Shades of the Past: The Morcyth Saga Book Six (6 page)

Just as twilight sets in, the sound of dogs
barking can be heard coming from the direction of the road to
Serene Lake. In the gloom, six figures appear and are soon revealed
to be local farmers, one of whom is in the lead with two dogs on
leashes.

They all come to their feet when it looks as
if they’re heading straight for them. James moves to meet them as
they enter the campfire’s light. “Have you seen two small
children?” the man in the lead asks.

“No,” replies James. “You are the first we’ve
encountered. Are they lost?”

Nodding, the man says, “Since day before
yesterday. They are my children,” he continues, a sad and worried
look upon his face. “They are a wild pair but they’ve never been
away this long.”

The dogs sniff around, as if trying to find
the scent. James notices the man holds a shirt in his hand, one too
small for him to wear. Indicating the shirt, he asks, “Is that one
of theirs?”

The man glances at the shirt and nods. “My
son’s,” he replies. “Been using it for the dogs to get the scent,
but so far they haven’t picked up the trail.”

James glances first to Jiron and then to
Miko. Miko has a serious expression on his face and nods his head.
He knows what James is thinking. Holding his hand out, he says, “If
you give me the shirt, I can help you find them.”

Looking suspiciously at him, he asks, “How
are you going to do that?”

“I’m a mage,” he says and instantly the
farmers become less friendly. Again the reputation of those who do
power in this world has begun to turn others against him. “I can
help, I’ve done it before.”

One of the men takes a closer look at him and
asks, “Is your name James?”

Surprised, he replies, “Yes it is.”

The man grabs the father of the lost children
by the shoulder and begins whispering in his ear, the others with
them move closer to hear. After a minute of whispers passing back
and forth, they turn as one to face him.

Holding the shirt out, the father says,
“Heard of you. They say you helped out Lord Pytherian last year and
prevented the Empire from taking Lythylla.”

“True,” he admits as he takes the shirt. He
glances around and spies Devin not too far off. “Go get my mirror,”
he tells him.

Devin nods and rushes to his tent.

While he waits for Devin, James says, “We’ll
find them for you.”

Hope comes to the man’s eyes and a slight
tear as well. It’s clear to see how much he cares for and misses
his children. James decides he’s a good man. Devin returns shortly
with his mirror.

He holds the shirt in one hand while resting
the mirror atop it with the other. Concentrating on finding the one
who last wore this shirt, he lets the magic loose. The image in the
mirror begins to shift and then turns completely black.

A gasp is heard from the father as he asks,
“Are they dead?”

James glances around at the fading light and
says, “It may be they are simply in an area with no light, like a
cave or something.” Canceling the spell, he hands the mirror back
to Devin.

The shirt has long sleeves. Taking hold of
one of the sleeves halfway down from the shoulder, he again
concentrates on the owner of this shirt, willing the sleeve to
point the way. After letting the magic flow, the sleeve begins
moving and points to the east, not directly following the road,
rather more toward the mountains. “They’re that way.”

“You sure?” the father asks.

“If James says they’re that way,” Jiron
speaks out, “you can believe they are.”

To Illan, James says, “Stay here with the
others and watch the camp.” Then to Jiron and Miko he says, “You
two come with me.” Once Jiron and Miko nod, he turns to the father
and says, “Now, let’s go find your kids.”

Moving away from camp, he follows the
direction the sleeve is indicating. Behind him he can hear whispers
from the farmers, what they are saying isn’t clear.

“Think they’re alive?” asks Jiron. The father
grows silent as he awaits James’ answer.

“Don’t know,” he replies. “This will just
lead us to them. We’ll have to wait until we get there to find
out.”

As they move from the light of the campfire,
James’ orb springs to life and hovers above and slightly behind his
head. The farmers gasp in shock and fear at first, but then Miko
and Jiron calm them down with assurances it will do no harm.

The interactions between the others are lost
to James as he concentrates on maintaining the spell and keeping
his footing in the tangled undergrowth. They travel for half an
hour before the ground grows steeper. The loose rocks upon the
surface make footing more and more difficult as the incline grows.
At one point, James stumbles while lost in concentration and only
Jiron’s quick reflexes kept him from falling backward down the
slope.

“Careful,” he says as James regains his
balance.

“Trying to be,” he replies. As he begins
moving again, he takes more care to keep stable footing.

The night continues to deepen and after
another hour, the moon makes its appearance, adding its light to
that of the orb. “I don’t think he knows where they are,” he hears
one farmer say behind him.

“Quiet!” the father says to the other. “If
you don’t want to continue, I’ll understand. But I’ll follow him to
the edge of Coryntia’s domain if it will get my children back.”
Coryntia of course being the Hooded Lady, she whose domain lies
between the living and the dead.

Suddenly the dogs begin barking. “They’ve got
the scent!” the father cries out.

James releases the spell and allows the
father to take the lead.

“Come on boys!” he cries excitedly to his
dogs. “Find em.”

The dogs pull on their leashes, practically
dragging the father along. The others follow right behind. Yowling,
the dogs come to a game trail and turn to follow the scent. “What
would they be doing this far up the mountain?” their father asks to
no one in particular.

They follow the dogs down the game trail for
a hundred yards until the dogs abruptly turn into the woods to the
right. Moving further up the mountain, they travel for several more
minutes through the trees and undergrowth before a darkness appears
in the side of the mountain before them. It’s a cave and the dogs
are moving to enter its maw.

When the farmer reaches the entrance, he
pauses and hollers into the opening, “Barric, Aria!” He pauses a
moment to listen for his children’s response before handing the
dog’s leash to another. When no answer is forthcoming, he enters
the cave.

James hurries along behind, the light from
his orb revealing that the cave continues fifteen feet into the
side of the mountain before it narrows dramatically. Everyone else
follows except the man with the dogs, he remains at the
entrance.

“Barric, Aria!” the father again shouts. The
only replies are faint echoes coming from further inside.

The far side of the cave narrows to an
opening barely three feet across and four high. Looks as if the
mountain had shifted in ages past, creating the opening. Water
oozes from the sides, collecting in the depressions along the
ground.

The father moves to enter the opening first
but Jiron puts a hand on his shoulder and says, “You better let us
go first, we’ve done this sort of thing before.”

He looks as if he’s about to object but then
nods and backs up to allow Jiron to move first, then James. Miko
follows next followed by the farmer and the others who have
accompanied him on his search.

“What would they be doing in here?” Miko asks
as he enters through the opening. Having to hunch over due to the
narrowness of the opening, he steps through.

From behind the father’s voice comes,
“They’re rather an adventurous pair. Barric’s the worst and his
sister will follow him anywhere.”

The tunnel they find themselves in is moving
down a gradual slope, the floor of the tunnel is uneven to say the
least. The further they advance down it, the more water is
collected upon the floor. At one point the pools of water begin to
turn into a small stream flowing along the base of the tunnel.

“Barric, Aria!” cries the father again, but
only silence returns. Worried, he continues following behind James
and Jiron.

The tunnel they’re moving through comes to an
abrupt end at a steep, downward shaft descending into darkness. The
water flowing along the bottom of the passage goes over the edge
and can be heard as it cascades down into the darkness below. As
soon as Jiron and James both reach the edge, the father sees them
stop and asks, “What’s wrong?”

“The way continues down a deep shaft,” James
explains. The shaft is even narrower than the tunnel which they’ve
been following, barely two, maybe three feet in diameter. The sides
are rough and afford many handholds which could be used in climbing
down.

Upon reaching the shaft, the father looks
down into the depths with dread. “Barric, Aria!” he shouts into the
opening. After a moment’s silence, from below comes a barely heard
female’s voice, “Father!”

“That’s Aria!” he exclaims, hope springing to
life. “Are you okay?” he shouts down.

“I think Barric’s dead,” she says with a
sob.

Miko comes to the fore and asks Jiron, “Do
you still have that rope?”

He nods as he lifts his shirt to show the
coil of rope secured around his waist.

“Let me have it,” he says and ties one end
around his middle after Jiron hands it to him. “Hold on tight and
don’t let go,” he tells him as he moves to the edge of the
shaft.

“What are you doing?” James asks as he places
a hand on his arm.

“What I have to,” he says. Removing James’
restraining hand, he starts climbing down the shaft. To Aria below
he says, “Hold on, I’m coming.” Handhold to handhold he works his
way down.

James comes to help Jiron in maintaining
supportive tension on the rope as Miko slowly makes his way down.
After he passes into the darkness, a white light suddenly springs
into being and they are able to see him as he continues working his
way down.

“Where did that come from?” Jiron asks James
when the light appears. There isn’t any source for the light that
they can make out, it just seems to be there.

“I’m not sure, maybe from the Star,” he says.
Jiron nods his head in understanding.

Miko continues to work his way down the
shaft, the water cascading around him soon has him drenched. At one
point a rock gives way and he begins sliding uncontrollably to the
bottom but is stopped by the rope. Jiron and James hold the rope
steady until he has a chance to regain his foothold.

When the light appeared he was slightly
surprised, not knowing where it came from. It bothered him at
first, but then the light brought him peace and a sense of purpose.
Giving it no more thought, he continued working his way down, one
handhold at a time.

Before Jiron’s rope is completely played out,
he reaches a cavern. Fortunately, the shaft enters the cavern
against one wall and he’s able to work his way down the wall to the
bottom. A large pool of water sits directly beneath the opening
forcing him to work his way laterally along the wall in order to
reach the edge of the pool.

“Father?” a girl’s voice comes from further
into the cavern.

Miko reaches the edge of the pool and comes
to stand on the cavern’s floor. Looking into the cavern, he sees a
young girl of about sixteen sitting twenty feet away. Cradled in
her lap is the head of a young man of about eighteen. Around the
lad’s head a cloth has been tied as well as two other bandages, one
on his leg and another around his chest. His clothing in those
areas is soaked with blood “No, I’m not your father,” he says as he
unties the rope from around him and goes over to them. Looking up
the shaft, he hollers, “I’m down and I found them!”

“Who are you?” she asks.

“You can call me Miko,” he replies.

“Is she okay?” her father’s voice comes from
above.

Miko glances to her and sees her nod her
head. “I think so, give me a minute.” Coming closer, he kneels down
beside her to examine her brother. Next to her on the rock he can
see what’s left of three candles which she must have had with her
when this all happened.

“Where is the light coming from?” she asks
him, a little bit of fear edging into her voice.

As he puts his ear to her brother’s chest, he
replies, “That’s kind of hard to explain.” He then puts a finger to
his lips indicating for her to keep quiet and she nods her head.
Trying to tune out the background noises such as the water
cascading down the shaft into the pool, her breathing and the sound
of his own heartbeat, he listens for the boy’s.

Lub…dub.

Very faint, but his heartbeat is there. “He’s
alive,” he says. “But his life is leaving him.”

“Oh, Barric!” she cries, holding her brother
tighter.

Miko reaches into his pouch and produces the
Star of Morcyth. The light within the cavern suddenly increases
tenfold as its brilliance shines forth.

“What’s happening?” her father hollers down
from above when the light from the Star reaches them.

Ignoring his question, Miko holds aloft the
Star in his right hand and lays his other upon Barric’s chest. Aria
looks in awe at him as he closes his eyes and his lips begin to
move silently.

No sooner do his lips begin to move than a
glow surrounds him and extends toward her brother. Gasping in
shock, she begins to recoil from the approaching glow but then her
fears melt away as a calmness comes over her.

As the glow continues to envelope both Miko
and her brother, she sees her father emerge through the opening in
the ceiling. “Father!” she whispers urgently, glad to have him
again with her.

Coming to stand on the floor of the cavern by
the pool, he turns to see his son enveloped by the Star’s glow.
Rushing over, afraid of what may be happening to his son, he makes
to push Miko away.