The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five

by Brian S. Pratt

  The last horse is secured in line and he hears the older gentlemen say, “You and your wife take the wagon and horses. We’ll meet up with you in a few minutes.” As the wagon begins to roll away, the unmistakable sound of a sword leaving its scabbard can be heard followed shortly by another.

  James sees them moving toward them, intent on ending their lives. He again focuses on the crystals lying next to him and with a sheer force of will begins inching his hand toward the crystal with the embedded spells. His finger finally comes into contact with it just as they reach the unconscious men lying on the ground. He watches in horror as the older gentleman raises his sword to end the life of one of his comrades.

  In a bare whisper, he says “Leech” and can feel power being absorbed from him by the crystal. Then before the sword can fall, he cries out in a gasp, “Incinerate!” More power is sucked from him as a red flare flies from the crystal toward the man.

  The light from the flare causes him to pause a moment in his swing and that’s all the time it needs. Striking him, the flare erupts in a flaming ball. Screaming, the man begins running around, a veritable human torch.

  Startled, the younger man cries out, “Father!” Running to his aid, he attempts to put out the fires to no avail. Finally his father slumps to the ground, and lies still as his screams of pain come to a stop.

  With a cry of rage, the son stands up and with a primal scream runs toward the nearest of the drugged men, intent upon venting his anger.

  “Shield radius twenty!” can barely be heard as James gasps another command to the crystal. Springing up around the men lying on the ground is an invisible barrier.

  Aaaaaahhhh!

  A cry of pain and agony rips through the night, drawing James’ attention. The son had been caught by the creation of the barrier and a portion of his face, chest and one leg had been severed off by it. Falling backward away from the barrier, he collapses to the ground where he writhes in agony until finally dying.

  James says one last command before succumbing to unconsciousness, “Maintain.”

  Chapter Twenty One

  _________________________

  When he at last awakens again, morning has come. The rain has stopped and the sun is just beginning to break through the cloud cover. Sitting up, his head begins to spin and realizes how weak he is. That’s when he feels the drawing of power from him by the crystal while it maintains the barrier around them.

  “You okay?” he hears behind him.

  Glancing back he finds Jiron walking toward him. Nodding his head, he asks, “You?”

  “Still a bit dizzy but otherwise fine,” he replies. He sees James glancing at the others and says, “They’re all still alive but unresponsive. I think they may have been affected more than you and I.”

  “Gayle must have put something in the stew,” he says as he comes to his feet. “Any sign of her or Kerrin?”

  Shaking his head, Jiron says, “I don’t think so.” Then he motions over to one side of the camp and adds, “We have one stiff over there that’s charred beyond recognition. At the edge of the barrier next to it is what’s left of some guy your barrier cut in two. May be them.”

  “Cut in two?” James asks.

  “Yeah,” he says. “Come here and I’ll show you.” Reaching down a hand, he helps him to his feet. They make their way over to where the man had been sliced by the materialization of the barrier.

  Turning away from the grisly sight, he says, “It’s one of the men from the inn.”

  Instant recognition comes to Jiron who points over to the burnt corpse and before he can say anything, James adds, “That’s the other one.”

  “Then they were in it together from the start?” he asks.

  “It looks that way,” he says and then begins making his way to the others where they lay on the ground, making sure they’re alright. He finds them all asleep but unresponsive just as Jiron had said.

  “We got a bigger problem,” he tells him.

  “What?” Jiron asks.

  Turning to face him, he pulls down the collar of his shirt and says, “They took the medallion.”

  Jiron gasps in shock. This is the first time he’s ever seen him without it. “What are you going to do?”

  “Get it back,” he says.

  “They’re going to be long gone by the time the others are ready for travel,” he states.

  “Be that as it may, I have to retrieve it,” he asserts. No longer seeing the need to maintain the barrier, he returns to where the crystal lies on the ground and picks it up. Holding it in his hand he says “Cancel” and it disappears. He rewraps it in the cloth and then gathers the other crystals, putting them all in one of his pockets.

  When the barrier goes down, Jiron moves and collects the two horses which are still tied to a nearby tree. They must have belonged to the two dead men. Bringing them closer he secures them nearby and then starts a fire in the now cold fire pit.

  Over the course of the next several hours the others begin to regain consciousness. When they find out what happened they’re all set to go and extract their vengeance upon them. The last one to come out of it is Miko, probably because he had eaten the most of the drugged or poisoned stew than the others.

  During this time, it has been determined that Kerrin and Gayle proceeded further into the pass rather than return to Feld. The ruts created by the wagon are still visible in the mud and they head further up the pass.

  Once they have a light meal, James announces that he and Jiron are going to take the two horses and follow them.

  “But what about the rest of us?” Dave asks.

  “You will have to follow as best you can on foot,” he explains.

  “But…” he begins to protest then falls silent, giving in to the inevitable.

  “Fifer,” he says, “I want you to be in charge until our return.”

  “You got it,” he says.

  Coming close to him and whispering so only he can hear he says, “Don’t let anyone kill Dave.”

  Smiling, he gives him a nod.

  He and Jiron mount the horses and then he turns to the others. “With any luck, we’ll be back soon. If by the time you’ve reached the next town and we haven’t returned, find an inn and stay there until we do.”

  “But we haven’t any coins,” Fifer says. “They took all I have.” Glancing to the others, he gets answering nods saying their coins are gone as well.

  Moving to the horses, James rummages through the packs still attached there. Not finding anything of value, he goes to the two corpses. He finds two sacks of coins, one on each. One of the sacks is burned badly from when the older man had been torched by James’ spell so he transfers the coins from it to the other.

  “Hopefully this should be enough,” he says as he hands it over to Fifer.

  “But what about you?” he asks as he takes the offered pouch.

  “We’ll get by I’m sure,” he replies. Then with a nod to Jiron they return to the horses and mount.

  “Good luck,” Miko says as they turn to follow the road up the mountain.

  “You too,” he replies. As he kicks his horse to move, he can hear Dave mumble, “I knew it was a bad idea to let them come with us.” Ignoring the remark, he breaks into a gallop and has soon left the others behind.

  They don’t get far before they find the wagon sitting abandoned in the middle of the road. “What happened?” Jiron asks.

  “Perhaps they heard or saw what happened back at the camp and decided to beat a hasty retreat,” suggests James.

  “I was hoping they would still be on the slow moving wagon,” says Jiron.

  “Me too,” he replies. A cursory look shows very little to have been left behind when the wagon was abandoned. They get moving again and quickly leave the wagon behind. The tracks of all their stolen horses leave a clear trail for them to follow. As long as the sun stays out they should have no trouble in following them.

  After riding in silence for awhile, Jiron asks, “Do you s
uppose the bandits we were warned about might still be in the area?”

  James chuckles at that and says, “Jiron, the people who told us about the bandits, were the bandits.”

  “Oh yeah, right,” he says a little embarrassed.

  “But in the mood I am right now, no bandit better hope to cross our path,” he says in all seriousness.

  Jiron gives him a nod and they continue to ride on throughout the rest of the afternoon. Whether they are catching them or not is hard to tell as neither of them are experienced trackers. One thing’s for sure though, Kerrin and Gayle have a good head start with lots of fresh horses to change off with to better maintain their speed.

  When night finally comes James decides to stop and rest. They’re both still feeling the effects of the drug used on them and are in need of some rest. Building a fire and eating what little food they find on the horses, they make camp and take turns standing watch throughout the night.

  The following morning they’re up early and on the road before the sun crests the mountaintops. Riding hard, they continue to follow the road as it meanders through the mountains until finally reaching the summit. It’s not a sharp summit but a gradual one and they’re unable to look very far down the other side.

  An hour after cresting the summit they come across what appears to be the camp Kerrin and Gayle used the previous night. A fire pit and mounds of fresh horse manure show that they were there. Off to the left of the road lies a lake which is the source of the river they’ve been following.

  “May not be very much further behind them,” Jiron says.

  “We have been riding hard,” agrees James. “Let’s take a moment and find out.”

  Dismounting, he goes over to a free standing pool of water near the side of the road. Kneeling down, he concentrates on Kerrin and an image appears of him and Gayle riding fast trailing a line of horses behind them. The image shows them to still be in the mountains, the road they’re on winding among the hills and trees.

  Expanding the image, it’s hard for him to determine just where or how far away they are. “At least they’re still on the run and haven’t met up with anyone,” announces Jiron.

  “That’s fortunate,” adds James as he cancels the spell. Getting to his feet, he mounts and they continue down the mountain. The wind here in the upper elevation bites with cold as it whips at them. They huddle more into their jackets as they race down the road.

  James is feeling fortunate there hasn’t been any snow falling yet here in the higher elevations. Though the clouds above have thinned somewhat, they still exhibit the inherent threat of more rain or snow. As cold as the air feels he wouldn’t be surprised to see snow begin to fall. Of course the temperature is worsened by their speed, the wind chill making it feel worse than it probably is.

  As they continue speeding down the mountain they come to a rocky area where the trees start to thin. This section of the pass looks to have been obliterated by a mammoth rockslide some time in the recent past. A way through has been cleared to enable traffic to continue across, large boulders dot the area. The slide couldn’t have happened recently as bushes and small trees have begun to grow among the rubble.

  James’ horse becomes skittish as they enter the boulder strewn section of the pass. “Easy boy,” he says, patting its neck in an attempt to calm it down.

  “What’s wrong?” Jiron asks.

  “I don’t know,” he replies. “Something’s got my horse spooked.”

  Jiron signals to come to a halt as he scans the area. His horse has begun to exhibit nervousness too.

  “Think there’s a problem?” James asks.

  “Maybe,” he replies as he continues scanning the boulders. “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary.” After searching for another minute he adds, “Would be a good place for an ambush though.”

  “I was thinking that too,” says James. Up ahead of them the road winds its way through large piles of boulders which could very easily hide raiders of one kind or another.

  “Kerrin and Gayle made it through,” Jiron finally says, “and I don’t see anything.” He glances to James and continues, “Let’s take it slow and keep our eyes open.”

  Nodding, James nudges his horse to move at a slow walk. Keeping his eyes open, he reaches to his slug belt and removes one, keeping it ready just in case.

  Their horses continue to show signs of skittishness and at one point Jiron’s stops and refuses to go further. He kicks it a couple times in the sides and finally gets it moving. Glancing to James he sees the worry he feels mirrored in his face. Pulling a knife, he signals for James to wait while he proceeds ahead.

  Nodding, James waits.

  Taking it slow, he works his way slowly forward, eyes scanning the road and rocks ahead for any indication of what has the horses so spooked. He moves twenty feet from James when a black shadow lurches toward him from out of the cover of the rocks ahead and to the right.

  Easily half the size of a horse and running like a dog, it charges with a growl. Jiron’s horse rears up and he vaults off the back, landing unbalanced on the ground. Falling to the ground, he rolls and quickly regains his feet. The creature sinks its teeth into the horse’s chest, literally ripping a large section out. With a scream the horse collapses in a heap.

  James’ horse neighs in fear and turns, bolting back down the way they had come. It comes to an abrupt stop when another of the creatures enters the roadway and blocks its path. Eyes rolling white, the horse cries out again and bolts suddenly to the side, causing James to lose his balance and falls off the horse to the ground.

  “James!” Jiron cries out. “What the hell are these?” The creature which had killed his horse stands there with a strip of the horse’s hide dangling from the corner of its mouth as it stares at him. It looks like a giant wolf or some kind of dog. Long sharp teeth fill its mouth and a malevolent intelligence stares from out of its eyes.

  Moving slowly and never taking his eyes from the creature, he backs up to where James is getting himself off the ground. In the pits he never had the opportunity to fight animals. Though confident in his prowess as a fighter, the size and ferocity of this creature gives him more doubts about the outcome than he’s had in quite some time. A growl behind him causes him to glance back and see the other creature on the road and James making his way toward him quickly.

  A sudden shimmering forms around them as James creates the barrier. As if that was a signal the creatures charge right at them and slam into the barrier. Knocked back for a moment they begin circling.

  “Do something,” Jiron says as they continue moving around the perimeter of the barrier.

  James takes the slug in his hand and launches it at one of them. It strikes the creature directly in the middle of the chest and seems to pass right through without causing any damage. “Damn!” he says in shock as the slug hits the ground behind the creature. It didn’t look as if the slug had any affect upon it at all, the creature didn’t even slow its pace.

  “They’re not entirely real!” he says to Jiron.

  “What?” he asks.

  “The slug went right through them,” he explains.

  “How is that possible?” he asks.

  “I don’t know,” James replies. “But I doubt if your knives will have any effect either.”

  The two creatures continue to pace around the edge of the barrier, their eyes never leaving those within. One comes to a stop and turns to face directly at the barrier. Raising one of its forepaws, the creature touches the barrier.

  Aaaah!

  James cries out from the sudden increase in magic being pulled from him to maintain the barrier. Despite the enormity of magic rapidly being taken, he watches in shocked amazement as the creature’s paw slowly inches its way through the barrier and touches the ground on the inside. The rest of the creature slowly begins to follow.

  Jiron moves to the part of the creature on the inside of the barrier and strikes it with a knife. When the blade comes into contact with
the creature, it sends a burning sensation through to his hand. Crying out in pain, he releases the knife and looks to find an angry red burn now upon his hand. The knife which had struck the creature lies on the ground and is glowing red.

  He glances back to James who stares with eyes wide in surprise. “Get back here,” he tells him.

  Jiron nods and returns to his side. “What are you going to do?” The creature’s snout has now begun to inch its way through.

  James doesn’t reply, his mind is working too hard on the problem. He comes to notice the area where the creatures have been pacing along the outside of the barrier has been scorched from their passing. Add to that the reaction when Jiron struck it with his knife and he comes to a disturbing conclusion.

  Creatures of fire? Hell hounds maybe? Where did they come from? Sensing the hand of Dmon-Li in this, he tries to come up with an effective attack. Already the creature has managed to get its head in and is starting to move its other foreleg through. It won’t be much longer before it’ll be completely inside.

  Jiron puts his other knife in his belt. He knows it will be useless and there’s nothing he can do here. It all rests on James now.

  How do you fight a fire creature? Cold? Water? Ice? Glancing above them to the clouds, an idea forms and he staggers slightly as he begins to implement it. Jiron puts an arm around him as he settles to the ground.

  The clouds above become denser as they race together from all directions. James is beginning to sweat, the strain from maintaining both the shield and summoning the storm is rapidly draining his strength.

  By the time the creature has its other leg and all of its head within the barrier, drops begin to fall from the sky. When they strike the creatures, hissing can be heard as they quickly evaporate.

  The rain begins to fall in increasing intensity, but that’s not what he’s wanting. He hunts through the clouds above until he locates what he wants and pulls it closer. The strain of doing so brings black spots to his eyes and he’s not sure how much longer he’s going to last. Hopefully long enough.