Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (23 page)

His eyes begin to focus on Jiron and his
surroundings as they start to lose the wild look they had. “Oh my
god!” he exclaims as he lies back down on his bed. Slowly, his
pulse calms down and the fear he experienced begins to subside. He
looks again to Jiron sitting there on the bed next to him and then
to the door as Jorry returns with Illan.

“What happened?” Illan asks.

“A dream, I hope” croaks James. Then to
Jiron he says, “Got any water?”

Getting up, he goes over to their packs and
brings him a water bottle. James takes it and almost downs the
whole thing. “Thanks,” he says as he returns the near empty bottle
to him.

“Are you okay?” Illan asks, concerned.

“I think so,” he replies. “Just tired.”

Illan turns his attention to where Jorry
waits in the hallway and says, “He’s okay.” Jorry nods his head
then closes the door as he keeps watch in the hallway.

“Where are we?” asks James.

“Somewhere to the west of Trendle,” replies
Illan.

“We started to head to Trademeet,” explains
Jiron. “We thought it best to not be seen passing through town so
are taking a more roundabout way.”

“Good,” James says, nodding. “Has the box
been glowing any while I’ve been out?”

Shaking his head, Illan replies, “No,
nothing.”

“That’s good news,” he says. “I doubt if I
could counter another attempt so soon.”

“Who was trying to find it?” asks Jiron.

“I don’t know, probably one of Dmon-Li’s
followers I’d expect. Whoever it was used an awesome amount of
power. It was all I could do just to maintain the concealment
spells.”

“Just get some rest,” Illan says as he
begins heading for the door. “Are you going to feel up to traveling
in the morning?”

Nodding, he says, “Whether I do or not, we
need to get this done.”

“Alright,” he says, opening the door. “See
you then.” He passes through the door and they can hear him saying
something to Jorry before his footsteps are heard going down the
hallway to his room.

Jiron gets up from the bed but James grabs
his arm and says, “Jiron, I don’t think it was just a dream.”

Sitting back down, he says, “Why do you say
that?”

James then relates to him the events as
transpired on that other world, about the shadows, Igor and finally
the monstrosities. “I don’t know what it was, but it felt too real
to be a dream,” he concludes.

“It sounds too farfetched to be anything but
a dream,” states Jiron. “But you would know better than anyone
else. What could it mean?”

“I don’t know and that’s what’s bothering
me,” he replies. “If it wasn’t a dream, was it a foretelling of the
future? Or maybe I entered another level of existence? But what
really has me worried is what happened to Igor. He was losing the
battle when I passed through the arch. Is he gone?”

Jiron just sits there with him as he works
through it. “Maybe you should try to get some sleep,” he finally
says. “It’s not going to be answered tonight and you’ll need your
rest tomorrow morning.”

Stifling a yawn that suddenly tries to break
loose, he says, “You’re right.”

Jiron gets up off the bed and goes over to
the other. Lying down, he blows out the candle on the
nightstand.

James can hear his breathing relax as he
slips into slumber, but he is far too worried to be able to fall
asleep quickly. His mind continues wrestling with what happened and
the implications of it as well. Finally though, exhaustion wins out
and he falls asleep.

The morning finds him rested and feeling
better, the terror of the night before all but gone. His memories
of that time are no longer as sharp and clear as they had been when
he originally came out of it. Pushing it to the back of his mind,
he focuses on the task at hand.

He notices the box on the floor by his bed
and picks it up, placing it next to him. A close examination of the
crystals reveals no cracks and that they have a glow to them
showing they still have power. Hoping not to go through the
struggle he went through in the forest, he places the blanket back
over it.

Jiron is still sleeping so he gets dressed
quietly and opens the door. Jorry is standing there on the other
side of the door and is startled when the door opens behind
him.

“Are you okay?” he asks as he steps aside to
let James by.

“Better, anyway,” he replies quietly with a
grin. “Just going to go downstairs and see about getting something
to eat.”

“Alright,” says Jorry.

He makes his way downstairs to the common
room and finds a table near an open window. The morning breeze
feels good as he waits for the serving girl to finish with two men
at another table. Looking outside, he sees Uther out by the horses.
Doesn’t look like he’s doing much more than just hanging out next
to them. Curious.

By the time the serving girl finishes with
the other two men, he’s joined by the rest of his crew. Jiron
carries the blanket covered box and takes the seat next to him,
placing the box on the floor between them.

After breakfast has been ordered, James
asks, “Exactly where are we?”

“Somewhere east of Trendle, as best I can
figure,” Illan explains.

“Hmmm…” James thinks a moment and then says,
“If we head due south, we’ll come to the river. We’ll just need to
find a spot to cross and then make our way to Trademeet.”

“What are we going to do there?” asks
Jorry.

James taps the box and says, “Get rid of
this.”

“How?” he asks.

“You let me worry about that,” he tells
him.

Once breakfast comes, they eat quickly,
Illan has an order of eggs and tubers sent out to Uther by the
horses. When James asks, he tells him he didn’t trust a place
without a stable so stationed a man out there to keep an eye on
them all night.

When they’re done, they leave the inn and go
out to their horses where Jiron helps James secure the box behind
his saddle. Once secured, they mount and head out of the small
collection of buildings. They leave the road as they make their way
cross country to the south.

The day passes fairly uneventfully, those
traveling behind James continue casting glances toward the box to
see whether the glow will return or not. Much to the relief of
everyone, especially James, the crystals remain dormant.

As the sun begins its descent toward the
horizon, they see the river coming up ahead of them. James has them
continue to follow it as it flows to the south. “If Bearn is up
ahead, we can cross there.”

“Aren’t you worried about running into Lord
Colerain?” Jiron asks.

“I don’t plan on taking us through the city,
just around the outside of it,” he explains. “It’s doubtful if
we’ll encounter him or anyone else who knows us.”

“Let’s hope not,” Uther says.

The skyline of Bearn appears ahead of them a
couple hours before nightfall. He forgot the bridge sits in the
middle of town. They’ll not be able to circumvent the city as it
sprawls on both banks of the river.

“Guess we have to go through,” Illan states.
“Or continue further downriver to the next one.”

“There is a ferry we might take,” he tells
them. “Not sure just how far it is though.”

“What do you want to do?” Jiron asks
him.

James pulls out a hooded cloak from his
baggage and slips it on. A little hot but at least it covers his
features well enough. “That might work,” says Illan. “As long as no
one takes a close look, you should be fine.”

“Lead on,” James says.

They approach the outskirts of town and pass
through the outlying buildings before coming to the gate. A brief
questioning by the guards and they’re waved on through. “Just head
straight through,” James tells Illan. “I believe this road leads
directly to the other side.”

Riding their horses at a walk through the
crowded city streets, it takes them a little over an hour to reach
the gate in the eastern wall. The sun is almost to the horizon as
they draw near the gate. Just before they reach the eastern wall,
they can see the guards beginning the process of closing the gates
for the night. “Let’s hurry!” Illan says to the others as he kicks
his horse into a trot.

“Hold the gate!” he hollers to the guards
there. One of them looks their way and cries, “Hold!” to his
fellows. They wait for them to ride through the gate before closing
it.

“That was close!” Jorry exclaims.

“Yeah!” agrees Uther.

Riding along the road through the outlying
buildings, they eventually leave the edge of town. Another hour and
they find a spot to make camp.

During the night, James is awakened by Uther
who’s on watch. The box is again glowing as someone seeks to find
the Fire contained within. James immediately casts out his senses
to aid the crystal but finds the power behind the search is
lessened quite a bit.

The others are awakened by Uther while James
is concentrating on the box. He glances to them and says, “It isn’t
nearly as strong as it had been the last time. It almost feels
fainter, like it’s only the fringe of the spell.”

“Maybe it’s being directed elsewhere,”
suggests Illan.

“That’s possible,” agrees James. “If so, it
looks like this might actually work. You guys go ahead and get some
rest, I’m going to keep an eye on this until whoever is trying to
find it stops.”

Though they lay back down, none of them are
able to return to sleep as long as the crystals on the box glowed.
When a half hour later, the crystals finally subside back to their
normal glow, everyone relaxes and begins drifting off to sleep.

The following morning, after a quick meal,
they resume their way east to Trademeet. The travelers they meet
are mainly merchants, with the few odd travelers thrown in. They
ride quickly with only short breaks to give the horses a rest
before continuing on.

By the end of the day, they come to a
crossroads where they learn from a fellow traveler that the north
road will take them to Osgrin and then on to Trendle. An inn and a
couple other buildings have been constructed here and they decide
to stop for the night.

The inn is of good quality and has a stable
with a stableboy who lives in a small room in the back to keep an
eye on things. A quick supper and James hits the bed, he’s still
not completely over the ordeal of the day before. The night goes by
quickly and he wakes up almost feeling back to normal.

They have a quick meal in the common room
before heading out on the road, the box again secured behind James’
saddle. They take it quick, really wanting this whole thing
over.

An hour or so after they start, they come to
a fair sized town sitting at a crossroads. They discover it’s
called Guellin, a town whose main source of trade is wool and wool
products. James could’ve figured that out by the number of sheep
farms they came across along the road as they drew near.

The road heading south would take them to
Willimet if they were going in that direction. Willimet! Just
hearing the name makes him seethe after the way that woman treated
him. If he wasn’t in such a hurry, he’d go down there and demand
his money back. Not to mention that she begin telling the truth
about what happened and stop all this demon possession talk. That’s
probably what’s driving the curious out to The Ranch.

Leaving Guellin behind, he comes to the
realization that this may be a good place to procure some wool
stuffing for Tersa’s teddy bears she’s making. Have to talk to
Delia about that.

The road ahead of them begins to have fewer
and fewer travelers as they progress until it’s just the odd
caravan coming to or from Trademeet. From what one caravan master
said, Trademeet is still over a day away unless they want to kill
their horses getting there, which they don’t.

By the time the sun begins to dip below the
horizon, they’re still out in the middle of nowhere. James says
he’s not that exhausted and that he could go another couple hours
in the hopes of finding an inn. So they press on and two hours
after night had fallen, they begin to see the lights from a small
town ahead of them.

Finding an inn, they get settled in and
after a meal in the common room, head to their rooms for the
night.

The next morning, clouds can be seen coming
in from the west. James sees the approaching storm as a blessing
which will hopefully give him some relief from the hot summer sun
beating down upon them. By noon, the clouds have blanketed the sky
and a short while after that a drizzling rain begins falling,
making everyone uncomfortable. Except James, who finds this a
welcome relief to the sun. Since coming here, he’s managed to get
quite a tan. They plod on through the rain the rest of the day
until they see Trademeet appear on the horizon ahead of them.

Upon reaching the outskirts, James
announces, “Fifer and Yern should be here somewhere.”

“So this is where they went to?” Uther
asks.

Nodding, James continues, “I had them come
ahead of us to procure some things we’ll need, as well as scout
around.”

“I would think they’ll be in a tavern
somewhere getting drunk,” Jorry says.

“This place is pretty big, may take us
awhile to find them,” Illan tells him.

“I realize that,” says James. “If I would
have known of a place here, they could’ve met us there, but I
didn’t.”

They begin searching the taverns and inns
along their way. Finally, after searching in over ten places, they
find them sitting at a table, each with a buxom young woman on
their knee.

When Fifer sees them walk through the front
door, he has the girl get off his knee as he says to Yern, “Looks
like the fun is over.” Seeing Yern’s confused look he indicates the
door.