Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (29 page)

“Never know,” he says as he gets up and
moves to another lifeless body where he opens its pouch as well.
“Could be something that may tell us what they were doing
here.”

Jiron walks over to another one and goes
through its pouch, but all he finds are some coins which he adds to
the ones he’s already carrying.

When James finally stands up from inspecting
the last of the dead soldiers, he says, “Nothing.”

“Really didn’t think you’d find anything,”
comments Jiron.

“Me either, actually,” he admits. “I just
couldn’t leave without checking.”

“Right, you never know.”

The sun is almost to the horizon, so they
decide to wait until it becomes darker before they head out through
the orchard. Back at the farmhouse, they have a meal of apples and
some cheese they found in a sack with other food items behind one
of the saddles. Each now has two canteens and some rations, though
neither has much.

As twilight settles in, they mount and begin
riding through the orchard, once again on their way to Saragon.
Traveling by horse allows them to put miles behind them much
quicker than they had been able to on foot. James worries about the
soldiers killed back at the farmhouse and what that may mean when
their bodies are found. Hopefully, they won’t think to look further
into Empire controlled areas for the killers, but rather search in
the other direction.

Throughout the night, the stars shine
bright, giving them some light with which to see. The moon rises
several hours later, allowing them even better visibility.

To their right, the river turns to follow a
more southerly direction than it had north of Pleasant Meadows.
Though the road beside it remains empty, they dare not trust that
it will remain so. Keeping a wide distance from the river, they
ride parallel to it as they continue south.

Several times they encounter lights ahead of
them, forcing them to circle around before continuing on. Camps of
soldiers, none with more than ten, are scattered about the
countryside. Makes no sense to James, but who knows why anyone does
anything.

Near dawn, they come across another farm
that had been abandoned when the Empire entered this area. The
farmhouse is still in good condition so they bring the horses into
the front room to keep them out of sight. In one of the rear rooms,
they find beds to sleep on while awaiting the coming again of
night.

Sitting around the table in the kitchen,
they have a dinner of rations and apples. They did find a loaf of
bread left behind when the farmers left. But the amount of green
and grey on it kept them from eating it. “How do you plan for us to
get into Saragon?” Jiron asks.

James looks to him and says, “Back when Miko
and I first came through the Merchant’s Pass, there was a refugee
camp at the way stop for the people of Madoc who fled the coming of
the Empire. We met a couple men with their families there who
shared our fire and food that night.”

“One of the things they told us was how they
managed to escape from Saragon when it finally fell. One said,
‘
My grandfather used to be a smuggler way back when he was a
younger man and had showed me an old smuggler route into the city
that he said no one, not even the Governor knew about. Silas and I
found it and used it to get our families out past the walls. The
tunnel came out in a pile of old stones a dozen yards from the
river, almost two miles north of the city.
’”

“Think it’s still hidden?” he asks.

“Hope so, can’t imagine why it wouldn’t be,”
he tells Jiron. “The problem is going to be in finding it. A pile
of old stones two miles north of the city could be hard to find. At
least he said it was a dozen yards from the river, which should
help in narrowing it down some.” He takes another bite and then
adds, “We’ll probably have to hunt for it in the daylight, I doubt
if we’ll find it in the dark.”

“Which means we’ll run the risk of being
spotted,” Jiron states.

“True, but we’ll try to minimize that as
best we can,” he assures him.

Jiron offers to take the first watch today
for which James is grateful. The magic earlier in the day had tired
him out some but not nearly as bad as it used to. He must be
growing stronger in magic or his body is just getting used to it
and its effects.

Lying down on the bed, he’s soon fast
asleep. Sometime past noon, Jiron wakes him for his turn. And then
later, when the sun dips below the horizon, James awakens him and
they continue on their way as twilight deepens into the dark of
night.

They ride quickly once the moon rises,
giving them ample light to see their immediate surroundings. Early
in the evening, lights from another town appear out of the darkness
ahead of them. “Do you think that’s Saragon?” Jiron asks.

“Hard to tell,” James answers. “From what
I’ve heard of Saragon, it is or rather was, an important town to
southern Madoc. This one doesn’t look big enough.”

“You may be right,” Jiron says. They swing
wide of the town and go around it.

Halfway around, James feels the tingling
which always accompanies another doing magic. In the dark it’s
difficult to determine who or where it’s coming from. The tingling
only lasts a minute or two before stopping. Once they’ve passed the
town and its lights have long since disappeared behind them, he
tells Jiron about it.

“At least it wasn’t directed at us this
time,” he says.

“True,” agrees James as they continue riding
on into the night.

The terrain begins to turn gradually hilly,
and they find they have to move between some of the hills in order
to parallel the course of the road to their right without actually
riding upon it.

The moon arcs overhead as they ride hard to
the south in search of Saragon. Just what he expects to find there,
he doesn’t know. But to the core of his being, he knows he has to
go there.

During the final conclave of the Priests of
Morcyth, the High Priest had fasted and prayed for a long time. At
the end of which, the priests up and left, leaving no word about
where they went and taking nothing with them. It all seems rather
strange to James that they wouldn’t have taken something with them.
With the followers of Dmon-Li eradicating them, he can understand
about not telling the world their destination. That makes perfect
sense.

But Ollinearn in the City of Light had found
a passage which told the birth place of the last High Priest had
been in Saragon. From that time, he knew he would be going there.
Somewhere in that town there has to be a clue or something to
reveal where they went.

When the sky begins to lighten with the
coming of the morn, a large city appears out of the distance before
them. A formidable wall encircles the city, several sections or
which having been reduced to rubble during an earlier battle. The
city itself sprawls across several hills to the north of where two
rivers meet. It looks to be entirely in the crook made by the
meeting of the two rivers. From where James sits, it looks to have
once been a very defensible area. The Empire must’ve brought in
mages to take the walls down, that’s the only explanation.

“This must be Saragon,” states Jiron.

“I would tend to agree,” adds James.

Coming to a halt at the top of a hill
overlooking the town, they scan the horizon for enemy forces.
Between them and the town lies an encampment of several hundred
men, riders can be seen going from one point to another.

“I sure hope you can find that entrance,”
Jiron tells him. “I don’t think we would have much luck making it
past all those men.”

Nodding in agreement, James indicates they
should get down off the hill before they’re spotted. Moving back
down to the bottom, he dismounts. Jiron follows suit.

“The man said the entrance was two miles to
the north of Saragon, hidden in amongst a pile of stones by the
river,” he says. “I would think that other river over there would
be the one he mentioned. The one we’ve been following is more to
the west.”

“That would stand to reason,” he says.
“Maybe we should leave the horses here and work our way through the
hills over to the river.”

“In broad daylight, that’s going to be
chancy,” James replies. “But sitting here for hours would be just
as bad.” Walking his horse over to a nearby tree, he secures the
reins to it. Jiron brings his over and secures it as well.

“If we keep between the hills,” Jiron says,
“I think we might be able to get over there without being
spotted.”

“Let’s do it quickly then,” says James.

Jiron nods as he heads out with James right
behind. It’s a couple miles of hills they have to work through in
order to reach the river. Keeping low, they’re able to cross the
distance within an hour while remaining unseen.

At the river, they look with chagrin at a
stretch of broken stone over two hundred yards long. “We’ll never
find it!” exclaims Jiron.

“We don’t have a choice,” insists James.
“Let’s start looking, most likely we’ll find it at the base of a
hill or among some trees.”

Nodding, Jiron says, “That does narrow the
scope down some.”

Getting busy, they begin combing the area,
concentrating mainly within the parameters set up: within a couple
yards of the river, by a hill or among some trees. “I think I found
it!” exclaims Jiron after a half hour of searching.

James looks over and sees him at the base of
a hill that looks as if it had collapsed sometime in the past.
Several trees and bushes have overgrown the area, masking the
entrance. He goes over to where Jiron stands next to a large
boulder.

“I can feel air moving from behind here,” he
tells James as he joins him.

James checks it out and sure enough, he can
smell the musky odor of the earth coming from behind the large
boulder. “Can we move it?” he asks, indicating the boulder.

“I would think so,” Jiron replies. Putting
his shoulder against it, he begins to push as James adds what
strength he can from his one good arm. The other one has steadily
improved, but remains too tender to allow him to use it for
this.

The boulder begins to move and then the top
rocks to the side revealing an opening with a downward slanting
passage behind it. James looks to Jiron with a big smile on his
face, “Told you.”

“Okay, so you did,” he admits.

Looking around, they make sure no one is in
the vicinity before slipping into the passage. Once they’re both
within the tunnel, Jiron manages to pull the boulder back into
position, again hiding the entrance. Light suddenly floods the
passage as James’ orb appears on the palm of his hand. He takes the
lead with the orb held out before him.

The passage is narrow, barely wide enough
for them to stand side by side let alone walk next to each other.
As they move forward through the passage, they encounter water. The
floor of the passage has been flooded, maybe by rains or maybe by
just seeping through the ground from the nearby river.

After several yards of first encountering
the water, it deepens to the point of where their boots are
completely submerged in it. “This better not get much worse,”
comments Jiron.

“Whoever built this should’ve anticipated
something like this happening,” says James. “The river will at
times overflow its banks and this place would then be completely
submerged.”

Sure enough, they come to an area further
ahead with a grate in the side of the tunnel where the water is
draining away. “See,” says James when they come to it. “Stop
worrying.”

“Wasn’t worrying,” Jiron replies
defensively. “Just stating a concern.”

Continuing past the grate the water level of
the passage remains constant all the way through. It’s a wonder
smugglers would’ve used such a way to get their goods out of the
city. Of course, back in that guy’s grandfather’s day, this passage
was probably better maintained than it is now.

It seems a long time before the passage
again begins to ascend back to the surface. James realizes they are
again moving to the surface when the water level in the passage
begins to drop. After several hundred more feet, the floor of the
passage passes out of the water and they’re once more walking on
dry ground.

Not too much further past where they are
again on dry ground that the passage ends abruptly at a brick wall.
No handle or latch is visible for opening whatever door this may
be. James hunts around for loose bricks, or ones that seem loose.
So confident at first of being able to solve this riddle, he soon
becomes more and more worried that he’s not going to be able to
figure it out as time passes.

Bored, Jiron leans against the brick wall at
the end of the passage while he waits for James to finish searching
the walls for the hidden mechanism. As his weight comes full
against the brick wall, it suddenly swings open with a slight
squeal of rusty hinges. Off balance, Jiron stumbles through the
opening and falls to the ground on the other side, coming up quick
with a knife in his hand.

“Found it!” he says to James with a
smile.

As James leaves the tunnel, the light from
the orb reveals they are inside what used to be a basement. The
place reeks of charred wood, the ceiling having recently collapsed
due to a fire that had raged through here, burning most of the
wood.

Above them, light filters down through the
rubble and wreckage that used to be a building. James extinguishes
the orb, as the light filtering down gives them plenty with which
to see.

Jiron holds very still as he listens for a
sound that may indicate someone is nearby. “Stay right here,” Jiron
tells him.

He moves carefully through the rubble,
trying not to disturb anything that may cause the wreckage above
them to come crashing down upon their heads. He works his way to
the other side of the room where a stone stairway still stands. At
the foot of it, he turns to James and motions for him to come over
to him.