Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (12 page)

“What’re we to do?” Miko asks him.

“Try to take out the two by the door
quietly, if possible,” he explains. To Shorty he asks, “Was there
any other way into that room?”

Shaking his head, he replies, “Not that I
saw.”

“Alright then, let’s go.” Leading the way,
Illan enters through the door and goes down a short hallway with a
door on either side. The doors lead to rooms that are dark and
quiet. Paying them no heed, he continues to the end of the corridor
and looks out into the main storage area of the warehouse.

A large area, virtually empty but for a few
scattered boxes stands between them and the office. Over to the
left is the door leading out to the street, outside of which are
the four guards by the carriage.

“Shorty, can you take them out with your
knives?” he asks, indicating the two by the office door.

“Probably,” he replies. “The first one for
sure, but the second, maybe a 50-50 chance.”

“That’ll have to be good enough,” Illan
tells him. To the others he says, “Stand ready. When Shorty throws
his second knife, run like hell to finish them off before they can
sound the alarm.”

Scar looks dubiously at the distance between
them and says, “Okay, but that’s a ways.”

Ignoring him, Illan says to Shorty,
“Ready?”

Nodding, Shorty draws two of his knifes and
moves to the end of the short corridor until he’s as close as he
can be without being seen. Taking a couple calming breaths to
center himself, he takes the first knife and after a brief pause to
judge the distance, throws it toward the first guard. Before the
others even realize he’s thrown the first one, the second one
follows.

Illan leads the charge quietly and watches
as the first knife sinks into the first guard’s chest. The second
guard stands stunned as he watches his partner falling to the
ground, at first not realizing just what had happened to him. Then
the second knife strikes him off center in the chest and he falls
backward into the side of the office with a thud.

Both guards fall to the ground without as
much as a peep. Illan was afraid the sound of the guard hitting the
side of the office would alert those within, but after a moment
they realize it hadn’t.

Upon reaching them, Shorty retrieves his
knives, wiping them off on the clothes of the dead men before
replacing them in his belt.

Illan moves to the door and places his ear
against it.

“…a thief,” a voice says. “I want to know
who sent you.”

James voice replies, “I already told you, we
were there by accident and took nothing!”

Whack!

He hears James cry out as he’s struck with
what sounds like a leather whip or strap.

“You don’t expect me to believe you do you?”
asks the voice again. “You just happened, by accident, to be within
a walled estate? No, I don’t think so.”

Whack!

Again, Illan hears James being struck.

“I’ll ask you again,” the voice continues.
“Where is it and who sent you?”

“What is it you think I stole?” James cries
out. “Is that why you’ve hounded me ever since that day?”

“Either tell me or you will not leave here
alive!” the voice shouts at him.

“I DON’T KNOW!” screams James.

Illan glances at the others, and when they
give him a nod saying they’re ready, steps back from the door and
raises his foot as he kicks out hard.

Wham!

Connecting with the door, the force of his
kick causes it to burst inside, swinging wide and slamming hard
into the wall behind it.

Illan quickly assesses the scene. James is
tied to a chair in only his pants, red welts across his shoulders
and back show where he’s been struck repeatedly. Two other men are
in the room as well, one is a well dressed man who is standing
before James. The other is to the side and is holding a three foot
long strap, obviously the source of the welts upon James.

The man before James has to be Lord
Colerain, the quality of his clothes shows him to be a man of great
wealth. He turns as the door crashes open and begins to say
something when he sees them enter with their swords drawn. Pulling
a knife, he moves threateningly toward James but a knife flies and
strikes him in the shoulder, throwing him off balance.

The one with the strap throws it to the
ground and draws his sword as he moves to put himself between the
attackers and his lord. Illan strikes out and the man successfully
blocks the attack but is run through by Scar who comes in beside
him. Falling to the ground with Scar’s sword wedged in between his
ribs, he breathes a few last raged breathes before lying still.
Scar then puts his foot on the dead man and yanks his sword
out.

“James!” Miko cries as he enters. Coming to
where he’s tied to the chair, he gives him a hug.

“Easy, easy,” James moans when Miko’s hug
brings pain from the welts.

“Sorry,” he says, releasing him.

Shorty comes and cuts through the bonds with
a knife as James asks, “How did you manage to find me?”

“We’ll get into that later,” Illan says.
“Right now we’ve got to get out of here.”

“What should we do with this guy?” Scar asks
from where he’s covering Lord Colerain with his sword.

They look to see him holding the wound in
his shoulder where the knife had struck. Shorty comes over and
retrieves his knife from where it lies on the ground next to him.
Glaring at all of them, he says, “Murderers and thieves! I’ll see
you all executed for this!”

James gets up and stands before him, “Know
this, milord. I did not take anything from you, and I am warning
you to let me be!”

Lord Colerain sits up against the wall. Scar
backs off slightly with his sword allowing him room to maneuver to
a sitting position. “Warning me?” he asks eyes full of malice. “How
dare you!”

“Understand this,” James says as he stares
intently into his eyes. “If you should ever come against me again,
I will not rest until you are destroyed, completely. I will not
seek revenge against you because of what transpired here today, I
simply want it to end.”

Leaning closer to him, he adds in a quieter,
menacing tone, “But, I cannot tolerate these continuous attacks and
if I must, I will come here and raze your house to the ground. I
will destroy every enterprise you have. Your very life will be
forfeit!”

Lord Colerain just glowers at him from where
he sits against the wall. “Tie him up and gag him,” James tells the
others.

As Scar and Shorty take care of it, he
stands back and watches until he’s secured. Then says to Illan,
“Let’s go home.”

Fifer moves to the doorway of the office and
peers out into the warehouse. He’s relieved to find the guards who
are standing out by the carriage haven’t been alerted by the
commotion within the office. “It’s clear,” he says.

James pauses at the doorway to glance back
at Lord Colerain, and can see the hate in his eyes. He moves out of
the way as Fifer and Scar bring the two dead guards into the
office.

Illan indicates the hallway across the
warehouse where they entered from and they begin moving in that
direction. “Think what you said will stop him?” he asks James.

“I hope so, but I doubt it,” he replies. “I
meant what I said though, should he continue against me.”

“Good,” Scar says from behind him. “I don’t
think he realizes just what you’re capable of.”

“Maybe not,” replies James. “And I really
hope he never has to find out.”

They pass down through the hallway to the
door leading out into the street. Once outside, Miko takes the lead
as he leads them back to the inn where their horses are waiting for
them.

Moving through the dark streets, they fill
him in on how they found him and what transpired at Lord Colerain’s
estate. He pats Miko on the back, as he praises his quick thinking
and resourcefulness.

At the inn, they get their horses but
realize they’re one horse short for James. So he mounts behind
Shorty and they move out into the night putting as much distance
between themselves and Lord Colerain as they can before fatigue and
exhaustion begin to take affect.

Finding a good spot off the road to make
camp, they get settled in and Illan has them take turns at watch.
All that is, except James, whom the others allow to sleep
throughout the night. By the next morning, the effect of the drug
that was in his system has completely worn off and his head is once
again clear.

He tries to make his orb and when it readily
appears, he immediately cancels it, confident in his ability to do
magic once more.

Later that day, a little before noon, they
meet up with Delia’s caravan.

When Scar sees them coming into view ahead
of them he kicks his horse into a gallop. With a whoop and holler
he races to meet them. Potbelly sees him coming and does the same
thing, much to the amusement of everyone else.

Laughing, James has Shorty break into a
gallop as his group quickly catches, and then passes, where Scar
and Potbelly have met in the middle. Leaving them behind, James
rides up to where Delia has begun to pull the wagons off the
road.

“Good to see you James,” she says, greeting
him with a warm smile.

“Wasn’t sure for a while if I’d ever see you
again,” he says. Dismounting, he goes to her and gives her a hug.
She returns it gingerly when she sees the welts scoring his
back.

“What happened to you?” she asks, concern in
her eyes.

“Well, let me tell you…” he says and then
begins to relate all that had happened to him since she left. When
he was done, Scar relates what happened to them and then the rescue
of James. During the tale, they’ve set about having their midday
meal and Stig is delegated the job of feeding and watering the
horses. At one point, Delia produces a clean shirt from her
inventory for him.

“It seems that for some reason,” says James
as he continues eating his rations, “Lord Colerain believes I stole
something while we were there.” He looks to Miko who only shakes
his head. “I didn’t,” he says.

“I know,” James assures him. “But for some
reason, he thinks that.”

“Do you think he’ll try anything again?”
asks Potbelly.

“Maybe,” he replies. “Hopefully, I put worry
in him about my reprisal if he does.”

They finish their meal and all make ready to
get underway.

“What do you plan to do now?” Delia asks him
as the caravan is about ready to pull out.

“Go back and continue what I was doing,” he
explains. “Only be more vigilant this time.”

“Good luck,” she says.

“You too, lady trader,” he replies with a
smile.

A flick of the reins and the team begins to
pull her wagon back onto the road.

Shorty and Scar have already resumed their
place in the caravan while Jorry and Uther have taken their places
back with James’ crew.

As the two parties begin to move in opposite
directions, there’s a scattering of farewells until they’re too far
apart to continue.

Thoughts of Lord Colerain and the Empire
haunt him the entire day. Will he ever be rid of people wanting to
kill him? That night they find an inn to stay and since the pain
from the welts have begun to diminish, he’s able to get a good
night’s sleep.

The next morning they set out after a good
breakfast of ham steaks and fried eggs. Even after allowing the
horses to get a full good night’s rest, they still take it easy the
rest of the way back to The Ranch.

When they at last arrive back at The Ranch,
they’re surprised to find a teenage boy standing guard out at the
end of the lane holding a spear in one hand. When he sees them
coming up the lane, he takes a horn that’s slung at his side and
blows two quick notes.

From The Ranch, they see four horsemen come
riding quickly down the lane toward the sentry. “Wonder what’s
going on?” questions Illan.

“I don’t know,” James replies.

When James and the others reach the sentry,
he recognizes him as Devin, Corbin’s son. He’s standing there, the
spear he gave him in one hand and says, “Welcome home.”

“Thank you,” James tells him. The four
horsemen are other lads from the surrounding area. He asks, “What’s
all this?”

“Jiron said to tell you, ‘to go up to the
house and he’ll explain everything’,” he replies.

“Alright,” he says as he turns onto the lane
and heads for the house. Illan and the others follow. The town lads
on the horses fall in behind at the rear and ‘escort’ him back to
the house.

James notices another lad with a bow and a
quiver of arrows slung across his back, walking the edge of the
forest on the far side of the house. He glances to Illan who just
shrugs, he’s noticed him too.

The front door of the house opens and Jiron,
Yern, Tersa and Ezra holding Arkie come out to meet them.

“Glad to see you’re back safe,” Jiron says
with relief.

Gesturing around at all the lads, James
asks, “What’s all this?”

“Come on inside and I’ll explain,” he says.
Coming over, he helps James down from his horse. He then leads him
inside, with Illan following closely behind. Ezra and Tersa return
within the house as well while the rest tend to the horses and see
that they’re settled in.

Jiron sits down in the front room, James and
Illan following suit. Tersa and Ezra soon come out of the kitchen
with mugs of ale for them.

“Now, just what have you been doing while I
have been gone?” he asks.

“After the last attack, I felt we could use
some help around here,” he tells him. From the back, Roland comes
out and joins them. “Actually, it was Roland’s idea to ask the
locals if their sons would care to help out.”

“The harvest around here is about over and I
knew these lads would have little to do,” he explains. “Basically
what they’re going to do is provide security for us.”