The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five
Page 45
“Is it over?” he asks.
“Looks like it,” James replies.
“James!” Jiron yells.
He turns to see him there by Fifer. They make their way over to them and he asks, “Is he alive?”
Nodding, he replies, “Yes, but not much longer.” He looks pleadingly at James.
He knows what he’s going to ask but this is something he dares not mess with. Jiron can see the denial in his eyes and grows crestfallen.
“The Star could save him,” Miko suddenly announces.
“What?” Jiron asks.
“The Star,” he repeats. “It comes from the gods, it should be able to.”
Hope rekindled, Jiron looks to James. But James shakes his head, “I dare not touch it.”
“But…” he begins then once more becomes quiet. Perking up again, he glances to Miko. “You can do it!”
“Me?” he asks incredulously. “Are you crazy?”
“You’ve held one of these before,” Jiron says. “If any of us can make it work, it’s you.”
He glances to James who shrugs, “I don’t know. If we do nothing, Fifer will die. Healing comes from the gods, at least I think it does. Here on this world anyway. I can’t touch it so another must try and Jiron’s right in that of everyone here, you have the best chance of making it work.”
“But what if it kills me like it did with your friend Dave?” He glances down the street to where the Star sits in the dirt.
“It won’t,” replies James. “Of that I’m positive.”
Just then Fifer gives out with a groan and his chest stops moving. Getting up, James says, “Move!” to Jiron as he makes it to Fifer’s side. Hoping he’s doing it right, he begins CPR. A series of presses upon the breastbone and then breathe air into his lungs. After breathing into his mouth the first time, he starts pumping his chest again and looks to Miko.
Miko returns the gaze and nods. Getting up, he hurries over to the Star. Before he reaches it he slows down, fear making him hesitate. “Hurry!” he hears Jiron holler. Heart beating fast, he takes the last few steps and then reaches down. His fingers hesitate a moment before grasping the Star.
Frozen in place, he waits for death to take him but nothing happens. Sighing in relief, he turns around and hurries back to Fifer. “What do I do?” he asks as he kneels next to him.
“Grasp the Star, pray that he will live and that his wound will heal,” James says. “Be sure to invoke Morcyth’s name.” Bending over, he grabs Fifer’s nose as he breathes air once more into his lungs.
Taking the Star in both hands, he glances around at the others then closes his eyes. In his mind, he beseeches Morcyth to come to the aid of his friend, to return his life and heal his wound.
The others watch as he sits quietly with eyes closed. His lips move silently as he prays for Fifer to live. A gasp from Qyrll brings James’ attention to Miko and he stops what he’s doing when he sees a shining nimbus surrounding him.
He can feel the magic from the Star, different than that which he feels when mages summon it. The glow from the Star envelopes Fifer and they all move back as they watch what happens.
For a full minute, Miko and Fifer are surrounded by the glow. Finally Fifer’s chest begins to rise and fall as he starts to breathe on his own. The wound where his leg was severed begins to close as new skin forms over the wound.
Fifer’s eyes flutter open and the glow dissipates.
“You did it!” Jiron says excitedly. To Fifer he asks, “How do you feel?”
“Tired,” he replies softly.
“You go ahead and rest then,” Jiron tells him and he closes his eyes again.
Miko glances from one to the other. “You okay?” James asks him.
“I…I think so,” he says. “I feel good.” The patches of singed hair on his head are as new, as are the other scrapes and injuries he had before healing Fifer. The Star healed him too.
James smiles at him and then grimaces as the pain begins throbbing again from where the bolt is sticking out of his thigh. Jiron comes over and asks, “Should we have Miko fix you too?”
Shaking his head, he says, “I wouldn’t use that” pointing to the Star, “unless it was a matter of life or death.”
“It’s got to come out,” Jiron tells him.
“I know. Best do it now.”
“Qyrll, give me a hand,” he says.
The Parvati comes over and braces the leg while Jiron gets into position. “Ready?” he asks.
“No, but go ahead,” James tells him, gritting his teeth in anticipation of the pain to come.
Jiron grasps the bolt and after a quick glance to Qyrll, pulls it out which elicits a cry from James. Blood starts to flow and he tears off a strip from his shirt to pack the wound. Then he tears off more to tie it securely.
Around them, the old buildings continue to burn. The wind whips the fire from one to another as more and more become engulfed. “We better move,” James says as the smoke begins to thicken.
Qyrll lifts Fifer from the ground and Miko, after placing the Star within his pouch, does his best to help both James and Jiron to follow.
They find a building still in good shape away from the consuming inferno and one unlikely to be in the fire’s path. They bring in wood for a fire and decide to wait until Uther and Jorry show up before returning to The Ranch. While James waits for their arrival, he amuses himself by watching those passing through Ironhold as they take in the damage. He can just imagine the wild stories that are going to be circulating about this latest unexplained incident, a third of Ironhold has fallen to the fire.
The morning of the third day since their return to Ironhold, Fifer is doing much better though James and Jiron still are unable to get around very well. Miko seems his same old self, at least having the Star in his possession shouldn’t bring about negative consequences such as the Fire had. James wonders what effect having been exposed to two focal points will be to his friend.
Near noon, horses can be heard approaching and before they make it to the door to see who it is, Jorry’s voice can be heard. “…had to be here. He’s the only one who could level a town this effectively.”
“Well, maybe,” replies Uther. “But remember that time when we went…” He cuts off just as James comes walking out the door, using a long stick as a crutch. “Thought you might be around,” he says as he glances around at the devastation.
“Just waiting on you guys to show,” he says.
“Everything taken care of?” Jorry asks.
“You could say that,” replies James. “Come on in and we’ll fill you in.”
Jorry dismounts first and moves to help his friend who’s still having trouble despite the days since the injury happened. “…it was way up north when we ran across the Wizard of White Pass…” he continues his story as he enters the building and the door closes.
Epilog
_________________________
Walking across the snow covered ground, he makes his way to the meeting. Only four of them know of this meeting, secrecy is of the utmost importance. The inn isn’t far and he’s soon through the door and up to the room where the others are waiting.
“Good,” James says as soon as Jiron enters, “we’re all here.” He waits until Jiron has taken his seat before he begins. He glances around at them one at a time, Jiron, Illan and Delia. “You and I are to be the only ones who know of what transpires here,” he says.
They each nod in turn. “Why all the secrecy?” asks Delia. Her caravan is parked in the usual place, that clearing outside of town. When she received word that James had needed to talk to her, she quickly made her way back to Trendle.
“There’s something which happened when we found the Star that I have yet to tell anyone,” he begins. “I had a vision.”
He relates to them the vision in detail. His meeting with Igor, the High Temple of Morcyth and all that was said, including that the temple must be rebuilt in The City of Light.
“But how a
re we to do that?” Illan asks when he’s through. “The Empire now controls not only the City but a good portion of Madoc. And from what intelligence I’ve been able to gather, they are likely to launch another offensive in the spring in an attempt to break the defenders at Lythylla.”
He remains silent for a moment, knowing what effect his words are about to have. “Come spring, when the passes are once more clear, we travel to Madoc.”
“And then?” Jiron says in the silence that followed.
“And then,” he says glancing from one to next, “we drive them back to the Empire!” The death of his friend still weighs heavily upon him. They say paybacks are a bitch? Well this is going to be like nothing the Empire has ever seen before!
The adventure continues in:
Shades of the Past
Book Six of The Morcyth Saga
Check out the epically adventurous worlds of fantasy author
Brian S. Pratt
The Broken Key Trilogy
Four comrades set out to recover the segments of a key which they believe will unlock the King's Horde, rumored to hold great wealth. Written in the style of an RPG game, with spells, scrolls, potions, Guilds, and dungeon exploration fraught with traps and other dangers.
Dungeon Crawler Adventures
For those who enjoy dungeon exploration
without all the buildup or wrapup.
Fans of his previous works, especially The Broken Key, will discover Underground to be full of excitement and surprises. First in a series of books written for the pure fun of adventuring, Underground takes the reader along as four strangers overcome obstacles such as ingenious traps, perilous encounters, and mysteries to boggle the mind.
Ring of the Or’tux
In many stories you hear how ‘The Chosen One’ appeared to save the day. Every wonder what would happen if the one doing the choosing bungled the job?
In Ring of the Or’tux, that’s exactly what happens. Hunter was on his way to a Three Stooges’ marathon when in mid-step, he went from the lobby of a movie theater to a charred tangle of stone and timber that once had been a place of worship. From there it only gets worse for the hapless Chosen One. First, an attempt to flee those he initially encounters (who by the way are the ones he was sent there to save), lands him into the merciless clutches of an invading army (those whom he was supposed to defeat).
The Adventurer’s Guild
Jaikus and Reneeke are ordinary lads whose dream in life is to become a member of The Adventurer's Guild. But to become a member, one must be able to lay claim to an Adventure, and not just any adventure. To qualify, an Adventure must entail the following:
1-Have some element of risk to life and limb
2-Successfully concluded. If the point of the Adventure was to recover a stolen silver candelabra, then you better have that candelabra in hand when all is said and done.
3-A reward must be given. For what good is an Adventure if you don't get paid for your troubles?
Jaikus and Reneeke soon realize that becoming members in the renowned Guild is harder than they thought. For Adventures posted as Unresolved at the Guild, are usually the ones with the most risk.
However, when they hear of a party of experienced Guild members that are about to set out and are in need of Springers, they quickly volunteer only to discover to their dismay that a Springer's job is to "Spring the trap."
If they survive, membership in the Guild is assured.
Top
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
Chapter Twenty Four
Chapter Twenty Five
Chapter Twenty Six
Chapter Twenty Seven
Chapter Twenty Eight
Chapter Twenty Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty One
Chapter Thirty Two
Chapter Thirty Three