment.”

“Could be they’re gathering their forces
before coming after us,” suggests Reilin.

“If that’s the case,” Jiron says, “we best
not be anywhere near here when they do.” Glancing over to where
Miko is working on Stig, he says, “As soon as Stig is ready to
travel, we leave.”

The others nod their heads. James glances
back to the mist and the temple hidden within.
But how are they
to get inside?

Several minutes later, the glow surrounding
Miko and Stig disappears. Miko comes to his feet and turns to the
others. “He’ll live,” he says. “The creature’s blow cracked some
ribs, and being tied across his horse’s back didn’t do much to help
the injuries either. They’re fine now but he needs rest.”

“Can he take a couple hours in the saddle?”
Jiron asks.

When Miko looks skeptical, James adds, “We
really should try to get as far away from the mist as we can before
stopping for the night.”

“The journey won’t be good for him,” he
tells him. “But what must be, must be.”

“Alright then,” James announces. To Scar and
Potbelly he says, “You two be in charge of helping Stig. The rest
of us get ready to ride.”

As Scar and Potbelly assist a weak and
wobbly Stig onto his horse, Jiron goes over to Aleya where she’s
staring off toward mist. “You alright?” he asks.

Shrugging, she continues staring at the
mist. “Is that what happens?” she asks.

“I’m not sure I understand what you are
asking,” he tells her.

“When you and James go on your adventures,”
she says then turns to gaze into his eyes. Pointing back to the
mist she adds, “Do you get into situations like what we just went
through?”

Nodding, he places his hand on her shoulder
and says, “Sometimes. But not always.”

“I had no idea,” she admits. “Oh sure, we’ve
been in scrapes since this summer began. But nothing like what we
just went through.”

He can see the fear in her eyes, worry for
what the future may hold. “I understand how you feel,” he tells
her. “Back there, I was scared to death let me tell you. For a
while I thought we were through.”

“What about next time?” she asks. “Suppose
we don’t survive it? I’ve been thinking about what is going to
happen should we somehow manage to find a way into the temple. I…I
just don’t want to lose you.”

“Nor I you,” he says.

“Ahem.”

Looking over his shoulder, Jiron sees James
and the others are already in the saddle. He turns back to her and
gives her a hug and kiss. “Don’t worry, we’ll make it through
this.”

Squeezing him tight, she says, “I hope
so.”

Breaking off the embrace, they move to their
horses and mount. “Okay,” he says to the others, “let’s go.”
Leaving the mist behind them, he heads eastward. Aleya rides beside
him.

It takes them over an hour before the mist
disappears completely in the distance. Then they ride for another
hour just for good measure before stopping for the night. When they
do, Miko attends to the rest of the company who have injuries.

Scar and Potbelly help Stig from his horse
and onto his blanket where he goes to sleep almost immediately.
Dinner is cold rations as they do not wish to take the risk of
someone being in the area and see their fire. Before the rest of
the company turns in, James and Jiron move away from the others and
talk of what they should do. Brother Willim joins them.

“Any ideas?” Jiron asks.

“One, but I’m not sure if you’re going to
like it,” he replies.

“What?” asks Brother Willim.

James pulls out the medallion he recovered
from the underground temple they passed through near the fortress
of Kern. In the starlight the sign of the warrior priest is barely
visible.

“You still have that?” he asks.

“Oh yeah,” he replies with a nod.

“What is it?” asks Brother Willim.

James hands it to him and he inspects it for
a moment before handing it back. “Have you ever heard of warrior
priests being able to travel great distances in the blink of an
eye?” he asks.

“No,” he replies. “I have never heard that
before.”

James replaces the medallion within his
pouch and says, “We’ve come across a system of teleportation daises
in several different locations. The last time Jiron and I used one,
we ended up in the very same temple complex where I first found
this medallion.” He looks to Brother Willim to gauge his
reaction.

“I’m not sure I’m following you,” he
admits.

“Okay, let me explain it this way,” he says.
Bending over, he pulls an old exposed plant root out of the ground
and draws two circles in the dirt a foot apart. Pointing to the
circles he says, “Suppose these represent two of the teleportation
daises in two different temples. Say the temples are separated by a
hundred miles of land and water. You with me so far?”

“Yes,” nods Brother Willim. “Go on.”

“Now,” he begins then points to the circle
on the left, “should a person bearing one of these medallions step
upon this dais, he will be instantaneously transported to the
other.” Moving his root from the left circle, he brings it over and
taps the one on the right. “I’m sure there is a way to control
where the daises send you. The only problem is that I haven’t
figured it out yet.”

“What do you propose to do then?” Brother
Willim asks.

“Find someone who does,” he explains.

“But wouldn’t that mean someone who has
access to one of the medallions?” observes Brother Willim.

“That’s right,” says Jiron. “And the only
ones who would, would be those in the temples.”