Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (27 page)

“It’s going to be another cold swim,” he
says.

“I know,” he admits. “But if we have a brief
respite here to warm ourselves, we’ll make it.”

They sit in quiet as they bask in the warm
glow of the fire. James finds that even his clothes are beginning
to dry. When he finally feels warm through and through, he looks
with trepidation at the water and says, “Shall we?”

“Best to get it over with,” says Jiron.
“It’s not going to get any warmer.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” agrees James.

Canceling the flame, they’re once more
reduced to just having the light from the orb to guide them. The
coldness of the cave again begins to suck the warmth from their
bodies even before they get into the water.

They push the remnant of the boat back out
into the water and that first step into its icy grip takes James’
breath away. Jiron holds the boat steady while James gets as far up
onto it as possible before pushing it further out into the water.
Then keeping a firm grip on it, he kicks with his feet and propels
them away from the island, maintaining a direction which will keep
the sound of the waterfall behind them.

The coldness of the water sucks the warmth
from them rapidly. “If you get rid of the orb, maybe we’ll be able
to see the light shining in through the exit.”

“I doubt if there’ll be any,” explains
James. “It was almost dark when we first entered the old keep. And
what with the rain, it’s unlikely there would be any
moonlight.”

“That’s right,” he says.

“I’ll try though.” Suddenly, the orb
disappears and they’re thrown into complete and utter darkness. The
sound of the now distant waterfall and the splashing of Jiron’s
feet lends an eeriness to the dark. Giving their eyes a chance to
adjust to the dark, they look around but no light is
forthcoming.

After being in the dark for ten minutes,
James again creates the orb. His teeth are beginning to chatter,
though not nearly as bad as the last time. If they don’t get out of
this water, they’ll both be in trouble from hypothermia.

“There!” Jiron exclaims.”

“What?” asks James. “Where?”

“Over to our right,” he says. “I saw a
light?”

James looks in that direction and says, “I
don’t see anything.”

“I tell you I saw something,” he insists.
“It was just a momentary flash, but it was there.”

“Then let’s check it out,” says James.

Kicking to angle their boar toward where he
saw the flash, he propels them with renewed vigor at the prospect
of being out of the water.

“There! I saw it too,” cries out James in
gladness.

As they come closer, other flashes become
apparent as well. Once they’re close enough for the light from the
orb to illuminate the area, they discover the source of the flashes
are several gems embedded in the side of the cavern.

“Gems!” exclaims Jiron.

Red, green and yellow stones of varying
sizes sparkle in the orb’s light. “There must be a fortune here!”
James says.

A slight rock outcropping from the wall runs
along the water’s edge, allowing them to leave the water and follow
it as they continue to hunt for the exit. It extends past the limit
of the orb’s light in both directions. It isn’t very flat or stable
looking, but it’s still better than being in the frigid water.

Jiron moves them close to the ledge and then
helps James onto it before climbing up himself. A large red gem
sparkles in the orb’s light near him. Taking out his knife, he
pries out the gem and holds it up to the light. Glancing to James
he says, “This might be the end of your worries about coins for the
Ranch.”

Giving his friend a smile, he says, “I think
you’re right. Let’s take some and get them appraised. If they’re
worth a lot, we’ll come back from time to time and harvest
more.”

“Wonder how many are here?” Jiron asks. He
then proceeds to remove several more of varying size and color,
each looking to be worth quite a bit.

“Don’t know,” admits James. Looking around
at all the flashes of light outside the orb’s radius, he adds, “It
looks like hundreds, maybe thousands.” A serious shiver hits him
and he says, “But we need to get out of here.”

“I agree,” says Jiron. The boat has begun to
float away from the wall. “Should we get back in the water or try
to make it along the wall?”

The thought of going back into that iciness
is more than he can bear. “I say wall,” he decides.

“Then let’s go,” says Jiron. “Which
way?”

Pointing to their right, he says, “I think
it would be down that way, though I’m not completely sure.”

Shrugging, Jiron says, “One way’s as good as
another.” He leads the way as they carefully move along the uneven
outcropping of rock. The footing is treacherous, sometimes there is
very little for them to cling to and at times have to step into the
water in order to continue onward.

James is finding it more difficult since he
doesn’t have the use of his left arm to maintain a grip on the wall
during the worst areas. But with Jiron’s help, he’s able to make
it.

During one rather difficult spot, James
suddenly smells the scent of the forest. “We must be getting
close,” he tells Jiron. “I smell pine trees.”

“I do too,” agrees Jiron as he helps him
over a steep section of stone jutting up before them. Just after
that, they start feeling a faint breeze, and a few more yards
further down, they find the opening where the water is flowing out
of the cavern.

They’ll have to wade into the flowing water
in order to pass through the opening. The water is moving quickly
from the cave and hidden rocks under its surface make for unstable
footing. Taking it carefully, Jiron helps James as they make their
way down from the outcropping of rock and into the water.

Passing out of the cave into the undergrowth
beyond, they notice a slight rise in temperature. Still not warm by
any means, it’s still preferable to that which was within the cave.
The rain is still coming down and if anything, has actually
increased since earlier in the day.

“We need to find some shelter,” James says
to Jiron. “Or at least a large tree to stay under.”

The orb doesn’t give them much light to see
by, the rain and trees preventing its light from extending any
great distance. James is reticent to increase its brilliance, he
doesn’t want to attract the attention of someone who might be in
the area.

Once past the cave mouth, they climb out of
the water and trudge their way through the bushes and small trees
lining the edge of the water. With relief they come across a good
sized tree which has a relatively dry space beneath its overhanging
branches.

Thankfully, they enter the protective space
it provides and then set about gathering what firewood they can.
Most of it is wet, but with the help of James’ magic, they manage
to get the wood burning. Jiron sets other damp pieces nearby to dry
before being added to the fire.

“Good to be out of there!” says James.

Nodding, Jiron agrees. “Let me look at that
arm of yours again,” he says. As James holds out his arm, he unties
the bandage and examines it. “It’s a little red around the opening
and some blood is still oozing out. I think I got all the wood out,
won’t really know for a day or two.”

“I hope you did,” James says as Jiron
secures the bandage tight around the wound once more. Infections
are one of the things he hopes to avoid. Wounds which turn septic
in this world could mean the loss of a limb if not outright
fatal.

What rations that were in their belt pouches
have been ruined by their trip through the water. Their packs were
lost when the boat had disintegrated and are now probably at the
bottom of that lake. James had kept his water bottle in his pack so
all they have is the one on Jiron’s belt, which isn’t very big. But
that’s the least of their concerns right now.

“How long should we stay here?” Jiron asks
him.

“I’m not really sure,” he says. “We could
probably make it along the river as it continues through the ravine
in the daylight. But once we reach the far side, we’ll need to move
at night. The Empire will most likely have patrols in the area
looking for spies and infiltrators trying to sneak through.”

“Why don’t you get some sleep,” suggests
Jiron. “I’ll watch the fire and wake you sometime past
midnight.”

“Okay,” he says. “But make sure you do wake
me. I don’t want you to be too tired tomorrow because you wanted to
allow me to sleep.”

“I will,” he assures him.

Really too tired to argue very much, James
lies down and is soon asleep.

True to his word, Jiron wakes him up for his
shift and gets some sleep. By the time the dark of night begins to
turn into the grey of morning, James wakes him up and they get on
their way.

The rain is still coming down though has
tapered off a bit since last night. The cloud cover remains
absolute with not even a trace of blue breaking its way through.
They follow the stream as it continues down to where it joins with
the main river making its way into Madoc.

The main river is flowing quickly, having
been swelled by the rain of the last two days. Walking is easier
here as the water has periodically overflowed its banks and washed
away smaller vegetation leaving a few large trees which had been
able to withstand the rushing water.

Throughout the rest of the day, they make
their way alongside the river, slowly coming to the far side of the
pass. Near the end of the day, the mountains begin falling away and
the road leading down from the pass becomes more visible above
them.

“We better camp soon and cook our dinner
before the light fades completely,” suggest Jiron.

“Good idea,” agrees James. “We don’t want to
advertise our presence here to those up by the road.”

They find another sheltering tree beneath
which Jiron starts a fire while James goes out into the cold water
with a sharpened stick to get their dinner. After spearing two
large fish in succession, he brings them back to the fire. The pain
in his shoulder has worsened due to the strain of catching the
fish. It’s definitely easier to catch fish with two good arms
rather than one.

He rests his arm and warms himself by the
fire while Jiron prepares the fish. “You wouldn’t think it was
summer as cold as that water is,” James says.

“Summer’s almost over,” comments Jiron while
he readies the fish. Once he has them skewered on sticks, he hands
one to James who holds it over the fire to cook. The smell of the
cooking fish makes his stomach cramp and he realizes he’s not eaten
for awhile.

“The last time Miko and I had come this
way,” he tells Jiron, “Cardri had a force up ahead at the end of
the pass. They had also begun constructing a defensive barrier, I
suppose in the event the Empire proved hostile to them.”

“That should make it interesting for us to
get through,” he replies. “Maybe we could make it to the other
side?”

Looking at the fast flowing river, James has
his doubts about the feasibility of that idea. “I don’t know,” he
says, hesitantly. “Let’s see what awaits us further down the river
first. We may be able to make it past without having to cross.”

“As you wish,” says Jiron. Taking his fish
off the fire, he checks it and finds it not quite done. Replacing
it over the flames he sits back and relaxes.

The rest of the evening passes uneventfully.
As the sun dips below the horizon and the light begins to fade,
they put out their fire so as not to alert anyone to their
presence. They again share the watch throughout the night and when
the sun begins to rise, they set out for the end of the pass.

The rain had stopped sometime during the
night and by midmorning the clouds begin breaking up. James
welcomes the sunshine and enjoys the warmth it brings him. Sleeping
without a fire on the cold ground had kept him shivering through
most of the night.

Above them on the mountainside, the road
leading from the pass continues its descent down to the plains on
the far side. By midafternoon, it’s close enough for them to be
able to make out soldiers traveling upon it. Most are moving toward
the Madoc side of the Pass.

Early evening finds them close to the end of
the Pass. From ahead of them, the scent of smoke wafts toward them
from numerous campfires. “There must be a sizeable force up ahead?”
Jiron whispers to James during a short break.

“There were around a hundred there the last
time,” he says. “No telling how many there might be now.”

“We should await the coming of night before
moving ahead,” suggests Jiron. “We’re just getting too close.”

“I agree,” responds James. They find a good
spot to rest while they wait for night. James falls asleep for
several hours until Jiron awakens him when it gets completely
dark.

“Time to go,” he says to James.

“Right.”

Staying close to the river, they make their
way carefully toward the end of the pass. After an hour of trudging
along the bank of the river, they begin to see light from several
campfires in the distance through the trees ahead of them. “Wait
here” Jiron says as he moves forward to reconnoiter.

James waits by the river and watches as
Jiron’s shadow merges with the darkness on his way to the camp
ahead. After what seems a long time, Jiron returns. “Well?” James
asks him.

“It’s not good,” he says. “They built a
wooden wall across the entrance to the Pass, and it extends to the
edge of the river. There’s no way we can get through on this side
without going over or through the barricade.”

“Which would mean alerting them to our
presence,” adds James.

“And I don’t think they’ll treat us kindly
if we’re discovered sneaking around,” he says. “More than likely,
they’ll treat us as spies, probably kill us on the spot.”