The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five (4 page)

“This is the town of Trendle,” he tells Dave
as they pass through. “Not much more than a farming community, but
it’s a nice place to live. The people are good, if a bit stand
offish at first. You’ll like it here.”

Dave looks around but makes no comment.

After leaving Trendle, they soon come to the
lane leading to The Ranch. Devin has the duty of guarding the
entrance today. When he sees James coming, he takes his horn and
blows a single note.

James pauses upon reaching him and asks,
“What was that for?”

“They wanted to know when you showed up,” he
replies with a smile.

When he glances to Dave, James says, “This
is my friend Dave. He doesn’t speak the language yet.”

Devin gives Dave a nod who nods in
return.

Getting the horses moving again, they make
their way down the lane to the house. Indicating the construction
going on, James says, “I’m having a new house built as well as a
few other buildings.”

“Doing well then?” Dave asks.

Sighing, James replies, “Yes, actually.”
Almost everyone has come out to see what’s going on, they’re all
anxious to find out what went on over at Ceryn’s.

A quiet muttering can be heard as they
approach, many casting glances to Dave riding beside him. As he
comes close, James says, “This is Dave, a friend from where I come
from.” At that, he can see several of them react in surprise, the
ones who know the full tale of his past. “He doesn’t speak the
language yet, but I want each of you to treat him well.”

To Caleb, Illan says, “Take their
horses.”

“Yes, sir,” he replies and steps up to take
their reins as they dismount.

“Ezra has dinner ready for you,” Roland
tells him. “When you have a minute, we need to go over a few
things.” As James gives him a questioning look, he adds, “Nothing
pressing.”

“Okay,” he says and then to Dave he asks,
“Hungry?”

“You bet,” he replies.

Leading him through the front door, James
takes him through to the kitchen where Ezra has two plates set out,
each overflowing with food. Someone must’ve forewarned her about
Dave, maybe saw them coming down the lane from the road.

As he sits down to eat, he can hear Illan
from the other room telling everyone to go about their business and
to leave him alone with his friend. Miko, Jiron and Roland join him
at the table. After a brief round of introductions, he gives them a
brief rundown of what Dave told him.

James can feel the awkwardness in the room
and realizes the dynamics of his group have just changed with the
introduction of an important person from his past. None, even Dave,
are sure of how to act or what to do. But he hopes that will change
over time.

To Roland he asks, “What’s going on?”

“Delia returned with the money from the sale
of those knives you made,” he begins. “Got twelve hundred golds for
the lot. She also dropped off another sack of crystals, it’s out in
your workshop. Surprised you didn’t pass her on your way through
Trendle, she just left.”

“I gave her some of those gems Fifer and I
collected,” adds Jiron. “She’s going to try and find that gem
cutter Alexander mentioned next time she’s in Bearn.”

“It looks like our money problems are over,”
Roland says happily.

To Jiron he asks, “Where’s Aleya?”

“She and Errin are out hunting,” he
explains. “They’ve become rather good friends and have appointed
themselves the hunters of the group. Makes sense as they’re the
best with bows we have.”

“She’s picking up her letters pretty quickly
too,” adds Roland.

“How is the class going?” James asks
him.

“Most are doing well,” he says. “I’ve
started them off with basic letters and we’ll progress from
there.”

Nodding, James continues eating as he mulls
over the information they are giving him. From the front room, he
hears Tersa begin a song as the evening gathering commences.
Finishing his meal, he says to Dave, “Every evening, we have a get
together in the front room where people sing songs or tell stories.
Let’s join them.”

Looking slightly out of place, Dave
hesitantly says, “Okay.”

They get up and make their way to the front
room where James sees his favorite chair vacant as well as another
someone placed next to it for Dave. Taking their seats, they settle
back as Tersa finishes her song.

After a song by Jace about a farmer and his
cow, Jorry and Uther begin another of their improbable tales. James
does his best to translate for his friend while they relate the
events of a journey to save a merchant’s daughter from a band of
slavers.

During a lull, he relates Dave’s tale one
last time to those gathered so they will better understand what’s
going on with him. As well as to squash any wild rumors which may
be in the making.

By the end of the evening, Dave has begun to
visibly relax. The stories and songs, though in a language he’s
unable to comprehend, helps to bring him into the group. When at
last it’s time for it to end, James offers to share his bed with
his friend. When they’re in his bedroom alone and the door closes,
Dave turns to James and says, “I’m glad I found you.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed as he begins
pulling off his boots, James replies, “Me too. I’m really sorry you
went through what you did.”

“Hey,” interjects Dave, “you didn’t do the
things that were done to me, and I don’t want you to feel blame.
It’s not your fault.”

James just continues getting undressed in
silence. Then both he and Dave crawl under the covers and they
spend the next hour talking of home, the things they miss the most,
that sort of thing. Eventually, sleep comes and takes them
away.

AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

A cry in the night startles James out of a
dead sleep. Dave is thrashing around in the bed next to him caught
up in some nightmare. He turns to him and shakes him vigorously as
he says, “Wake up!”

The door to his room bursts open as Jiron
rushes in wearing nothing but his nightclothes with both knives
drawn and ready.

Dave sits up and lets out another scream as
he snaps awake. “He’s just having a nightmare,” James says to the
crowd who’s gathered at his door. “Go back to bed.”

“Thought someone was dying in here,”
comments Jiron as he leaves the room, shutting the door behind
him.

Dave’s eyes dart around for several moments
as if he’s not aware of where he is. Slowly, his breathing begins
calming down and his eyes settle on James. “You okay?” James
asks.

“Yeah,” he says, voice quavering. James can
still feel him shaking from whatever nightmare he just experienced.
“Thought I was somewhere else for a minute.”

“Where?” James inquires.

Turning his eyes to James, he says very
quietly, “I don’t know. It’s fading.”

“That’s the way with some dreams,” says his
friend. “Just try to go back to sleep.”

“I’ll try,” replies Dave.

What happened to him in the Empire
must’ve really screwed him up.
Worry about his friend keeps
James from falling asleep for awhile, but eventually he makes
it.

The next morning, he wakes up before Dave
and gets dressed quietly so as not to wake him. Going to the
kitchen, Ezra prepares a plate of food and sets it before him on
the table.

From where she’s cleaning up at the
washbasin, she asks, “How is your friend?”

“Alright, I guess,” he says. “Did he disturb
you last night?”

“I think he disturbed everyone last night,”
she replies.

“Sorry about that,” he apologizes. “He went
through a bad time in the Empire.”

“I understand,” she says.

He eats in silence and when he’s through
tells her that he’ll be out in his workshop should anyone need
him.

Once out the back door, he sees where Illan
has the recruits doing morning exercises as they begin their daily
drill. Glad he’s not one of them, he walks across to his workshop
and goes inside.

The sack of crystals Delia brought is
sitting atop his workbench. He checks and finds them similar to the
ones she brought before. Next he goes over and makes sure the
receiver crystal isn’t aglow. A glow would indicate someone or
something has disturbed the hiding place of the Fire. He’d hate to
think what that would mean. Satisfied it has remained undisturbed,
he goes back to the problem of what he learned in Saragon.

If the old man’s family hasn’t unraveled the
mystery in the centuries it’s been in their keeping, what hope do I
have?

Knock! Knock!

“Come in!” he hollers.

The door opens and Dave walks in. “Good
morning!” James says cheerfully.

“You too,” he replies. The cheerfulness that
he once knew in his friend is nowhere to be found. The harshness of
his recent past has subdued his spirit measurably.

“What are you doing?” he asks as he comes
over to the workbench. Looking around, he takes in the sack of
crystals on the floor next to him and the other things James has in
his workshop. Reaching down, he picks up one of the crystals out of
the sack and takes a look at it.

“Just some thinking,” James replies.

“You always did do a lot of that back home,”
he says.

James considers what to tell his friend
about his life here, what he’s up to and what he can do with magic.
“True,” he says. “I want to show you something.”

Putting the crystal back in the sack he
asks, “What?” Turning to look at James he sees him holding out his
hand, palm up. Suddenly, a glowing orb appears, springing to life
upon his hand. “Whoa!” Dave exclaims as he leans closer to look.
“How did you do that?”

James cancels the orb and it disappears.
“Remember that ad I showed you in the lunch room?”

“Yeah,” he replies.

“Remember how it said ‘Magic! Real Magic!
Ever wanted to learn?’?” he asks. “Since coming here, I’ve been
able to do magic. I even brought Rocky to life.”

“Rocky?” questions Dave, not entirely
understanding what he’s talking about.

“Sure,” he says. “That stone construct you
always used to use during our role playing games.”

“Oh, right,” he says. “How do you do
it?”

“Just concentrate, think what I want to do,
and it happens,” explains James. “That’s the basics though it is a
little more complicated than that.”

“Can anyone do it?” he asks. “Could I?”

“Maybe, I don’t know,” he says. “Most of the
people of this world can’t. You need a calm mind and concentration,
I don’t know if you’ll be able to right now in the state you’re
in.”

Holding out his hand, Dave concentrates on
forming something similar to the glowing orb he saw James make.
After several moments, nothing happens. Lowering his arm, he gazes
to him with a frustrated look. “Can’t do it.”

“Maybe once you’re life has quieted down
you’ll make it happen,” encourages James. He can see his friend’s
disappointment at not being able to summon the orb.

“Maybe,” he says. “What else can you
do?”

“A lot,” he replies. “Whatever I can
imagine, provided I have enough power to do it, I can.”

For the next several hours, they sit and
talk about this world, magic, and some of James’ experiences since
coming here. He doesn’t mention the Fire or some of the other
stranger occurrences he’s encountered, like spirits of dead priests
and headless torsos.

After lunch, he takes Dave back to the
workshop where they spend the rest of the afternoon just being
together and talking of old times. It seems that reminiscing about
the past brings him a better mood, or maybe it’s just being away
from the others.

That night during the evening gathering,
Dave seems a little more animated, as if his old self is once more
trying to assert itself. A smile actually comes to him during one
of Tersa’s songs.

Seeing his friend come alive more and more
gives James encouragement that the devastation wrought upon him by
his time as a slave may not be irreversible. On their way to bed
after the evening winds down, he actually hears his friend humming
one of Tersa’s songs to himself. He goes to sleep feeling much
better about things than he had the night before.

Get out!

A cry startles him out of a sound sleep in
the middle of the night. Then another scream followed by the sound
of a scuffle. Thinking they’re under attack, he grabs his slug belt
and races out the bedroom door.

In the light of a candle held by Roland, he
sees Jiron on top of someone outside of Tersa’s door. One of his
knives is held to the throat of the man on the floor. As he comes
closer, he sees it’s his friend Dave.

“What happened here?” he demands as the
others in the house come to see what the commotion is. Illan and
Fifer both have their swords in hand believing an attack was in
progress.

Everyone starts talking at once. “Quiet!” he
shouts, cutting through the noise. Everyone becomes quiet as they
look at him. Turning to Jiron he asks, “What happened?”

“Your friend here was about to accost my
sister!” he says with vehemence.

“I didn’t do anything James,” exclaims Dave.
“I swear!” He may not have understood what Jiron had said, but the
accusation in his voice was unmistakable.

From the doorway to her room, Tersa says,
“He came in here and grabbed me!”

He sees the pleading in Dave’s eyes and the
anger and promise of violence in Jiron’s.

“I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding?”
he says.

“Misunderstanding?” shouts Jiron. “I aught
to kill him right now!”

“I went to the bathroom and got mixed up in
the dark,” pleads Dave. “I got lost and went into the wrong room!”
He looks to James, imploring him to believe him.

“Get off him Jiron,” he says.

When Jiron hesitates, he adds, “Now
please.”