Shades of the Past: The Morcyth Saga Book Six (2 page)

The meal passes quickly, the eaters are no
longer in danger of being struck by Arkie’s food, Ezra finally got
it through to him that throwing one’s food is not to be tolerated.
Afterwards, they adjourn to the living room where they use to have
the nightly gatherings.

With just the few here it doesn’t have the
joviality that it once did. Fifer wouldn’t even mind hearing
another of Uther and Jorry’s fantastical tales. Of course, ever
since Delia showed up and stayed, Scar and Potbelly have given them
a run for their money. Each night it seemed the two pairs would try
to outdo the others in seeing who could tell the most outrageous
story. Some were quite good.

Fifer takes his seat on the couch and is
immediately attacked by the two puppies James had acquired over the
winter. Cyne and Tor, the dogs of Corbin had puppies and he had
given James two. One is brown and James began calling him Bandit,
the other was black and has the name Shiloh.

“Down boys,” he says as they jump upon his
lap, tails wagging furiously in their excitement.

“They sure took a liking to you,” Roland says
from his chair near the fireplace.

Ezra joins them and sets Arkie on the ground.
Immediately, the pups jump to the floor and begin to wrestle with
him, much to his delight. His squeals of excitement elicit barks
and before you know it the front room is a veritable cacophony of
noise.

Outside the sky is starting to darken. It
still hasn’t come to that time of year yet when the sun stays up
longer. Ezra begins humming a song they’ve heard a hundred times
before. It’s one from her homeland, one that her mother sung to her
as a child.

Fifer relaxes, the melody soothing him and he
closes his eyes as the music flows over him and through him. Even
the play of Arkie and the pups on the floor becomes slightly
subdued as each is affected by her voice.

The evening progresses and times of song or
stories are intermixed with times of silence. It was during one
such time when Bandit’s ears suddenly become erect and he leaps to
his feet. Fifer notices him looking around for a few seconds before
Shiloh starts acting the same way. A growl begins to come from deep
within their throats.

Just then, three flaming balls sail through
the open window and land near Arkie. The balls are emitting noxious
fumes which quickly fill the room.

Crash!

The front door slams open a second later from
the force of someone kicking it. Men armed with swords and
crossbows race within.

Ezra screams and rushes to grab Arkie from
amidst the burning, smoking balls. Neither Fifer nor Roland are
armed.

“Stay right where you are!” the leader of the
men tells them.

With Arkie in her arms, Ezra moves to stand
behind Roland who has come to his feet. Fifer remains seated, his
crutch having been knocked to the floor when the dogs had jumped on
him.

“What do you want?” Roland asks, fear for his
family evident in his voice.

“First we want your gold,” the leader says.
“Then we want your woman.”

In a voice much calmer than the situation
would seem to warrant, Roland says, “I advise you to leave while
you still can.”

“Ha!” a tall man with red hair says. “You
can’t do anything, mage. Your powers have been taken away.”

His head does feel a little fuzzy. Glancing
to the smoldering balls lying in the middle of the floor, he
realizes what he’s talking about. They must emit something that
renders mages unable to focus and draw upon their power. Then
realization dawns on him.
They think he’s James!
If it
wasn’t for the gravity of the situation he might have laughed.

“Where’s the gold!” a short, flaxen haired
man demands. Holding a crossbow threateningly, he shouts, “Where is
it!”

Roland glances to the window and sees even
more bandits looking in. At least four crossbows are aimed at him
and the others.

“Well?” the leader asks. “Are you going to
tell us or do we start by killing the boy?”

“No!” screams Ezra as she clutches Arkie even
tighter to her breast.

Before James left, Roland had expressed
concern over just this sort of eventuality. What if someone came in
search of James and attacked? With just he and Fifer, they would be
taken out fast. So James worked it out and said if ever they were
in danger here at The Ranch, Roland was to say a certain word.

Staring at the leader of the bandits, he says
the word, “Phantasm!”

“What?” the leader questions. Suddenly from
outside, a man’s voice cries out in pain and fear. Then more voices
are heard as others join their voices with the first. A quick
glance to the window shows the men who had been there are there no
longer.

A red sphere blossoms to life in the middle
of the living room. Bright red with bands of a darker red swirling
through its middle, it hovers there for a brief moment.

Screams from outside have turned to high
pitched panic as men race away from the house for their lives.
Within the house, the remaining bandits stare in nervousness at the
sphere hovering before them.

“What trick is this?” demands the leader.

The sphere flashes and a beam of red light
strikes the leader in the chest. A cry of agony is torn from his
throat as it burns a hole completely through him. As he falls to
the floor dead, the other bandits panic and turn to flee from the
house. One of the crossbowmen lets fly a bolt at Roland but a red
beam flashes out and destroys it before it can reach him.

Three more flashes and three more bandits
fall to the floor dead before the rest can leave the house. Fifer
retrieves his crutch from off the floor and quickly moves to the
window to see what’s going on outside. Bandits lie dead on the
ground and more flashes can be seen off in the woods as multiple
red spheres pursue those still alive. Their screams and cries of
pain grow fainter the further they move away from the house. The
sphere which had materialized within the house suddenly winks
out.

“It’s okay,” Roland says to Ezra who has her
head buried in the crook of his neck. Sobbing, she still clutches
Arkie in her hands. He pats her on the back as he tries to calm
her.

“What’s going on out there?” he asks
Fifer.

“I don’t think any are getting away,” he
replies. “Whatever James set up is taking them all out fast.”

Bringing her to arms length from him, he
looks in her eyes and says soothingly, “It’s okay. Take Arkie into
our bedroom and shut the door. Fifer and I have work ahead of us
this evening.”

She nods her head and takes Arkie from the
room, the pups follow them.

Fifer turns from the window and says, “It’s
grown dark out there again. I think it’s over.”

“Give me a hand to get the dead out of here
and buried,” Roland says.

“You got it,” he replies. Together, they
begin hauling the dead out of the house. It takes some doing, but
Roland digs a hole out in the woods and Fifer brings the dead over
one at a time.

There’s a crispness to the air as the camp
makes ready to get underway. High in the mountains as they are,
there are still remnants of the winter snow lining the road. When
word reached him the pass was clear and should remain so, James
immediately mobilized and got underway. Of course as in all things,
it snowed in the mountains for twenty four hours the day they left
The Ranch but the bulk of the snow had managed to melt away before
they arrived.

As the various sections of the camp are
broken down and put away, he gets his own equipment and tent ready.
Devin has been given the duty of assisting him in the setting up
and breaking down of his tent and belongings. Basically, all he’s
responsible for is what’s on his back. Devin takes care of the rest
including saddling his horse.

He glances over to where the others are
busily packing away those items that were used the night before.
The camp has begun to set up in three distinct areas due to the
number of people he’s brought with him. One area is the ‘command
area’, that would be his tent and Illan’s which is in the center of
camp. Next is Delia’s area where she has her slingers and archers.
Finally, Jiron’s group sits on the opposite side of the command
area where he has the pit fighters, those who had been Delia’s
caravan guards, and what’s left of Miller’s band.

“Almost ready sir,” Devin tells him as he
finishes cinching the straps securing James’ saddle to his
horse.

“Thank you Devin,” he replies.

Illan comes toward him leading his horse,
“Shouldn’t take much longer before we’re ready to ride.”

Nodding, James glances to him and says,
“Good.”

“We might make Illion this evening,” he tells
him.

“I know,” states James.

Illion. That’s where Orlander resides, the
dealer in stolen goods who swore to kill him after their last
encounter. Surprisingly, he didn’t make any attempt to make good on
his threat of vengeance all winter. James had been sure he would
have, so vehemently had he threatened him.

Caleb and Jace have pack horse duty today,
the recruits rotate through that duty. Their job is to make sure
the pack horses, and there’s quite a string of them, are ready to
go when everyone else is. Also to ensure they are fed and watered.
Some of the items carried in the packs upon them are unknown to
most of those traveling with James. He made it clear that it would
be unwise and possibly unhealthy for anyone to become overly
curious and take a look.

He sees Tersa over with Aleya and Errin where
they’ve finished packing away their belongings and are in the
process of saddling their horses. She has a slug belt around her
waist, the slots are full of iron slugs and a sling hangs from a
clip. At first he was concerned about her decision to join the
ranks of Delia’s slingers. This was no pleasure excursion they were
embarking upon. Though now he’s come to except the fact that this
is her decision.

Everyone had been told, just prior to their
leaving that they were moving to tackle the Empire. James made it
clear to them that some, if not all, may not make it back home
alive. It filled him with pride when every last one chose to come.
For some it was payback for what the Empire had done to their
homeland. The others saw it as a grand adventure sure to become a
bard’s saga. Not so James. He knows war to be pain, sorrow, and
death. Nothing glorious or wonderful about it, just something which
has to be dealt with.

“Would you leave me alone?” Potbelly’s voice
reaches him from across the camp. He and Illan glance over to see
where Scar is standing next to him. What is said by Scar to
Potbelly couldn’t be made out but Potbelly’s face turns into a
grimace as Scar turns and walks away.

“I missed their incessant bickering,” he says
with a grin to Illan.

“Wasn’t Jorry and Uther enough for you?” he
asks back.

“Almost,” he replies.

“Think what we brought with us will do the
trick?” Illan asks after a moment’s silence.

“I hope so,” replies James. “We’ll see when
we get there.”

Of everyone who’s accompanying him, Illan
knows the most of what is ahead for their group. He’s the
unofficial general, and except for James, his word is law. After
him, James has divided the remainder into two groups. One group is
comprised of those utilizing missile weapons under Delia and the
other consists of the fighters under Jiron. Miko just sort of hangs
out with James.

Miko has begun to mellow out over the summer.
Perhaps having the Star in his possession is affecting him, James
isn’t sure. It was decided that the Star would not be hidden away,
rather it rests within a pouch hanging at Miko’s hip. Since they’re
going to war, the healing Miko will be able to do could become
invaluable.

When he first came to possess the Star, he
healed Fifer of a serious injury which was about to take his life.
Since then he’s used it twice. Once was for a woman in Trendle who
ran afoul of a pack of wolves near the fringe of the forest. There
had been rumors of what Miko had done floating around town and
since the local priest was away on temple business, they sought
him.

Just as happened with Fifer, he prayed to
Morcyth, a nimbus surrounded his head, and a glow materialized and
healed her.

The second was on James himself. After an
experiment went bad, he was covered in burns and wasn’t breathing.
Miko brought the Star and healed him. He was leery about doing it,
the warnings James had said about only those of this world could
touch it and live. But as it was this or he dies, he tried it and
it worked. His burns healed and he survived.

“We’re ready,” Jiron says as he rides
forward. Delia and her group are climbing into the saddle as
well.

James glances over to Caleb and Jace and
receives a nod from them saying the pack horses are ready. “Let’s
go,” he says. Leading the way, he returns to the road from where
they made camp and begins the descent through Dragon’s Pass down
into Madoc.

The sun is low on the horizon when James
begins walking through the streets of Illion, the people he passes
are in a state of agitation. Worry over what the Empire will do and
whether they will move in this direction has them all on edge. Many
are already evacuating, over the winter they heard the tales of
what the Empire’s forces are like from the few refugees who managed
to make it out. None want to experience the horror of what they
heard.

Though there is fear and worry, the people
still must continue about their daily routines, those who aren’t
fleeing that is. Many are still upon the street, some returning
from shopping, others trying to learn the latest word from the
south. Off to one side, James spies a group of kids playing some
game as they race around. Grinning to himself, he’s glad they are
able to find joy while they can. If what he plans works out the way
he hopes, these people will have little to fear.