The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five (49 page)

“What?” asks James.

With the others looking on, Dave explains.
“We’ve come all this way and can’t find what you’re looking for.
Maybe he knows.”

The miner stops and glances around at
everyone. “I don’t know anything.” He resumes moving quickly away
from them.

“Hang on a minute,” James says to the
miner.

The miner, having reached the edge of the
group, bolts away only to be quickly tackled and returned by Jorry
and Uther. “He wanted to ask you a question,” Uther tells him.

Standing once more in front of James, the
miner looks at him in trepidation.

“I am on sort of a quest,” he tells the
miner, “and it has led me here. Maybe you would be kind enough to
aid me?”

Glancing at the others, he realizes he has
no choice. “How?” he asks, feet shifting nervously.

Pulling out the medallion, he holds it
before the miner. “Have you ever seen this design before?” James
asks.

His eyes widen in recognitions. Nodding he
says, “Yes, once.”

Getting to his feet, James asks,
“Where?”

The miner’s lips twitch in agitation as he
gazes into James’ eyes. Pointing off to northeast, he says, “Deep
in the mountains near a small lake are some old ruins.” He glances
around to see what effect his words are having. “I saw that design
on one of the buildings there.”

“Can you take us there?” James asks him.

“Why should I?” questions the miner.

“If you do,” James tells him, “I promise
that we will keep the secret of who and what the ghost inhabiting
Ironhold really is to ourselves.”

“Otherwise we tell everyone from here to
Cardri,” Jiron assures him.

Sighing, the miner says, “Alright. I suppose
you want to leave now?”

“That’s right,” replies James.

“Very well,” he says. “I need to get my
horse and some supplies before we head out.”

“Jorry, you and Uther go with him so he
won’t have a change of heart,” Jiron says.

“Don’t you trust me?” the miner asks.

At that several of them there break into a
short laugh. “Hardly,” replies Jiron. To Uther he says, “When he’s
got his stuff together, bring him back here.”

“You got it.” To the miner Uther says,
“Let’s go.”

As he and Jorry escort the miner to collect
his horse and belongings, the others go to retrieve their own
horses.

“Now maybe we can get back home soon,” Dave
says as he walks next to James back to where the horses are
tied.

He said home.
Encouraged that his
friend may be coming to accept his life here, he feels like a load
has been lifted off of him.

They return to the horses, and after doing a
proper job on binding Miko’s wound, are soon back at the temple.
Another ten minutes and they see Jorry and Uther come walking back
with the miner, his horse trailing along behind.

Once they’re all mounted, Jiron asks, “How
far is this place?”

“Couple days,” he replies. “It’s not really
all that far, it’s just hard to get to.”

“Lead on,” James says. The miner nudges his
horse into motion and the others follow.

When they’ve disappeared down the road, two
figures leave a nearby building. “Spread the word,” one of them
says. “They’re on the move.”

They take the east road out of town and
travel for a couple hours. It’s much smaller than the main one
going north and south. As it turns out, it does in fact lead to one
of the abandoned mines in the area. A small ramshackle cluster of
buildings sits several hundred feet from the entrance.

“Every mine in the area had a small group of
buildings to house the miners while they worked,” the miner
explains to them when they come into view. “These were little more
than barracks, the miners spent their off time in Ironhold.”

“How do you know this?” Fifer asks.

“Been here long enough now to piece it
together,” he explains.

“Ever seen an actual spirit?” inquires
Qyrll.

The miner eyes him before replying. “Never
actually saw one, no,” he admits. “But I’ve heard things while here
that has set my nerves on edge, could’ve been just the wind.”

They make their way through the buildings,
several of which are in need of an extreme amount of repair to make
them serviceable. One has a roof that’s collapsed and another has a
big hole in the wall, looks like something at one time ran into
it.

Past the buildings they head toward the
opening of the mine, but turn off onto a small path before reaching
it.

Looking at the dark entrance, Jorry asks,
“How many mines are there?”

“Three main ones,” the miner replies. “I
found several other places where it looked like people had begun a
new one but gave up.”

“Where do you mine?” Uther asks.

At that the miner becomes quiet and leads
them on in silence for awhile.

The path they’re following is little more
than a game trail and at times are forced to ride in single file.
In the lead is the miner with James following right behind. Jiron
is behind him with Dave next in line. Jorry and Uther have the
thankless duty of bringing up the rear. Winding through the trees,
the path makes its way through the hills until finally coming to a
place where the trees open up. In the valley below is a large
lake.

“Is that the lake you were talking about?”
James asks as he gazes at the panoramic view. The lake is a
startling blue, nestled in against the backdrop of a mountain range
to the north. Altogether a stunning scene.

Glancing back to him, the miner replies,
“No. That one lies another day or two to the north. We’re going to
have to make our way to the left around this lake until we come to
a river that flows into it from the lake we’re heading for.”

“Oh,” grunts James.

By the time they get to the shore of the
lake, the sun has dipped to the peaks in the distance. “We should
stop here and continue in the morning,” the miner announces.

“I agree,” states James. To the others he
says, “We’re staying here tonight.”

Dismounting they set about making camp and
have a fire going in no time. Sitting around the fire, the miner
glances to James and asks, “Just what is your interest in this
place anyway?”

“A long time ago, there was a god named
Morcyth whose followers were fairly wide spread,” James explains.
“Ever heard of him?”

Shaking his head, the miner says, “No.”

“Not surprising, his followers disappeared
around five centuries ago.” Taking out the medallion, he shows him
the design and says, “This was the symbol for their religion. I’ve
been trying to find where the last priests went, you see they
disappeared about the same time.”

“And you think they went here?” the miner
asks.

“Perhaps,” he replies. “Won’t know until we
get there. But it’s likely.”

The night begins to settle in and the stars
appear above them. They’ve acquired a good store of wood for the
evening, already the temperature has dropped significantly. The
clear sky above them tells of another cold night to come.

“Do you think they followed us?” Jiron asks
after the meal when they’re sitting around the fire.

“Who?” asks the miner. “Who followed
us?”

“You didn’t see them around Ironhold?” asks
Fifer.

Shaking his head, the miner says, “The only
ones I saw were you.”

“Forces from the Empire have been camped in
the hills around Ironhold since we showed up, maybe before,” James
tells him.

“What do they want?” the miner asks.

“Me, us,” replies James.

“You going to get me killed!” the miner
exclaims.

“Now settle down,” Jiron tells him. “They’ve
known of our presence there for days and have done nothing so
far.”

“So far,” he says, none too happy. He scans
the woods around them as if expecting an imminent attack at any
moment.

“As soon as we get to where you saw the
design, you can leave,” James tells him.

“Just be careful about running into them on
your way back,” suggests Fifer. “They may want to talk to you about
us.”

Scowling, the miner looks at each in turn
then stares at the fire, deep in thought.

To Jiron James says, “Better have two on
watch at a time tonight, just in case.”

Nodding, Jiron replies, “Good idea.” He then
sets up a watch schedule and those not pulling the first watch lay
out their blankets as close to the fire as they can.

The night passes uneventfully and they are
up and on their way with the rising of the sun. The miner turns
them north and follows the shoreline of the lake. They don’t travel
very far before coming to a medium sized river flowing from the
north.

Before James has a chance to ask, the miner
says, “This ain’t the one. We have to cross it and continue
following the lake until we reach the next river. Then we can
follow that one north to where you want to go.”

Turning upriver, he leads them to a ford a
mile up. After crossing, he backtracks along the other side of the
river and returns to the lake. Following its shoreline, he
continues along as it curves to follow a more easterly
direction.

The going here is slow, as they have to at
times forge their way through tangled undergrowth. Several hours
pass as they make slow headway. Finally the shoreline becomes
inaccessible to them when the side of the mountain rises up against
the water’s edge.

“We have to leave the lake now and work our
way through the mountains,” the miner says. “If we’re lucky, we’ll
reach the river before the sun goes down.”

“Why would that be lucky?” Uther asks.

“Just a figure of speech,” the miner says,
annoyed he’s being taken too literally.

“Oh,” replies Uther.

Picking up another game trail, they leave
the shore and move into the forest. The terrain becomes
increasingly rugged and as they climb up the side of the mountain,
the density of the trees diminishes proportionately.

As they climb, the wind hits them with more
biting chill than it had when they were in the protection of the
forest. Now that the trees are thinning, the wind is able to get to
them more effectively. Pulling their jackets closer, they push
on.

At one promontory the miner stops them for a
short break. Off to the side they find snow on the ground among the
trees. “Man that’s not a good sign,” Jorry states.

“At least it’s clear now,” Fifer says
hopefully, looking to the sky. “If the clouds move in we can expect
snow.”

“I agree,” says James. “We’re definitely
above the snowline now.”

Qyrll has climbed up above them and is
standing on an outcropping of rock. James notices him there peering
out over the way they had come. “See anything?” he asks.

The others take note of what he’s doing as
he looks down to James and shakes his head. “Nothing.”

“Maybe they didn’t follow us,” offers Miko
hopefully.

“Oh you can bet they’re out there,” states
Dave. Looking back through the trees, he adds, “I doubt if they’ll
give up this easily.”

“You seem awfully sure of that,” Jiron says
as he comes to stand before him.

Anger building, Dave replies, “If they
followed us to Ironhold, you would think they would have kept an
eye on us. Any fool should know that.”

“I don’t like the tone of your voice,” Jiron
says, his own anger beginning to rise.

Stepping in between them, James holds a hand
up to each and says, “Enough of that!” Staring them both down, he
adds, “We have too much to worry about already, we don’t need your
squabbling adding to it.”

Jiron gives Dave a glare then turns to
James, “Sorry.” Turning his back on Dave, he stalks off.

“You two need to get along,” James tells his
friend Dave.

“I ain’t the one not getting along,” he
says. “Nothing I do or say will make any difference.” He turns
aside and walks back to check on his horse.

James just stands there and stares at his
two friends walking away. Saddened by how they don’t get along, he
just shakes his head. Try as he might the rift between them
continues to grow, neither of them seems even remotely interested
in trying to mend it.

They get underway shortly thereafter and as
they proceed, an awkward silence hangs over them. By the time they
stop for lunch it hasn’t improved any. James sits eating his food
and glances from one to the other. Dave has sunk into another
depression with anger seeming to be boiling under the surface.
Jiron on the other hand appears his regular self, that is until he
glances toward Dave. Then James notices a slight tightening around
the eyes and a grim expression comes to him.

After their lunch break they once again
forge their way along the path through the mountains. Near the
midafternoon an enormous mountain to the north comes into view.
Snow capped and rising high into the sky, it dominates everything
around it.

“Would you look at that!” Miko breathes as
they crest a ridge and the mountain comes into view.

“Impressive,” agrees James. It easily rises
a thousand foot or more over that of any other peak.

The miner glances back to see the reaction
the sight of the mountain has brought forth. Giving them a grin he
says, “That’s Kiliticus, the king of all mountains. They say no
mountain is taller in the world.”

A shiver runs through James as he looks to
the mountain in the distance. “Would where we are going be at the
base of that mountain?” he asks, mouth suddenly dry.

“Yes, it would,” the miner replies. “A small
lake sits at its base and along its shores are the ruins.”

His voice catching in his throat, he asks,
“Does the lake have a name?”

Shrugging, the miner says, “If it does I
never heard it. Why?”

James glances around him and he can see what
he’s thinking reflecting back in the eyes of the others.
At the
foot of the king, bathe in his cup.