The mists of sorrow ms-7

by Brian S. Pratt

  “This is truly a saga of the ages,” Scar says at one point.

  “What do you mean?” asks James.

  “If we survive this, what a tale it will make.” He glances from one to another. Then with a grin he continues. “How Scar and Potbelly saved the world.”

  Everyone grins, some actually laugh. “Perhaps another name might be appropriate seeing as how you two aren’t even in the entire tale,” says Jiron.

  “I guess it would all depend on who was telling it now wouldn’t it?” Potbelly asks in all seriousness. Then his face breaks into another grin as laughter rolls forth.

  “Are you going to sit on the bank of that river when this is all over?” Jiron asks James.

  “Man you know it,” he replies. “I think each of us has had enough adventuring for awhile.”

  “What do you mean enough?” asks Scar. “This is the most fun we’ve ever had!”

  “You got that right,” pipes up Potbelly.

  “So what do you plan to do?” asks Stig the pair. “Still going to get one of those hell hounds and put it in the Pits?”

  “Why not?” Potbelly exclaims.

  “Be the best money maker we’ve ever had,” adds Scar.

  Silence falls for a moment then Jiron says, “I would just like to see Tersa again. See how her teddy bears are coming along.”

  “Every woman in Cardri will be making them before long,” Shorty says.

  “Perhaps,” agrees Jiron. Then he looks to Aleya who’s sitting next to him, propped up against the wall behind her chair stands her bow and a quiver now full of arrows. Jiron had managed to find a fletcher here in Zixtyn and bought her a score.

  “There’s been something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time,” he says as he gazes to her.

  “You have?” she asks.

  “Yes,” he replies. “And if I don’t do it now I may not have a chance to later.” He takes her by the hand which begins to tremble in expectation. “Aleya, though we have only known each other such a short time…” he trials off as he has to clear his throat. He sees her nod for him to continue.

  “I’m not what you could say a great catch. Not rich, never home and likely to be killed at any time, but…”

  “Yes?” she asks with a catch in her throat.

  “Would you be willing to be my wife?” he asks. The whole room becomes silent as everyone in the room strains to be able to hear her reply.

  A single tear runs down her cheek as she nods. “Yes my dear Jiron,” she says. “I would.”

  “Yes!” exclaims Stig and the others clap as the engaged couple share a kiss.

  “A toast!” hollers Scar.

  “Yes, a toast,” the others say as the ale in their mugs is quickly refreshed. Once everyone’s mug is filled, they turn to James who suddenly realizes he’s the one they’re looking to make the toast.

  Getting to his feet, he turns to the couple and says, “Not very good at this, but here it goes.” He sees a reassuring nod from Jiron and a smile from Aleya. “To Jiron and Aleya, may the life they embark upon be filled with joy, happiness, and lots and lots of children!” At the mention of children he sees Jiron’s eye’s tighten in panic but then relaxes when he realizes there’s some time before he’ll have to worry about one of them coming into their lives.

  “To Jiron and Aleya!” the others say and raise their cups.

  Then Scar comes forward with two beautiful silver cups of fine workmanship. “Jiron had informed me earlier today that he planned to do this,” he explains. “So the rest of us went out and bought these as a gift.”

  Potbelly comes forward with a bottle of wine. Opening it, he fills each of the cups before handing them to Aleya and Jiron. “Can’t have the first drink you two share after something like this be just ale.”

  “Thank you,” Aleya says as she takes hers.

  “Yes,” Jiron states. “Thank you all.” Taking his cup, he entwines his drinking arm around hers and they both drink at the same time. Cheers and applause erupt as they finish the wine to the last drop.

  Setting their cups back on the table, they gaze into each other’s eyes. Then Jiron leans forward and gives her a kiss. She returns it. Her eyes close and when he breaks off the kiss, her head lolls to the side.

  “Sorry my love,” he says to her as he picks up her unconscious body and carries it over to the bed. Laying her down, he turns to James and asks, “Do you think she’ll ever forgive me?”

  “Only time will tell,” he says.

  “Is everything ready?” Jiron asks Scar.

  “As ready as can be,” he says.

  Jiron gets up off the bed and then turns to Reilin, Shorty and Stig. “If you don’t see her safely back to The Ranch, I’ll personally hunt each of you down and kill you.”

  Stig lays his hand on his shoulder. “Only our death is going to prevent us,” he says, “rest assured.”

  Earlier that day, Jiron and James had come to the conclusion that where they are going, it would be pure folly to take Aleya and Aku along. Reilin, Stig, and Shorty agreed to escort them back to The Ranch starting at first light. He wanted Scar and Potbelly to accompany them as well, but they would not be denied their chance to have some fun. Said they were tired of always being left behind.

  “Okay then,” Jiron says. Coming back to his Aleya, he bends over and kisses her upon the forehead and moves a few errant strands of hair from out of her face. “How long will she be out?”

  “Most of the night,” Brother Willim says. “The leaves of the Acriptia plant are most affective at such things.”

  “We better get going,” Jiron says.

  James turns to Reilin and says, “Shorty is coming with us as far as the temple complex. Should things go bad, he’ll return here and the rest of you get out of town before they come for you.”

  “It won’t come to that,” he says.

  “Let’s hope not,” agrees James. “But just in case…”

  “I know, get out of town,” finishes Reilin.

  Miko shoulders the pack containing the Book of Morcyth and Brother Willim takes his staff. When they’re ready, Jiron turns to Shorty and Stig. “Thank you for doing this for me.”

  “You can pay us back by buying a round at the Squawking Goose,” Shorty tells him.

  Jiron pats him on the shoulder, “I don’t know if I’ll have that much money.”

  They laugh, a nervous, sad laugh.

  “Come on,” he says and heads for the door. Just before he leaves he glances back one more time to his betrothed lying on the bed. “This really is for the best,” he says to himself. Then he leaves the room.

  James follows right on his heels with Brother Willim and Miko coming next. After them follows Scar, Potbelly and Shorty. The rest remain within the room.

  Down in the darkened street, James glances up to where the dark moon must be rising. The hackles on the back of his neck rise as a shiver runs through him. With Jiron in the lead, they make their way across town until the temple complex comes into sight. Earlier he located a deserted building where they could hide until the time came to make their play.

  Once they’ve all entered the building and the door is closed, he moves to the window giving the best view of the entrance to the temple grounds that he plans for them to take. “How are we to know when the rite begins?” he asks.

  “Those of us who can sense magic will know,” Brother Willim states.

  “I hope so,” he says. “I don’t want to cut this too close.”

  “We won’t,” James assures him. “As soon as it begins, we go.”

  Jiron nods and continues looking toward the complex. He sees the guard pass whose path takes him by the entrance every ten minutes. According to the way the other guard’s routes lay, two minutes after this guard passes by the entrance is the best time in which to go.

  Four times the guard passes by the entrance before James begins to feel an increase in the prickling sensation which comes when magic is being worked nearby. He glances to
Brother Willim and sees him nods. “It’s time Jiron,” he tells his friend.

  “Okay,” he says from the window. “The guard will pass by again in a couple minutes, then we can move out.” They crowd around the window and look toward the entrance in the outer wall of the temple complex. A few minutes later, the guard appears. “Let’s go,” Jiron says once the guard has passed by the entrance.

  “Good luck,” Shorty says before they head out.

  Jiron turns to him and pats him on the shoulder. “You too,” he replies. “See you back at The Ranch.” Moving out, he leads them quickly toward the entrance to the temple grounds. This area is deserted, not even animals are present this evening. Almost as if they know something is about to happen.

  Upon reaching the opening in the wall, Jiron brings them to a halt while he moves forward and enters the opening. On the far side he sees the back of the guard that had recently passed in front of the opening on his way over to between two of the smaller auxiliary buildings. Once the guard has moved between them, he waves for the others to follow and runs across the grounds. There’s only about a five or six second window before another guard makes his appearance. If they haven’t reached the side of the building directly across from the entrance by the time he does, they’ll be spotted.

  No sooner does Miko, who’s the last to reach the building, presses himself against its side than the expected guard makes his appearance further to their right. Emerging from between two of the smaller buildings, he turns and walks along the face of the one to his right. Then he disappears a few seconds later as he rounds the corner and begins working his way back.

  Run and wait. Once it’s clear, they run again. Step by step they make it closer to the temple’s entrance. They possibly could have done this without the diagram, but they would have left a wake of dead guards behind them. And with that many gone, it would have been almost impossible for someone not to notice.

  Once they’ve made it to the corner of the building directly across from the double doors which are the temple’s entrance, Jiron gathers them close. “A guard will appear in one minute from around the left side,” he explains. “He’ll move across the front of the temple toward the left then turn and go around to the back. Once he disappears around the corner, we have less than a minute to get to those doors and through before two other guards will appear from there,” he says as he points to the building on their right, “and there,” he concludes, pointing behind them.

  Waiting there for the guard to appear, James feels the prickling sensation continue to gradually increase. Whatever they are doing entails quite a bit of magic.

  Finally the guard makes his appearance. Six pairs of eyes watch him as he turns and crosses in front of the temple. Then, when he reaches the corner and turns to follow the other side of the temple, Jiron says, “Now.”

  Even before the guard completely disappears from sight, they are racing across to the doors. Taking the steps two at a time, Jiron reaches the top and pauses before the doors. He turns back and scans the temple grounds. Not seeing anyone else moving about, he takes the handle of the right door. Giving it a slight shove, he begins pushing the door open.

  From within the murmur of voices comes to them. It sounds as if many men are chanting. Peering inside, he finds a large room with a vaulted ceiling. Lit torches line the walls at ten foot intervals giving off plenty of light. Besides the way they came in, there are four other exits leading from the room. Two are doors, both of which stand closed. The other two are the beginnings of hallways that extend further into the temple.

  Not seeing anyone, they move inside quickly and close the doors.

  James begins to pull out the diagram of the temple given to them by the Slavemaster but Jiron shakes his head. “I have it memorized,” he asserts.

  “You sure?” asks James.

  “Definitely,” replies Jiron. “We take the hallway to the right.” He points to the hallway off to their right that runs along the inside of the outer temple wall.

  Glancing to the diagram, James sees that Jiron is indeed correct. “Okay, let’s go,” he says. Moving along the side of the hall, they make for the opening of the hallway. James refers back to the diagram again and sees that the first of the areas with annotations is the room at the end of this hallway.

  He shows the diagram and the annotations to Jiron as they reach the hallway. Jiron nods then scans the hallway. The right side has no openings as it’s the temple’s outer wall. The left wall has two openings before they reach the end. At that point the hallway opens up onto the room with the annotations. Just what the annotations mean they have yet to decipher.

  Jiron has the others move just within the hallway then wait there while he hurries forward to check the two openings on the left. He moves down to the first one and finds another corridor branching off. Fortunately it’s currently empty. At the second opening he finds a dark room, just an alcove really. Like the corridor before it, it’s empty as well. He then returns back to the branching corridor and makes sure it’s clear before signaling the others to hurry past and join him.

  Then with the others following close, he moves down to the end of the hallway. The chanting they heard upon first entering the temple pervades the corridors. It doesn’t sound very close, in fact it’s hard to tell just where it is coming from. One thing’s for sure, it isn’t coming from the room ahead of them.

  The room they’re approaching is well lit and they can easily see within it long before they reach it. From their vantage point within the corridor, the room looks deserted. He has the others wait while he moves to the end of the corridor. Peering into the room, he finds it empty.

  It’s a room that stretches about forty feet away from the corridor and is close to thirty feet wide. The walls are plain and unadorned. Another corridor exits the room through the wall to their left. In the middle of the room sits a pedestal, roughly four foot high. Sitting upon the top of it is a statue of a bent and gnarled humanoid form. The statue stands two feet in height and its back is to Jiron so he’s unable to get a good look at the face of it from his vantage point.

  Other than the corridor wherein he’s standing, the only exit from the room is the corridor to his left. There’s something about this room that bothers him, then realization hits him. He waves for the others to come forward and when they join him he points to the other corridor on the left and says, “I don’t think we are supposed to go that way.”

  James brings forth the diagram and looks at it. “You’re right,” he says. “According to this there should be another way directly across from where we’re standing.” He shows the diagram to the others.

  “Then that means we know what those annotations on the diagram mean now,” Miko observes. When the others look to him he clarifies, “They probably tell us how to locate and activate a secret door.”

  James nods his head. “I think you’re right,” he says.

  “Okay then,” Jiron says as he glances to the others. “Scar, Potbelly.” Pointing to the other corridor leading from the room he says, “You two keep an eye down that corridor over there.” As they cross the room to get into position, Jiron says to James, “I’ll keep watch here while you find that secret door and get it open.”

  James nods his head. “Right.”

  “Ahhh!” Miko suddenly exclaims as his knees almost buckle.

  James turns to him. “What happened?” he asks concerned.

  Miko turns sorrow filled eyes toward him and says, “I think they’ve begun killing the slaves Jiron saw them bring in here.” Then again he feels a life ending prematurely.

  “You going to be okay?” he asks as he sees the pain again in his face.

  “No,” he replies. “But what choice is there?”

  To Brother Willim James says, “Stay with him.” After he receives a nod from him, he moves into the room and crosses over to where according to the map the secret door has to be. On the way over he passes by the statue and notices that it is looking directly at th
e place the secret door must lay.

  The visage of the creature is truly demonic, even down to the two small horns sprouting from its forehead. Only giving it a cursory glance, he hurries to the wall. Once there, he begins a quick search for any loose stones or sections that might activate the triggering mechanism. After several minutes of fruitless searching, he comes to the conclusion that it must be elsewhere.

  Turning back to the pedestal and statue, he gives it a quick once over. He runs his hands first over the pedestal, then when he finds nothing, turns his attention to the statue.

  “Someone’s coming,” Scar says from where he’s watching the other corridor. He and Potbelly move to either side of the opening and flatten themselves against the wall.

  From his vantage point in the middle of the room, James can see two of the temple guards making their way down the corridor toward the room. Moving quickly, he moves to the side of the room out of the view of the approaching guards, and quickly makes his way next to Potbelly.

  Both Potbelly and Scar draw their knives and wait. The approaching footsteps grow louder as the two men draw closer. When they emerge from the corridor, Potbelly and Scar strike fast and hard. Both guards fall without a sound.

  “Anyone else?” asks Jiron as he remerges from where he, Miko and Brother Willim had ducked back down the other corridor to keep from being seen.

  Scar glances back down the corridor and shakes his head. “No,” he replies.

  “Alright,” Jiron replies. Then to James he says, “Hurry it up.”

  Nodding, James returns to the statue. He begins trying to move the various appendages of the demonic figure. He pushes and pulls the arms, head and torso. Then one of his fingers encounters a slightly loose gnarled bump on the creature’s back. “I found something,” he says.

  “Don’t stand there talking about it,” Jiron says. “Get it open.”

  He presses the gnarled bump but nothing happens. Another quick examination reveals two more bumps that are slightly loose, one on its stomach and another on its back. He presses all three simultaneously and is rewarded with an almost silent grinding noise as a section of the wall begins to rise into the ceiling.