The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven (11 page)

“Staggering, the man gave out with a groan
and remained there with the hand on his shoulder for no more than a
second before the hand let go. Then he sagged and hit the floor.
When Galin reached him, he was already dead.”

“And there was no one else in the hallway?”
asks Jiron.

“No, there was not,” states Illan
matter-of-factly.

“Did Galin get a good look at the arm?”
James asks.

“He said the hallway was dark with but a
single candle at either end,” he replies. “Said he didn’t really
pay much attention to it, that at first he thought his eyes were
playing tricks on him. Possibly a trick with the shadows.”

“Shadows?” asks James. He looks to Illan and
who nods his head. “Could it be one of those shadows that tried to
kill me on the way to Korazan?”

“There have been three other deaths since,”
he says. “Another attack was witnessed. The witness said that the
wall came forth and enveloped the servant.”

James sits back and thinks while whispered
murmurs pass between the others in the room.

“My brothers say they have not sensed the
presence of evil or anything magical the entire time we were gone,”
Brother Willim states. “They have searched the keep from one side
to the other but thus far have been unable to locate it.”

“We’ll be able to find it,” bursts out Scar.
Patting Miko on the shoulder he says, “We have the High Priest of
Morcyth here.”

Illan’s eyes widen as Miko blushes slightly.
He glances to James who nods his head then launches into a brief
description of what happened in the City of Light. When he’s done,
he looks to Miko with a grin, “So what do I call you now?”

“Miko will do nicely,” he replies.

“We’ll need to…” begins James when Miko
suddenly stands erect.

The Star of Morcyth suddenly bright in his
hands he turns for the door. “Someone has died,” he announces.

“How do you know?” Jiron asks.

“I felt his passing,” he replies.

Green auras spring to life around the
brothers as Miko reaches the door. Pushing it open, he strides into
the hallway. Pausing only a moment, he moves to the right past a
startled Ceadric with the others right behind and hurries down the
hallway.

“Another has been killed,” Illan tells
Ceadric as he leaves the room. Nodding, Ceadric draws his sword and
falls in with the others.

The light emanating from the Star fills the
hallway with brilliant light. “Can you sense the shadow?” James
asks.

“Yes,” he replies. “It’s above us and on the
move.” Quickening his pace, Miko passes stunned servants and guards
as he hunts the shadow. One guard of the keep had to practically
jump out of his way to prevent from being run over.

Reaching a flight of steps going upward, he
turns into the stairwell and proceeds to the next floor.

“Can you sense anything yet?” James asks
Brother Willim.

Nodding, he says, “We do now.”

Hurrying along the hallway, Miko comes to a
stop before a closed door and opens it. “We’re near,” he says. “Its
pace has quickened.”

“Could have sensed our magic approaching,”
suggests James and Brother Willim nods in agreement.

The door opens up onto a storage room filled
with boxes, crates and barrels. Moving into the room, the light
from the Star blazes forth revealing every nook and cranny. Across
the room from them stands another closed door.

“We must hurry,” Miko says as he runs to the
other door.

“Can’t be much further until we reach the
outer wall of the keep,” Illan says as he enters the storage
room.

Jiron beats him to the door and has it open
for Miko to pass through. The light from the Star reveals another
storage room that’s practically empty. A dark shape is moving
across the floor and is almost at the far wall.

“There it is!” exclaims Miko.

With a shriek, the shadow races from the
burning light of the Star. Passing through the wall, it seeks to
escape.

The glow surrounding the priests of Asran
suddenly intensifies tenfold. “Got it,” says Brother Willim.

Moving to a small narrow window in the wall,
James and the others look out to see the shadow enveloped by a
green glow hovering far above the ground. As the brothers work to
send the shadow back to whatever hell it came from, it lets out
with an ear shattering scream. Inch by inch the green glow
surrounding the shadow shrinks until finally it winks out.

“Great,” breathes Illan in a less than happy
tone.

“What?” asks James.

Indicating out the window to the ground
below, he says, “That’s the Empire’s Ambassador’s camp.”

Everyone in the camp below is staring up at
where the shadow had been held by the brothers. All of a sudden, a
group of men break from the crowd and make for the gates to the
keep.

“He’s coming,” comments Jiron.

Illan immediately moves from the window and
says, “Ceadric, take them somewhere out of sight until the
Ambassador returns to his camp.”

“Right,” he says.

“Why?” asks Shorty.

Gesturing to James he says, “James here is
the most wanted man in their Empire. According to what our agents
have discovered, they’ve issued a hundred thousand gold piece
reward for your death. It appears they don’t even want you
alive.”

Leaving the room, Illan begins to return the
way they came while Ceadric takes the others the rest of the way.
Coming to a stop Illan says to Brother Willim, “I’ll need to borrow
your brothers.”

“Why?” he asks as everyone pauses in the
hallway.

“The Ambassador knows something happened,”
he replies. “He already knows these two have been here for awhile.
If we put forth that they were the ones that destroyed the shadow,
it might quell any further questions.”

Brother Willim nods to his two fellow
priests who then move to stand with Illan.

“When he’s gone I’ll send word,” Illan tells
them. “Until then, stay low and get what rest you can. I know you
must be exhausted.”

“That’s an understatement,” jokes
Shorty.

To Ceadric he says, “Meet me in the Hall
when you have them stashed away.”

Nodding, Ceadric resumes leading them down
the hallway. He hurries along until coming to another hallway
branching off to the right. Moving into it, he leads them all the
way to the far end where they come to a flight of stairs going up.
The stairwell is dark so James creates his orb to light the
way.

“You are putting us in the tower?” Scar
asks.

“That’s right,” replies Ceadric. “At least
until the Ambassador returns to his camp.”

Ascending the flight of stairs, they pass
one level and leave the stairwell on the next. A short hallway
extends from the stairwell with but one door on either side. Coming
to a stop at the doors, he turns and faces the others. Indicating
the two doors, he says, “These must have been designed for visiting
dignitaries. Beyond each door is a suite of rooms with sufficient
beds for all of you.”

“Thank you,” James tells him.

Nodding, Ceadric says, “I must return. It
would be good if you could stay within your rooms until
morning.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” he
says with a yawn. “We’re all about dead on our feet.”

“Then I shall leave you to your rest.” And
with that Ceadric moves to the stairs and begins making his way
back down.

James, Miko, Brother Willim, Jiron and Aleya
take one set of suites while the rest take the other. As it turns
out, they are identical in the way they are laid out. A large room
designed for entertaining guests lies beyond the door from the
hallway. Three other doors lead to rooms containing beds, tables,
and dressers. Two of the rooms have two beds each while the third
is much larger. Most likely for the prominent member of the guests
staying here, it has but a single bed larger than the others as
well as the addition of a walk-in closet.

“Nice,” comments Miko after checking out the
rooms.

“Have the others come in here for a moment,”
James says to Jiron. While he waits for Jiron to go across the hall
and bring in the others, he takes a seat on the long couch in the
front visiting room.

“Better than any inn we’ve stayed in,” Miko
says as he sits in one of the padded chairs next to him. Brother
Willim sits at the other end of the couch from James.

James nods agreement then gazes at his
friend. “When did you start being able to tell when people died?”
he asks.

“Since the City of Light,” he replies. “I’ve
only felt it three times before now. The first time took me by
surprise, let me tell you. But there was no fear or apprehension
involved. When the person died here tonight, it felt different and
I knew it was no normal passing.”

“The benefits of having a High Priest travel
with us are already coming into play,” James says.

To Miko, Brother Willim says, “It was the
fear of the person who was killed this night that you felt. When a
normal death occurs, there’s no fear, maybe just a little
apprehension of the unknown fate that awaits them.”

Miko nods his head, “I think you’re right.”
Then he gets a contemplative look as he and the others wait for
Jiron’s return.

They haven’t long to wait until Jiron
returns with the others. The fading light coming from outside
doesn’t give sufficient light with which to see so James continues
to leave his orb active.

Scar and Potbelly have to pull chairs from
the adjoining room for everyone to be able to sit down. Once
everyone is seated, James says, “This business of the shadow being
here has me worried.”

“It didn’t seem as if it was after anything
or anyone in particular,” Brother Willim states. “As far as we can
tell its attacks were entirely random.”

“I know,” replies James. “Up until this
point, every time we have encountered shadows there was a reason
behind it. So there must be one now.”

“Stands to reason,” nods Jiron. “But what
can it be?”

“I don’t know and that’s what is bothering
me,” admits James.

“Other than keeping our eyes out for signs
of others, there isn’t a whole lot we can do about it,” Stig says.
“With Miko and the priests of Asran here, I can’t see how they can
give us much trouble.”

“If we know they are there, that’s true,”
agrees Brother Willim.

They sit there a moment and discuss the
shadows, finally coming to the conclusion there’s not much that
they can do about it.

“Are we leaving to find Tinok soon?” asks
Jiron.

“We all need a rest,” replies James. “I
thought we would leave tomorrow night after it gets dark. It
wouldn’t do to have the Ambassador’s men see us leave.”

“True,” he agrees.

James takes out a strip of cloth and casts
his seeking spell. The cloth rises in his hand and points straight
toward the south. “Tinok’s there somewhere,” he explains, “we just
have to find him.” Canceling his spell, he replaces the strip of
cloth in his pocket. “Now, everyone get some rest, stay in your
rooms, and we’ll leave as soon as the sun goes down tomorrow
night.”

As the meeting breaks up and those who are
staying in the room across the hall leave, James glances out the
window at the crescent moon rising in the sky. Knowing time is
slipping away, he makes his way to bed, cancels the orb and tries
to go to sleep.

Early the next morning, Ceadric shows up
with a dozen servants carrying trays of food and pitchers of ale.
“With Lord Black Hawk’s compliments,” he says as the servants set
the trays down upon the tables. Once the food is in place, he has
them return back downstairs.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” begins James
as he starts to load his plate with food. “Where did you get the
servants?”

“Some are relatives of the Raiders who are
now living here,” he explains. “They started arriving two days
after we took over. How they learned of it so fast is anyone’s
guess.”

“I suppose,” agrees James.

“The rest are the people we freed from
slavery. Some didn’t have anywhere else to go so remained with us.”
He glances from James to Jiron then adds, “Couldn’t very well say
no.”

Shaking his head, James says, “No, you
couldn’t.”

“What happened with the Ambassador last
night?” Jiron asks.

“Not much,” he says. “Black Hawk explained
what happened, how the priests of Asran caught a wayward spirit
that was causing the deaths. He didn’t look too convinced, but what
could he do but take him at his word?”

Laughing, Scar adds, “Must have scared them
something awful when that shadow was hovering above them surrounded
by a green glow.” Several of the others chuckle at that.

“It didn’t do anything for the negotiations
I’ll tell you that,” explains Ceadric. “I think Councilman Tethias
plans to talk to you sometime today before you leave.”

“What about?” asks James.

Shrugging, Ceadric answers, “Not sure.” He
removes a piece of pork from a platter and takes a bite.

“We plan to leave after the sun goes down
tonight,” James informs him.

“Thought that might be the plan,” he says.
“Lord Black Hawk wanted you to know that there are several Raiders
here who are fluent in the Empire’s language if you think you might
need one.” He glances at James a moment before adding, “Just be
more careful than you were with the last one.”

“Hey,” counters James, “if Jared hadn’t
panicked, he would be alive today.”

“Be that as it may, should you desire one
let us know.” Finishing the piece of pork, Ceadric takes his
leave.

When he’s left the suite and the door is
shut, Jiron exclaims, “What nerve!”

“Yeah,” exclaims Miko. “The way he said it,
you would think you killed Jared yourself.”

The others chime in with their opinions
before Scar says, “Jared was a cousin of his.”