Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (16 page)

“Thank you,” he says. The aroma coming off
the plate makes his stomach cramp and he realizes just how hungry
he is.

“You shouldn’t go without eating,” Ezra
tells him. Sitting down across from him, she begins peeling tubers
for their midday meal.

Finishing the bite of ham, he replies, “I
know. But I needed rest more than food last night.”

“Are you done with whatever you are trying
to do?” she asks.

“I think so,” he says. “I shouldn’t be doing
anything too draining for awhile.”

“Good,” she says. Then she pauses in her
peeling and looks at him with concern in her eyes, “I worry about
you.”

He gives her a reassuring smile and says, “I
know you do. I’ll try to be more careful.”

Before he’s finished with his breakfast, the
sound of a wagon coming down the road can be heard. Stuffing the
last of the eggs and ham in his mouth, he goes to the window and
looks out to see Kraegan the blacksmith, driving a wagon toward the
house. One of his apprentices sits in the back with the iron box he
commissioned.

Leaving the kitchen through the backdoor, he
goes out to meet him. When Kraegan brings the wagon to a stop,
James says, “You’re done!”

“Just got it back a short time ago,” he says
as he climbs down. “Thought you may be wanting it so brought it out
myself.”

James comes forward and shakes his hand as
the apprentice brings the small iron box down from the wagon. It’s
little more than six inches wide and tall, should be just right for
the Fire to sit securely within. He can see the crystals are
embedded in the sides and top just as he requested.

“Where do you want it?” he asks.

James gestures over to his workshop and
says, “In there would be fine.” He then turns and leads them over
to it.

“Been having trouble?” Kraegan asks.

“Why do you ask that?” he replies as he
approaches the door. Opening it up, he stands back as the
apprentice carries the box in through the door.

He points over to where Illan, Uther and
Jorry are working with the new recruits. “That and the guard I
encountered out by the road,” he says.

“A little,” James tells him. “People keep
coming by to see what I’m doing. Annoying.”

“I can understand that,” he tells him.

To the apprentice, he points to the floor
near his workbench and says, “Just put it down there.” Once he’s
set it down, James tells him, “Thank you.”

“Go and wait at the wagon,” the blacksmith
says to his apprentice.

His apprentice says, “Yes sir,” and then
leaves the workshop.

James comes over and inspects the box,
running his fingers over the crystals. He nods his head when he
finds them securely embedded, they don’t even wiggle a tiny
fraction. Opening the box, he feels the soft inner lining where the
Fire will rest. It’s just large enough for it to sit securely
within. Closing the lid, he sees a small keyhole in the top near
one of the sides.

“Here,” Kraegan says.

Glancing over his shoulder to the
blacksmith, he sees him holding out a small key. Closing the lid,
he places the key within the lock and turns it. After removing the
key, he tries to open the lid and finds it securely locked. Placing
the key in a pocket, he stands back up and turns to the blacksmith.
“Very nice work,” he says.

“Is it what you wanted?” the blacksmith
asks.

“Yes,” replies James. “Exactly. Now let’s go
back to the house and I’ll get you the rest of what I owe.”

Leading the way, he takes him in through the
house and has him wait in the kitchen.

“Would you care for anything?” Ezra asks
him.

“No thank you,” he tells her.

James moves into his room and opens the
money chest. Taking out a sack of coins, he removes all but what he
needs for Kraegan. He adds two silvers as well as the promised
bonus of ten extra golds for quick delivery and then closes the
chest.

Coming back out to where he’s waiting, he
places the sack of coins on the table and then they proceed to
count them. When Kraegan sees the extra two silvers, he nods his
head and puts the coins back in the sack.

“I appreciate the speed in which you managed
to complete the job,” he tells him.

“Always try to, if I can,” he says as James
leads him out the back door to where his wagon waits. The
apprentice has already taken his position in the back.

Getting up in the driver’s seat, Kraegan
says, “Good day to you sir.”

“You too, master blacksmith,” replies James
as Kraegan turns the wagon around and heads down the lane to the
road. On his way back to his workshop, he sees Yern out practicing
with his sword as he works to regain the strength he lost after
being hit in the shoulder. He’s moving his sword in a complex
pattern as he moves around the ground. His red hair is matted
against his face by the sweat his exertions are producing.

Coming over to him, James says, “How’s your
shoulder?”

Yern brings his workout to a stop as he
turns and replies, “Much better. It doesn’t hurt so much anymore
and I’ve regained much mobility and strength.”

“Good,” he says. “I was wondering if you
could find Fifer and meet me in the workshop?”

“Why?” he asks, rubbing the sweaty hair from
out of his face.

“I have something I need you to do,” he
tells him.

“I think he’s out by the road,” he says.
“I’ll see if Jiron will take over for him and we’ll be there in a
few minutes.”

“Alright,” replies James.

Yern goes over to a bucket of water and
washes the sweat off of his face before going to find Jiron.

James turns back and continues to the
workshop. Once inside, he picks up the box and places it on his
workbench, it’s not nearly as heavy as he’d been anticipating. He
spends several minutes in further examination of it, checking to
make sure there are no cracks in any of the crystals, even to the
point of sending his senses to inspect them internally.

Finding no fractures that he had been afraid
would’ve happened during the construction process, he brings
himself out of the crystals just as Yern enters the workshop with
Fifer close behind.

“What did you need to see us about?” asks
Fifer.

“I need you two to go on a trip,” he tells
them. He then fills them in on just what he wants them to do and
answers their questions as best he can without revealing too much
to them. Once he’s sure they understand, he leads them back to the
house and into his room where he opens the money chest and takes
out two small bags of coins. Handing one to each, he says, “I’ll be
meeting you there in less than a week so don’t take too long.”

“We won’t,” Yern assures him.

They then proceed to the stable where they
saddle their horses and are soon heading down the lane to the road.
Pausing only a moment to speak with Jiron, they then turn and
gallop down the road toward town.

Back at the workshop, James is inspecting
the box further when Illan walks in. “Saw Yern and Fifer leaving,”
he says.

“I asked them to do me a favor,” he
explains. “They’ll be gone for a while.”

“Might I ask where and what for?” he
asks.

James nods and then fills him in on what he
plans on doing. When he’s done, Illan asks, “Think it will
work?”

“I hope so,” he says. “If it doesn’t, I
don’t know what I’ll do.”

“When do we leave?” he asks James.

“Day after tomorrow,” he replies. “There’re
still a couple more things I need to do before I’m ready.” He turns
back to the box and resumes his inspection.

“Very well,” says Illan and then turns to
leave the workshop.

“Oh, one more thing,” James says quickly
before he leaves.

“Yes?” Illan asks as he glances back from
the doorway.

“Could you find someplace else to do the
morning drills?” he asks. “They keep waking me up.”

Giving him a smile, he says, “Sure, no
problem. Didn’t realize they were bothering you.”

“Thanks,” says James. As Illan walks out of
the workshop, he thinks how glad he is to have good reliable people
with him.

He leaves the workshop and enters the forest
where he collects the crystals he’s had out there absorbing magic.
They all look fully charged, each having a deep crimson glow.
Taking them back to the workshop, he begins the final stage in
preparing the box for the Fire.

There are five crystals embedded within the
box. He endows three of them with the concealing spells, one which
will leech magic from its surroundings, and the last one will be an
extra reservoir of magic. His original idea of only having one
concealing crystal had been scraped. After his experiment with the
stool, he figures to need three so as not to lose too much power
should it become necessary.

The way he has it set up, only one of the
concealing crystals will be completely active at any given time.
The other two will standby and only join the first when they detect
someone searching for it. The concealing crystals will in turn
continually draw their power from the reservoir crystal whose only
function is to provide a single source of power for them to draw
from.

The reservoir crystal will get its power
from the leeching crystal which will continuously draw sufficient
quantities from its surroundings to keep itself at the maximum,
thereby powering all the rest as well.

James takes the crystals that have spent the
last several days absorbing power and transfers their power into
the leeching crystal, one at a time. As he begins the transfer of
power, the crystals on the box each begin to emit a soft red glow
as they slowly fill with power.

He hears a knock at his door but ignores
it.

“James,” Miko’s voice is heard from the
other side. “Lunch time.”

“Can’t right now,” he says. “In the middle
of something serious.”

“But…” Miko begins.

“NOT NOW!!!” he shouts as his concentration
begins to waver from the interruption. Miko must’ve gotten the idea
for the knocking ceases and he is no longer bothered. He returns
his full concentration to the matter at hand as the first of the
crystals whose power is being absorbed into the box completely
loses its glow.

He then directs the flow to draw the power
from the next crystal with a deep crimson glow just as he hears a
barely audible…
Crack!
The first crystal which he completely
drained now has a hairline crack running through the middle of it.
Interesting.

The second crystal’s glow steadily
diminishes until it, too, is completely drained. Shortly after he’s
started on the third one, again he hears a…
Crack!
Again, a
hairline crack has appeared in the second drained crystal. By the
time he’s done with all the crystals, three of them now have
hairline cracks within them, while the fourth has completely split
in two.

Thinking he’ll worry about the cracking of
the crystals later, he turns his attention back to the box. The
crystals embedded in the sides and top of the box all have a
crimson glow, not quite as deep as it would be if they were fully
charged.

Taking the box outside, he takes it into the
forest and places it on the ground. Leaving it there with the
leeching spell activated to continue charging the crystals, he
returns to the workshop where he picks up the mirror he brought out
earlier to replace the one he shattered the day before.
Concentrating hard, he tries to find the box. But just like the
last time with the stool, he’s unable to get a picture. He
increases the magic usage and concentration, yet still the mirror
remains blank.

Backing off, he finally cancels the spell
and sits back. Exhausted and tired, yet feeling good about his
accomplishments, he knows the box is unlikely to be found by
magical means. Unless an incredible amount of magic is used, but
that doesn’t seem too likely.

There’s one more thing he wants to do before
they go and hide it. Getting up from his stool, he sees the
moonlight coming in through the window. A lit candle sits on his
workbench which had been giving him enough light to work by.
Just when did I light that?
Surprised at how long he must’ve
been at it and how engrossed he must’ve been to not even remember
lighting a candle, he leaves the workshop and goes into the house
where Ezra provides him with a plate of leftovers from dinner.

He can hear the rest of them out in the
front room where Tersa is favoring them with a song. Her voice is
really quite good but it makes him realize how much he misses
hearing Perrilin sing.
Wonder what’s happening with him and if
he’s gotten into any more trouble.

When he finishes eating, he moves into the
front room with the others who just give him a concerned look. “I’m
okay,” he assures them. “I was just in the middle of something
requiring my undivided attention and time just sort of got away
from me.”

“Here,” Tersa says to him. “Come sit by
me.”

He takes a seat next to her as she begins
another song, this one a fast paced ditty that he’s heard many
times. It’s one of his favorites which is probably why she’s
singing it now.

After another song and an improbable story
of how Uther and Jorry had managed to be invited to attend a
hunting party in search of a band of thieves which, according to
them, they slew all by themselves, he excuses himself for bed. The
rigors of the day have taken their toll and he’s barely able to
keep his eyes open.

Lying in bed before sleep finally takes him,
he thinks about the last thing he wants to accomplish before
setting out the next day. A warning system to alert him should the
box be disturbed.

The following morning finds James back in
the workshop right after breakfast, fully rested. True to his word,
Illan takes the training session to the other side of the house, as
far away from his window as possible. For the first time in days,
James is able to sleep himself out.