Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (6 page)

Stepping carefully, he opens his door and
almost collides with Roland. In a whisper, he asks, “Chickens?”

Roland nods his head, “Yeah. Ezra heard them
and woke me up to take care of it. Sorry you were disturbed.”

“That’s okay,” he says. “Let’s get this over
with.”

Moving through the house, they make their
way to the back door in the kitchen. Suddenly, James feels the
familiar prickling sensation that always coincides with someone
doing magic. Grabbing Roland’s arm, he quickly stops him. In a
barely heard whisper, he says, “Magic is near!”

In the darkness he can hear Roland’s intake
of breath before he asks, “Are you sure?”

“Very. I’m going to go check it out,” he
whispers. “Wake up Illan and let him know what’s going on and that
whoever it is, is probably out back. Whatever you do, don’t wake up
Miko! Then take Tersa and your family into your room and lock the
door. Understand?”

“Yeah,” he replies as he goes back the way
they’d come.

James moves to the door and looks out the
window. Several shadows can be seen moving around out there,
primarily near the chicken coop. The fact that someone’s doing
magic and they’re out back by the chicken coop can only mean one
thing.
They’re here for the Fire!
For that’s
where he’d hidden it, figuring the chickens would give him some
alarm should someone come looking for them, which they did.

A touch on his shoulder causes him to jump.
“Sorry,” he hears Illan whisper behind him. “What’s going on?”

“The Empire’s men are out there,” he tells
them.

“Are they looking for the you-know-what?” he
asks.

“I can’t imagine they’d be here for any
other reason,” James replies. “There’s a mage with them, I can feel
it.”

“That could make things interesting,” he
says. Just then, Jorry, Uther and the rest show up and Illan
quickly fills them in on what’s going on. When Jiron shows up, he
has Uther and Jorry go around one side of the house and Yern and
Fifer the other.

Before they leave, James tells them, “We
can’t afford to let any leave here alive. If possible, take one
alive. If not, take ‘em out. But don’t do anything until you hear
the signal.”

“What’ll that be?” asks Uther.

“You’ll know it when you see it,” replies
James.

“Oh yeah, right,” he says.

They keep looking out back at the shadows
moving around. James knows it’s only a matter of time before they
realize exactly where it is and dig it up. To Jiron he whispers, “I
could use some of those crystals out in my workshop.”

“Don’t think I could get them without being
seen,” he tells him. “Too many out there.”

“Hold on a second,” Illan says as he moves
back into the house. Returning shortly, he hands James three
crystals. “Will these do?” he asks.

“Where did you get these?” he asks as he
takes them.

“I was curious about why you were interested
in them,” he explains somewhat guiltily. “So while you were gone
today, I grabbed a couple to take a closer look. I was going to put
them back in the morning before you got up.”

“It’s okay,” James assures him. “We’ll give
the others another minute to get into position and then we’ll
go.”

Illan takes out his sword and stands
ready.

A minute passes and James says, “Alright,
let’s go.” He quickly casts the magic gathering spell, upon the
crystals and slowly opens the door. The draw of the three crystals
on him at once is almost overpowering, but he needs them to be
charged at least a little for what he has planned.

When it’s clear between him and the coop, he
throws the crystals toward those standing around the coop. A cry
goes up as one of the enemy spots the three glowing crystals flying
toward them. James suddenly feels a surge of the prickly sensation
as the enemy mage prepares a spell.

When it’s cast, the magic of the enemy
mage’s spell is immediately absorbed by the crystals, all which
begin to fluctuate as they leech magic from one another as well as
the mage. This time, he did not incorporate the spell to prevent
them from drawing on each other. In fact, he’s counting on it.

His orb bursts to light overhead,
illuminating the entire area. Along with the mage, are another
dozen men in black armor who spring to attack.

Jiron and Illan move in front of James as
the men rush to attack. A slug flies between them as James takes
out one. From behind the charging men, they can see their four
friends rushing fast to close with them from behind.

Once they’re close, Jiron and Illan move to
attack. They maintain a defensive posture as they wait for their
friends to join the battle from behind. As yet, their attackers are
still unaware that they’re even there.

From the coop, James can feel the pulsating
of the crystals as each continues to draw power from the others.
The enemy mage is quickly having his power sucked from him and has
fallen to the ground, all but unconscious. He can see him there in
the pulsating glow of the crystals, attempting to crawl away.

When Fifer and the others join the battle,
they take out three men quickly before they realize they’re among
them. Now evenly matched, each attacker faces off with one
defender.

With only one man now to contend with, Jiron
is able to go on the attack. The enemy before him is no ordinary
fighter, he quickly realizes. Every attack he tries, the man blocks
and with being heavily armored, he’s finding it hard to get an
opening for his knife.

The back door suddenly swings open again as
Miko rushes out in just his underclothes, sword in hand. He moves
to aid Illan with his opponent.

“Miko!” James cries when he sees him rushing
to the fight.

Fifer’s enemy falls to the ground, his sword
stuck between the man’s ribs. He reaches down and takes the other
man’s sword and moves to help Yern who’s having a harder time with
his.

The crystals are beginning to emit the high
pitched tone, similar to the one which had been emitted by the
others earlier in the day before they exploded. The mage now lies
unmoving, one of the crystals less than a foot from his
outstretched hand. In the light of the crystals, it looks as if his
skin has been pulled in tight around his skull. His eyes look
shrunken and his hands almost skeletal.

“Down!” James yells at the top of his lungs.
“Everybody, DOWN!”

Those still engaged with enemies abruptly
break off and fling themselves away and to the ground.

Ka-Boom!

A tremendous explosion erupts as the three
crystals explode. The shockwave rolls over them and knocks down the
remaining enemies who hit the ground, dazed. Those closest to them
quickly move to dispatch them before they’re able to regain their
senses.

Looking to where the chicken coop once had
stood, James sees a small crater where the explosion had created a
hole over a foot deep and six across. There’s no sign of the mage
that had been there, several dead chickens can be found lying here
and there.

Everyone gets back up, James searches for
Miko who’s helping Illan up. “Are you okay?” he asks him.

Miko turns and says, “I’m fine.”

James looks into his eyes and sees that he
is fine. He was afraid that battle might have triggered latent
effects from the Fire, but he’s glad he had been mistaken.

“Everyone okay?” Illan hollers out as he
gets up.

Only a few minor cuts and one on Yern’s left
arm that’ll require stitching. Otherwise, they came off well.

“Is it over?” Roland asks from the doorway
to the kitchen.

“Yeah,” replies Uther. “Ask Tersa to come
and help Yern, he’s got a bad cut needing to be sewed.”

He turns back to those waiting in the
kitchen a moment and then hollers back to Uther, “Bring him
inside.”

Uther walks with Yern into the house as the
others survey the scene.

“Gather the dead,” Illan tells Jorry and
Fifer. Miko pitches in as well. Walking with James to the hole
where the chicken coop once stood, he asks, “Is this where you hid
the Fire?”

“Seemed like a good idea at the time,” he
replies. “I was hoping for the chickens to let us know if someone
disturbed them. It worked.” They see one of their shovels lying
near the hole, the entire top half of the handle gone. Picking it
up, he continues, “Guess we’ll need a new shovel.”

“Not only sightseers, now we have to worry
about possible attacks by the Empire,” says Illan.

“I figured they would come, eventually,”
admits James. “I just didn’t expect it this soon.”

“Are you close to having it ready to be
secured away forever?” he asks.

“Getting there,” he answers. “Still a couple
things I need to work on.”

Fifer comes up and asks, “What are we going
to do with the bodies?”

“We’ll dig a hole out in the forest and dump
them in,” Illan replies.

“I’m going to go see the mayor tomorrow and
let him know what happened,” James announces. “I think he has a
right to know, maybe he can get word to Ceryn who could keep an eye
out as well.”

”Good idea,” Illan says. To the rest he
raises his voice, “Everyone grab a shovel and pick, we’ve got a
hole to dig.”

When James starts to head to the barn to
grab a shovel to help, Illan stops him and says, “You leave this to
us.” Then he moves along with the others to get this deed done.

Uther comes out of the house with a lantern
and joins them.

James walks back into the kitchen and sees
Yern sitting at the table, Tersa finishing securing the bandage on
his arm. “You okay?” he asks.

Yern gives him a smile and replies, “Been
better, but with this lovely angel’s help, I’ll survive.”

Tersa blushes slightly as she begins
clearing away the blood and the soiled rags.

“Who were they?” Roland asks.

“One was a mage, the others soldiers of the
Empire,” he tells them.

Ezra gets a scared look in her eye and
clutches Arkie tighter. “What were they doing here?” she asks.

“The Empire has little love for me, I’m
sure,” he says.

Roland chuckles a little as he adds, “After
what you’ve said you did, I don’t think we can assume they’ll just
leave you alone. Besides, you’re a rouge mage, not under their
control and they will most likely see you as their greatest
threat.”

“Oh I doubt that,” James says. “But we
should be cautious from this point on.” Turning to Ezra he
continues, “Tomorrow I’m planning on going into town to talk to the
mayor. I’ll also see about getting more chickens, the ones we had
are dead.”

“You leave it to me to get the chickens,”
she tells him. “I know someone who was saying at the market just
the other day how she has too many now that her boys are gone.”

“Very well, tell Roland how much you think
you’ll need,” he says. Getting up, he moves over to the window and
looks out. He can see the light from the lantern off in the forest
where they’re digging the grave. Suddenly tired, he says, “I’m
going to bed.”

“Good night James,” Ezra says to him.

“Good night to you all,” he replies and then
leaves the kitchen.

Getting into bed, he lies there for awhile
as he thinks about the attack.
I’ve got to get the Fire out of
here, it’s putting innocents in jeopardy. Next time we may not be
so fortunate. How long till next time?

Finally sleep wins out over worry.

The following morning when James heads into
town, Jiron and Miko accompany him. Illan told him that after last
night, he shouldn’t be out alone. At the end of the lane, he finds
Jorry and Yern standing guard to stop anyone from coming onto the
property.

They wave at them as they pass by and soon
are nearing the outskirts of town. With Jiron on his right and Miko
on his left, they move through the outlying buildings of
Trendle.

“The streets look a bit more crowded than
before,” Jiron states.

James had been thinking about the night
before and hadn’t been paying very much attention. But now that he
is, he sees what Jiron means. The crowds are slightly more crowded
and there are many faces he’s never seen before.

When they begin moving among the people, he
can hear hushed conversations and every once in a while catches
someone pointing at him out of the corner of his eye.
Irritating.

Once at the mayor’s office, they dismount
and leave Miko to watch the horses while James and Jiron go up to
see the mayor. “Just be careful,” he warns Miko. “As long as the
crowds keep their distance, don’t do anything.”

“Alright,” he replies. Miko stands at the
ready with his back to the building, one hand resting on the hilt
of his sword.

James tries to hide the grin that wants to
escape at the sight of Miko being so serious. “Let’s go,” he says
to Jiron who opens the door for him. They quickly move up to the
second floor and down the hall to the mayor’s office. When they
knock on the door, they receive no answer. Jiron opens the door and
looks inside. “No one’s here,” he says.

After closing the door, they retrace their
steps back down the hallway. When they come abreast of a door on
their right, several people can be heard talking on the other side.
James stops and looks to Jiron who only shrugs.

Jiron knocks on the door and the talking
abruptly ceases. The door opens and a man peers out who asks,
“Yes?”

“We’d like to see the mayor,” James tells
him.

“Do you have an appointment?” the man
asks.

“Well, actually no.” he admits. “But this is
rather important.”

“Then you’ll have to come back another
time,” the man says. “He’s in a meeting with the town council.”

As the man begins to close the door, James
says, “Just tell him James was here to see him.”