The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five (59 page)

He can feel the magic from the Star,
different than that which he feels when mages summon it. The glow
from the Star envelopes Fifer and they all move back as they watch
what happens.

For a full minute, Miko and Fifer are
surrounded by the glow. Finally Fifer’s chest begins to rise and
fall as he starts to breathe on his own. The wound where his leg
was severed begins to close as new skin forms over the wound.

Fifer’s eyes flutter open and the glow
dissipates.

“You did it!” Jiron says excitedly. To Fifer
he asks, “How do you feel?”

“Tired,” he replies softly.

“You go ahead and rest then,” Jiron tells
him and he closes his eyes again.

Miko glances from one to the other. “You
okay?” James asks him.

“I…I think so,” he says. “I feel good.” The
patches of singed hair on his head are as new, as are the other
scrapes and injuries he had before healing Fifer. The Star healed
him too.

James smiles at him and then grimaces as the
pain begins throbbing again from where the bolt is sticking out of
his thigh. Jiron comes over and asks, “Should we have Miko fix you
too?”

Shaking his head, he says, “I wouldn’t use
that” pointing to the Star, “unless it was a matter of life or
death.”

“It’s got to come out,” Jiron tells him.

“I know. Best do it now.”

“Qyrll, give me a hand,” he says.

The Parvati comes over and braces the leg
while Jiron gets into position. “Ready?” he asks.

“No, but go ahead,” James tells him,
gritting his teeth in anticipation of the pain to come.

Jiron grasps the bolt and after a quick
glance to Qyrll, pulls it out which elicits a cry from James. Blood
starts to flow and he tears off a strip from his shirt to pack the
wound. Then he tears off more to tie it securely.

Around them, the old buildings continue to
burn. The wind whips the fire from one to another as more and more
become engulfed. “We better move,” James says as the smoke begins
to thicken.

Qyrll lifts Fifer from the ground and Miko,
after placing the Star within his pouch, does his best to help both
James and Jiron to follow.

They find a building still in good shape
away from the consuming inferno and one unlikely to be in the
fire’s path. They bring in wood for a fire and decide to wait until
Uther and Jorry show up before returning to The Ranch. While James
waits for their arrival, he amuses himself by watching those
passing through Ironhold as they take in the damage. He can just
imagine the wild stories that are going to be circulating about
this latest unexplained incident, a third of Ironhold has fallen to
the fire.

The morning of the third day since their
return to Ironhold, Fifer is doing much better though James and
Jiron still are unable to get around very well. Miko seems his same
old self, at least having the Star in his possession shouldn’t
bring about negative consequences such as the Fire had. James
wonders what effect having been exposed to two focal points will be
to his friend.

Near noon, horses can be heard approaching
and before they make it to the door to see who it is, Jorry’s voice
can be heard. “…had to be here. He’s the only one who could level a
town this effectively.”

“Well, maybe,” replies Uther. “But remember
that time when we went…” He cuts off just as James comes walking
out the door, using a long stick as a crutch. “Thought you might be
around,” he says as he glances around at the devastation.

“Just waiting on you guys to show,” he
says.

“Everything taken care of?” Jorry asks.

“You could say that,” replies James. “Come
on in and we’ll fill you in.”

Jorry dismounts first and moves to help his
friend who’s still having trouble despite the days since the injury
happened. “…it was way up north when we ran across the Wizard of
White Pass…” he continues his story as he enters the building and
the door closes.

Walking across the snow covered ground, he
makes his way to the meeting. Only four of them know of this
meeting, secrecy is of the utmost importance. The inn isn’t far and
he’s soon through the door and up to the room where the others are
waiting.

“Good,” James says as soon as Jiron enters,
“we’re all here.” He waits until Jiron has taken his seat before he
begins. He glances around at them one at a time, Jiron, Illan and
Delia. “You and I are to be the only ones who know of what
transpires here,” he says.

They each nod in turn. “Why all the
secrecy?” asks Delia. Her caravan is parked in the usual place,
that clearing outside of town. When she received word that James
had needed to talk to her, she quickly made her way back to
Trendle.

“There’s something which happened when we
found the Star that I have yet to tell anyone,” he begins. “I had a
vision.”

He relates to them the vision in detail. His
meeting with Igor, the High Temple of Morcyth and all that was
said, including that the temple must be rebuilt in The City of
Light.

“But how are we to do that?” Illan asks when
he’s through. “The Empire now controls not only the City but a good
portion of Madoc. And from what intelligence I’ve been able to
gather, they are likely to launch another offensive in the spring
in an attempt to break the defenders at Lythylla.”

He remains silent for a moment, knowing what
effect his words are about to have. “Come spring, when the passes
are once more clear, we travel to Madoc.”

“And then?” Jiron says in the silence that
followed.

“And then,” he says glancing from one to
next, “we drive them back to the Empire!” The death of his friend
still weighs heavily upon him.
They say paybacks are a bitch?
Well this is going to be like nothing the Empire has ever seen
before!

The adventure continues in:

Shades of the Past

Check out the epically adventurous worlds of
fantasy author

Four comrades set out to recover the segments
of a key which they believe will unlock the King's Horde, rumored
to hold great wealth. Written in the style of an RPG game, with
spells, scrolls, potions, Guilds, and dungeon exploration fraught
with traps and other dangers.

For those who enjoy dungeon exploration

without all the buildup or wrapup.

Fans of his previous works, especially
The
Broken Key
, will discover
Underground
to be full of
excitement and surprises. First in a series of books written for
the pure fun of adventuring,
Underground
takes the reader
along as four strangers overcome obstacles such as ingenious traps,
perilous encounters, and mysteries to boggle the mind.

In many stories you hear how
‘The Chosen
One’
appeared to save the day. Every wonder what would happen
if the one doing the choosing bungled the job?

In
Ring of the Or’tux
, that’s exactly
what happens. Hunter was on his way to a Three Stooges’ marathon
when in mid-step, he went from the lobby of a movie theater to a
charred tangle of stone and timber that once had been a place of
worship. From there it only gets worse for the hapless
Chosen
One
. First, an attempt to flee those he initially encounters
(who by the way are the ones he was sent there to save), lands him
into the merciless clutches of an invading army (those whom he was
supposed to defeat).

Jaikus and Reneeke are ordinary lads whose
dream in life is to become a member of The Adventurer's Guild. But
to become a member, one must be able to lay claim to an Adventure,
and not just any adventure. To qualify, an Adventure must entail
the following:

1-Have some element of risk to life and
limb

2-Successfully concluded. If the point of
the Adventure was to recover a stolen silver candelabra, then you
better have that candelabra in hand when all is said and done.

3-A reward must be given. For what good is
an Adventure if you don't get paid for your troubles?

Jaikus and Reneeke soon realize that becoming
members in the renowned Guild is harder than they thought. For
Adventures posted as Unresolved at the Guild, are usually the ones
with the most risk.

However, when they hear of a party of
experienced Guild members that are about to set out and are in need
of Springers, they quickly volunteer only to discover to their
dismay that a Springer's job is to "Spring the trap."

If they survive, membership in the Guild is
assured.