The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five

Copyright 2006. 2009

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The Fantasy Worlds of

Brian S. Pratt

The Morcyth Saga

The
Unsuspecting Mage

Fires
of Prophecy

Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li

Trail
of the Gods

The
Star of Morcyth

Shades of the Past

The
Mists of Sorrow*

*(Conclusion of The Morcyth Saga)

Travail of The Dark Mage

Sequel to The Morcyth Saga

1-Light in the Barren Lands

2
- (forthcoming)

The Broken Key

#1-
Shepherd’s Quest

#2-Hunter of the Horde

#3-Quest’s End

Qyaendri Adventures

Ring
of the Or’tux

Dungeon Crawler Adventures

Underground

Portals

The Adventurer’s Guild

#1-Jaikus and Reneeke Join the Guild

For all my readers, whose enthusiasm has kept
me going. Two in particular I would like to mention. Joey from
California, the first to express an interest, and Bjorn from
Germany, whose suggestions and emails kept the fires of creativity
alive.

Thank you all.

“I’m close enough!” states James with
finality. Had he known this was part of the deal he never would
have agreed to it.

“You’ve got to see it for yourself or it
isn’t binding,” Rylin says from across the room.

“I can see just fine from where I’m at,
thank you,” he asserts.

“No you can’t,” Rylin says with impatience.
“There can be no doubt. Now get over here.”

Reluctantly moving closer, he says, “If I
would have known I was going to have to do this I never would’ve
agreed.”

“We didn’t realize you didn’t know,” says
Rylin. “I don’t like it any better than you do, but custom is
custom. We thought you knew and by the time everything got
underway, it was too late to change.”

Moving closer, he stops halfway across the
room. “Closer,” prompts Rylin and he slowly moves until he’s
near.

“Will this do?” he asks, voice a little
raspy.

“Yes,” replies Rylin. “You’re not looking,”
he accuses him.

Turning his eyes, he looks at Rylin and
watches.

“There,” says Rylin. “Did you see it?”

Red faced, James stammers, “Yes.”

“Alright then,” he says. “Get out of
here.”

With great relief, James turns and rushes
for the door, glad to be out of there.

Opening the door, he hurries out and shuts
it behind him. Blood rushing to his face, he looks over at Miko
who’s one of a hundred people staring at him expectantly. He’s got
a mischievous grin on his face, earlier he got to listen to James
as he bemoaned this particular duty he was to perform for his
friend Rylin.

The crowd grows silent as the door shuts and
every eye is upon him. Clearing his throat, he says loud enough for
everyone to hear, “The marriage has been consummated.” A cheer
rises up from the crowd and the musicians waiting nearby begin a
lively tune.

Shortly after returning from his expedition
to Saragon, a messenger arrived with an invitation to the wedding
between Rylin and Sheila. Rylin asked him to be the best man at the
ceremony since he more than any other had helped this union to be.
Of course he gladly accepted.

The ceremony was to be held in Trademeet
where Sheila’s family ran their family business. He took Miko,
Jiron and Fifer with him, everyone else remained at The Ranch. The
festivities lasted a week, at the end of which was the wedding and
this particular duty the best man was to perform. Of course he
didn’t actually find out about his duty until the third day into it
and by that time it was too late for him to back out.

It was the quaint little custom of their
religion that someone had to witness the consummation of the
marriage in order for it to be binding in the eyes of the people.
That job traditionally fell to the best man.

Shawna approaches him and asks, “Will you be
staying long after the feast tonight?” The feast was the final
activity in the week long celebration of her daughter’s wedding.
The week long celebration wasn’t a week long party, that aspect
only started on the sixth day. Up to then, it’s smaller things only
the family and close friends attend.

“Maybe,” he replies. “I’m waiting for the
return of Jiron and Fifer. When they show up I’ll be heading back
home.”

“You were right,” she says to him. “He does
love her more than anything and I’m thankful you made me come to
see it. I just wish her father had lived to see this.”

“So do I,” he replies.

“But enough talk, there’s a wedding to
celebrate,” she says. “Go find a beautiful girl and dance.”

“I may just do that,” he tells her.

“You’ll have to excuse me,” she says as she
moves away to talk with a richly dressed gentleman. He’s another
wealthy trader who’s been a long time friend of hers.

He looks around for Miko but he’s
disappeared in the crowd. On the far side of the courtyard are
tables set up with all manner of food, including tarts. James is
afraid that they may not have enough for the ravenous appetite of
Miko. Sure enough, he sees Miko coming toward him with another
berry filled tart in hand.

“Isn’t that your seventh?” he asks as he
draws near.

“Maybe,” he replies, wiping his mouth off on
his sleeve. “Haven’t been keeping track.” Smiling, he then shoves
the rest of it in.

James just gives him a grin and shakes his
head.

Just then Darria, a daughter of one of the
trading houses here in Trademeet comes over and takes Miko by the
arm. Dragging him over to the dance floor, she soon has him in line
to begin the next dance set.

Miko has begun to realize that since the
Fire prematurely aged him and made him a man, that the girls are
beginning to take notice of him. At first he hadn’t known what to
do and every time one came to him, he would get all nervous and shy
away. But ever since coming to the wedding, his attitudes are
certainly changing.

When before the thought of going out onto
the dance floor terrified him, now he joins in with glee. Darria
has had the most to do with it. Ever since laying her eyes on Miko,
she’s marked him for her own. James figures that if they were to
live here in Trademeet, Miko would be lost and soon married. But
since they’re not staying more than another day or two at the most,
he doesn’t have much to worry about.

He crosses over to where the food tables are
set out and helps himself to the fare. The roast goose is
especially good and he takes an extra helping as well as a variety
of others. Turning back to the dancers, he finds Miko out there
moving gracefully with a smile on his face. Yes, he’s definitely
coming into his own.

If only Meliana were here. The girl whom he
met when he was in the city of Corillian has been on his mind
lately. He would give anything to be able to see her again, perhaps
one day he can make the trip back down to see her.

Occasionally others would come and see if he
cared to dance, and once in a while he accepted. He did actually
enjoy the dancing here, he prefers the structure of it over the
types which were common back home in California.

Hanging out at the edge of the crowd as is
his want, he continues eating while watching the people and
eventually hears a round of applause beginning as Rylin and Sheila
emerge from their home. He’s dressed very fine and she wears a
startling dress worth more than some common laborers make in a
year.

With her hand resting on his arm, they make
their way to the dance floor. James walks over and reaches the edge
of the dance floor just as the musicians begin to play. Dancing by
themselves, Rylin and Sheila move gracefully to the music, the
people around them talking quietly amongst themselves while they
watch.

Miko comes to stand next to him and he looks
to see if Darria is with him. When she isn’t, he asks, “Where’s
your girlfriend?”

“Talking with some friends, I think,” he
replies. “They sure do make a good looking couple don’t they?”

“Yes they do,” James replies.

As the musicians bring the music to a stop,
Rylin and Sheila end the dance facing each other and then give each
other a kiss to the cheering of the surrounding crowd. Breaking off
the embrace, Rylin turns to the crowd and holds up his hand for
quiet.

Once the crowd has quieted, he says, “I
thank you all for joining us in this most happiest of times.” The
crowd erupts in cheers again briefly before quieting back down. “My
lovely wife Sheila and I would like to express our appreciation for
our best man James, who’s stood by us through this entire ordeal.”
Another round of applause, though not as energetic as the previous
one breaks out and a few snickers as well. It’s been the running
joke of the celebration about how James reacted when he learned of
having to witness the consummation of the marriage. He had the
misfortune of having it witnessed by many and has been the butt of
many off colored jokes since. “There’s plenty of food and drink.
Enjoy!”

Signaling the musicians to begin, he takes
Sheila’s hand as they begin another round of dancing. This time,
other couples join them.

James moves again to the side of the
festivities since crowds make him nervous. He’s never been one who
liked being around a lot of people. Taking his position on the
fringe, he watches the dancers, including Miko whom Darria has
dragged again to the dance floor.

As he enjoys the music and watches the
dancers, he takes notice of two scruffy looking individuals moving
along the outer edge of the crowd. Moving to intercept them, he
makes his way through the crowd.

“Thought you guys would never make it back,”
he says.

“You worry too much,” replies Jiron. Fifer
just grins at him.

“Did you get them?” he asks.

Jiron pats a bulge in his tunic and gives
him a nod. “We got plenty,” he says.

“I couldn’t believe how many there were,”
exclaims Fifer. “I mean, you and Jiron told me, but I didn’t really
believe. But then when we went into that cave, my god! There must
be thousands more waiting to be harvested.”

When the messenger arrived with the news of
Rylin and Sheila’s impending wedding, he decided this would be a
good time to collect more of the gems from the cave in the
Merchant’s Pass. Taking Jiron and Fifer with him, he sent them up
the river shortly after arriving to try and find the entrance to
the cave where the gems lay. Jiron was sure he could locate it, so
he and Fifer went to search for it while he attended the
festivities.

Jiron had taken several of the gems when
they last passed through and had them appraised by Alexander back
in Trendle. He told them that the gems were of good quality and
highly sought after, especially by gem cutters. He informed them of
one down in Bearn who would pay an honest price for the rough gems.
James then secreted them in his stash in his room at The Ranch to
await Delia’s caravan. If she were to sell them, it would draw less
attention to him and his activities than if he did it himself.

Roland was glad to see the gems, their
immediate problem for coins had been solved. If they made routine
expeditions to gather more, then they would never again have to
worry about money.

“You guys get cleaned up,” he tells them,
“you’re pretty ripe.”

“Was planning to,” replies Jiron. “Just
wanted to let you know we’re back.”

“Better hurry, the feast is going to start
in a couple hours,” he says.

“Will do,” Jiron says as they begin heading
away from the celebration and to the room he and Fifer are sharing
while they’re in town. Shawna had agreed to put up James and Miko,
but told him the other two would need to find an inn in town.