The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five (18 page)

Sitting alone in the cell, he feels the hard
round object his magic had formed resting in his pants pocket. It
was just a theory, never really had a chance to test it. If his
situation worsens, he may try it, but until then he’ll let it lie
dormant. He’s not even sure if it’s going to work or not.

Footsteps coming down the stairs herald
another visitor on the way. When the man exits the stairwell and
begins walking across the floor, he can tell the man comes from the
Empire. He’s spent enough time down there to readily recognize one
of them, even if the man is wearing local clothes.

“Awake I see,” the man says as he draws
close.

James stays seated on his bench and does
nothing more than look at him.

“You should eat,” the man tells him. “You
have a long trip ahead of you and we must ensure you have the
strength to survive it.”

“Where?” he asks, breaking his silence.

“To someone who greatly desires to talk with
you,” the man says.

“Torture and interrogate you mean,” replies
James. “I hardly think it’s going to be a social call.”

Breaking into a grin, the man says, “I see
you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”

“Do I know you?” James asks.

“I don’t think so,” the man says. “Our paths
haven’t crossed until now.”

“Who are you?” he asks.

“Just a loyal servant of the Empire,” he
replies.

“I see,” says James as he leans his head
back against the wall behind him.

Gesturing to the food, the man asks, “Are
you worried about what may be in your food? Is that why you don’t
eat?” He waits for a response and when none is forthcoming, he
adds, “You needn’t be worried, there is nothing contained within
other than food. No drugs or anything like that.”

James simply stares at him, not believing
him in the least.

“We should be leaving in a couple hours,”
the man says. “The negotiations have been concluded most favorably
for all parties. Trade between the Empire and Cardri shall
continue.”

“Good for you,” says James. After a few
moments of silence while the man simply stares at him, he asks, “So
why are you down here?”

“Just wanted to see you for myself,” he
explains. “From all that I’ve heard, I thought you would be more
impressive.”

James starts laughing.

Turning to leave, the man says, “I shall
return when we are ready to leave.”

“I can hardly wait,” James says, sobering up
quickly. He watches as the man walks to the stairs and then ascends
to the upper level. Absentmindedly, he rubs the object in his
pocket and waits.

Shortly after he arrived at the Dancing Squirrel, Miko set himself
in the common room drinking ale. He wanted to be quickly available
should the need arise. He worries about James, imagining the worst
possible things happening to him and would like nothing better than
to storm the castle and rescue him. But like Illan said, that would
be foolhardy.

When it draws close to the time when he said
he would meet them back at their rendezvous, he gets up from the
table and makes his way outside to the street. He doesn’t get far
before he sees the older boy running up the street toward him.

Upon seeing him, he hollers, “Miko!” and
races straight for him. Looking distraught, he comes to a stop in
front of him and says, “They’ve got them!”

“Got who?” he asks.

“Gwynne and little Daria,” he replies. When
he sees Miko not understanding, he clarifies, “One of the older
girls and the little one who took such a liking to you.”

Alarmed, he asks, “Who? Who has them?”

“The Empire’s men,” he explains. “They were
down there keeping an eye on their camp while the rest of us met
with you earlier. When me and Jerrick went down to join them in
watching, they weren’t there.” Fear evident in his voice, he looks
pleadingly to Miko.

“Calm down,” he says as he tries to keep his
own emotions under control. “How do you know they have them?”

Taking a deep breath, he calms himself and
then says, “Just after we got there and began looking for them, the
camp started to break up. I think they’re getting ready to leave. A
coach was sitting in front of one of their tents and I saw children
hurriedly being put inside.” He pauses for just a second before
exclaiming, “I saw Gwynne and Daria being put inside with the
others. It looked like they were crying.”

Red hot anger begins burning inside him. The
thought of those sweet girls going through what he had is more than
he can bear. “Try to find out where they’re going and then return
fast,” he says as he turns around to return to the inn and inform
Illan what’s happening.

“Right!” the boy says. As the boy turns to
leave one of the girls comes running down the street. “Miko!” she
exclaims.

Turning to see the girl coming, he stops and
waits a second for her to reach him. The older boy joins them as
well. “They have a boat at the docks!” she tells him. “We saw some
of them leave the castle area and followed them to the docks where
they began boarding.”

The older boy says, “I bet that’s where
they’re taking Gwynne and Daria!”

“Gwynne and Daria?” the girl asks.

To the boy, Miko says, “Send one to keep an
eye on the camp to make sure they’re not going somewhere else.
Round up everyone else and meet us at the docks.”

“Right!” the boy says as he takes the girl
by the hand and they go racing down the street.

Bolting for the inn, he races through the
door and takes the steps two at a time. Upon reaching the room, he
opens the door and says, “They’re leaving!”

“What?” exclaims Illan as he comes to his
feet.

“They have a boat at the docks and they’re
leaving now!” he replies. “Their camp is being taken down and
that’s not all. They’ve taken two of my kids. They’re going to make
slaves out of them!”

“Damn!” curses Illan. “If they get away from
the docks, we’ll never catch them.” To Fifer he says, “Go down to
the docks and try to locate this ship.”

“Right,” he says as he runs out the
door.

To the others he says, “If they try to move
James to the ship, that will be our best chance to rescue him.”
Moving toward the door, he says, “Let’s go.” Opening the door, he
passes through to the hallway, the others following right behind.
He glances behind him, glad to see Dave is among them and not being
obstinate.

The Parvati is in the middle of their group,
the hooded cloak hiding his features. Fortunately it’s autumn so
relatively cool. If it was the middle of summer, he would attract
attention like that.

Each walled section of the city has its own
set of docks. It’s unlikely the Empire’s vessel would be docked
outside in the poorer section. That dock is mainly used by simple
merchants and fishing boats. The dock for the interior section by
the castle is for the royalty and nobility of Cardri and the city.
It’s possible the ship could be there but most likely it’s docked
at the dock for the central section of the city where most of the
merchants and travelers dock their ships.

It’s to this section Illan leads them.
Trying not to hurry and draw unwanted attention to themselves, they
forge their way through the crowds upon the streets until they’re
able to see the masts of the docked ships ahead.

“Miko!” a young girl hollers and he turns to
see her wave at him.

“One of yours?” Illan asks.

Nodding, Miko disengages from the group and
moves to see what she wants.

With a worried expression, she hurries to
meet him halfway. “Thank goodness you’re here!” she exclaims.

“Why?” he asks. “What happened?” Illan and
the others have come up behind him to hear what she has to say.

When she sees them approach, she looks to
Miko who nods assuringly, “They’re my friends and are going to help
me rescue Gwynne and Daria.”

“Paul told me to wait here and tell you the
ship is called the Black Topaz,” she says. “It’s tied down at the
docks, he didn’t say which one it was, just the name.”

“That should be enough,” he assures her.
“You wait here, there might be trouble and I don’t want you to get
hurt.”

With fear in her eyes, she nods her
head.

Miko turns back to the others and asks, “You
heard?”

Illan nods. “Let’s hope Fifer has already
located the ship.” Continuing down the street to the docks, they
leave the frightened girl behind. The street doesn’t go much
further before they’re able to see the harbor open up before
them.

The docks are in a mass of confusion as
ships are loaded and unloaded either by porters carrying the goods
off down the gangplank or by use of one of the several cranes
located throughout the dock area. One ship, a smaller two masted
deep sailing ship is currently having a coach lifted aboard.

Miko’s blood goes cold when he sees the
sailors on board that vessel are from the Empire. “I think we’ve
found it,” he says and begins moving toward it.

A hand on his shoulder stops him and Illan
says, “Patience. They’re not leaving yet.” He indicates several
more coaches and six other wagons which have yet to be unloaded.
“Let’s move closer and see what we can do.”

As they make their way closer, Fifer
disengages from the crowd and approaches. “That’s it,” he says as
he nods toward the ship. “From what I can gather, most of the
Ambassador’s group has already boarded. The Ambassador has yet to
make his appearance.”

“Any sign of James?” Illan asks.

“Not yet,” Fifer replies.

“Illan!” Miko exclaims quietly.

Turning to see what he’s excited about, he
looks to the window of the carriage being lifted on board by a
crane and sees a small face peering out. “The kids?” he asks.

Miko nods. “That’s the little one, Daria,”
he tells him. He stands there and watches as the coach is swung
over and then lowered onto the deck. Sailors then push it over to
the cargo hold where several sailors congregate near the coach’s
door. Over their heads, he sees the door to the coach swing open
but the men there block any view of the children as they’re being
led into the hold.

“We have to do something!” he says. “We
should tell someone.”

“And what would anyone do?” Illan asks.
“That’s a diplomatic vessel and for the authorities to search it
would be tantamount to a declaration of war in these shaky times.
They’ll not risk that on our word alone.”

Miko glares at him, his rage wanting to be
released. Pushing it back down, he lets it simmer against the time
when it can be. And woe to the person who feels its wrath.

A group of kids makes their way toward them
out of the crowd. As they draw near Miko can see that Paul, the
leader of the group of kids, is very distraught. “They just took
them on board!” he states angrily.

“I know,” Miko tells him.

“What are we to do?” Paul asks him.

One of the older girls comes toward him
tears streaming down her face and says, “Daria’s my sister. We
can’t let them have her.”

Laying his hand upon her shoulder, he wipes
away an errant tear before it can travel very far and says, “Don’t
you worry. We’ll not let them be taken.”

Then from the direction of the castle area,
a murmur begins working its way through the crowd and they see a
group of important looking people making their way along the docks.
The leader of the group is obviously from the Empire, and by his
dress he must be the Ambassador.

“There he is!” breathes Fifer as they see
James walking within the group of guards behind the Ambassador. His
hands and feet are manacled and the short chain between his ankle
restraints forces him to move in a shuffle.

“Now?” asks Miko, ready to extract his
vengeance.

“No,” Illan says. “Let’s move a little bit
closer.” As they move through the throng of people on the dock, he
contemplates this foolhardy venture. They haven’t made any plans
for escape should they even manage to get him free. How are they
even going to get out of town? Events are simply moving along too
rapidly.

By the time the Ambassador’s procession
reaches the gangplank to the ship, they’ve managed to work their
way down to the edge of the crowd. James lifts his head and sees
them there. He can see in their eyes that they plan to do something
foolish. Looking directly at Miko, he shakes his head. He does the
same thing with Jiron.

“Is he telling us not to do anything?” Miko
whispers to Illan.

“I think so,” he replies. “He knows if we do
anything here, it’ll come to ruin. Too many people and guards.”

“Then what are we to do?” Jiron asks.

From behind them, a voice says, “I’d suggest
keeping your hand’s away from your weapons.”

Turning around, they see Lord Colerain
standing there, a smirk upon his face. Flanking him are four
crossbowmen as well as a dozen armed men. “Now, we don’t want to
make a scene here,” he tells them. “So if you’ll follow along
quietly, no one will get hurt.”

The crowd around them begins backing away
when they see what’s transpiring between the two groups. The
Ambassador’s group, having already past their location doesn’t take
notice of what’s going on.

Miko reaches for his sword when Illan grabs
him and says, “No! He’ll kill us all.” Staring into the eyes of
Lord Colerain, Miko’s anger and rage almost gets the better of him
again. “Not now,” Illan insists.

Releasing his sword, Miko continues glaring
at him.

Lord Colerain gives him a victorious grin
and turns as he leads them away from the docks.

Miko glances over his shoulder to where Paul
and the other kids are mingled in with the crowd. Paul stares in
disbelief as they’re being led away. Then Miko sees him say
something to another boy who begins running through the crowd
toward one of the streets leading away from the docks.