Shades of the Past: The Morcyth Saga Book Six (3 page)

He works his way through to the seedier part
of town, over to an area he has been in once before. A burnt out
husk of a building is all that remains of what use to be Orlander’s
tavern. He’s surprised it hasn’t been torn down yet, you’d think
Orlander would have built another in its place.

Glancing around, he tries to locate Orlander
or those who may know of his whereabouts. He intends to talk with
him to reconcile the situation, heaven knows he has enough who wish
him ill.

Ahead near what looks to be an abandoned home
are five street thugs just hanging around. He makes his way toward
them and they quickly take note of his approach. One disengages
from the others and comes forward to meet him.

“Excuse me,” James says as he comes to a stop
several feet away. “Could you tell me where I might find
Orlander?”

“Orlander?” the thug asks. “Why would you
want to see him?”

“Got business with him,” replies James. “Now,
where could I find him?”

“Maybe you should tell us your business first
and we’ll see if it’s worth our while to help you?” At that, the
remaining four thugs move to flank James on either side. The one
before him pulls out a knife and the others do likewise.

“I really don’t want any trouble,” James
tells them as he starts to back away.

“Then give us your money and you won’t have
any,” the lead thug says as he threatens with his knife.

Sighing, James shakes his head and says,
“Have it your way.” Suddenly, five shimmering fields spring into
being around the five thugs.

“What’s this?” questions the lead thug. He
puts his hand out toward it and is surprised to encounter
resistance. “Hey!” he cries as he begins banging on the field
surrounding him. The others react in fear and apprehension as well.
“Let us out!” “Help!” their cries echo down the darkened, shadowed
street.

James glances first one way and then another
to see if anyone is coming to their aid. Amazingly, the few people
who had been on the streets have vanished. Turning back to the lead
thug, he asks, “Now, where can I find Orlander?”

Panicked eyes stare at him from within the
shimmering field. “He’s that way,” the thug says as he points
further down the street.

“Where exactly?” He glances down the street
in the direction indicated and only sees more old abandoned
buildings in desperate need of repair.

“The old tannery,” another of the thugs says.
James turns his attention to him as he continues. “It’s down two
streets on the left. You can’t miss it.”

“Alright,” James says as he begins heading
down the street.

“What about us?” another of the thugs cries
out. “You can’t leave us like this!”

He pauses in the street and turns his
attention back to the thugs. “If what you say is true, I’ll let you
go,” he tells them. Then turning his back on them once again, he
resumes his way down the street. What he did to them is one of many
things he worked on during the winter in anticipation of the spring
campaign. He got to thinking that if the protective barrier can
keep things away from him, it should be able to be reversed and
hold someone in.

Leaving the imprisoned men behind, he makes
his way further down the street. The sun’s light has all but faded
with the coming of night. Shadows are long and lights begin to
appear in a few of the buildings which still have occupants.

After passing the first street and coming up
to the second, he finds the building the thug told him about. Light
spills from one of the windows illuminating several tough looking,
well armed men loitering outside. One of the men is carrying a
crossbow. Nodding to himself, he heads toward the building.

As he draws near, the men outside become
aware of his approach. The man holding the crossbow turns it to
bear upon him. “Is Orlander within?” he asks once he’s stopped
before them.

“Who wants to know?” one man asks. The hilts
of two longswords jut out from behind his shoulders and he looks
like one who can definitely take care of himself in a fight.

“One who wishes to put to rest a situation
between us,” James explains.

“What’s your name?” two swords asks.

“James,” he replies. “I burnt his tavern down
last fall.”

At that two of the men gasp and two swords
nods to another who enters through the door behind him. “Didn’t
expect you to make yourself so available,” he says.

James remains silent as they wait for
Orlander’s appearance. They don’t have long to wait before the door
opens and Orlander walks out with a crossbow in hand. Half a dozen
others follow him through the door.

“At last!” he says with a gleam in his eye.
He raises the crossbow and before James has a chance to say
anything, fires. The bolt flies toward him and strikes the all but
invisible shield surrounding him. Ricocheting off the shield, it
flies toward one of the thugs standing nearby, narrowly missing the
man’s face.

“What sort of trickery is going on here?”
Orlander demands when the bolt fails to find its mark.

“No trickery,” explains James. “I simply wish
to talk to you.”

“Take him boys,” Orlander commands and his
men pull their swords and attack.

James simply stands there as they run into
the barrier surrounding him. After a few moments of fruitless
attack, he asks, “Can we talk now or do you wish to continue?”

Orlander motions for his men to back off as
he looks at James with a calculating look. “You a mage?” he
asks.

“Among other things, yes,” replies James.

“Why don’t you just kill me?” Orlander asks
after assimilating what he just said.

“It’s not my way,” he explains. “I wish to
stop further bloodshed on both sides. I came here to see if I can
change your mind about seeking my death. During our last encounter
things sort of got out of hand and I am here to set things
right.”

“Out of hand?” Orlander says incredulously.
“You stole from me, killed a score of my friends and burnt down my
tavern. I’d hardly call that ‘out of hand’.”

James reaches into his shirt and removes a
small sack. Holding it before him, he says, “I have here enough
gems to repay you for the stolen items and the destruction of your
tavern.” He opens the sack and pulls out an uncut ruby half the
size of an egg and shows it to him.

Orlander’s eyes grow large at the sight of
the gem. He licks his lips and says, “Just what do you
propose?”

“I give you this sack of gems and you swear
to never again seek my destruction,” he explains. “Nor will you
allow another to seek my destruction should you hear of it.”

“What if I refuse?” he asks.

James places the gem back in the sack and
says, “Then you don’t get the gems and we are at war.”

“You seem pretty confident in yourself,”
Orlander states. He glances around at the men standing with
him.

James simply stares at him.

He stands there a moment contemplating the
proposal. His eyes flick from James, to the bag and back again.
“Very well,” he agrees. “We have a deal.”

“You swear to never again seek my death?”
James asks.

“Yes, I swear it,” Orlander replies.

The shimmer of the shield disappears and he
hands over the gems.

Orlander reaches out for the sack and then
suddenly grabs James’ arm. “Kill him!” he cries out.

As soon as Orlander grabs his hand, James
drops to the ground.

“Fire!” is heard coming from the shadows on
the opposite side of the street. A knife flies from the dark and
strikes Orlander in the chest just as two arrows follow, each
sinking into his midsection.

Crying out from the pain of the attack,
Orlander lets go of James’ hand and staggers backward, collapsing
in the doorway. His men stand stunned at the sudden change of
events. From the shadows across the street, Illan and the other
fighters emerge, weapons at the ready.

“Take them!” James orders from where he lies
on the ground.

Seeing their leader lying dead across the
threshold and the armed men charging, they lose heart and break
into a retreat. Arrows and knives fly from the shadows, felling
thug after thug. Jiron catches up with one and cuts him down from
behind.

“Enough!” Illan’s voice rings out, stopping
them from pursuing the fleeing men. To Jiron he says, “Secure the
area.”

“Right,” Jiron replies. “Jorry, Uther you
take that way,” he orders as he points up the street. “Scar,
Potbelly down the other. The rest fan out and watch for any who may
return.” Shorty appears and begins collecting his knives from the
fallen thugs just as Aleya and Errin begin gathering what arrows
weren’t damaged during the attack.

“Told you this was going to happen,” Illan
says to James as he offers him a hand up.

Taking it, he replies, “I know. I had to
try.”

”Oh I understand, just knew it wouldn’t
work,” Illan says.

“We got company!” Scar hollers from his
position down the street.

A squad of the city guard is coming down the
road toward them. The last time he was here, James saw them with
Orlander during his pursuit. He’s been fairly sure since then that
they were in his pay. How they’ll react to his death is anyone’s
guess.

As the guards approach, everyone moves a
little closer together. Jiron and Miko stand before James as
Shorty, Errin and Aleya position themselves behind him.

The officer in charge takes in the scene as
they approach. A dozen people dead as well as Orlander’s corpse
lying in the doorway. He motions for his men to stop as he comes
forward the last couple feet. “What happened here?” he asks.

“Came to settle a few things with Orlander,”
James replies. “Things sort of got out of hand.”

“Looks like murder if you ask me,” the
officer says as he eyes James.

Before James can answer, two men approach out
of the dark. “It wasn’t murder,” one says.

“That’s right,” the other affirms. “Heard
Orlander order his men to kill him before the fighting started.
Orlander started it.”

Around them a crowd of people has begun to
form as the locals come to see what’s happened. Some, upon seeing
Orlander’s dead body give a cheer.

“Good riddance,” one woman says.

“Streets will be safer without him around,”
another states.

“So you see,” James says to the officer,
“this was in self defense.”

The officer glances around from James to the
others with him, as well as the crowd which seems to be for James.
Turning his attention back to James he says, “Alright.” To his men
he says, “Get a crew together and let’s clean this up.”

“Yes, sir,” one of his men says.

James bends over and retrieves the sack of
gems and puts it into his shirt. The officer notices but says
nothing. “Will there be anything more?” he asks.

The officer shakes his head. “No. Since you
didn’t start it and witnesses say it was self defense, you can
go.”

“Thank you,” he says and to Illan he nods for
them to get moving. As James moves away from the building, one
woman comes up to him and gives him a hug and kiss before hurrying
away.

“Looks like everyone is quite happy Orlander
is gone,” observes Jiron.

“I can understand why,” agrees James. They
make their way back down the street the way they had come. Down a
couple blocks they come across the men who are still surrounded by
the shields, James cancels the spell. One of the men was leaning
against the barrier when it disappeared and falls to the ground.
Freed, they waste little time in getting as far away from James as
possible.

Miko laughs at them as they race down the
street.

On the other side of town, they meet up with
Delia and the slingers who had stayed with the horses. Devin comes
forward with James’ horse as they draw near.

“Everything go okay?” she asks.

“About as expected,” Jiron says.

“They won’t bother us any more,” Miko says as
he makes a slashing motion across his throat indicating they’re all
dead.

“Sorry it didn’t work out the way you
wanted,” Delia says.

“So am I,” states James, “at least he won’t
bother me again and the town appears to be quite happy with the
outcome.”

“Yeah, one girl came and hugged him,” Uther
says with a guffaw.

“Better not let Meliana hear about that,”
says Miko.

“I’m sure she would understand,” replies
James. Meliana has been on his mind of late. Maybe after this
business in Madoc is over he’ll be able to arrange a visit, either
he go there or she here.

Mounting, he says, “Let’s head down the road
a couple hours before we stop. Don’t want any of his men to seek
vengeance for tonight’s affair.” Heading out, he takes the road
leading eastward toward the Sea of the Gods. He plans to take the
northern route around the Sea seeing as how the Empire controls the
southern shore. With any luck, they should reach Pyrtlin by day
after tomorrow. It’s a major town sitting on the northern shore and
they should be able to resupply there.

The road to Pyrtlin is a fairly straight shot
from Illion, heading mostly due southeast. Traffic is heavy as most
are fleeing to the safety of the northern kingdom. From what
they’ve managed to learn, the Empire has made probing attacks on
Madoc’s defenses, both around Lythylla that is situated to the east
of the Sea, and the line to the west between the Silver Mountains
and the Sea.

The mood of the people is one without hope
for a future for their country. The southern half has already been
swallowed by the Empire and by all accounts, they mean to take the
rest by the time the snows come in winter.

“Think he made it?” Jiron asks James near the
end of the first day after leaving Illion.