Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (32 page)

“You there?” he whispers just after he sits
down.

“Yes,” replies James. “What were you to be
ready for?”

“You,” he replies. “Didn’t think I’d be the
one to live to see it.” Taking a bite of his food, he chews a
moment then continues. “Thought the secret our family kept would
die with me. You see my son and grandson both perished when the
Empire took Saragon, I’m all that’s left.”

At the word ‘secret’, James’ pulse quickens.
“I’m sorry for your family,” he says, offering his condolences.

“Me too,” he replies sadly. After taking a
drink of his water, he says, “Anyway, what’s done is done. Who told
my ancestor has been lost, but what was told was not.”

“What was he told?” asks James. He can feel
his heart pounding in his chest in anticipation.

“That a day would come when one of us was
approached by a man who knew the meaning behind the word
‘gesundheit’,” he explains. “We were told ‘To hold the secret safe
until such a time. Great tragedy would foretell his coming and the
one the man approached would feel as if all hope is lost’.”

“You can be sure, many times throughout the
past, my forefathers have faced tragedy and some had felt that all
hope had been lost. Each time they expected the one to come as had
been foretold to them. But each time none came.”

“Through the years, it’s become more of a
story than something any of us actually expected would be
fulfilled. Since it was a favorite of the kids, we told it often so
never lost it.” A sad smile comes to him as he reminisces about his
own son and grandson as he told them the story.

“What was the secret?” prompts James when
the old guy remains quiet for several minutes.

Snapped out of his reverie, he says, “It’s
never made much sense to us, and let me tell you we’ve tried to
figure it out for centuries.”

“What was it?” asks James eagerly. “Did it
have something to do with Morcyth?”

“Morcyth?” questions the old man. Shaking
his head, he says, “I don’t think so. Wasn’t he a god or something
a long time ago?”

“Something like that,” answers James.

“There’re three verses. The first ones
goes…”

When the Fire shines Bright

And the Star walks the Land.

Time for the Lost

Will soon be at Hand.

At the mention of the Fire shining bright
and the Star walking the land James and Jiron look at each other. A
gleam of recognition can be seen in both their eyes.

“The second verse is:”

At the foot of the King

Bathe in his Cup.

Pull his Beard

To make him sit Up.

“Doesn’t make much sense does it?” he
asks.

“No,” agrees James, “it doesn’t.” He glances
to Jiron who looks just as confused at the second verse as he
does.

“And the last one goes…”

Seven to Nine

Six to Four.

Spit in the wind

And open the door.

“That’s it,” he tells him. The slaver in
charge of the slaves starts to holler for them to resume their
work. “I have to go.”

“Thank you,” says James.

“I’m glad I was able to fulfill the charge
laid upon us,” he says as he slowly gets to his feet. “Probably be
best if we don’t speak again.”

“Thank you again,” he says as the old guy
walks back to the other slaves. He just nods his head in reply.

They move away from the window and further
into the house where they can talk without running the risk of
being heard by those outside.

“What do you think it means?” Jiron asks him
once they’ve reached the inner room.

Excited, James replies, “The first verse has
to refer to the Fire of Dmon-Li and the Star of Morcyth.”

Nodding, Jiron says, “Yeah, I figured that
out already.”

“‘Time for the lost will soon be at hand’,”
says James. “That I’m not sure of.”

“Could it mean the missing priests of
Morcyth?” asks Jiron.

“Maybe,” he says, shrugging. “The rest of it
doesn’t make much sense. But that’s the way with things like this.
They can’t make sense until it’s time for them to make sense.
Otherwise people will act prematurely.”

“Sounds reasonable,” comments Jiron. “So, is
this what we came here for?”

“I would think so,” replies James. In his
own mind, the feeling of completion is there. “It’s possible there
could be more, but I doubt it.”

“Then we should get out of here,” states
Jiron. “Better wait until it’s dark though and go back the way we
came.”

“Wonder if the horses are still there?” says
James.

“Doubt it,” he replies. “They’d be starving
by now and probably have broken their tethers. We’ll have to see
about getting some more after we get out of here.”

“Very well,” James says. “Best get some rest
before we leave. Could be awhile before we get anymore.”

They move upstairs where the beds are and
Jiron offers to take the first watch. While James is sleeping, he
thinks about what they’ve just learned and tries to make sense out
of it.

James looks out of the second story window
while Jiron is sleeping. The sun had long since fallen below the
horizon and the city is shrouded in night. Off in the distance he
can see the lights where the occupiers have taken up residence.

The words the old man had spoken keeps
returning to him again and again. They make no sense, but like he
told Jiron, that’s the way of these things. He was surprised to
find what he came here for in the memory of an old man. But sitting
here thinking about it, it makes a sort of sense.

If it had been hidden physically here in
Saragon, then it would have needed to been marked in such a way
that it would be recognized. That would’ve meant the Star of
Morcyth symbol or something else which assuredly would’ve drawn the
attention of those who know and understand the significance of
such.

But to have it secreted in such a way that
he practically had to stumble upon it, and to use a word only he or
someone from his world would understand, enabled it to remain
hidden all these years.

He can feel the hand of Igor in this. Just
as he had trained Jiron and put him in a position to become part of
his quest, so must he have also placed this snippet of information
in the hands of the old guy’s family centuries ago. He can’t help
but wonder if there may have been similar snippets left with
different people here in Saragon in the hopes he would stumble
across at least one of them. Maybe he’ll ask Igor the next time he
sees him. Thinking back to the time he spent in that other world,
dimension, whatever, he wonders if he’ll even have the chance. Igor
may not have survived the attacks of those creatures.

A noise behind him causes him to turn where
he sees Jiron getting up from the bed. Noticing how dark it is
outside, he asks, “You ready to go?”

Coming away from the window, James says,
“Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

Stretching, Jiron begins to move out of the
room and to the stairs leading down. He passes down the stairs then
over to the doorway across from the collapsed, burned out
structure. Beneath which lies the entrance to the secret smuggler
passage they used to enter Saragon.

Taking a moment to ensure no one is on the
street, he dashes across to the burned out building, James follows
right behind him.

Pausing a moment, he turns to James and
says, “Remember, it’s not very stable so walk where I walk and try
not to be on the same section as I am. Our combined weight could
cause it to collapse.”

“I understand,” agrees James.

The moon overhead gives them some light with
which to see by. Jiron begins making his way through the broken
structure, taking the same path he used the last time. The first
part of the path leads across a beam lying over an open section in
the floor. Stepping carefully, he begins to cross.

James waits outside until he’s cleared the
beam, then he steps out upon it and follows. Taking it slow, he
stops when he feels the beam begin to shift under him. Grabbing
another section of the collapsed ceiling for support, he steadies
himself until the beam ceases its shifting. Once the beam again
becomes stable, he continues moving along it until he reaches the
next one.

Suddenly, they hear a groan and the entire
framework they’re upon collapses. James is thrown from his
precarious perch and tries to grab onto a section of what used to
be a part of the ceiling. He takes a firm hold of it but it breaks
off and he falls through the wreckage all the way to the floor,
landing on his back. His breath is knocked out of him and it takes
him a minute or two for him to get his lungs working again.

The section Jiron was on had remained
somewhat stable. Holding onto a beam lying slantwise near him, he
was able to prevent falling. “You okay?” he hollers down to where
James lies upon the floor.

When he doesn’t receive an answer, he begins
making his way down, fearing the worst. From the direction of the
street, he hears the sound of several people approaching just as
the fragile structure gives out with another groan and another
section collapses.

This time, the beam he’s standing on gives
way. Reaching out, he grabs hold of a neighboring beam just in time
to prevent himself from falling. Hanging there from the beam, he
sees the light from several torches approaching. Holding very
still, he hopes to remain unnoticed by the men approaching.

Voices talking excitedly can be heard as
they draw closer to the collapsing building. The light from their
torches soon begins to illuminate the wreckage as half a dozen
soldiers come to investigate the cause of the collapse. He can hear
their excited conversation as their light begins to illuminate the
building.

The light from their torches at last falls
upon Jiron as he’s hanging there and one of them cries out when he
sees them. Two of them have crossbows and they take aim at him. One
of the soldiers says something commandingly to him in the Empire’s
language.

When he doesn’t answer or react, he changes
to the common tongue and says, “Come out of there!”

Looking at two crossbows leveled at him, he
glances down to the floor and gauges his chances.

“Don’t think about it!” the soldier exclaims
when he sees him debating about his chances of making it to the
floor. “Come out now and you won’t be hurt.”

Jiron quickly realizes he’ll never make it
without being fired upon. He swings his leg up and begins climbing
back to the top. The structure groans and another piece on the
other side of the building collapses before he makes it all the way
out. Once back out to the street, the soldiers quickly bind his
hands behind him and remove his knives.

“Move!” says the soldier who had spoken to
him before, as he pushes Jiron to get him moving. They begin
marching him down the street, toward the lights of the main
encampment.

James looks up from his position where he’s
hiding in the shadows on the floor as Jiron is taken away. Feeling
helpless but unable to do anything about it at the moment, he waits
for the soldiers to move further down the street. When the light
from their torches disappears, he begins making his way up through
the unstable wreckage back to the street. Fortunately the settling
the structure had done during the last two collapses seems to have
made it more stable and he’s able to make it to the street with
little difficulty.

When he at last makes it out of the ruined
building he can see the party of soldiers with Jiron further down
the street. Running as fast as he can, he races to catch up with
them. They’re still many blocks away from the area where the
Empire’s forces are located. He’s got to get him away from them
before they arrive, a small group he can handle, the main force
could prove more difficult.

Jiron’s captors don’t seem to be in any
hurry in taking him back to their encampment and it’s easy for
James to catch up with them. When he comes near, he slows his pace
to avoid making any more noise than necessary. He remains far
enough behind them so the light from their torches won’t give him
away.

He concentrates on Jiron’s bonds and they
break apart as he releases the magic. Jiron’s arms jerk a fraction
before he catches himself and holds them together to maintain the
illusion he’s still secured.

James follows them from a distance as he
readies several of his slugs.
More death and destruction! Will
it ever end?
After seeing the dead priests in the temple to
Asran, he has less compunction about killing Empire soldiers than
he used to. He just prays that he never gets numb to the killing,
or worse yet, gets to liking it. Before releasing the slug, the
thought crosses his mind of the woman who’ll be waiting at home for
the husband who’ll never return. Or the children who will never see
their daddy again.
He hates war and everything to do with
it!

But, he has no choice if he’s to save Jiron.
Sometimes situations in life only give you the choice between bad
and worse.

Jiron was startled when his bindings snapped
and almost wasn’t able to recover in time to prevent them from
falling to the ground. Back at the collapsing building, he had been
afraid that James might have been seriously injured, or even dead
from his fall. But when his bonds broke, he knew he was not only
alive, but following them.

The soldier marching next to him has his two
knives sticking out of his belt. He readies himself for what’s to
come next. They walk for several more yards and nothing happens.
Come on James! What’re you waiting for!

Then suddenly, one of the two soldiers
bearing a crossbow cries out as a slug erupts from his belly,
spraying blood and gore on those ahead of him. The leader of the
group shouts commands as the other crossbowman is taken out with
yet another slug.