Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (4 page)

“I won’t,” assures James. “Promise.”

“Tersa said that dinner’s almost ready,” he
tells him. The aroma from the house makes his stomach cramp and
growl.

“Then let’s go. I’m starved.” Leading the
way, they go into the kitchen and find that dinner is about ready
to be served. The table is set and many of the dishes are already
upon the table. They don’t take their seats, instead they move on
into the front room to wait until all is ready. One of Ezra’s rules
is no one sits down until everything is on the table. Miko had
tried in the beginning and was thumped in the head with one of her
spoons.

When the meal is finally ready, everyone
comes to the table except Miko, Illan and Uther. They’re still out
getting the animals ready for the smokehouse. One of the dishes on
the table is boiled tubers, one of Ezra’s favorites. One of these
days, James plans to suggest mashed tubers and gravy. He hasn’t
seen anything like that since coming here, seems too simple an idea
to not have been tried.

Midway through dinner, he clears his throat
and once has everyone’s attention, makes a couple of announcements.
“First of all, I’d like to let you all know that I finally got the
letter of account from Thelonius in Cardri today. I went to
Alexander’s and cashed it in so will be able to start paying you
all.” He gets a round of applause at that.

“Now, before you all get excited, let me
explain a few things. First of all, Roland will be in charge of the
money seeing as he’ll be here when I’m gone and is going to be my
administrator as well. If you should need extra money for equipment
or supplies, see him. I’m going to sit down with him later to
figure out exactly how much each will receive a week. After dinner,
I’m going to give each of you two silvers and then we’ll go from
there.” He sees several heads nodding agreement to what he’s
saying.

“Now, another thing. Today, a man walked in
here and disturbed me while I was in the middle of an experiment
and it almost killed me. I want you all to keep alert for any
strangers approaching the property and turn them away, gently and
nicely if possible. If they seem to have a good reason to see me,
and I mean it had better be a good reason, then take them to the
house and have them wait while you get me.”

“What would constitute a good reason?” Jorry
asks.

“Imminent death, perhaps,” suggest James. “I
don’t know, just not for their own selfish reasons.” He then goes
into the reason the man had come here seeking his help and what
happened. When he’s done, he asks, “Do you understand now?”

Nodding, Jorry replies, “I think so.”

“Good,” he says. “I really don’t want a
repeat of earlier today.” He takes another bite and then continues,
“Also, I understand there are rumors circulating about me. Jiron is
going to go into town after dinner and try to find out just what is
being said and by whom. If any of you wish to go with him, I’m sure
he wouldn’t mind.”

Jiron nods his head indicating he would
welcome any and all who want to come with him.

“Be subtle, don’t ask any questions,” he
explains to them. “Just sit back and enjoy the evening, but keep
your ears open. Oh yes, and don’t get drunk or cause any problems,
please.”

At that, several grin and one even
chuckles.

“I mean it,” insists James. “I don’t want to
go down tomorrow and pull your sorry butts out of jail.”

“Alright, James,” Yern says. “We’ll be on
our best behavior.”

Once dinner is over, James goes into his
room and returns with the promised silver pieces. He hands one sack
of coins to Ezra saying it’s for the household expenses.

With money in hand, Jiron and the others
going with him leave for town. Roland stays at the Ranch, as well
as those assisting Illan and Miko with the carcasses.

By the time James goes to bed, Miko and
Illan are still out there slicing and preparing the meat for
smoking. He can smell the meat that has already been placed within
the smokehouse.

The next morning when he wakes up, the sound
of a wagon leaving can be heard. He quickly gets out of bed and
looks out the window, only to find farmer Hunst heading back to the
road with his load of milk jugs. A local farmer, he sells milk and
butter to the various people living in the area.

He gets dressed and takes out his shaving
kit and mirror, something he acquired shortly after coming to The
Ranch. The dull knife he uses to shave the stubble off has been
magically imbued with the ability to only cut hair. You could run
the edge along your wrist without the fear of opening a vein, yet
run it along your jaw line and the stubble comes off easily.

Breakfast is the only time when he isn’t
required to be at the table before anyone else gets to eat. Others
rise much earlier than he does and that wouldn’t be a very
practical rule. He scoops a cup of soap out of a large barrel
sitting in the corner of his room and then grabs a set of clean
clothes.

Leaving his room, he goes through the
kitchen where Ezra hands him a towel before he exits out the back
door. A little ways past his workshop is a good sized stream where
he had a deep pool dug adjacent to it, allowing the water to flow
in and out. His bathing pool, at least during the summer that is.
He’s not about to use it when there’s snow on the ground.

Removing his dirty clothes, he steps into
the cool water and then sits on the sandy bottom. It’s just a
couple feet deep and only comes to his mid chest when he sits in
it. Using the soap liberally, he gets all the dirt and grime of the
day before off as well as thoroughly washing his hair. All that he
needs now is a toothbrush and he’d be set but he hasn’t been able
to locate one yet, not to mention a suitable toothpaste. He figures
he’ll have to make one himself, but hasn’t had the time yet.

Once he’s clean, he rests in the water and
just enjoys the sensation of being surrounded by it. Everyone here
thinks him slightly crazy to want a bath every day, except Miko who
tends to join him more often than not. Most of the others wouldn’t
bathe at all if he hadn’t made it a requirement. Everyone has to
bathe at least once a week, more if they’re exceptionally stinky.
He’s going to have good hygiene on his place.

When he finally brings himself to leave the
pool, he dries himself on the towel Ezra had given him and then
dons the clean clothes. Back at the house, he drops the towel and
the dirty clothes in a basket for Ezra to wash later on.

She already has a plate of eggs and tubers
ready for him upon his return. Jiron is there as well as Jorry,
both looking as if they had too much fun the night before. Between
bites, he asks, “You guys okay?”

“Just a little hung over is all,” admits
Jiron.

“We didn’t get into trouble though,” offers
Jorry.

“Did you hear anything?” he asks them.

“Not too much,” says Jiron. “They might’ve
known we are with you so didn’t gossip as they might of otherwise.
But the general opinion of the people there is that you’re
okay.”

“That’s it?” he asks. “Just okay?”

“Well, it’s better than being called evil or
demon spawned,” jokes Jorry. “At least they accept you and aren’t
afraid of you.”

“That’s something, at least,” agrees James.
He sees them exchange glances and asks, “What?”

“Well, one traveler who was passing through
asked if you were possessed by a demon,” Jorry explains.

“Why did he ask that?” he asks.

“Seems someone fitting your description is
said to have been possessed by a demon a while back,” replies
Jiron. “In some town called Willimet, there’s a woman who’s
claiming that you were.”

“Oh my god!” exclaims James. “That’s
absurd.”

“You know this woman?” asks Jorry
incredulously.

“In a way,” he admits. “Here’s what
happened…” He relates to them the events as actually transpired
back in Willimet. When he gets to the part where he and Miko are
forced to leave the angry crowd, Jiron can’t stop himself as he
starts laughing.

“You needn’t worry though,” Jorry says, a
grin on his face as well. “The people around here don’t take any
stock in it. They just dismiss it as idle gossip.”

“That’s good news,” James says, breathing a
sigh of relief.

“But it makes for a good story,” Jiron adds.
“I expect it to spread fast.”

“Can’t be helped I suppose.” Changing the
subject, he says, “I plan on going into town today. Need to see the
blacksmith.”

“What for?” Jorry asks.

“Want a special chest made,” he replies, not
expanding any further on why.

“Like some company?” Jiron asks him.

“Yes, I would,” he says. “Plan on leaving
right after breakfast.”

Finishing his last bite, Jiron says, “Well
then, I’ll just go get the horses ready while you finish
eating.”

“Thanks,” James says.

Jiron gets up and leaves the kitchen through
the back door. James finishes eating quickly and then goes to his
room where he fills one of his belt pouches with thirty gold coins.
Then he returns to the kitchen and leaves through the back door.
Making his way over to his workshop, he searches through his sack
of crystals for five of the largest, all roughly the same size.
Once he has them in another of his pouches, he leaves the workshop
and heads over to the barn.

Outside the workshop, he can smell the meat
being smoked in the smokehouse. Glancing over to it, he sees Miko
and Illan sitting in a couple of chairs, talking. Looks like Illan
is instructing him in the finer points of smoking meat.

As he approaches the barn, Jiron comes out
with the horses. They mount and are quickly on their way. Uther’s
standing guard at the end of the lane leading to The Ranch where it
meets the road into town.

“What’re you doing?” Jiron asks him.

“Making sure no one approaches the house,”
he replies. “After hearing what you said at dinner last night,
Illan set up a schedule for watches out here.”

“Seen anyone?” James asks.

Shaking his head, he says, “Not a soul.”

“Be back in a couple hours,” he tells
him.

Uther just gives him a nod as they turn on
the road and head into town.

They find the blacksmith overseeing an
apprentice who’s working on some nails, his hammer ringing with
every blow. His other apprentice greets them as they ride up and
asks them to wait a few moments while he tells his master that
they’re here.

When the apprentice has finished the nails,
the blacksmith comes over to where they’re waiting. “What can I
help you gentlemen with?” he asks.

“My name’s James and I wish to have a small
iron box built to specific dimensions,” he says as he holds out his
hand.

Taking the hand, the blacksmith gives it a
shake then replies, “Kraegan, nice to meet you. What sort of box
did you have in mind?”

Using his hands to show the dimensions,
James gives him a rough idea what he wants. “Also, I need the
inside to be padded to prevent the contents from coming to harm,”
he explains. “On each of the four sides, as well as the top, I need
to have a crystal embedded within it.”

“Hmmm,” he says as he considers the request.
“The box and inner lining I can do with no problem. The crystals
now, that’s another matter. I know someone who can do it and can
get with him to do that part once I’m done with the box.”

“That would be fine,” James assures him.

“For what you’re asking, I’d have to charge
seventy five golds for everything,” Kraegan says.

Sighing, he knew it would come to this. He
begins the haggling process and eventually works him down to fifty
three. “I have forty golds on me,” he tells the blacksmith. “I can
give you the rest upon delivery of the box.”

“Agreed,” the smith says as he leads him
over to a table where they count out the coins. Once the count is
agreed upon, he asks, “Do you have the crystals with you?”

James removes the five crystals from his
pouch. “Now, there can be no flaw in the crystals,” he insists.
“And they must be centered in each of the sides as well as the
top.”

“I understand,” the smith tells him. “Don’t
worry, we’ll take care of it for you.”

“Thank you,” he replies. “If you can get it
done by the end of the week, I’ll throw in another ten golds.”

“Doubt it,” says the smith, “but we’ll see
what we can do.” The smith takes the golds and the crystals into
the building adjacent to the forge area.

“Back home?” asks Jiron.

“Yeah, I’ve got a lot of work to do before
the chest is done,” he tells him.

As they’re riding back and after they’ve
left town, Jiron asks, “Is it for the Fire?”

Nodding, James replies, “Yes, and I’d
appreciate you not saying anything about this to anyone.”

“No problem there,” he assures him.

They see four people standing at the end of
the lane to The Ranch, three women and a man. Uther, Illan and
Jorry are standing there barring their way.

“He’s not here,” they can hear Illan’s voice
telling the people.

At the sound of his approach, they all turn
toward him. He can see relief evident upon Illan’s face at seeing
him returning.

“Is that him?” a lady with a red hat asks
the man she’s with.

“I think so,” the man replies.

The other two ladies both back up a step,
their eyes never leaving him.

“What’s going on?” James asks as he comes to
the group.

Everyone starts talking at once, finally
Illan’s voice roars over everyone else’s. “Enough!” he shouts and
everyone stops talking. Turning to James, he says, “They’ve come to
see you, but they wouldn’t say why.”

The lady with the red hat steps forward
though she’s obviously nervous about approaching him. He sees her
and asks, “Yes?”