The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven (65 page)

“Why?” the Slavemaster asks. “You’ll have to
pardon my curiosity, but you are the first person I’ve ever met who
actually wanted to go into one. Other than Dmon-Li’s priesthood
that is.”

James gazes at the Slavemaster and gauges
just how much to tell him. “Can you help us gain entry?” he
asks.

“Possibly,” he replies. “You see, I’m the
only one that I know of who was ever a slave within the temple and
escaped. But that was some time ago, when I was a younger man.”

“The one here in Zixtyn?” James asks
hopefully.

The Slavemaster shrugs, obviously unwilling
to give him that much information about himself. “So why do you
wish to gain entry into the temple here in Zixtyn? I assure you,
what you tell me will not find its way out of here.”

Deciding to trust to fate, he says, “A
friend has been taken to Ith-Zirul. We know there’s a way that the
temples, or at least some of them, are connected through magical
transportation devices.”

The Slavemaster shakes his head, “Friend,
what you plan is nothing short of folly.”

“Be that as it may, that is what we plan to
do,” he insists. “Can you help us?”

“Even should you gain the temple and reach
the transportation device, you wouldn’t be able to use it,” he
asserts.

“Then you know of it?” asks James
hopefully.

“Yes,” he says. “I know of it.”

“Can you tell me how it works?” he asks.

“You mean to tell me that you planned to
break into the temple and didn’t even know how it worked?” he asks
incredulously.

“I have an idea,” replies James
defensively.

“You need more than that if you expect to
get to Ith-Zirul,” the Slavemaster tells him. “They won’t work for
just anyone, you need a key.”

“I have one of those already,” explains
James.

“Oh?” he asks. “How would you have gained
such an item?”

James then gives him a very brief rundown of
finding the medallion in the temple outside of Kern. “I know it
activates the dais,” he states. “I’m just not sure how to make it
take me to where I want it to.”

“Fascinating,” the Slavemaster says after
several seconds of digesting what James had told him. “As to how to
make it work, I don’t know that part of it.” When James gets a
disappointed look, he raises his hand and says, “That’s not to say
what I do know won’t help.”

“Such as?” prompts James.

“You see, each of these keys is set to take
you to two different places on their own,” he explains. “I’m sure
there’s a way in which to have them take you to specific temples,
but I have never been privy to that information.”

“Now, if you are in the home temple of the
key, which in this case would be the temple near Kern where you
found it, then the teleportation dais will take you automatically
to Ith-Zirul. And if you are at Ith-Zirul it will return you to the
key’s home temple.”

“But what if you are at another temple?” he
asks.

“I believe it will take you automatically to
Ith-Zirul,” he says. “And then from there would return you to the
key’s home temple.”

James remains silent after the Slavemaster
finishes speaking. He remembers the time under the sand at
Baerustin when during their fight, he and Jiron had stumbled upon
the teleportation dais there and ended up at another place. That
other place was cold and had strange little creatures with claws
sharper than razors. He recalls the voice in his head that said,
‘You have come, mage.’
They must have been in
the High Temple! Only they didn’t realize it at the time. When he
and Jiron had fled the place and returned to the dais, it had taken
them to the temple near Kern. It all makes sense now.

“Now all there is to do is for us to reach
the dais within the temple here in Zixtyn,” James says.

The Slavemaster nods. “That won’t be as easy
as you think,” he says. “For one thing, the dais is in a secret
room in the lowest level of the temple. None but those in the inner
circle are allowed there. It’s unlikely you would reach it before
being discovered.”

“Could you give me some idea the best way to
get to it?” James asks. “Despite the risks we must make the
attempt.”

“Yes,” he says. “I can have a diagram made
for you that would show the quickest route to the room you have to
reach.”

“That would be great,” James says.

“You might wish to make the attempt two
nights from now however,” the Slavemaster says.

James looks at him curiously. “Why?”

“In two nights is the dark of the moon,” he
explains. “Every temple performs special rites to Dmon-Li when the
moon is black. It’s considered holy to them.”

“Killian’s shroud blinds the giant’s eye,”
he murmurs.

The Slavemaster hears him and nods. “Yes
that’s what some call that time of the month.” When he sees that
James is lost in thought, he adds, “The priests will all be in
attendance in the sanctum before the altar. However that’s not to
say the halls of the temple will be empty. They have over a score
of temple guards that will be roaming the grounds, even within the
temple itself. You’ll have to somehow get through them without
alerting the rest of the temple to your presence. I’ve heard
stories of your prowess, but I doubt even you would prevail against
a temple’s worth of priests all working in conjunction to kill
you.”

“Probably not,” agrees James.

Just then, the young man enters through the
archway and whispers something in the Slavemaster’s ear. Nodding
the Slavemaster says something to the young man who then leaves the
room. “Seems your friends have followed you,” he says.

“Did they?” James asks innocently.

The Slavemaster isn’t fooled. “Don’t worry,”
he says. “They’ve been taken care of.”

“What does that mean?” asks James.

“They won’t be bothering us here,” replies
the Slavemaster.

“What did you do to them?” demands
James.

“Oh, nothing harmful I assure you,” he
says.

James meets his gaze for a moment and then
gets to his feet. “I should be going now,” he says.

“As you will,” says the Slavemaster. “I’ll
have someone drop by sometime tomorrow with a diagram I’ll draw up
to help you reach the teleportation dais.”

“Thank you,” he says. Now worried about what
may have happened to his friends, James wants nothing more than to
get out of there.

The young man makes his appearance and the
Slavemaster says to him, “Escort him back out.”

Giving the Slavemaster a slight bow, the
young man turns to James and says, “If you’ll follow me?”

James gives the Slavemaster a brief bow then
turns to follow the young man from the room. They leave through the
same doorway and are again in the darkened passage. They proceed
for a ways then James feels the young man’s hand on his shoulder as
he directs him to stop and enter a narrow opening. It’s on the
opposite side of the passage than the one he trailed his hand along
on the way in.

Moving through this new passage which is
barely wide enough to accommodate them, they continue for a ways
until the passage turns to the right. Then the young man takes him
another hundred paces and brings him to a stop.

“Give me your hand,” the young man says.

James holds out his hand and feels the young
man take it. Moving it to the side of the passage, he places James’
hand in a recess in the wall. “You must climb this until you get to
the top,” the young man says. “There you’ll find a small wooden
panel to your left. Push it open and crawl through.”

“What’s on the other side?” James asks.

“A chandler’s shop,” is the reply. “The
shopkeeper has already left for the day. Do not touch anything and
be careful when you leave not to let anyone see you.”

“Aren’t you coming with me?” he asks.

“No, you go by yourself from here,” he says.
“Good luck.”

“Thanks,” replies James. Then he hears the
footsteps of the young man moving away in the dark.

Turning back to the wall, he feels around
and finds a series of recesses moving from the floor up the wall.
Putting his hands in the ones at eye and chest level, he then finds
two for his feet. Then very carefully, he lifts one of his hands
above his head and feels around until he finds the next one. One by
one, he slowly makes his way up the wall in the dark.

After what seems like twenty or more
different recesses have taken him over ten feet from the floor of
the passage beneath him, his hand touches the stone ceiling above
him. Feeling around he realizes that he’s come as far up the wall
as he can. Searching to his left, he finds the small wooden panel
of which the young man told him. Pressing it outward, he feels it
give. Pushing harder, he swings it wide. A small amount of light
comes through from the other side.

The light reveals that the opening is going
to be a tight squeeze for him. He then moves toward it and reaches
a hand in and begins working his body through to the other side.
Though it’s small, he manages to wriggle through and comes out
beneath a table and finds himself on the floor of the chandler’s
shop.

Turning back to the opening, he discovers
the outside of the wooden panel has stone attached to it. When he
swings the panel closed, it blends in perfectly with the stone of
the wall. He then comes out from under the table and scans the shop
for the way out. The door opening onto the street is to his right
and he makes his way to it. Looking out, he sees the street passing
in front of the shop still has people upon it. With it still being
an hour until sundown, he’s sure to be spotted quickly if he were
to leave that way.

He makes his way through the shop and finds
the back door. Opening it slowly, he discovers an alley running
behind the shop. He peers out cautiously only to find there’s no
one in the vicinity. James then exits the building quickly and
shuts the door behind him.

Once out in the alley, he turns down to the
right and hurries to the end. Then, walking like he has a purpose,
he enters the street and tries to figure out how to get back to the
inn.

“He’s not in there.”

Jiron quickly turns around from where he’s
been watching the guards outside the narrow alley that James and
the young man disappeared into some time ago. He and the others had
followed them to here, but after James and the slave had passed
into the alley, these guards showed up and have been hanging around
the entrance to the alley ever since.

When he turns around, you could imagine his
surprise when he finds the slave who escorted James into the alley
standing there. “What did you say?” he asks.

“Your friend isn’t in there anymore,” the
young man replies. “He’s probably back at the inn by now.” He gives
them a grin and then makes to move onto the street.

Jiron grabs him by the arm and stops
him.

“Take your hand off me or I will scream,”
the young man says.

Removing his arm, Jiron asks, “Is he
okay?”

“Yes,” he replies. “You really should get
back there to him.”

“Why?” asks Miko.

The young man doesn’t reply, instead he
steps quickly and is soon out on the street among the people
passing by.

“Let’s go,” Jiron says. “Something’s up and
we need to get back there fast.” With a last glance to the guards
before the alley, he moves out onto the street. Beside him walks
Reilin and together they lead the others back to the inn.

Jiron is cursing in his mind the decision of
James to go with the young man. He knew there was going to be
trouble. Setting a brisk pace, they work their way through the
early evening crowd on the street and eventually the inn appears
ahead of them.

As they move to the front door, they see
James in his loincloth moving toward them from down the street.
“What happened?” asks James and Jiron of each other at the same
time when they come together.

They both pause a moment then James asks,
“Is everyone alright?”

Jiron nods then begins to ask him a question
in turn when Brother Willim steps forward and says, “Maybe we
should discuss this inside?”

Glancing around them, they can see they have
begun to draw the attention of the other people passing on the
street. After all, they are a large group standing in the middle of
the road.

Nodding to the inn James says, “When I tried
to go up to my room, they kicked me out. I don’t know what they
were saying, but it definitely wasn’t nice.”

“Could’ve been they didn’t recognize you,”
suggests Stig.

James glances to him and says sarcastically,
“You think so?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem now,” Shorty says.
“Not with us here.”

“Hope you’re right,” replies James. He then
indicates for Reilin to take the lead.

Moving to the inn, they pass through the
front door and make a beeline for the stairs leading to their
rooms. James sees one of the workers who had kicked him out take
note of his presence. Their eyes lock for moment but the worker
fails to make any move toward him.

Once at the top of the stairs, they go down
to the room where they left Aleya and Aku. When Jiron cracks the
door open, he finds them both lying on the bed asleep. Aleya has
her arms around the boy. It’s such a tranquil picture that he
closes the door and takes the others down to the next room so as
not to disturb them.

After they are all in the room with the door
closed, James fills them in on his meeting with the Slavemaster.
When he gets to the end where the Slavemaster said that Jiron and
the others won’t be bothering them, Jiron suggests that he probably
meant the guards who had blocked the alley entrance.

“It’s a good thing they did too,” James
tells them. “There’s no way you could have followed me through that
courtyard where they were loading the wagons. You would have been
seen for sure.”