The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five (52 page)

“Dave!” exclaims James as he comes to stand
near them.

“Sorry to have to say that James,” he says,
“but it’s true. You care more about these butchers than you do
about me. And I’ve been your friend longer.”

“Butchers?” Uther retorts his anger getting
the best of him. “We ain’t the ones going around killing
girls!”

At that Dave looks in shock at him and takes
a step backward.

Uther turns his attention to James and says,
“That’s right. He’s the one who’s been killing all the girls
wherever we go.”

James looks in horror at Uther then glances
to Dave. “Is this true?” he asks, voice barely able to speak the
words.

Before he has a chance to reply, Jorry adds,
“We saw him with that innkeeper’s daughter the evening before she
turned up dead.”

Looking pleadingly at his friend, Dave says,
“I had nothing to do with her death. You’ve got to believe me.”

“You were with her then?” he asks.

Nodding, he says, “For a short time. She was
nice and we talked, but that was all. I left her alive!” Glancing
at the others standing around him, he sees they don’t believe him.
“You all are just trying to turn him against me!”

“Is that what you were planning on doing to
Tersa?” asks Jiron enraged.

“Everyone settle down!” yells James. “Jiron,
back off.”

Jiron flashes him a look but holds his
ground.

“Now, did anyone see him kill anybody?” he
asks. Looking around at them, he sees them all shake their heads
negatively. To Uther he asks, “What makes you believe this?”

“Girls have ended up dead wherever we go,”
he explains. “I think it more than coincidence that he was seen in
the company of one before she turns up dead.”

“James,” Dave whispers, “you’ve got to
believe me.”

“He’s also been acting odd ever since he’s
joined us,” adds Fifer. “Moody, easily angered.”

“What he’s been through could explain that
easily enough,” James replies. He looks to his friend and sees a
look of abject pleading.
Could it be?
The thought goes
against what he knows of his friend and he refuses to even give it
credence by considering it more.

He gazes from one to the other, in
everyone’s eyes he can see they believe him to be guilty. At last
his eyes settle on his friend, his life long friend. So many times
Dave’s been there for him. He knows what kind of person he is and
it isn’t a killer. Years of shared experiences, fun, is he to throw
all of it away?

The others are waiting for him to make a
decision but it’s one which can only go one way. “Since no one
witnessed the act, I can’t bring myself to believe it could
happen,” he finally says. “Where I come from we believe in the
credo ‘Innocent until proven guilty’. As no one saw the crime, I
cannot simply assume his guilt.”

“Then you believe me?” asks Dave. His lower
lip trembles as he awaits James’ answer.

“Yes Dave,” he says, “I believe you.”

“Well I don’t,” Jiron says as he moves
toward Dave.

“Jiron!” cries James but he pays no
attention.

Before anyone can react, Jiron strikes out
with a first and connects with Dave’s jaw, sending him flying
backward. He stumbles into Fifer who pushes him forward only to be
greeted by another roundhouse which lifts him off the ground a
foot.

Oof!

His breath is knocked out of him as his back
slams to the ground.

“Jiron stop it!” cries James and rushes to
protect his friend but Jorry and Uther grab his arms, preventing
him from interfering.

Walking toward Dave lying on the ground,
Jiron says, “This has needed doing for far too long.” Dave tries to
scramble backward out of his reach but Jiron reaches him and kicks
him hard in the side.

Crying out, Dave rolls over and continues
rolling to avoid the next kick which barely misses him.

“You’ll kill him!” James yells but Jiron
doesn’t even flinch.

Dave suddenly rolls right to the side of the
outcropping and runs out of space as he rolls against the rock.
“You’re out of room,” Jiron says as he nears.

“No!” cries out James as Jiron pulls back
his foot to kick him in the head. Suddenly, a wave of force ripples
through the air toward Jiron and throws him through the air where
he strikes the outcropping. Falling to the ground, he gets to his
feet quickly and turns a face full of rage toward James.

“Let me go!” he yells to Jorry and Uther who
promptly let go. He rushes over to his friend lying on the ground,
blood oozing from the corner of his mouth where he bit his lip when
Jiron struck him.

“Dave!” he cries out and Dave looks up at
him just before passing out. Making sure he’s okay first, he then
turns to the others. Jiron is getting up off the ground and James
says, “No one will hurt him. Do you understand?”

Jiron glares at him.

“You are my friend,” he says to him. Then to
the others he adds, “You all are but this witch hunt will end
here,” he says. “Dave will not be mistreated in any way. If you
have proof, lay it before me otherwise I don’t want to hear
it.”

He stares at each in turn and one by one
they give him a nod. When he at last comes to Jiron he waits but no
nod is forthcoming. “Jiron, you are to leave him alone,” he
insists.

Jiron simply stares back at him in defiance.
He never thought to be on the receiving end of James’ magic and
he’s not sure how to take it. After another moment, he nods his
head almost imperceptibly.

“You okay?” he asks Jiron.

Giving him another slight nod he turns away
and walks out of the lighted area into the night. Qyrll and Fifer
go with him.

He watches him stalk away, saddened by the
fact he used his power on him. Jiron has always been a trusted
companion and with any luck this won’t come between them. Returning
his attention to his friend Dave, he kneels down next to him.

Laying a hand upon his chest, he gives him a
little shake and says softly, “Dave.” When he receives no reaction,
he shakes him more vigorously, “Dave, wake up!”

Eyes flying open, they look around quickly
but then finally focus on James’ face there before him.

“How are ya doing?” he asks, concern for his
friend in his voice.

“Where’s Jiron?” he asks in reply.

Nodding off to the side, he says, “Over
there somewhere. He won’t bother you again.”

Sitting up, Dave looks around at the others
staring at him, distrust and a little bit of anger is all he sees.
“I’m sorry for everything James,” he finally says.

“It’s alright Dave,” assures James. “I
understand.” Getting up, he holds out a hand.

Taking it, he makes it to his feet. His jaw
is sore from where Jiron connected with it but otherwise still
serviceable.

James glances around and that’s when he
notices the outcropping where Jiron hit is cracked. He didn’t think
Jiron hit all that hard but a one inch crack runs down the side.
Intrigued for some reason, he moves toward it and realizes the
crack is much too straight and even to be the result of the
impact.

Uther comes up behind him and says, “Maybe
we should resume the search in the morning when there’s more light
and everyone has had a chance to calm down.”

Not paying him any attention, James reaches
out to the crack and inserts his fingers within it. Pulling
slightly, the crack widens and then the piece of outcropping
suddenly comes loose and falls to the ground with a crash.

“Would you look at that,” Jorry says from
where he and Uther are standing behind James. Everyone moves closer
to look, even Jiron comes out of the dark to see what’s going
on.

On the face of the outcropping where the
other piece detached is engraved the Star of Morcyth. “James,” Miko
breathes in anticipation, “use your medallion.”

Taking it out, he removes it from around his
neck and sets it in the diagram. When nothing happens, he tries to
turn it and a good portion of the rock surrounding the Star rotates
a quarter turn before stopping.

From further up the outcropping, a grinding
noise can be heard as a section of the rock face rises. Jiron
rushes over and peers inside. He glances to where James and the
others are watching, “Stairs and they go down.”

“That’s it!” exclaims James. Removing the
Star from the diagram in the outcropping, he places it around his
neck again and hurries over to where Jiron stands next to the
opening. The glowing orbs illuminating the clearing suddenly wink
out and a single one springs to life on the palm of his hand.
“Let’s go,” he says as he moves through the opening and begins to
take the stairs down.

Jiron and Dave both move to be the next to
follow, but after a warning glare from Jiron, Dave backs down and
is the third through. Even the miner goes with them, intrigued by
all the unusual happenings. Of course most likely he didn’t want to
remain out there all by himself.

Finally, Jorry and Uther bring up the rear
and the clearing is once more dark and quiet.

The first thing James notices after entering
the opening is a slight breeze coming from within. It brings the
smell of earth and mustiness with it. Twenty steps bring him to a
small narrow way carved out of the rock. Barely wide enough to
allow one man to walk without scraping his shoulders, it extends
further into the mountain.

“Be careful,” Jiron says to him.

“Hadn’t planned on not being careful,” he
replies.

He follows the narrow passageway and
eventually comes to a natural cavern that’s barely large enough for
them all to fit. One section of the wall on their right has been
smoothed and seven recesses have been carved into the surface.

Six of the recesses sit in two rows, one
atop the other. The first and third in each row are of uniform size
and each center recess is a third of the size of the others. It
goes: large, small, large. The seventh recess is a foot away from
the others along the wall and contains many small iron cubes.

Miko moves to the cubes and picks one up.
Rust has begun to eat away at it but the cube hasn’t deteriorated
very much. Holding it up for James to see he says, “Wonder what
these are for?”

“I don’t know,” James replies. Glancing
around he realizes the only way for them to leave is the way they
came. The breeze he’s been feeling is coming through a small narrow
fissure in the wall on the opposite side from where the recesses
lie.

“Another secret door?” Jiron asks. He
remembers all the other times when it looked like there was no way
to proceed and each time James had managed to discover a secret
door.

“I would think so,” he says. “Everybody
stand back and give me room.” He begins examining the walls with
his fingers, checking every nook and cranny. When he gets to the
fissure where the breeze is blowing through he brings his orb close
to try to look through to the other side but is unable to see
anything. Spending extra time there, he fails to find anything and
then moves on.

“Going to use your magic?” Jiron asks.

Shrugging he says, “If I have too. But let’s
see if it can be figured out without that. Might attract unwanted
visitors, though they may already know we’re here anyway.”

“At the foot of the king, bathe in his cup,
pull his beard to make him sit up,” Fifer says from where he’s
standing watching James do his thing. “That makes sense now. At the
base of Kiliticus, you got on the water and saw a bearded figure
made by the shadows cast by the setting sun. At the spot where the
shadow’s beard lay, we pulled down a piece of the outcropping and
with your medallion, a piece rose up.”

He glances over to where James had paused in
his search to listen to him. “Maybe the next set of lines will aid
us here.”

Seven to Nine,

Six to Four.

Spit in the wind,

And open the door.

“That’s the last of the prophecy,” he
says.

“Okay then,” says Fifer. “There’s a breeze
coming through here so that could be the wind. But what does seven
to nine and six to four have to do with anything?”

“How about these?” suggests Miko. Everyone
turns and sees him there with one of the iron cubes in his hand.
“These have to be here for a reason.”

“Could the numbers mentioned in the prophecy
correlate to the two rows of holes in the wall?” Qyrll asks.

Coming to where Miko stands before the iron
cubes, James does a quick count and finds there probably could be
enough to put the specified numbers in each of the four major
recesses. “Let’s see,” he says as he and Miko begin taking the
cubes from their resting place and putting them in the
recesses.

On the top row they put seven cubes in the
left one and nine in the right. The second row gets six in the
first one and four in the last. “There’s still some left over,”
Miko says as he points to the four cubes left.

“That’s probably to throw off whoever makes
it this far,” suggests James. “Without the prophecy they would be
trying to use them all and it wouldn’t work.”

Nodding, he replies, “Makes sense.”

They all hold their breath for a moment,
expecting something to happen, but the room remains quiescent.
“Nothing’s happening,” Uther says.

“Maybe you should spit into the wind,” the
miner suggests. When James turns to look at him he shrugs and says,
“It is part of the prophecy.”

“Very well,” he says. To the others he says,
“Stand back.” As the others move to get out of the way, he turns to
face the breeze and lets fly a big wad of spittle. Just then a gust
suddenly blows through the opening and causes the spittle to fly
back toward him and hits him in the face.

“Hahahaha,” Miko breaks into uncontrollable
laughter as James begins wiping his face clean with his arm.

“Well that didn’t accomplish anything,” he
says, giving Miko an irritated look. No wall opened or
anything.