The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five (47 page)

“He’s right,” agrees Fifer. Qyrll nods in
agreement as well which surprises James as he’s from the
Empire.

“You all are a bunch of bloodthirsty
killers,” Dave says from where he stands behind James. “All you
talk about is death and destruction. You won’t be satisfied until
we’re all dead.”

Jiron steps forward with a hand on the
pommel of one of his knives, anger building behind his eyes. He
opens his mouth to tell Dave off when James holds up his hand
forestalling his tirade.

“I see the wisdom in what you are saying,”
he says. Then adds to include Dave, “What you’re all saying.”
Turning to Jiron and the others, he says “But what you all need to
realize is Dave and I come from a world where the arbitrary killing
of your enemies is frowned upon, extremely discouraged you might
say. It’s hard for me to go and seek the death of a group of people
that are no immediate threat.”

He pauses a moment to let that sink in. Many
there who have traveled with him for awhile will understand what
he’s talking about. Then he says, “I need to know for a fact they
plan to come after us.” Looking to Qyrll he asks, “Would you be
willing to find out?”

Looking surprised, he says, “They will think
it odd for me to suddenly appear among them all alone. I don’t
think they would tell me anything.”

“I don’t mean that,” James clarifies. “Just
sneak close and try to overhear what they’re saying. Could you do
that?”

“Perhaps,” he says. “If they’re not vigilant
and lax in the posting of sentries.”

“Good. Then take Jiron with you and see what
you can learn,” he says.

Smiling at the prospect of having the Shynti
with him, he nods his head. “I would be honored to have him
accompany me.”

James gives them a general idea of where to
find the enemy camp. Then when Qyrll and Jiron are about ready to
head out, he adds, “Don’t take too long.”

“We won’t,” Jiron assures him, then they
leave the camp.

The others murmur among themselves, all the
while casting glances over to where Dave remains standing near
James.

“Come with me,” James says to his friend as
he leads him away from the fire and into the night. When they leave
the proximity of the fire, the cold makes its presence felt. They
pull their jackets closer together as they move further away from
the others. Once they’ve reached a spot where they won’t be
overheard, he comes to a stop.

“I know what you’re going to say,” Dave
begins before James has a chance to start. “I’m sorry, but it’s
true. All they talk about is killing and death.”

“That’s not true,” counters James. “We are
in the middle of a war. Those on the other side are continuously
seeking to make our lives difficult in any way they can. Given the
world in which these people have grown up, I think their responses
are true to form.”

“But they’re going to get us all killed!”
insists Dave.

“We could sit on our butts and that will
still happen,” says James. “We grew up in a relatively safe
environment where conflict to this degree simply was not a factor.
If we were in one of our campaigns we used to play in the chess
room, what would you be doing?”

Considering the question for a moment, he
then says, “Probably arranging an attack to avoid possible future
complications.”

“Remember,” James tells him, “this world is
similar to that of our role playing, more so than I would have
thought possible. That’s probably why the advertisement in the
newspaper said role playing a plus.”

Nodding, Dave says, “I see your point. But I
am still going to caution you against actions which I feel are
wrong.”

Laying his hand on Dave’s shoulder he says,
“I wouldn’t want you to do otherwise. I need a voice of reason in
this chaotic and hostile world.”

Giving his friend a grin, he says, “You got
it.”

“Now, let’s go back to the others,” suggests
James. “And this time, don’t go calling them blood thirsty
killers.”

“I won’t, promise,” Dave assures his
friend.

As they’re walking back to the fire, a sound
comes to them from the darkened town. A wailing sounds in the night
as if a spirit is writhing in torment. They rush to the edge which
overlooks the town and see a light atop one of the buildings. From
this distance it’s hard to make out just what it is, but it looks
to be the size of a man and it’s moving.

“What the heck is that?” Dave asks.

The others join them as he says, “I don’t
know.”

“It’s a ghost!” Miko exclaims.

“Could be,” agrees James.
Too bad Qyrll
is missing this. He would’ve loved it.

The light continues to pace back and forth
along the roof as the wailing continues. It lasts for ten minutes
before the light and wailing disappear.

A hushed silence falls over the companions
as they stand there in the dark and cold a moment. When it doesn’t
look as if the spirit will be returning, they make their way back
to camp.

As James takes his seat and begins warming
his freezing hands, he considers the predicament they’re in. On the
one side they have a hostile force most likely bent on their
destruction. On the other is a city with free roaming spirits. At
least the spirits mostly come out at night, mostly.

It’s been over an hour since they left.
Where are they?
Pacing around, James is worried about what may
have happened to them. To add more to his already worried mind the
spirit from Ironhold makes two other appearances in different parts
of town, always a lone spirit and always on top of a building.

No one is getting much sleep tonight, not
with the racket going on when the spirit appears. It’s been twenty
minutes or more since the last spectral appearance and a few of the
others have fallen asleep. The only one other than himself who’s
still awake is Miko. Try as he might, he can’t bring himself to
relax enough to slip away.

James glances in his direction every once in
awhile to see if he’s managed to fall asleep, and each time he sees
his eyes wide open.

The silence of the night is broken by the
sound of something moving toward the camp through the trees. Miko
hears it too and sits up, his hand on the hilt of his sword which
is resting on the ground next to him. He glances to James and
begins getting up when Qyrll and Jiron enter the firelight.

“Glad you’re back,” James says in relief. “I
was getting worried.”

“Sorry,” apologizes Jiron. “It took us some
doing to move close enough for Qyrll to be able to understand what
they were saying.”

By the time they take their seats at the
fire, the others have awoken and moved closer to hear. “What did
you learn?” he asks Qyrll.

“From what I heard, they are but one band of
many situated in the hills surrounding Ironhold,” he explains.
“They are waiting for something, no one said for sure exactly what.
One of the men was complaining about something not being here yet,
couldn’t tell if it was more men, one man or what.”

“So if we attack them,” James says, “it
would be safe to say the other bands will go on the offensive right
away.”

Nodding, he replies, “I think so. If they
were discovered, their first inclination would be to attack.”

Looking around the assembled faces, he
summarizes their situation, “Either we attack one band and face
what’s out there now, or we wait for whatever else may be
coming.”

“That would seem to be the choices before
us,” agrees Jiron.

James sits back and thinks on the situation
for a minute. The others remain quiet to give him time to think. He
glances to Dave but he knows what he’ll say, ‘Leave’. The others
want to attack, he’s sure of that. They’re men of action and don’t
like the idea of waiting.

“If what they’re waiting for takes another
day or two to get here,” he says, “we may be finished and on our
way home.”

“I don’t think we should count on that,”
Fifer states.

“He’s right,” agrees Jiron, the others
nodding in agreement.

James sits and contemplates the various
options before him. He can see the logic in an attack, but his
inclination is to avoid direct confrontation if at all possible.
“Right now, we do nothing,” he tells them. Around him he can see
them reacting negatively to his decision, all that is but Dave.

“We’ll keep an eye on the band near us
through the night and tomorrow we find another place to hole up,
maybe in one of the mines.” He glances to the others a moment
before saying, “It would be more defensible should they
attack.”

“With no way out,” Miko warns.

Turning to him, James replies, “I know. But
it’s still better than sitting out here in the open. If anyone
comes up with a better idea, let me know. Now let’s get some sleep
while we can.”

He no sooner says the last word before
another wail comes from Ironhold.

“What was that?” Qyrll asks as he gets to
his feet and moves to where he can look out over the town.

“The ghost of Ironhold,” Fifer says.

“He’s been going on that way for some time
now,” Miko explains.

The others come to stand near him and see
the spirit atop another building on the far side of town. Qyrll
makes to move toward Ironhold and James puts a restraining hand on
his arm. Qyrll glances to him and sees him shake his head.

“Might not be a good idea to go down there,”
warns James.

Mixed desires war within him but he finally
sighs and stays put. The spirit stays active for a few more minutes
and then again disappears.

“It’s been doing that since shortly after
you guys left,” Miko says.

“I really didn’t think the tales we heard
were actually true,” admits Jiron. Glancing to James he says,
“Think that’s the miner Miko saw?”

“Could be,” replies James. “Though from what
Miko said, it wasn’t glowing or making any sound.”

“It’s possible it will only do that at
night,” suggests Qyrll.

“Perhaps,” nods James.

They stand there a moment longer before the
cold drives everyone but Qyrll back to the fire. Since it doesn’t
look as if he has any intention of going to sleep right away, Jiron
hollers for him to wake him when it’s his turn at watch. Qyrll nods
in reply but never takes his eyes off the darkness concealing
Ironhold.

As the night progresses, the visitations of
the spirit diminishes until finally coming to a halt sometime after
midnight.

Dawn comes, cold and crisp. A high pressure
system must be keeping the clouds at bay, the sky is a dazzling
crystal blue and frost covers most everything.

When James gets up he sees Miko over near
the fire where he’s been trying to keep warm during his shift at
watch. Glancing around he notices Qyrll is nowhere around. Coming
to Miko he asks, “Where’s Qyrll?”

“He went down to Ironhold,” he replies.
“Said something about wanting to investigate where the ghosts
appeared.”

“What?” he exclaims. “How long ago did he
leave?”

“About a half hour or so,” Miko tells him.
“Said not to wake you, that he would be back shortly.”

“Damn!” curses James. He quickly moves
around and gets everyone up, telling them that Qyrll has gone into
town. “Get up and get ready, we’re going after him.”

“Why?” asks Dave. “He’s a big boy and can
take care of himself.”

James glares at him and says, “Just get your
horse ready.”

“Alright, fine,” he replies and then gets up
to do just that.

It’s just a few minutes before they’re ready
to ride. Moving away from the campsite, they head down the trail to
town. As soon as they’re upon the main road, they hear coming from
behind them several horses as the travelers from the plateau begin
making their run through Ironhold.

The first one to reach them gives them an
odd look, he knows they didn’t come from the area to the south as
he and the others have. Not bothering to stop, he races on past in
a hurry to get through Ironhold as quickly as possible.

One thing James has noticed is that those
traveling through Ironhold don’t talk. It’s almost as if everyone
is afraid to disturb the tranquility of this place. Or of
disturbing what may lurk here.

“There he is,” Fifer says, pointing to a
building not too far away.

James’ eyes follow where Fifer is pointing
and finds Qyrll atop one of the tall buildings.

“I think that was one the spirit walked last
night,” suggests Jiron.

Nodding, James says, “You may be right.”
Moving through the streets toward the building Qyrll is on, he
finds his horse tied to the rail before the front door and comes to
a stop next to it. Dismounting, he hands his reins to Miko and
says, “Hold this.”

Taking the reins, Miko says, “Okay.”

Jiron and Fifer dismount to accompany him to
the roof. They make their way inside and take the stairs up to the
third floor where they find a ladder leading to an open hatch.
Climbing the ladder, James gains the roof to find Qyrll bending
over and examining a section of the roof.

From the ladder he asks, “What do you think
you’re doing?”

Qyrll glances up and sees him there in the
hatch. Getting to his feet, he makes his way over to them. “Wanted
to see if the ghost left any evidence of its passing.”

“Why?” asks James as he moves down the
ladder to allow Qyrll room to descend.

“To know if it was real or not,” he replies.
As he steps off the ladder and onto the floor of the third floor
hallway, he adds, “Didn’t find anything though.”

“Spirits don’t leave footprints,” Jiron
tells him.

Nodding, Qyrll says, “Now I know for
sure.”

They make their way back down to where the
others are waiting outside. On the way Fifer asks, “Why are you so
interested in this anyway?”