The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five (54 page)

“
But…”

“
It’s time for you to go,” Igor tells
him. “You can stay no longer.”

“
But…” begins James but then the world
around him fades away.

They are all gathered around him as he lays
there unmoving, worried about whether or not he’ll come around.
Suddenly, his chest heaves as he takes a deep breath and his eyes
open.

He at first looks around, not remembering
where he is. Then his eyes settle upon Jiron and Miko standing
there with the others and the memory returns.

“Man are we glad you’re back,” Jiron
says.

“We were worried about you,” Miko tells
him.

Sitting up, he asks, “How long was I
out?”

“Not too long,” Uther says. “Ten minutes or
so.”

“What happened to you?” Fifer asks.

“It’s all fuzzy,” he says. “I think it was a
vision of some kind.”

“A vision?” asks Qyrll, now keenly
interested. “What was it?”

James looks around at the others and that’s
when he realizes Dave isn’t among them. “Where’s Dave?” he
asks.

“Who cares?” Jiron replies. “Probably gone
off to be by himself again.”

Getting to his feet, he looks around and
he’s nowhere to be found. “Dave!” he calls but receives no
answer.

“Did you guys do something to him?” he asks,
his eyes finally settling on Jiron.

“Don’t look at me,” he says. “If I had done
something I would’ve told you. We’ve all been here next to you ever
since you collapsed.”

“Dave!” he calls again, now becoming
worried.

To Miko he says, “Get the Star and put it in
your pouch.”

“Me?” he asks.

“Do you think that’s wise?” Jiron asks.
“Considering what happened last time that is.”

“I don’t think you have much to worry about
with the Star,” he assures them. “Morcyth is a god of learning. The
worst that could happen is that you would become smarter.”

Looking dubious at the prospect of handling
another item of such power, Miko gives in and goes over to the
chest.

“Dave!” hollers James again, now becoming
visibly agitated with worry. “Where are you?” His voice
reverberates throughout the chamber but no reply from Dave is
forthcoming.

“It’s gone!” cries Miko.

Everyone turns at his exclamation and James
rushes forward. “What do you mean it’s gone?”

“Look for yourself,” Miko says, standing
aside.

James comes forward and looks inside the
chest only to find the velvet cushion. The Star is gone!

“I’ll kill him!” exclaims Jiron. A knife
flashes in his hand as he races for the bridge spanning the chasm.
He’s soon over it and through the door.

James comes to the same unfathomable
conclusion as had Jiron. If the Star is missing, and Dave is
missing, then Dave took it. But why? “Jiron!” he screams as he
races in pursuit. The others run after him.

Increasing the brilliance of the orb, he
races through the door and into the cavern. Ahead of him he sees
the back of Jiron as he flies around the stalagmites and pools of
water.

“No!” he hears Jiron yell as he somehow
starts running even faster. In but a few seconds he realizes what
made Jiron yell. The other door, the one that was opened by placing
the cubes in the recesses is closed.

Jiron hits the hidden door but it withstands
the impact and doesn’t budge. “Dave I’ll kill you!” he screams
through the fissure.

James comes up to him and skids to a stop.
Shoving Jiron aside he puts his mouth to the fissure and yells,
“Dave!”

From the other side he can hear Dave’s
voice, “Sorry James.” His voice is full of sadness and regret. “I…I
have to.”

“Dave,” he says, trying to get his anger and
hurt under control, “open the door.”

“You don’t understand,” Dave says. “My
master needs this. H…he said I must bring it to him.”

“Dave, we’ve been friends a long time,”
James says in a clam, soothing voice. “I can’t believe you will
leave me here to die.”

Dave’s voice grows fainter as if he’s moving
away from the door. “I…I gotta go. They’ll be here any minute.” A
moment’s silence and then he says almost so quietly James can’t
make out the words, “Remember, you said you would always be my
friend. No matter what.”

“Dave!” James cries out. When there’s no
response he screams for all he’s worth, “DAVE!” When only silence
comes from the other side, anger boils up inside him and he tells
everyone, “Stand back.”

Everyone scrambles back, Fifer grabs the
miner when he doesn’t move fast enough and jerks him away from the
door. Summoning the magic, James lashes out at the door and it
explodes outward into the other room.

For a brief moment he can see the light
emanating from the Star ahead in the narrow passage leading from
the room to the stairs. Sobbing can be heard as Dave races up the
stairs.

Jiron flies past James and enters the
passage in pursuit. Rushing behind, James and the others follow.
James no sooner enters the passage than he feels the tingling
sensation of someone doing magic. Then it suddenly spikes and the
ground begins to tremble.

“Back!” he yells coming to a stop. Turning
around, he and the others beat a hasty retreat back to the room
with the cubes. Barely able to keep on their feet due to the
shaking of the ground, they race out of the passage and cross the
rubble strewn room and make their way into the cavern.

“Jiron, get back here!” James cries as he
pauses where the secret door had stood for a moment.

Then all hell breaks loose. The ground
shakes even more and stones start falling from the ceiling. A loud
roar and then a belch of dust explodes outward from the passage.
“Jiron!” cries out James as the sound of a massive cave-in reaches
them.

The rumbling continues for a few more
seconds then all becomes quiet.

“Jiron!” cries out Miko once the rumbling
subsides.

Coughing, James begins working his way back
through the room toward the collapsed passage. “Jiron!” he cries
out. “Dave!” He increases the luminosity of his orb and the light
manages to cut through the dust.

“Nothing could have survived that,” states
Uther as the passage leading out is revealed. Choked with rubble
and large stones, it doesn’t look like they could have
survived.

“Maybe they made it through to the other
side?” Miko asks hopefully.

“Let’s hope so,” says Fifer.

James works his way through the room to the
passage and is able to move several feet into it before being
forced to stop. “Jiron! Dave!” he cries.

From somewhere within the passage, a
muffled, “Here!” can be heard.

“Someone’s in there!” he cries and begins
removing the rubble.

Coming to help him, Miko says, “It must be
Jiron.”

“He was in the rear,” agrees Uther.

As Miko and James remove the rubble, the
others take the stones and pile them further back in the room away
from the opening. Slowly, the rubble is removed from the passage.
Fortunately it’s only the smaller blocks of stone which made it
this far and so between them, they are able to move them out of the
way.

“Are you okay?” asks James.

This time the unmistakable voice of Jiron
replies, “My leg’s trapped under a block of stone. I think it’s
broken.”

“Sit tight, we’ll get you out of there,”
Miko hollers.

“Is Dave with you?” James asks.

“No,” he replies. “Saw him make it out
before the ceiling caved in.”

Dave on the loose with the Star, and from
what he said on the way to the Empire’s forces to hand it over. He
just can’t believe Dave would do such a thing. What did they do to
him?

“I see your light,” Jiron tells them after
another ten minutes of digging.

James quickens his pace and removes several
more stones and climbs to the top of the remaining rubble. Holding
his light so it shines beyond, he looks down and finds Jiron lying
upon the stairs. A massive stone rests just above him and seems to
have given him some shelter against the falling rubble. His left
leg looks to be wedged under another large stone.

To the others James says, “Hurry up, we’re
almost there.”

Moving back down, they continue to clear
away the rest of the smaller stones. They’re forced to leave a
couple big slabs as they are simply too heavy for them to lift.
When at last they have all the loose rubble cleared away, James
backs away and lets Fifer and Qyrll through to see about getting
that large slab off him.

“Miko, lend us a hand,” Fifer hollers out.
“Help Jiron get his foot out when we lift the rock.

Moving in close, he says, “Alright.” He
moves in next to Jiron and takes his leg.

“Take it easy now,” Jiron tells him.

Giving him a reassuring grin, Miko says, “Of
course.”

Qyrll and Fifer get in position to lift the
stone. “On three,” says Fifer. “One…two…three!” Lifting with all
their might, he and Qyrll strain against the weight of the stone.
They manage to lift it an inch and Miko quickly pulls Jiron’s leg
free.

“He’s out!” exclaims Miko.

They carefully set the stone back down and
then move to help Jiron to his feet. Miko scrambles out of the way
as they help him back out of the passage and into the cube
room.

“Set him down over here,” James tells them,
indicating a spot on the far side of the room. He doesn’t want a
sudden collapse by the rubble in the passage to possibly cause more
damage.

They bring him over and set him on the
floor. “Easy!” he says as pain courses through his leg. When they
finally have him seated comfortably with his back against the wall,
he looks to James. “You’re friend has left us here to die.”

“I know,” he replies in anguish. “I’m
sorry.”

“What do you plan to do now?” he asks.

Fifer rolls up Jiron’s pants and inspects
the leg. “Looks like it is broken,” he says. He glances to Qyrll
and says, “Come with me.” With Qyrll behind him, they return back
to the cavern and the others can hear them walking off into the
distance. Before they get too far, the sound of a flint stone
making sparks is heard and another of Qyrll’s candles springs to
life.

James sits there in silence for a moment and
Jiron says, “You haven’t answered my question.”

“I think the first thing we need to do is
figure a way out,” he says.

“No, I mean about your friend,” he
clarifies. “He took off with a very important item.”

Sighing, James says, “I know. After we get
out, we go and get it back.”

“And Dave?” he asks.

Turning sad eyes onto Jiron, he opens his
mouth and then closes it again without uttering a sound. Finally he
just shakes his head and says, “I don’t think we’ll have to worry
about Dave anymore.”

“Why?” Jiron asks, surprised by his
answer.

“Remember back when we got the Fire?” he
asks. When Jiron nods yes, he says, “The guardian spirits said that
‘Only a son of this world may touch it. All others must surely
perish.’
The Star is similar in nature to the Fire.”

“You think he’s going to die?” Jorry asks
from where he’s been listening in.

Nodding he replies, “I don’t know what else
that could mean.”

Smashing sounds can be heard from far off
and soon, Fifer and Qyrll come back with several long wooden pieces
they broke off from the chest which had contained the Star. Using
them for splints, they tear off strips of cloth from their shirts
and bind the broken leg tight.

“That should hold for now,” Fifer says. “A
priest could do a better job, but we’re lacking one just now.”

“You could do it,” Jiron says.

James turns his attention back to Jiron and
sees him staring at him. “I’m no priest,” he protests.

“Didn’t you say that the spirit of the long
dead priest of Morcyth called you one?” he asks.

“Well, yes he did,” he replies. “But he was
mistaken.”

“I don’t think so,” he says. “You’re in good
with Morcyth, after all you bear the medallion with his Star. And
it has sprung to life for you before.”

“I know, but I don’t understand how that
happened,” he counters. “I don’t even know if I can heal. Frankly
it scares me to death. I just don’t know enough about cell
structure and vein integrity or anything.” He looks at Jiron and
finally says, “I could wind up doing more harm than good.”

“Very well,” he says.

“So, how are we to get out of here?” the
miner asks. “I don’t know much about what you all are mixed up in
but I do know we’ll never move that stone without more falling down
on our heads.”

“Any ideas?” asks James as he glances around
the assembled group.

“Blast it out,” Miko says. “Use your magic
and clear it away.”

“Even if I could, there’s no guarantee that
I wouldn’t bring down more on top of us,” he says. “Remember, we’re
under a mountain, a really big mountain.” When he sees the lack of
hope in Miko’s face, he adds, “If all else fails, I’ll try.”

They pick up Jiron and aid him in moving to
the large cavern, finally stopping next to the stream. James bends
over and takes a long drink as he considers the next step. He
doesn’t have that long to dink around, the Star is most likely on
the move toward the Empire. He’s not sure exactly what would happen
should it reach Dmon-Li’s priests, but it can’t be good.

Almost absentmindedly his eyes follow the
stream to where it leaves the cavern through the hole in the wall.
Sudden realization hits him, the hole is large enough for them to
make it through. Coming to his feet, all eyes are drawn to him as
he indicates the outflow of the stream and says, “Maybe we could
make it through there?”

They turn to see where he’s pointing, Uther
jumps up and says, “Might work.”

“Yeah,” adds Jorry, “the lake out there has
to be fed from somewhere. There was water flowing out of it so
there must be water flowing in as well.”