Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (56 page)

“But, if you’re to follow me, that means
what I say goes,” he tells them. “Will there be a problem with
that?”

They all shake their head no. “In that case,
I want you to forget about Councilman Rillian.” He sees their faces
scowl and their expressions turn dark. “There may be a time of
retribution, but that time is not now,” he tells them firmly.
Looking from one to the other, he asks, “Okay?”

He gets their grudging agreement and then
says, “We’ll need horses. Can someone go back and retrieve yours
from that burned down inn?”

Uther gives him a grin and says, “Already
done. They’re out in the stable behind the inn. We have Miller’s
and Shyn’s as well, so we just need two more so everyone will have
one.”

“The horses I came here on are who knows
where,” James says. “Somehow, we’ll need to procure two more.”

“Not a problem,” Jorry says. “When the time
comes to leave, I’m sure we can get them.”

Yawning, James gets up and says, “I need to
get some sleep before we go. If they return with Jiron, get me up.
And put someone in the hall to watch out for whatever Councilman
Rillian may have planned.”

“Right,” says Jorry. “We’ll take care of
that.”

“Good,” he says as he heads for the door.
Once through the door and he’s on his way back to his room, he can
hear them as they discuss what he just said. He’s glad they are
coming with him, especially since Jiron’s shoulder is hurt so
badly. It’s going to take him a while to fully heal and
recover.

Before he opens the door, he can hear Miko’s
snores coming from the other side. Smiling, he opens the door and
enters. Closing the door behind him, he goes over to his bed, kicks
off his boots and lies down. When his head hits the pillow, he
realizes just how tired he is. It isn’t long before he’s
asleep.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Startled awake by someone at the door, James
sits up in bed. The room is dark, night has already fallen.
Glancing over to the other bed, he notices that Miko is no longer
there.

Getting to his feet, he goes over to the
door and finds Fifer there when he opens it. Suddenly excited,
James asks, “Jiron’s back?”

“In a way,” he replies moving into the room.
He goes over to the candle on the table and quickly lights it.

“In a way?” asks James, perplexed. “What’s
that supposed to mean?”

Sitting in a chair at the table, Fifer
explains. “A group of Parvatis had escorted him back to the gates,”
he begins, then starts to chuckle. “Apparently there was some
disagreement about them doing that among the rest of their army. I
thought they were going to begin fighting each other right then and
there.”

“But the Parvatis are a sizeable part of
their army so got their way in this. I’m sure there’ll be a
reckoning at some time in the future about it. Anyway, as they were
approaching, those of us on the wall began thinking they might be
starting an attack. But then we realized the force approaching us
was small and we could see Jiron among the ones in front.”

“Henri, who had been stationed on the wall
just for this, hollers to open the gates and let Jiron in. Everyone
was ready for a surprise attack or something like that, but Jiron
walked toward the gate by himself and the Parvatis just turned
around and walked back to their camp.”

“Where’s Jiron now?” asks James.

“Henri took him up to the castle to talk
with Lord Pytherian about the enemy’s camp,” he replies. “Said he’d
be back in a little bit.” Pulling out a letter with a seal at the
bottom, he hands it to James and says, “This came from Lord
Pytherian while you were sleeping, we didn’t want to wake you.”

Taking the letter, James says, “Thank
you.”

“Uh, one more thing,” he says, looking a
little embarrassed.

“What?” asks James as he puts the letter in
his pouch.

“It’s Miko,” he begins.

“What? Is he gone?” James suddenly asks,
worriedly.

“No, nothing like that,” he assures him.
“It’s just that he makes us kind of, well, nervous.”

“In what way?” inquires James.

“It’s just that he is changing awfully fast,
growing up quicker than normal,” he explains. “It’s kind of
weird.”

“I know,” replies James, “it worries me too.
But I assure you that he’s harmless. I know what’s going on but
there’s nothing that can be done right now.”

“He fights way better than he aught to,” he
says.

Nodding, James says, “I know, that’s a part
of it as well. Just assure everyone that Miko is harmless, just as
long as we keep him away from any fighting. Okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” he agrees, not sounding
entirely reassured.

“By the way, where is he?” James asks.

Gesturing to the wall behind him, he says,
“He’s in there with the others.”

Getting up, James says, “Well, we may as
well all wait for Jiron’s return together.” Yern stands watch out
in the hallway and nods to him as he leaves his room.

Fifer gets up as well and follows James out
into the hallway and over to the other room. From outside the door,
James can hear Miko’s voice. Opening the door, he finds Miko
standing with his back to him as he’s talking to the others.

“…the torso came toward us and Jiron kept
slicing it with his knives but nothing he did slowed it down. Then
James holds up that medallion of his and a bright light shone from
it. The light somehow caused the torso to die, how I haven’t a
clue. Then…”

Noticing the looks of his audience, he
glances around to see James standing there. “Oh, you’re awake?”

“Yes I am,” replies James as he enters the
room. Fifer and Yern follow him in.

“I was just telling them about that place we
found back in the swamp,” he explains.

“Yeah, I heard,” he says. Looking to all of
the faces gazing at him, he says, “It’s called the Star of
Morcyth.” Pulling the medallion out of his shirt, he shows it to
him.

“It’s one of those things I am trying to
find out about,” he explains.

They come closer, looking at it and he asks
them, “Has anyone seen or heard of anything like this before?”

Every one of them shakes their heads no.
Once they’ve had a good look, he returns it to within his shirt.
“How long has it been since Jiron was taken to the castle?”

“Fifer returned back ten minutes ago,”
replies Illan. “So it hasn’t been long.”

“We have the horse situation taken care of,”
Uther tells him. “We now have enough for all of us.”

“How did you do that?” he asks.

Gesturing to Miko, he says, “After he came
in here, we started talking and the conversation got around to
horses. He said that there might be two where he and Jiron had left
them. When he and I went to look, sure enough, they were still
there.”

“Great,” James says approvingly. “Now we
just need Jiron back and we’ll be able to get out of here.” Moving
over to one of the beds, the others scoot over, making room for him
to sit down.

Miko glances over to him with a questioning
look on his face and he says, “Go ahead and continue.”

“The torso fell to the floor and looked like
it just melted away…”

Over the next hour they swap tales and James
learns more of these people who’ve decided to tie their fates to
his. Of course, Miko’s tales of his exploits made him feel
uncomfortable. He did a somewhat accurate job in relating the
details, only once or twice embellishing the story for effect.

By the time Miko had launched into the tale
of them working their way through the mine after rescuing Lord
Pytherian, they hear a knock on the door to James’ room. Everyone
becomes instantly silent as they glance from one to the other. They
hadn’t forgotten Lord Pytherian’s warning that Councilman Rillian
may try something.

James gets up and motions for them to be
quiet, several of them grab their swords as he makes his way over
to the door. He hears the knocking again as he slowly opens the
door a crack to look out into the hallway.

“Jiron!” he cries when he finally sees who
it is. The page from the castle had brought him to the inn.
Throwing open the door, he comes out into the hallway.

Turning in his direction, Jiron says “I
thought we’d missed you.”

Shaking his head, James says, “No, just in
here with the others while we waited for your return.” Waving him
over, he says, “Come on in, we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“Thank you,” he says to the page who then
turns and heads back to the castle.

Once they are back in the room and the door
is shut, James asks, “Okay, what happened.”

“When I got to the gate, I held aloft the
necklace,” Jiron begins. Smiling, he continues, “You should’ve seen
the look on that Parvati’s face when he saw what I was holding.
Shock would be too mild a word.”

“Coming to a stop, I could hear ‘Shynti’
being said several times. He asked me how I’d gotten it and while
we were there talking, the other forces behind them were screaming
at them to let them by. But they just ignored them, it almost
seemed like we were old friends who hadn’t seen each other for a
long time. It was a weird moment out there by the gate.”

“When I realized the gates were shutting
behind us, I told the Parvati leader that I had to go back inside.
He asked if I would come back to his camp. I was assured of safe
passage back and having dealt with them before, I knew they would
keep their word. So I told Jorry and Uther to return within the
walls before the gates closed.”

“When they took me back to their camp, the
other enemy forces at first thought I was a prisoner. They became
quite agitated when they learned that not only was I not a
prisoner, but that I was going to be honored and returned unharmed.
The others almost fell on the Parvati’s right then and there. One
poor bastard actually called them traitors, his head fell to the
ground before he took another breath. After that, there was no more
talk of them being traitors.”

“We had a feast together, and I told them of
our time in their homeland. Many of them haven’t been back for
quite a long time. When it was over, they walked me back to the
gates amid loud protests from the other groups. I asked them why
they were doing this and possibly antagonizing the Empire. They
said because I was Shynti, as if that explained everything.”

“Back at the gates I was wondering if they’d
even let me in with a force of Parvatis standing next to me. I was
sure surprised when the gates actually opened up and saw Fifer
standing there.”

“Then Henri showed up and said that Lord
Pytherian requested my presence at the castle. I told Fifer to come
back here and let you know what’s going on while I was meeting with
him.”

“Basically, he asked me about troops, the
makeup, how many, stuff like that. When he was satisfied I’d told
him everything I knew, he had that page bring me here.”

“What’s a Shynti?” asks Uther.

“A very special person to the Parvati,” he
replies. “It basically means I’m one of them and that honor is
seldom, if ever, given.” Turning his attention to James, he asks,
“What now?”

“Now we leave Lythylla,” he replies.
“Councilman Rillian, we hear, is making plans against us and I want
to be out of here before he executes them.” He brings out the
letter Lord Pytherian had given him and continues, “Lord Pytherian
wrote this letter for any and all to render us what aid we may
require in getting to Cardri. He said to go to a city on the Sea of
the Gods and get someone there to ferry us across to the other
side. From there we should be able to make it to Dragon’s Pass in
no time. Trendle isn’t far from there, I understand.”

“Good!” exclaims Jiron. “It’s been too long
since I’ve seen Tersa.”

“I suggest we leave first thing in the
morning,” says James. “Let’s post a watch in the hallway against
unwelcome visitors.”

Just then, they hear a floorboard squeak
outside their door. Everyone becomes silent for a moment and then
they hear it again.

Uther gets up and slams through the door. A
grunt is heard from the other side as the door knocks a man against
the far wall. “Get him!” Jorry cries as everyone springs into
action.

The man rolls and comes to his feet fast.
Without pausing, the man shoulders Uther out of the way as he races
for the stairs, Uther and the rest hot on his heals.

He takes the stairs four at a time and at
the bottom, makes with all speed for the front door to the inn.
Ramming the closed door with his shoulder, he bursts his way
through. Once outside, he dodges down a side alley and quickly
loses his pursuers in the dark.

They hunt for him for several minutes before
they finally give up and return to their room. “Do you think he
heard everything?” Jiron asks.

“I don’t know,” replies James. “Maybe.”

“That tears it!” Uther exclaims. “Now
they’re going to know our plans.”

“Perhaps, but if we move quickly enough, it
might not make any difference,” states James. “Forget about waiting
until morning, we leave now. Get your stuff together, we meet at
the stables in five minutes.”

Having all of his things already on him, he
waits while they gather their packs. Then they go down to the
stables where they begin saddling their horses. Once they’re all
saddled and everyone is mounted, they move out and head for the
northern gate. The streets are fairly empty this late at night
enabling them to reach the gate in no time at all.

The gates are closed for the night and a
squad of guards is stationed there. When they approach, one of the
guards comes forward and says, “Gates are closed for the night,
you’ll have to leave in the morning.”

James produces the letter form Lord
Pytherian and shows it to him. “We have urgent business and need to
leave tonight.”

The guard takes the letter and gazes at it
for a moment then nods his head. Shouting to someone in the
gatehouse, he says, “Open it up!”