Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (13 page)

Miko doesn’t reply, just goes to the edge of
camp and answers the call of nature. Upon returning, he says,
“James, why did your medallion act the way it did?”

James glances over to him and then returns
the shard to his pouch. Turning to face him, he says, “The Star of
Morcyth is a symbol of a god. Where I come from, it’s often the
belief that religious symbols have some effect upon the dead or
half-dead. Often it’s based upon the strength of the faith of the
one wielding it. But I don’t worship Morcyth, so I’m not exactly
sure why it did what it did.”

“Maybe it’s no ordinary medallion,” Jiron
says from where he’s turning the spits over the fire. “Just where
did you get it, anyway.” When James hesitates to answer, he says,
“I think we have a right to know, after what we’ve been
through.”

So James relates the events after he’d come
to this world. Miko is astounded that James claims to be from
another world and has had dealings with gods or whatever Igor
is.

“He had said not to lose it, that I might
need it,” he tells them. “I guess he was right.”

“Incredible,” Jiron says. “And you still
don’t know why you were brought here or what you should do?”

Shaking his head, he says, “No, but I’m
figuring it to have something to do with the god Morcyth.”

“That makes sense, since you were given his
medallion,” Jiron says as he nods his head. “And that’s why you
were in the City of Light?”

“Yeah, I was there looking for the last high
temple to Morcyth, which we found as we fled,” he says. “But that
didn’t answer any of my questions. When I talked with Ollinearn,
he’d said that the last high priest had been born in Saragon. I had
thought maybe to go there next, but it’s currently in the hands of
the Empire. So I’m not really sure what I’ll be doing next.”

“I’m sure something will come up to tell
you,” Jiron assures him. “They’re not going to have brought you
here just to let you cool your heels.”

Smiling, James says, “Probably not.”

“Well anyway, breakfast is ready,” he
announces as he hands each of them a skewer. As they take the
offered food, James sits back and relaxes, unable to get the events
of the last few days out of his mind.

They sit in silence as they eat, just happy
to be out of the complex and on their way again. Jiron wonders
what’s going on with his sister and the others they’d left back at
Al-Kur. He’s anxious to meet up with them when they reach Trendle,
and is sure she’ll make it there safe. The pit fighters had given
their word to see her safely there.

As he eats, he also contemplates James and
what he’d just been told. Fantastic to say the least, the story
would hardly seem plausible but for the events he’d been party to
since joining with him. What happened back in the underground
complex lends credence to it all.

“What are we to do now?” he asks James.

“Remember that mural we saw back in the
ruins?” he responds. “The one showing the countryside?”

Jiron and Miko both nod their heads, and
Jiron says, “Yeah, I remember.”

“It looked like the main waterway that
flowed near here will lead to a lake nestled up in the mountains,”
he says. “I figure if we go that way, we might avoid any Empire
forces which may be on the lookout for us.”

“Maybe,” he replies. “At least it’s going
north.”

James nods, “That’s what I was figuring too.
Since the swamp has been free of their patrols thus far, if we stay
within it then we should be able to make it north without
detection.”

“Then what?” he asks.

“Then we just see what our choices are as
they present themselves,” James says. “Not much else we can
do.”

Miko sets his skewer and what’s left of the
carcass on the ground as he gives out a large belch.

James glances to him and smiles, “Ready to
go?”

Patting his stomach, Miko says, “Yeah.”

Jiron takes a few more bites of his and then
tosses it off to the side as well. Standing up, he begins kicking
dirt upon the fire until it’s smothered.

James looks to him and says, “Lead on.”
Grabbing his walking stick for support, he shuffles along after
Jiron with Miko right beside him. His leg and side still hurt
considerably but he manages to maintain a quick pace.

They begin to head toward where the waterway
flows past the complex and shortly arrive next to its bank. Jiron
turns to follow it as he leads them north, keeping the river to
their left.

As they move north, the state of the
vegetation quickly improves until there’re no signs of the
withering that had been evident nearer the complex, much to
everyone’s relief. Having to forge their way through the
undergrowth, not to mention maneuvering around stagnant pools of
water, doesn’t allow them to make great time and they soon have to
stop for the night.

James’ leg and side are hurting abysmally
bad, and it’s all he’d been able to do the last few hours just to
stay upright. When they finally stop to make camp for the night, he
collapses. The others allow him to rest as they go about building a
fire and acquiring some food for dinner. After he’s eaten his fill,
he promptly falls into an exhausted sleep.

Jiron and Miko take turns that night in
keeping watch, allowing James to sleep the night through.

When morning dawns, they have to wake him up
once they’ve gotten breakfast ready. His leg and side are still
throbbing badly, and he’s afraid they’re becoming infected. But
when Jiron examines them, he says they’re healing fine. Relieved,
James takes the offered food and begins eating ravenously. He’d
been worried about infection, not having any antiseptic or
anything.

Even after eating, he’s still feeling weak,
tired and hurting badly. But somehow he’s able to bring himself to
his feet though he still leans heavily upon his walking stick. With
Jiron taking the lead, they continue moving north along the
waterway.

Ever since the morning, James has noticed
how the life of the swamp has begun to return. Back when they were
by the complex, there’d been no birds or any other sign of life.
But since they’ve left it far behind them, the sounds of the swamp
have begun to return. Off in the distance, they can hear the cry of
the rhino-lizard. James is glad that it is far off, they’re not in
any shape to defend themselves from an attack.

When the bugs and mosquitoes become
unbearable again, he coats them with another dose of the noxious
bug repellent. The stench doesn’t bother them nearly so much, now
that they’ve been around it for so long.

Much to everyone’s displeasure, they’re
still in the swamp when night falls. They find a suitable stretch
of land to make camp upon and Miko begins to build a fire while
Jiron goes in search of food.

James feels a little better than he did
earlier in the morning, the day’s walk seemed to have worked out
most of the kinks.

After dinner, when Jiron and Miko begin
talking about standing watch, James offers to take the first couple
of hours.

“Are you sure?” Jiron asks him. “If you need
rest, then rest. If something should happen, we’ll need you strong,
not weakened from lack of rest.”

“Yeah James,” Miko adds. “Your leg needs to
heal, so rest.”

“I appreciate your concern,” he tells them,
“but I’m not really that tired right now. So I’d just as soon take
a turn. I feel bad when you two stand watch and all I do is
rest.”

Jiron looks at him a moment and then shrugs,
“If you feel up to it, alright. You take the first watch.” Turning
to Miko, he says, “You take the midnight watch and I’ll finish it
off.”

Miko nods his head as he lies down and says,
“Sounds good enough to me.” He glances over to James and says, “Be
sure to wake me when it’s my turn.”

“I will,” James assures him. Then he makes
himself comfortable as his fellows settle down to sleep.

When James awakens in the morning, the sun
has already begun to lighten the day. Miko is snoring peacefully
off to the other side of the campfire and he finds Jiron walking
around the outer edge of the camp in amongst the trees. He looks
over to James as he sits up and comes over when he waves at
him.

“Good morning,” Jiron says to him as he
approaches.

“Everything okay?” James asks.

“Oh yeah,” he assures him, “just walking
around a bit. I hate sitting in just one spot for very long. How’s
your leg?”

James straightens it and says, “Better. I
think it may not hurt as much today.”

“Let’s hope not,” he says. Sitting down next
to him, he asks, “How far do you think it is to Cardri?”

Shrugging, James says, “I couldn’t even
begin to guess. It took us over a week to make it to the mines, and
that was on good roads with horses. Trudging through this,” he
continues as he gestures to the swamp, “who knows?”

“Would like to see Tersa again,” he tells
him.

“So would I,” agrees James. “I’d really like
to find some place to just rest and not have to worry about being
eaten by some damn rhino-lizard, or have to sneak through an area
filled with the Empire’s forces.”

From across the campsite, Miko’s voice says,
“I’d like that too.” Sitting up, he glances over at them. “I hate
the swamp, give me a good old city any day.”

“If we keep forging on through to the north,
eventually we’ll get out of here,” James assures him.

“I hope so,” he says as he gets up and comes
over to them. Sitting down, he asks, “How much longer are we going
to be in this damned swamp anyway?”

“Like I was telling Jiron,” James says, “I
don’t know. All I do know is that they don’t last forever.”

“Then let’s stop sitting here talking and
get going,” Miko says as he gets back up.

James reaches over and grabs his walking
stick. Using it for support, he gets to his feet without nearly the
amount of pain that maneuver had caused him the day before.

Holding the stick loosely, he waits for
Jiron to get up and lead the way.

“You feeling better?” Miko asks as they
continue on their way.

Nodding, James says, “Much better, actually.
Don’t think I could run any distance, but the constant pain and
throbbing seem to be easing.”

“That’s good,” replies Miko. “I was worried
about you.”

“I was worried about me too,” he says with a
slight smile.

They travel for several hours before they
hear Miko’s voice coming from where he’s lagging behind, “I’m
hungry.”

“Might be a good time to stop and eat,”
James says to Jiron who’s up a ways trying to find the way
through.

Jiron stops and comes back to them. “I was
hoping to find a clearing where we could build a fire,” he tells
them. “We’ll stop then, okay?”

“Sure,” James says to Miko’s dismay, “we can
wait a little while longer.”

Just then, Miko’s stomach lets out a loud
growl.

James and Jiron turn and stare at him, then
break out in laughter.

“Well,” he says, “I’m starving. We haven’t
eaten all day!”

“Just a little while longer,” Jiron says,
“and then hopefully we’ll run across a spot where we can build a
fire without worrying about setting the whole area aflame.”

He glances to James and they both smile when
they remember the last time they’d set the woods on fire.

Miko sees them and asks, “What?”

“Oh, nothing,” James replies.

Taking the lead again, Jiron once more makes
his way through the trees and undergrowth, searching for the way
out. With the waterway on his left for a guide, he’s able to
maintain going in the correct direction. Without it, they’d soon be
turned around and lost.

After trudging through the swamp for a
while, they begin to see another waterway off to their right. As
they continue moving north, the other waterway moves closer to the
one they’re following until they join where a larger river has
split into two branches.

To their dismay, they find themselves on the
inside of the fork. In order to continue, they’ll have to cross one
of the waterways. The area on the inside of the junction of water
is relatively flat and clear, so they decide to stop there and find
something to eat while they consider how they’ll get across.

James picks up some small rocks from the
ground and quietly goes into the brush to hunt for lunch. Jiron and
Miko begin building a fire while he’s gone. He returns several
minutes later with three dead animals that Jiron takes from him and
begins preparing for the fire.

Miko walks over to the water and says, “How
are we supposed to cross this?”

From where he sits by the fire, James
hollers, “Swim, it’s not that far.”

Turning back to him, Miko exclaims, “But
what about the fish? They’ll eat us for sure.”

“We’re not even sure if they’re in the main
waterway,” he says.

Jiron picks up some of the innards of the
animals and gets up. Walking over to the river, he announces, “Only
one way to find out.” He throws the bloody mess into the water.

They watch it for a second and he says,
“See, nothing to…”

Then suddenly, the water starts to broil as
the fish begin consuming the innards.

“See!” Miko cries out.

Jiron glances over to James and says,
“That’s going to be a problem.”

“Yeah, I was hoping they’d not be in the
main river,” he says.

Coming back over to them, Miko plops himself
down and asks, “Now what?”

James looks to him, and says, “Let’s just
eat while we think about it. There’s bound to be a way.”

While the animals are cooking, they continue
pondering the situation.

“How about a raft?” suggests Miko.

“What would we use?” Jiron asks him. “No
logs or large limbs to use, and nothing with which to secure them
together.”