Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (26 page)

Jiron is now bathed in the light coming from
the Stars as he stands out in the corridor, watching in awe at
what’s transpiring within the room.

Suddenly the note stops and all is silent,
then the sarcophagi doors begin to open. When the doors are fully
open, a warrior steps out of each and comes toward James. Each is
heavily armored, bearing a longsword and a shield. The shield is
embossed with the Star of Morcyth.

All but one stops when they come to within
three feet of where he stands. Miko quakes in fear as the largest
of the seven comes even closer. This warrior stops a scant foot and
a half from them.

“That the Star should shine here once more
is dire indeed,” the warrior says.

“One has come who serves he that should not
be named,” James replies, hoping to get it right.

“Yes,” the warrior says. “I can feel his
presence as he approaches. The Fire is no longer safe here.”

“I must retrieve it,” James says.

Shaking his head, the warrior says, “Only a
son of this world may touch it. All others must surely perish.”

“But…” James begins to say.

Then the warrior raises one of his hands and
points at Miko. “He must be the one,” he says to Miko’s horror.

Miko backs away and says, “N…n…no way.”

“James!” he hears Jiron call from the
corridor. “You better hurry!” Then the clash of battle can be heard
as Jiron engages with the enemy.

“Miko, you have no choice!” James says. “We
can’t let it fall to Abula-Mazki!”

Suddenly they hear a grinding sound as the
back of one of the sarcophagi begins sliding into the floor. The
circle of warriors part, creating a way for Miko to move toward the
passage revealed behind it. “Go,” the warrior says, “therein lies
the Fire.”

“We’ll go together,” James says as he takes
Miko by the hand.

From the corridor, they continue to hear
Jiron fighting. Miko looks to James, the fear evident in his eyes
as he slowly nods his head. Together they walk to the revealed
passage and pass through the sarcophagus.

The passage only goes ten feet before
opening up to a small room. A three foot pedestal sits in the
middle of the room and upon it is a red ruby, easily the biggest
ruby James had ever heard of. It has to be at least three inches in
diameter. Coming closer to it, they can see light moving within it,
like the flickering of a flame.

Miko looks to James and says, “What do I
do?”

“I’m not sure,” he admits.

Miko comes closer to the Fire and hesitantly
reaches his hand out to it. When nothing happens, he picks it
up.

James studies his friend, worried, but
doesn’t see anything happening to him.

Miko closes his hand around it and turns
back to James, “It’s cool to the touch.”

“Put it in your pouch and let’s go!” he
says.

Miko does as he says and they return to the
Star room. The lead warrior says, “Go and protect the fire.”

“We shall,” says James. As he makes to
leave, the warriors rush past him and out the door, engaging the
enemy.

At the door, Jiron almost runs into them,
both of them coming to a quick stop. “Who are those guys?” he asks
him.

“Not really sure,” James says. He looks down
the corridor and sees them fighting most effectively against the
soldiers. “Let’s get out of here while we can.” One more glance
back at the fighting and he sees the warriors have mowed through
the soldiers like a scythe through wheat.

They begin running down the corridor in the
opposite direction when James suddenly feels an intense prickling
sensation.
Abula-Mazki!

A feeling of evil and revulsion rolls over
them like a wave. James is almost reduced to vomiting from the
feeling of it.

“What was that?” Jiron asks.

“I’m not sure,” James replies once he’s
regained control of his stomach again.

From up ahead, they hear movement. Holding
the orb up, its light reveals a corpse shuffling around the corner
ahead of them, others following behind. “He’s raised the dead
against us!” James cries out.

“James!” hollers Jiron. “The Star!”

Holding the Star of Morcyth high, the light
again comes from it. The dead only shy away from it, it slows them
down but fails to stop them entirely.

“It’s not working!” shouts Miko when he
fails to see the dead dissolve like the torsos had.

“The magic of Abula-Mazki must be sustaining
them,” replies James. Turning to Jiron, he says, “Only one thing to
do.”

Nodding his head, Jiron moves to the fore
where he begins laying into them. Hits that would normally drop a
living man have minimal effect upon these.

“Don’t try to kill them,” advises James,
“they’re already dead. Try to disable so we can get by them.” He
sees Jiron nod as his tactics suddenly change.

One of the dead is wielding a sword and
Jiron easily takes it from him. Then he uses the sword in one hand
and a knife in the other as he begins cutting off limbs from the
dead.

Miko suddenly cries out as a hand that had
been severed from a corpse grabs his foot. Screaming, he kicks out
with his other foot and knocks it away. In revulsion he sees the
hand still moving, as it begins pulling itself across the floor
toward them with its fingers.

“Come on!” he hears James yell. Turning back
toward him, he sees that the last corpse has been sectioned and the
way is clear. He hurries past the moving pieces of the dead that
try to grab him as he passes, and joins James and Jiron.

They make a break down the corridor and come
to another junction. The orb’s light shows shambling shapes coming
from the right so they turn and go to the left.

Running down the corridor, they follow it
for twenty feet before it turns sharply to the right. Around the
corner, they come to a flight of stairs. Without pausing they race
up them, taking them two at a time.

When they reach the top, they find
themselves to be in an old cellar, perhaps of a temple of some
kind. The ceiling has collapsed in several spots and it’s difficult
to make it through to the doorway on the far side.

They’re going to have to dig out some of the
rubble in order to squeeze through. “Guard the door!” James yells
to Jiron as he and Miko begin clearing the way.

“Hurry up man!” Jiron hollers over to them.
A corpse comes into view at the bottom of the stairs and begins to
climb up. Many more follow.

Digging as fast as they can, they finally
clear a wide enough space for them to squeeze through. Miko goes
first and James has to push him through for him to make it. He
widens it a fraction more before he hollers over his shoulder,
“Jiron, let’s go!” James quickly squeezes through and then turns to
watch Jiron still fighting at the stairs.

Jiron kicks out at a corpse, knocking it
back down the stairs. Then he turns and dashes toward the narrow
opening and easily wriggles through.

Leaving the room, they follow a hallway for
another twenty feet before coming to a flight of stairs going up.
Rubble chokes it, but they are able to work their way up the stairs
and soon find themselves outside under the moon and stars.

“Which way?” Jiron asks when they’re all
out.

“Not yet,” James says as he pauses a moment
and summons the magic. When he releases it, the ground begins to
shake and they start to lose their balance. Suddenly realizing he
went too far, he yells, “RUN!”

They follow him as he runs away from the
entrance as fast as possible. Behind them, they begin to hear a
roar as the shaking of the ground increases. They are thrown to the
ground and all they can do is lie there. The roar intensifies as
the shaking continues, James prays they’ll not be caught up in
it.

When the ground finally stops shaking and
they’re able to get up, they move cautiously back toward the
entrance to the catacomb. The dust is thick and it takes a while
before they can see clearly. When they do, the sight amazes
them.

The cliff had collapsed and fallen into the
canyon. The moonlight doesn’t show the extent of the damage but the
edge of the cliff is now a lot further back than where it had been.
The ruins they had climbed from are gone, probably lying somewhere
in the bottom of the canyon.

“Hope that killed him,” Jiron says as he
stares into the darkness of the canyon. From below, they can hear
the sound of stone sliding down the slope.

“I do too,” agrees James.

“I don’t think we should stay here,” Jiron
advises. “We better put as much distance between us and here as we
can.”

In the moonlight, James nods agreement. They
set out away from the canyon, ever mindful of the troops awaiting
them at the northern end. Angling more east than north, they walk
for several hours before stopping.

“Just a quick rest, and then we must be on
our way,” James announces. “I’ll take first watch.”

He can see Jiron nod affirmatively and lie
down. A glow suddenly appears from where Miko sits. Glancing over,
he sees him holding the Fire in his hand. “Probably shouldn’t be
touching it more than you have to,” he advises him.

Jiron sits up and looks over to Miko. “What
is that?”

Miko gets to his feet and brings it over to
them. “They said it was the ‘Fire’,” he explains.

“Fire?” he asks confused. “What does that
mean?”

“It would seem it has to do with Dmon-Li,”
James replies. “The priests of Morcyth had stolen it somehow and
had secreted it back there,” he explains, gesturing back toward the
canyon. He goes on to explain all that the spirits had told
him.

“Man!” Jiron exclaims. “Now what?”

“I don’t know,” James replies. “But we
better make sure that it remains hidden.”

“It’s so beautiful,” they hear Miko whisper.
Looking over, they see him completely engrossed with the gem, his
gaze fixed upon it.

“Miko,” James says, trying to get his
attention. When Miko fails to respond, he hollers louder,
“Miko!”

Starting, Miko looks over to James, his eyes
not really seeing him.

“Put it away,” he tells him. “You need to
get some sleep.”

Nodding abstractly, he returns the Fire to
his pouch and promptly lies down. His snores can be heard moments
later.

James moves closer to Jiron and whispers,
“We’re going to have to keep an eye on him. Not sure if that will
affect him in any way.”

“Yeah, it sort of looked like he was lost in
it for a moment there,” Jiron whispers back. “Why don’t you take
it?”

“I can’t,” replies James. “The spirit said
‘Only a son of this world may touch it. All others must surely
perish.’ So I’m not sure what would happen, but I’d rather not take
the chance.”

“Don’t blame you,” he says.

“Maybe when we get back to Cardri we can
hide it somewhere,” he says.

“Maybe,” Jiron agrees.

James lies down and says, “Wake me in a
couple hours, we’ll let Miko sleep.”

“Alright,” says Jiron as he gets up to begin
walking in order to stay awake.

The following morning when they wake up,
Miko is acting his normal self. Thoughts of the Fire don’t seem to
be on his mind, much to James’ relief. James’ biggest worry is that
it might affect him like the ring did to Frodo.

They make an early start, none of them
having had much sleep. Keeping an easterly direction, they
gradually move toward the hills to the north.

Not long after they get moving, the sound of
horses thundering across the plains alerts them to their danger.
From the south, a band of ten riders are bearing down upon them. As
they near, Jiron says, “Grey Wolf riders.”

A moment later, James is able to see their
pattern as well.

Miko asks, “We going to run?”

Shaking his head, James replies, “No, we’d
never get away from them on foot.” He reaches down and picks up
several stones from the ground and waits for them to come
closer.

Suddenly, he arcs his hand back and takes
out the rear rider, and then progressively works his way to the
front. By the time he’s taken out five of the riders, he let’s
loose the power and…

Crumph!

…the ground under the front riders explodes
upward, throwing horses and riders into the air.

Jiron moves forward with his knives and
advances on the two men who are still alive. Before reaching them,
another stone flies and takes one through the chest. He engages the
remaining man, catching his sword on crossed knives.

Kicking out, he connects with the man’s knee
but fails to do any serious injury when the rider twists at the
last moment. The rider backs up a step and then thrusts quickly
with his sword.

Jiron easily deflects the blade to the left
and follows through with his right knife, catching the man in the
side. Then he brings his knee up hard into the man’s groin and he
falls to the ground.

A swift kick causes the sword to fly out of
his hand. Defeated, the man lies there, holding his side as he
tries to stem the flow of blood.

James surveys the battlefield and finds the
man lying at Jiron’s feet to be the only one left alive. He goes
over to the dying man. “Do you understand me?” he asks the Grey
Wolf rider.

The man just stares back at him, hate in his
eyes, not understanding. “What should we do with him?” Jiron
asks.

“Leave him,” James says. To Miko he hollers,
“Round up the horses and we’ll take them with us.”

“All of them?” Jiron asks.

“Can’t leave any here for him to use to give
warning,” he says, indicating the injured man.

“I’ll give him a hand,” Jiron says after
he’s finished wiping off his knives.

James stays near the injured man until
they’ve managed to round up all the remaining horses, only five are
alive and fit for travel. The others had either been killed, or had
suffered grievous injuries when the ground erupted.