The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five (19 page)

Just before he’s led from the dock area
completely, he casts one more look toward the ship and sees James
as he’s led aboard.

“You’re not going to get away with this!”
Illan tells him as they leave the dock area.

“And who is going to stop me?” he asks.
“You? You’re wanted for murdering a visiting diplomat. We even have
witnesses.”

“James’ retribution will be hard indeed when
he learns of your involvement,” threatens Miko.

“I think I have little to fear from him,” he
says. “It’s unlikely we’ll ever see him again.”

Miko’s anger turns to worry for his friend.
If he is drugged and incapable of using his magic, just what can he
do? In a fight he’s pretty useless, he can’t use a sword or
anything. And then his mind turns to Gwynne and Daria, those sweet
girls now in the hands of merciless men who only want to make a
profit off them. He feels they’ll be safe until they’re auctioned
off, girls who are untouched tend to go for more. But how long do
they have until they stand upon the auction block?

Glancing back, he can see Paul and the rest
of his group following along behind, keeping a discreet
distance.

They proceed in silence as they’re lead
through the streets. He’s pretty sure they’re being taken to the
castle area though not entirely. Up ahead the street opens into a
wide plaza with a large central fountain where several streets
converge. Along the edges are many merchants selling a variety of
goods to the people passing through.

“Thief!”

A cry from across the plaza draws their
attention. “Guards! Thief!” a fat merchant selling loaves of bread
hollers as a boy races away through the crowd with one of the
merchant’s loaves tucked under his arm.

Members of the city guard in the area give
immediate chase. The boy races through the crowd, dodging nimbly as
he makes his way to one of the streets which merges onto the
plaza.

“Stop!” one of the guards hollers to the boy
but the lad ignores the command and reaches the street. Soon, both
he and the guards are out of sight.

At first, Miko had thought this some ploy of
Paul and the others, but when he didn’t recognize the one who stole
the bread, he dismisses the idea. As their group crosses the plaza
and come near the beautiful fountain of three women who are pouring
water out of earthen jugs, he sees the boy who Paul had sent
running back at the docks when they were being led away by Lord
Colerain. He’s standing on the edge of the fountain.

Suddenly, he raises his hand and the crowd
around them surges as dozens of boys, ranging from older teens to a
couple who couldn’t be more than eight or nine, jump the guards
surrounding Miko and the others.

As the guards are thrown to the ground, a
melee erupts and soon the whole area is one big mass of fighting.
Regular citizens scream as they race away from the combatants. Paul
appears out of the maelstrom of fighting, struggling people. “Come
on!” he cries as he takes Miko’s arm.

Leading him away, Illan and the others
follow right behind as they make a break for the far side of the
plaza.

“Get them!” “Smash their face!” Cries ring
out throughout the plaza as the boys pummel Lord Colerain and his
guards. Miko glances back and sees a guard run one boy through with
his sword just as two more boys tackle him from behind. A knife
flashes in one of the boy’s hand and the guard soon lies still upon
the ground.

“We don’t have much time!” urges Paul as
they enter the street and leave the plaza behind. Soon, horns can
be heard as the city guard makes its presence known. They begin
flooding into the plaza from all directions.

“Who were those guys?” Jiron asks him.

“Friends,” Paul replies. Taking them through
back alleys, he leads them on a circuitous path back to the harbor.
When they get there, they see the Empire’s ship already away from
the docks and heading out to sea.

“Damn!” Illan cries. “We’re too late.”

Miko turns to him and asks, “What can we do
now?”

Illan stands there in indecision.

When no answer is forthcoming, Jiron says,
“We have to do something!”

“Jiron?” a voice off in the crowd asks.

He turns to find Meliana standing there in
disbelief. “I didn’t think I was going to find any of you,” she
says. Breaking into a smile, she says, “Father said it was
unlikely, but I thought…”

“Meliana!” he cries, startling her with the
intensity with which he said her name. “You have a ship!”

“Well yes we do,” she replies. “It’s my
father’s really. He was nice enough to allow me to…”

Miko comes forward and says, “Take us to
your father.”

“Quick!” insists Jiron.

Her eyes widen as she recognizes him from
when he had originally spoke to her and her father earlier. She
glance to him, then to Jiron, “Miko?”

Jiron nods and takes her hand. “Yes. We
don’t have time to explain. James is in trouble and we need to see
your father right away.”

Gasping, she says, “Trouble?”

“Yes,” replies Jiron. “Now, where’s your
father.”

Turning slightly, she points to a vessel at
the dock, “He’s just finishing loading our cargo…”

Dragging her quickly, he heads in that
direction. The rest of their group follows. “What’s going on?” she
asks as they run toward where her father is directing the unloading
of the last wagon.

“James is being taken back to the Empire,”
he says. “I think they mean to execute him.” He hears her gasp as
she begins to understand the gravity of the situation.

As they reach the docks, Jiron sees her
father at the top of the gangplank checking off the manifest as the
cargo comes aboard.

“Father!” Meliana cries as they reach the
ship.

Looking down to her from the deck of the
ship, her father says, “Where were you? I was almost ready to send
someone to find you.”

“James is in trouble!” she cries out as she
and Jiron reach the gangplank and run up to the deck of the
ship.

“What’s this?” he asks. He backs a little
away from the gangplank as Illan and the others follow them on
board.

Indicating Jiron, she says, “This is Jiron,
James’ friend.”

“Nice to meet you young man,” he says as he
extends his hand.

Jiron takes it as he glances to the
departing ship carrying James. “Sir, we need your help,” he
says.

“Help?” he asks.

“Father, James is in trouble,” his daughter
exclaims. “He’s being taken back to the Empire. We have to help
him.” She takes him by the arm and looks pleadingly in his eyes and
says, “They’re going to kill him!”

“That’s right sir,” interjects Jiron.
Pointing to the ship that’s now pulling away from the docks under
sail, he adds, “He’s aboard that ship.”

He glances to the departing ship and
recognizes it as the Ambassador’s. Looking into the pleading eyes
of his only offspring, his will to resist melts away. “But what can
I do?” he asks. “I’m not about to have my crew board the
Ambassador’s ship. We’re not pirates.”

“But father!” exclaims her daughter.

“No,” he says, refusing though his heart
would have him do otherwise. “I cannot bring our house to ruin over
one man.” His voice softens as he adds, “No matter how much you
care for him.”

Tears begin to well in her eyes as she sees
her hopes being dashed upon the sound logic of her father.

“Could you at least follow him?” suggests
Illan. “You wouldn’t have to do anything, just drop us off wherever
they land?”

Meliana looks to her father, hope beginning
to spring anew.

He stands there and thinks for a full minute
before turning to the captain of the ship and says, “Prepare to get
underway.”

Having heard the entire conversation, the
captain knows just what is in store and begins shouting commands as
the sailors bring in the last of the cargo.

“Thank you, father,” Meliana says as she
gives him a hug and kiss.

Looking slightly embarrassed at this display
of affection before everyone on board, he gives her a smile as he
quickly disengages from her embrace.

“You should return to shore,” Miko says to
Paul.

Shaking his head, Paul says, “I don’t plan
to return to Cardri without Gwynne and Daria.” The determination in
his eyes forestalls any objection Miko was about to make.

As the last sailor brings aboard the last of
the cargo, the captain hollers, “Bring in the gangplank! Cast off
the lines!”

One sailor pulls in the gangplank while dock
workers untie the guy lines securing them to the docks.

The captain hollers to the men up in the
rigging to drop sail. As the sail descends, the wind begins to fill
them and they start moving away from the dock. As he gets the ship
turned out to sea, Miko, Jiron and the others stand at the bow. The
other ship is now far ahead of them and is almost lost upon the
horizon.

Once the ship clears the harbor, the captain
has the crew in the riggings to drop full sails and the ship begins
racing through the water as they work to maintain visual contact
with their prey.

When they come to take him from his pen, they remove everything
from him but the clothes on his back. His slug belt, plus the
entire contents of all his pockets were emptied into a sack before
the manacles were put on his feet and hands.

The effects of the drug they used on him
have reduced to nothing, though he is still unable to concentrate
adequately enough to summon the magic. Helpless to do otherwise, he
remains still as they secure the metal around his feet and
hands.

Only able to shuffle due to the chain
connecting his feet together, he moves as best he can up the stairs
and then out of the castle. A crowd has gathered in the castle’s
courtyard to see the Ambassador off and maybe to take one last look
at the mage.

He stands there amidst several guards while
they wait for the appearance of the Ambassador and his retinue.
When he at last makes his appearance, walking next to him is the
man who paid him a visit earlier. That man comes to James and
checks the integrity of his manacles before they start to leave the
castle courtyard.

As they walk along the docks, he sees Jiron
and the others in the crowd. He shakes his head to prevent any ill
fated rescue attempt. There are simply too many guards around for
it to have any chance of success. Especially with his magic
inoperable.

He is then marched up the gangplank and then
escorted by several of the Ambassador’s guards to the hold where
his manacles are secured to the wall by a chain. Over in one
corner, ten children sit in a cage looking scared.

Once they are done with him, the guards
leave the hold, leaving him there alone with the kids.

He sits there in the gloom of the hold, only
a very small amount of light filtering down through the hatch from
above. It isn’t long before he begins to feel the unmistakable
motion of the ship moving out to sea.

One of the girls, a small child, is staring
at him with her face pressed against the bars of the cage. He gives
her a reassuring smile. She smiles back at him. “Are you Miko’s
friend?” she asks.

He couldn’t have been more stunned than if
she started singing the Star Spangled Banner. “What?” he asks.

“Are you Miko’s friend?” she repeats. One of
the older girls in the cage with her perks up at that and joins her
next to the bars.

“Yes,” he replies. “I know Miko.”

“He’s a nice man,” she says.

“I’ve always thought so,” he says.
How in
the world does she know him? And how could she possibly have
connected him to me?

“We were helping to keep an eye on the
Ambassador’s camp for him,” the older girl explains. “We got a
little too close and they grabbed us.” After a brief pause, she
asks, “What are they going to do with us?”

“Nothing if I can help it,” he says. “Miko
and the others with him know where we are and where we are going.
They’ll not sit back and do nothing.”

“I hope not,” the little one says. “I miss
my sister.”

“My name is James by the way,” he tells
her.

The older girl says, “I’m Gwynne and this
here is Daria.”

“That’s me,” the younger girl explains to
him.

“Nice to meet both of you,” he says. “I just
wish it wasn’t here.”

Just then the hatch opens and James looks up
to see the man who visited him in the dungeon. The man gazes down
at him for a brief moment before stepping aside to allow the
Ambassador to step onto the stairs leading down into the hold of
the ship.

After the Ambassador has gone down a few
steps, the man follows as does three guards, one of which has a
crossbow.

The girls move away from the bars of their
cage as the men come down the stairs. When they reach the bottom,
they come directly to James and stop several feet away. Far enough
to keep him from reaching them should he make the attempt.

“So this is the mage which has caused so
much turmoil in the Empire?” questions the Ambassador. The guards
flank him while the crossbowman keeps his crossbow aimed directly
at James’ chest.

“Yes milord,” the other man says.

The Ambassador gives James a thorough once
over before saying, “He doesn’t look like much.”

“Right now his ability to use his power has
been blocked,” the man tells him. “If he had his power I assure you
your opinion would be different.”

“Indeed,” the Ambassador says,
unconvinced.

After a few moments of silence while the
Ambassador contemplates James, the other man says, “We should
return to the deck milord. The air down here is most foul for your
lordship.”

Glancing to the other man, the Ambassador
nods his head and says, “Perhaps you’re right.” Turning back to the
stairs leading to the deck above, he moves away from James and the
guards follow. As they ascend the stairs, the other man glances
back to James just before exiting through the hatch.