The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven (19 page)

“Brother Willim and I are,” replies Jiron.
“James got burned pretty badly.”

From the other side of the dome, Stig says,
“We’ll have you out in a second.” Then a shadow raises its arm, the
unmistakable outline of a mace clutched in its hand.

“Stop!” cries Brother Willim and the mace
stops before smashing into the dome. “If you smash it, it’s going
to shatter and cut us.”

The mace is lowered as Stig’s voice asks,
“Then what should we do?”

Everyone is silent for a moment then Shorty
says, “We can chip around the base and lift if off of them.”

“Good idea,” agrees Jiron. Taking out one of
his knives, he moves to the edge as the shadows on the other side
do the same. As they chip carefully at the bottom edge of the dome,
holes begin to form on all sides. As they work to elongate the
holes and separate the dome from the rest of the glass, fresh air
makes its way within. Jiron takes a deep breath and feels much
better.

When they have chipped all the way around
the bottom, those on the outside space themselves evenly around its
outer perimeter. Then Stig says, “On three. We lift it off them and
carry it my way.” Once the others have indicated they understand,
he says. “Alright, one…two…three.” Then they begin to lift and the
dome comes away from the ground.

They raise it until the bottom of the dome
is above the heads of those who are within it, then very carefully
begin carrying it sideways. Step by step they scoot along the glass
covered ground until Jiron and the others are no longer under it.
Then they set it down carefully back on the ground.

Aleya rushes forward and takes Jiron in her
arms. “I thought I had lost you,” she says as she buries her head
in the side of his neck.

Patting her on the back he says, “It’ll take
more than this to keep me from you.” Lifting her face up to his, he
gives her a kiss.

Brother Willim remains by James. As Miko
comes toward him he says, “He’s okay. Just sleeping.”

Miko stops less than a foot away and stares
at the burns covering James’ body. Reaching into his pouch, he
removes the Star. The glow immediately surrounds him as he kneels
next to his friend, then moves to envelope James.

As the others look on, the burns on James’
back gradually heal. The dead skin flakes off and new pink skin
takes its place. The patch on the back of his head heals as well,
though hair does not regrow right away.

When the glow disappears, James opens his
eyes and rolls onto his side. Looking up, he sees everyone staring
at him. “What?” he asks.

Miko gives him a smile and says, “Nothing.”
Putting the Star away, he helps James to his feet and lends him a
shoulder for support. A bit unsteady, he looks around at the
landscape. “Wow,” he says.

“You can say that again,” Scar says.

Smash!

Everyone turns at the sound just in time to
see the dome smashed into a million pieces by Stig’s mace. He
glances toward them with a grin. “I just had to,” he says as the
glass shards hit the ground with a tinkle.

“Maybe we should think about getting out of
here,” James suggests.

“Yes,” agrees Brother Willim. “That would be
a good idea.”

Leaning upon Miko’s shoulder, James nods to
the others to lead the way out, though their path through the glass
is easily identified by the two foot wide swath of broken glass
they made on their way in.

Once back where they left Reilin with the
horses, they find Zyrn and the others already in deep discussion
about what to do with the glass. In a world like this, it could
turn out to be worth quite a bit.

Reilin waves at them from the edge of the
glass field as they come into view. He has the horses staked out
twenty yards further away where they are merrily grazing on what
little there is.

Zyrn and Reilin greet them as they near the
edge of the glass. “Thank you,” Zyrn says with great
enthusiasm.

James gives him a nod but doesn’t reply, the
trek through the glass has left him quite weakened and tired.

“Is he alright?” asks Reilin.

“He will be after he gets some rest,” Jiron
assures him. Glancing to his friend, he grins. Ever since they told
him about his bald spot, he hasn’t been able to keep himself from
rubbing it. When he first touched it he promptly announced, “Guess
I’ll have to wear a hat for awhile.”

Miko helps him to move several feet away
from the glass where he assists him to the ground. “You rest,” he
tells him. “The rest of us will get camp set up.”

“Camp?” replies James. “I don’t think so.
Give me a few minutes and we’ll be on our way.”

“But you can barely stand as it is,” Miko
argues.

“I know,” James says tiredly. “But after
what I just did, any mage in the area will be coming to
investigate. In ten minutes I want us ready to ride.”

“What about that?” asks Stig indicating the
glass. He understands the value of what lies out there.

Shrugging, James gazes back at him. At
Stig’s words, Zyrn’s attention becomes fully focused on him to see
what his reply will be. “We have more important things to worry
about than that,” he states much to the relief of Zyrn.

Stig glances at him then at the sea of glass
and says, “Very well then.” Turning his attention back to James he
asks, “Where are we to go from here?”

James sits there and thinks for a minute
while he eats a bite of dried beef and has a drink. “We’ll skirt
the edge of the glass to the east,” he finally announces. “We know
there’s a main road moving north and south to the west. From the
maps I went over back at Al-Ziron there doesn’t look like there is
too much east of us to cause us much trouble. Just a few villages
here and there.”

“We shouldn’t go too far,” joins in Miko.
“You are quite tired and need to rest.”

“Let’s put distance between us and that
before we stop,” he says as he gestures to the field of glass
behind him. “Then we’ll rest through the night.”

“Very well,” agrees Miko. Getting up, he
goes to make sure his horse and things are ready for travel.

While the others are busy with getting
something to eat and seeing to their horses, Jiron comes and sits
next to James.

“Don’t you want to see to your horse as
well?” James asks.

Shaking his head, Jiron says, “Shorty said
he’d do it for me.” Biting off a piece of dried beef, he remains
silent for a second before he asks, “What do you think happened
here?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” he admits. “That I
played a part in it is without question.” He gazes at Jiron while
he bites off and chews another piece of dried beef. “However, I do
think there is more to this than just what I did at the end of the
battle. A meteorite falls from the sky and happens to strike at the
precise spot that would cause a rip and let in the creature? I
hardly think it’s mere coincidence.”

“Then what?” Jiron asks.

“I don’t know,” he replies, “and that’s what
is bothering me. Something else is going on. That discussion we had
earlier where Brother Willim was saying that the gods are becoming
more involved worries me.” Gesturing to the glass behind him he
continues. “Something like that could hardly have just
happened.”

“You think it has anything to do with
Tinok?” he asks.

Shrugging, he replies, “I doubt it. Maybe if
Tinok were someone like Miko who has a god interested in him,
maybe.”

“So what should we do?” Aleya asks as she
comes to join them.

“Listening in were you?” James asks.

Nodding, she gives him a grin. “Couldn’t
help it,” she admits. “You two talk pretty loud.”

James returns her grin and says, “Continue
on as we have been. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for whatever
else may be developing, but we’ll keep looking for Tinok.”

Jiron sighs. “That’s good,” he says.

Finishing up with their meal, James allows
Jiron and Aleya to help him to his feet and then onto his horse.
From behind him he can hear where Scar is explaining to Reilin why
the creature turned to glass. “You see,” he explains, “since it
wasn’t from our world, it couldn’t survive long. When James torched
it with fire, it died. What you see there is simply its bones that
were left behind.”

“Bones?” asks Reilin incredulously.

“Of course!” states Potbelly as he backs up
his partner’s explanation. “You can’t expect something from another
world to have the same kind of bones as we do.”

“I suppose not,” agrees Reilin, though he
doesn’t sound entirely convinced.

James smiles to himself and doesn’t say
anything.

“Is that right?” asks Miko from beside
him.

“What?” asks James. “You mean what Scar
said?”

Miko gives him a nod.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” he says,
keeping his voice low. “When the creature entered our world, it
took on the characteristics of the first thing it came into contact
with.”

“The sand,” interjects Miko.

“That’s right, the sand,” agrees James.
“Where I come from it’s long been known that heat will turn sand
into glass. In fact, lightning striking a sandy beach can leave
glass behind.”

“Interesting,” comments Miko. “So Scar is
wrong?”

Grinning, James nods his head. “Of course he
is, but I think we should keep that to ourselves.”

Miko turns back with a grin and glances at
where Reilin is hanging onto Scar’s every word. “I suppose it would
spoil it.” Then he looks back to James and they both laugh.

Scar breaks off in the middle of a sentence
and turns toward them. “What?” he asks.

Shaking his head, James says, “Nothing.”
Then both he and Miko laugh again.

When the rest are ready and are about to
head out, Zyrn comes forward. “Thank you all again,” he says with
sincerity.

“You’re welcome,” replies James. “Take
care.” With that he kicks his horse and soon they are galloping
across the sand on their way east.

Zyrn watches them go. Elated at the demise
of the deadly grayness, yet at the same time filled with sadness
over what his village has done. Can he ever go back and have things
return to normal? That’s the question that has weighed on his mind
ever since Khalim was sacrificed.

But, they are his people, misguided though
they were. Deciding to return and try to cope, he turns back to the
other villagers and with them begins working out a way to harvest
the glass quickly before someone else comes and takes it. With it,
his people will not have to worry for a very, very long time.

When at last the mage and his companions
disappear out of sight, he returns to the work at hand.

For the next several hours James and the
rest ride quickly as they circumvent the perimeter of the glass
field. Upon reaching the eastern edge, they angle more to the
southeast to put distance between it and them.

When the sun at last reaches the horizon and
is on the verge of sinking into night, James calls a halt. Fatigued
and tired, the trials of the last twenty four hours have left him
on the brink of passing out. Leaving the details of camp to the
others, he quickly gets his bedroll and lays it out. In no time at
all, he falls asleep.

The following morning it again dawns clear
and sunny, heralding another hot summer day. James is the last to
get up. The others had allowed him to sleep himself out, so he woke
up several hours after sunrise. A quick meal and they’re once again
in the saddle.

James takes out his cloth and finds that
Tinok still lies in the same general direction as the day before,
to the southwest. Replacing the cloth back in his pouch, they get
underway.

Cutting cross-country, they don’t make the
best time but they don’t encounter anyone either. Late in the
morning a village appears before them. On the eastern side of the
village lies an orchard of date palms such as they’ve encountered
before in the different oasis.

“Could use some dates,” suggests
Potbelly.

James glances to Jiron who nods in
agreement. “Very well,” he says. Angling his horse toward the
orchard, he leads them there.

A farmhouse stands amidst the orchard. The
farmer sees them coming and makes his way from the orchard on a
course to intercept them before they reach the house. He calls out
to those in the house and several lads who are obviously his sons
appear and move to join him. In their hands are clutched a variety
of weapons including a crossbow. Seems they’ve had problems with
strangers before.

As his sons hurry to join him, the farmer
holds up his hand and asks, “How can I help you sirs?” After
translating for the others Reilin comes forward and begins haggling
for a couple small casks of dates.

The sons visibly relax once they learn they
are here to purchase dates. However, they remain where they are
just in case.

As the others wait for the haggling to come
to an end, Brother Willim gazes around at the date trees. “They’re
quite healthy,” he says quietly to James. “This farmer is good for
the land.”

“Some are bad?” he asks.

“Oh yes,” he replies. “Just because a man’s
a farmer doesn’t make him a good one.” He continues to gaze around
the orchard then his eyes widen and a slight gasp escapes him.

James notices his reaction and asks,
“What?”

Nodding his head to indicate an area on the
edge of the orchard, he says, “Look there.”

James looks but only sees a pile of leaves
and dates lying on the ground. “I don’t see anything,” he tells
him.

“It’s a
Vyrilyzk,
” he replies.

“I never heard of that,” James says.

“It’s an offering to the earth spirits,” he
says. Glancing to James he says, “It’s an old custom. Farmers take
the first of the harvest, surround it with leaves, and leave it for
the earth spirits. It’s supposed to give them a better harvest for
the following year.”