Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three

Copyright 2005, 2008

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The Fantasy Worlds of

Brian S. Pratt

The Morcyth Saga

The
Unsuspecting Mage

Fires
of Prophecy

Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li

Trail
of the Gods

The
Star of Morcyth

Shades of the Past

The
Mists of Sorrow*

*(Conclusion of The Morcyth Saga)

Travail of The Dark Mage

Sequel to The Morcyth Saga

1-Light in the Barren Lands

2
- (forthcoming 2009)

The Broken Key

#1-
Shepherd’s Quest

#2-Hunter of the Horde

#3-Quest’s End

Qyaendri Adventures

Ring
of the Or’tux

Dungeon Crawler Adventures

Underground

Portals

The Adventurer’s Guild

#1-Jaikus and Reneeke Join the Guild

For my
Uncle,
who supplied me with
the computer upon which I wrote
The Morcyth Saga
. Also for
my
Aunt,
who made my times at their farm ones of happiness
and are among my fondest childhood memories.

James walks down one of the many hallways in
the Ferdillon Estate which lies in the great trading city of
Corillian. Situated at the southern end of the island of Torence,
Corillian boasts one of the largest shipping ports in these waters.
The trading houses here ship goods to all the known kingdoms, many
having offices in every major city and capitol.

He pauses in front of a door he’s entered
many times over the past seven days, ever since they were brought
here by Nate’s cousin after they’d fled the destruction of the
mines.

Knocking, he waits until he hears a ‘come
in’ from the other side before opening the door. Inside, he finds
Miko sitting in a chair next to Nate who’s lying in bed, recovering
from the effects of the poison he consumed when Black Tooth had
tried to extract his revenge upon Miko. Miko had been poisoned as
well, but hadn’t consumed as much of it as had Nate.

When they’d arrived at the docks of
Corillian, the captain immediately took him to the nearest temple
where he’d arranged for a priest to purge the poison from his
system. Once the poison had been purged, the priest had told them
the damage to his insides was far reaching and that it would take a
long time, if ever, for him to fully recover from the effects.

“Feeling better today?” he asks Nate as he
comes over and sits upon the edge of the bed.

“Some,” he replies with a raspy voice. Still
wracked by pain, he at least is able to hold down solids and can
move around on his own for a short time.

James turns to Miko, “Jiron and I are ready
to leave soon for Cardri.”

A pained look comes over Miko as he asks,
“What about me?”

James glances toward Nate before replying,
“Nate’s family has offered to let you stay here with them for as
long as you desire.”

“That’s right, Miko,” Nate adds. “We’d be
more than happy to have you remain here with us.”

“But…” he says as he looks to Nate, pausing
momentarily. Then he continues, “As much as I appreciate the offer
to stay here with you and your family, I wish to return to Cardri
with James.” He looks to James for his response.

James glances again to Nate and says, “I
thought we should at least give him the choice.”

Nate nods in reply.

Turning to Miko, James says, “Then we’ll be
leaving in the morning. There’s a trader with whom Nate’s father
has arranged to carry us with them as they make their way to
Cardri. They have several stops before they get there, but said
they should be docking at the capitol within a couple weeks.”

“Tomorrow?” he asks, sad to be leaving his
friend so soon. He turns to Nate and says, “I’m sorry to have to
leave you.”

Nate lifts his hand and pats Miko on the
knee, “It’s okay, Miko. I understand. Remember, you always have a
friend in me and if you’re ever in the area, I expect you to stop
by for a visit.”

Giving him a sad smile, Miko replies, “I
will.” He turns to James, “I’d like to stay here with Nate until we
leave in the morning.”

“Sure thing,” James assures him. “Now, I
need to go arrange a few things with Jiron before we go.” Getting
up from the bed, he goes over to the door. Looking back at Nate, he
says, “You get better now.”

Nate smiles at him and replies, “I
will.”

Opening the door, he leaves the room and
then closes it behind him. He proceeds down the hallway toward the
room that he’s been sharing with Jiron.

On the way, he sees Essin coming toward him
and he’s wearing the livery of House Ferdillon. As they approach
each other, he says, “So you’ve taken service with them then?”

Smiling broadly, Essin replies, “Yes James,
both Eril and I have.” Eril was the other slave that had jumped
aboard at the last minute when they fled the volcanic eruption
which had consumed the slave mines. “Nate put in a good word with
his father on our behalf and they’ve made us part of their servant
staff. Not a glamorous position to be sure, but better than what we
had a few weeks ago.”

Laughing, James nods his head in agreement,
“You got that right. I wish nothing but the best for both of
you.”

“Thank you,” he replies.

“I don’t know if I ever expressed my thanks
for the fair treatment you gave Miko when he was part of your team
in the mines,” he says.

“Well, I’ve always believed that if you
treat someone with respect and fairly, they’ll work harder for
you,” he explains.

“I’ve found that to be true, too,” he tells
him.

“I must be off,” Essin says to him. “Can’t
afford to make a bad impression with the master of the house.”

“Good luck, Essin” James says as he begins
to walk away.

“You too, James,” Essin replies.

Leaving Essin behind, he proceeds down the
hallway and admires the hanging tapestries on the way to the stairs
leading down to where his room is located. Down the stairs, he
turns to the right and comes to his room which is the third doorway
from the stairs. He finds that Jiron has already left, probably to
find another serving girl to spend time with. Leaving the room, he
continues down the hallway past his room in search of him. Jiron
often takes the serving girls to the inner atrium at the end of the
hallway, where he says the plants growing there helps to ‘get them
in the mood’.

The atrium is roughly forty feet by sixty
feet with an open ceiling that allows the sun, and at times the
rain, to fall upon the many plants growing there. Three benches are
placed along the cobblestone walkways that meander their way
amongst the plants. It’s on one of those benches that he finds
Jiron sitting and talking with Nate’s sister, Miriam.

“…that’s when we took off and left the
soldiers far behind,” he says to her.

James can see her sitting there in rapt
attention as he relates another tale of their exploits. He’s been
wooing several of the serving girls as well as Miriam, much to the
chagrin of Nate’s mother. That’s partially the reason why they’ve
agreed to expedite their return to Cardri.

“Ahem,” James says, clearing his throat to
announce his presence.

Turning to look over his shoulder, Jiron
sees him standing there at the entrance to the atrium and gives him
a big smile as he says, “Hi James.”

James nods his head to him and then says to
her, “Good day Miriam.”

She nods her head in reply and gives him a
shy smile as she says, “Jiron was just telling me about your escape
from Al-Kur. It’s amazing you both got out of there alive!”

“Yeah, it was,” he says to her. “Luck was
definitely on our side that day.” Turning to Jiron he says, “I told
Miko we’re leaving and he’s decided to come with us.”

“Thought he might,” he says. “Though if it
wasn’t for Tersa needing me there, I’d never leave.” He flashes
Miriam a smile and she gives one to him in return.

“I must go,” Miriam says abruptly as she
gets up from the bench and rushes past James as she hurries from
the atrium.

“Wonder what made her…” he begins to say
when he sees Miriam’s mother entering the atrium from the other
direction.

As she approaches them, Jiron comes to his
feet and gives her a slight bow, “Greetings lady.”

“Flirting with my daughter again, have you?”
she says to him with a not too happy look on her face.

“Just whiling away the time before we leave
in the morning,” he assures her.

“I’ve spoken to Captain Caril, and he said
all is set,” she tells them. “They’ll be leaving at first
light.”

“Good,” exclaims Jiron. “Though I’ve enjoyed
the hospitality of your house, I am anxious to return and find my
sister.”

“Yes,” chimes in James, “you and your family
have been most gracious in allowing us to stay here with you.”

She turns a warm smile to James as she says,
“It is the least we can do for having our Nate back. I had given up
all hope of ever seeing my son again.”

“Miko will be going with us as well,” he
tells her. “I told him of your offer to have him stay here, but his
mind is set to continue with us.”

“That’s too bad,” she says, “Nate has grown
awfully fond of him. We all have to tell the truth, he’s a good
lad.”

“Yes he is,” agrees James.

She begins to leave but pauses and turns
back toward them, saying, “We’re having a banquet tonight in your
honor, to send you off properly. I took the liberty of arranging
for suitable attire to be brought to your rooms later this
afternoon.”

“Thank you lady,” James says to her
graciously.

“You’re welcome,” she replies as she again
turns and makes her way out of the atrium the way she’d come
in.

James turns to Jiron and says, “You’d better
stay away from Miriam until we leave.”

“I don’t intend to do anything with her,” he
assures him. “Truth to tell, she was the one who found me. I was
sitting here just relaxing when she shows up and starts talking to
me. Before I even knew it, she had me relating the tale of our
escape from Al-Kur.”

“Be that as it may,” he says, “we’re not out
of here yet and an angry mother can screw up our way back to
Cardri.”

“I’ll do my best to avoid being around her,
okay?” he asks.

James nods his head in reply, “That’ll be
just fine.”

“Wonder what ‘suitable attire’ is?” Jiron
asks.

“Don’t know,” he replies, “but it’s usually
stiff and uncomfortable.”

A groan escapes Jiron as he rolls his eyes
upward.

He walks with James back to their room and
as they near their door, they see one of the servants coming out of
their room. The servant fails to notice them as he shuts the door
and walks down the hallway in the opposite direction.

With trepidation, they open the door and
walk in. Lying on each bed is indeed a set of clothes, one which
has bright green tights and a darker green upper tunic. The other
one is light brown tights with a dark brown upper tunic.

They both race for the brown set and Jiron
cries out in triumph as he gets to them first. “Ha ha ha, my
peacock,” he says to James as he’s holding the brown set.

“Oh, shut up,” replies James as he goes over
and holds up the other set. “I hate green,” he says miserably. He
turns to Jiron and has an imploring look.

“No way, man,” he says and then indicates
the clothes James is holding, “I’d rather go naked than wear that.”
He begins taking off his clothes and putting the new ones on. When
he sees James hesitating, he asks in all seriousness, “You don’t
want to insult our hostess do you?” Then a playful smile spreads
across his face.