The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five (8 page)

The one person he’s hoping to see or maybe
even get to talk to is the Princess Alliende. Her smile she flashed
him when he passed through the last time sent a thrill through
him.

Ten minutes after the guard left, he returns
with one of the palace pages. To the lead guard he says, “Ellinwyrd
said to allow him to enter.”

Nodding, the guard turns to James and says,
“This page will take you in to see him.”

“Thank you,” James tells them as the page
begins moving back into the castle area. From what he can remember,
they follow along the same path as he was taken the last time. When
they reach the courtyard with the four tiered fountain, beside
which he had previously seen the princess, a feeling of
disappointment comes over him when she isn’t present. He sighs.

The page ahead of him pauses and then turns
back to him, “You alright sir?”

“What?” asks James. “Oh, yeah I’m fine.”

Giving a quick nod, the page turns and
resumes his trek to the Archives. Coming to the familiar building,
the page leads him up the steps and opens the door. Allowing James
to enter first, he then closes the door behind them and quickly
moves past him to lead the way down the corridor.

Coming to the double wooden doors with
Ellinwyrd’s symbol engraved upon its surface, the page stops and
knocks upon the door. From within an ‘Enter’ can be heard and the
page opens the door. Standing aside, he motions for James to
precede him into the room.

The room on the other side of the door
hasn’t changed all that much, still containing disorganized piles
of books and scrolls lying about the floor and tables. The state of
the room bothers him, being a lover of books as he is.

“Thank you Michael,” Ellinwyrd says from his
seat across the room.

Michael gives him a brief bow, then a nod to
James before leaving the room and shutting the door.

Making his way across the room to where
Ellinwyrd sits, he takes extra precaution not to step on and damage
any of the books or scrolls lying across the floor.

“James!” Ellinwyrd says as he gets up from
his chair. “What an unexpected pleasure!”

Coming to the table, James extends his hand
which Ellinwyrd takes and gives a firm shake. “Good to see you
again too,” he tells him.

Ellinwyrd indicates a seat across from him
which James moves over to and sits down. Taking his seat as well,
Ellinwyrd says, “I’m so glad you decided to stop by and see
me.”

“It’s not only for the pleasure of your
company that I stopped by,” he tells him.

“I know,” he replies.

“You do?” asks James, surprised.

“Yes. You were summoned by the king to
appear before the Royal Court,” states Ellinwyrd.

“That’s right,” agrees James. “Do you know
why?”

“Didn’t the summons explain that?” he asks,
perplexed.

Shaking his head, James says, “No, it
didn’t.” Removing the letter the herald had given him from his
pouch, he hands it across the table to Ellinwyrd.

Taking the letter, he reads the brief
missive before returning it to him. “Highly unorthodox,” he says.
“Custom states you are to be given the reason for the summons.”

“Does it have anything to do with the
Ambassador from the Empire being here in Cardri?” asks James.

Eyes widening, Ellinwyrd asks in return,
“What makes you say that?”

“Well, a lot’s happened since last we met,”
he explains. “By the way, why did you have me deliver that book to
Ollinearn?”

Smiling, he says, “I was hoping that by
being a courier for me, it might’ve helped smooth things out with
local garrisons, things like that.”

“It did and I thank you,” he says. “But what
about that Ambassador?”

“He showed up about two weeks ago,” he
explains. “I wasn’t privy to all that was said, but word has a way
of getting around.”

“And?” prompts James when Ellinwyrd had
grown quiet.

“And from what I gathered, it seems he’s
here to ask the king for aid in capturing someone,” he says, eyeing
James questioningly. “It seems this individual has killed scores of
people in the Empire and they want him badly.”

James slumps in his chair, his demeanor all
Ellinwyrd needs to tell him that James believes the individual in
question to be himself. “Why don’t you tell me what happened,” he
suggests.

“It started with the fall of the City of
Light,” he begins. “My companion Miko had been captured and…” He
goes on to relate in brief detail some of the events which the
Empire could want him for, leaving out the more sensitive parts
like the Fire and other things.

When he draws to a close, Ellinwyrd says, “I
can see why they want you.”

“Yes,” he admits. “But I never initiated any
of it!”

“Don’t see how that will matter one way or
another,” he tells him. “One sovereign nation has made a request of
another for justice. Unless you’re able to refute their charges, I
don’t see what else the Royal Court can do but accede to their
request.”

“How can you say that!” accuses James.

“I don’t believe you’re guilty of anything
more than defending yourself against hostile forces bent on your
destruction,” he says. “But my opinions will have little weight in
these matters.” He looks at James as he sits there, mulling over
what he just told him.

“What can I do?” he asks him.

“Appear before the court,” he says. “If you
don’t, any decision made will go against you by default. The only
way out is to go forward.”

“Great,” says James in irritation.

After a moment’s silence, Ellinwyrd asks,
“Did Ollinearn help you?”

“What?” asks James, coming out of his
reverie.

“Ollinearn over in the City of Light, did he
aid you in your quest?” he repeats.

Nodding, he explains about the last high
priest, the disappearance and how the last high priest was born in
Saragon.

“Did you go to Saragon?” asks Ellinwyrd.

“Yes,” replies James, nodding. “As a matter
of fact I did.”

“What did you find out?” he asks.

“I think a long time ago, someone planted a
prophecy or riddle or something like that with one family,” he
explains. “There may have been more but we didn’t have time to hunt
for them. It went like this…

When the Fire shines Bright,

And the Star walks the Land.

Time for the Lost,

Will soon be at Hand.

At the foot of the King,

Bathe in his Cup.

Pull his Beard,

To make him sit Up.

Seven to Nine,

Six to Four.

Spit in the wind,

And open the door.

When he’s done, he sits back and waits for
Ellinwyrd’s response. “Doesn’t make much sense does it?” he asks
after Ellinwyrd remains quiet for a few minutes.

“No, it doesn’t,” he replies. “Some of it I
understand. The star must mean the Star of Morcyth, not the
medallion you’re carrying, but the real one.”

“Oh?” he asks.

“Since your last visit, I’ve been doing
research about Morcyth and I’ve come up with several items of
note.”

“Such as?” prompts James.

“The Star of Morcyth is the focal point of
the god on this world,” he says. “Through it, the old writing says,
many wonderful things were accomplished by the priests of Morcyth.
Just what, isn’t mentioned.”

“Now the fire which is mentioned, I saw
mentioned in the same text as the one which told of the Star.
Dmon-Li, the god who obliterated Morcyth’s priesthood also has a
focal point in this world, that being the Fire. Through it,
terrible things happened. It seems that whoever is in possession of
one of these focal points is able to have tremendous power. The
text doesn’t say where any of these are, most likely they’re in the
possession of the high priest of each order.”

“Interesting,” states James. Nothing new
here, just reinforcing what he already knew.

“The next stanza doesn’t seem to make much
sense,” says Ellinwyrd with a smile. “I mean who’s going to bathe
in a cup at the king’s feet and then pull his beard?”

“I know,” says James.

Suddenly, what sounds like a church bell
begins tolling. “What’s that?”

“It signals that the Royal Court will be
meeting shortly,” he replies.

Coming to his feet, James says, “I better go
then.”

“Surely you don’t plan to present yourself
before the Royal Court looking like that are you?” Ellinwyrd
asks.

Looking down at himself, he realizes what he
means. His travel worn clothes would be ill suited for such an
occasion. “What should I do?”

Getting up, Ellinwyrd says, “Follow me.”
Moving to the door of his sanctum, he opens it and passes through
with James right behind.

“Where are we going?” he asks.

“To get you suitable attire,” is the
reply.

Following Ellinwyrd, he moves along the
hallway and ascends up a flight of stairs to the next level. Upon
reaching the second floor, they move down the hallway and come to a
halt before the third door on the right. Removing a key from his
robe, he opens the door and enters.

A lone window gives the room some light and
James can see this is some kind of storage room. Several chests and
dressers are placed about the room as well as two wardrobes.

Ellinwyrd goes over to a table and lights
the candle to give them more light, then walks over to one of the
wardrobes. “It’s amazing what accumulates over the years,” he says
as he opens the door.

Within are five sets of clothes hanging from
hangers. All are of good quality and two look to be about James’
size. One is green and the other is a dark brown color. “Take your
pick,” he says as he moves back to give him some room. “These were
left by various apprentices I’ve had over the years.”

James removes the dark brown set and says,
“I like this one.”

“That will do nicely,” he says. “We’ll go
down the hall to a room where you can dress without worrying about
getting dust all over them.”

Blowing the candle out, he replaces it back
on the table and then leads James out of the room and down the
hall. Two doors down, he pauses in front of the door as he says,
“You can use this one to change.”

Nodding, James opens the door and enters.
The room on the other side has but a single bed and dresser, a
plain room all things considered. Laying the clothes on the bed, he
commences changing. As he’s putting on the new set, he debates
whether to wear his slug belt or not.
They can always have me
remove it if it’s a problem
. Securing it around his waist, he
then slips the jerking over his head and secures the outer belt
around his middle. The jerking effectively hides his slug belt and
hopefully no one will even notice.

Once he’s finished, he bundles his old
clothes together and leaves the room. Outside, Ellinwyrd nods when
he sees him, “That will do nicely. You can keep them, they’ve been
here for years and I doubt if the original owner will be coming
back for them.”

“Thank you,” he replies in appreciation.
These are much better than the ones he had to wear back in
Corillian. Thank goodness revealing tights are not the current
fashion here in Cardri.

Ellinwyrd takes his old bundle of clothes
from him and says, “I’ll have these returned to your inn if you
like?”

“Yes, that would be fine,” he says. “I’m
staying at the Silver Bells.”

“Ah, Miss Gilena’s fine establishment,” he
says, nodding. “I’ll have them sent over there right away.”

“Thank you,” he says.

Returning to Ellinwyrd’s sanctum, he pulls
on the rope chord to summon a page. When Michael arrives, he tells
him to escort James to the Royal Court.

“Follow me sir,” he says as he leads the way
out of the Archives.

Once out the main doors and back onto the
street, Michael leads James over to the castle. James smiles when
he realizes it’s to the castle they’ll be going. Despite his
trepidation at appearing before the Royal Court, the thought of
being inside a castle makes him smile.

Taking him to the gates Michael doesn’t even
hesitate as he passes through. James follows close as he gazes at
the way the castle was put together. There are many similarities
between this one and the one he had the pleasure to experience in
Lythylla during his time with Lord Pytherian.

Once past the gates, they enter the main
courtyard of the castle and the page turns slightly to the right as
he makes for an entryway on the far side. The hallway on the other
side of the entryway leads deep into the castle. James notices
several portcullises in the ceiling above which could be dropped to
block the entrance in the event of an attack.

A hundred feet down, another corridor
intersects with the one they’re in and the page turns down it to
the right. Ahead of them, the corridor opens up onto a large room
with many seats and couches. Half of the available seats are filled
by other’s who are probably waiting their turn to appear before the
Royal Court.

Guards are positioned around the room, a
dozen in all. Four stand before an impressive set of double doors
which must be the entrance to the Court. An officious looking man
sees them enter and moves to intercept them.

The man glances to Michael who says,
“Ellinwyrd asked me to escort this gentleman here.”

“Indeed?” he asks, now turning his attention
to James. “And what business do you have here?”

Reaching into his pouch, he withdraws the
summons and hands it to him.

Taking the letter, the man opens it and
begins reading. After only a second, his eyes flick to James,
really looks at him for the first time and then hands the letter
back. “I shall let them know you’ve arrived,” he says. “You may
wait here until they’re ready for you.”

“Very well,” replies James.

The man then turns and proceeds over to the
double doors and passes through. James catches a brief glimpse of
the room on the other side. A short hallway which opens up on a
large audience hall, crowded with spectators. Before he can get a
better look, the door shuts.