Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (22 page)

As Illan and the others approach, he says to
Illan, “They’re hunting for it.” The crystal supplying the power to
the concealing ones is being drained rapidly.

“What are you going to do?” Illan asks.

“What’s going on?” asks Uther.

“Quiet!” commands Illan.

James ignores them as he calls forth his
magic. He immediately can feel a malignant power trying to find the
Fire, the sheer amount of magic being used is staggering.
Channeling his own magic into the power crystal, he attempts to
keep the concealing spells active.

The one searching for the Fire suddenly
dramatically increases the amount of magic being used, causing
James to gasp as more of his own power is being sucked out of him
to maintain the spell.

Illan and the others watch on as the glow of
the crystals begins to intensify. They see James begin to pant and
beads of sweat form as they drip off his forehead as he tries to
thwart the attempts of the seeker.

Suddenly, the trees around them begin
withering, one actually cracking down the middle. “What’s
happening?” exclaims Jorry.

“It’s James,” explains Jiron.

“What’s he doing?” cries out Uther.

“I don’t know,” he says, shaking his head.
“But he’ll not be good for much when this is over.”

“Form a perimeter around him,” Illan barks
out. “Jorry, you go out to the road and keep watch. Jiron, stay
next to him and do what you can for him. Uther, keep the horses
under control. We can’t afford to have them running off.”

As they hop to it, he glances at the box in
wonder as the glow from the crystals continues to grow.

No longer able to use his own nearly
depleted inner stores of power, James has had to tap other
resources. Drawing the power from the trees and the other
vegetation around him allows him to be able to maintain the
spells.

The amount of power used is staggering!
Never could he have imagined such an unrelenting torrent of power.
Malignant evil can be felt emanating from the source of the power,
itself almost as hard to counter and deal with as the seeking
magic.

Just as he did back when he fought that evil
presence when he first came to this world, so too now does he again
create conduits from the vegetation to deliver power to the
crystals.

Concentrating as hard as he is on
maintaining the flow of power to the crystals, he fails to notice
just what effect it’s having around him. Trees and plants are dying
rapidly, some even give a ‘pop’ as they crack open and crumble to
the ground.

Suddenly, whoever was seeking the Fire,
stops. James cancels the conduits quickly and almost feels fried as
a backlash of power burns through him. Crying out, he falls
backward into Jiron’s arms and slumps into unconsciousness.

“Now what?” asks Jorry as they gather around
Jiron who’s cradling James’ head in his lap. A large circle of
devastation radiates outward from James and the box, almost
reaching the road.

“I don’t think we should stay here,” Jiron
says. “Until he wakes up, we’ll not know if they found out where we
are.”

“I agree,” Illan says. Indicating James, he
says to Jiron, “Better get him on his horse, tie him if you must.
The rest of you, get mounted.”

Uther lends a hand with helping to secure
James on the horse. Illan takes the old blanket and again wraps the
box before securing it behind James’ saddle. When everyone is
mounted and ready to go, he turns to Jiron and asks, “Do you know
exactly where he planned to go?”

“Trademeet,” he says. “Though we shouldn’t
go through Trendle on the way back, we don’t want anyone knowing
we’ve turned around.”

“Good point,” he says. “Let’s move.” They
come back to the road where Illan turns them to the south as they
follow it back around the forest.

Several hours past noon they return to the
fork in the road with the branch leading due east. He turns them
that way. “How’s he doing?” he asks Jiron.

“About the same,” he replies. “He’s not
going to look like he’s improving until he actually regains
consciousness.”

“Let me know,” he says.

“I will.”

Near nightfall, James begins moaning and
thrashing around on his horse. Jiron moves next to him and somehow
manages to calm him down. By that time, they have all stopped and
gathered around him.

Illan looks to Jiron with a concerned look
on his face.

“We need to find a place to rest for the
night,” Jiron tells Illan. “I don’t know what that was, but he
never did anything like that before.”

“Okay. Next place with an inn, we’re
stopping.”

The next place happens to come along an hour
later. Just a bunch of buildings along the side of the road, not
much more than a place catering to travelers who weren’t able to
reach the next town.

No sign hangs out in front of the inn and
the place looks a little worse for wear. Several horses, along with
a small caravan are tied around back. This place doesn’t even have
a decent stable for the horses. If it wasn’t for James’ need for a
good night’s rest, Illan would’ve passed this place by.

“Uther, go in and see if they’ve got at
least three rooms for us.”

Nodding, he gets down from his horse and
enters through the front door. Returning shortly, he says, “They’ve
got the rooms, cheap too.”

“Jorry, take the horses around back and stay
with them,” he says. “I don’t trust a place with no stable.”

Not looking happy about it, he says,
“Alright.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll all take turns watching
the horses,” he assures him.

As he leaves with the horses around back the
rest go in through the front door. Uther and Jiron carry the
unconscious James between them. Illan goes and confers with the
innkeeper while the others stay near the front door. An exchange of
silvers produces three keys for rooms upstairs. When they carry
James through to the stairs leading up, the innkeeper gives them a
curious look but otherwise says nothing.

Once in their rooms, they lay James out on
one of the beds. Illan sets the box on the floor next to him before
leaving to make sure the rest get squared away properly. He returns
a short time later and says, “I’m arranging for all of us to eat in
our rooms. I’ll have something sent up for you two.” When Jiron
nods from where he sits next to James on the bed, he asks, “How is
he?”

“Don’t know,” Jiron replies, worried. “He’s
still breathing.”

“That’s something,” says Illan. “There’ll be
someone posted outside your rooms all night. So if you need
anything, or if there’s any change, let us know.”

Nodding, he says, “Sure.” After Illan has
left, he looks to his friend and wonders just what’s going on in
there.

A smoky haze covers a landscape burnt and
dying. Unseen, the desolate wailing of tortured people comes to him
as he walks through what once must’ve been a beautiful forest.
Broken and charred trees lie scattered about, dark shapes move
through them.

The dim light coming through the smoke
hanging over him gives an unholy feel to his already dismal
surroundings. He jumps and starts at every slight shadow and sound,
ducking behind burnt out husks of trees when he catches a glimpse
of shadows moving in the distance.

Moving cautiously, he makes his way through
the dead forest and comes across what looks to have been a cabin of
some sort. Some of the walls are still standing though the roof has
long since collapsed from a long ago fire.

The fear which has been his constant
companion ever since coming here now grows even stronger.
Compelled, almost against his will, he begins moving toward the
cabin. As he draws closer, a shadow moves across the doorway and
then is gone.

Pausing only a moment, he continues on his
way to the doorway. Wanting to stop, fighting the need to continue,
his steps are sluggish but still he comes closer. At the doorway,
he somehow manages to overcome his overpowering need to enter the
cabin and comes to a stop. Fear. Fear the likes he’s never
experienced cuts through him like a knife, sapping his will, his
strength.

Again, the shadow moves within, this time
further back from the doorway. The sight of the shadow spikes his
fear and he longs to turn and run, if only his legs would obey
him.

The muscles of his leg begin to contract as
they move his leg forward against his will, passing through the
doorway. He watches as his foot touches the floor within the cabin.
Cold hate suddenly washes over him as he looks up at the shadow,
now aware of him. Evil, pure evil radiates from the eyes within the
shadow. The yellow, glowing eyes.

He senses, more than sees the shadow
reaching out for him. His will all but gone, he can no longer
withstand the compelling need to come to the shadow, even though he
knows it’s to his doom.

Stepping through the doorway, he’s suddenly
grabbed from behind and yanked out of the cabin. A screech erupts
from the shadow as its prey escapes from its clutches.

James stumbles backward and turns to see
Igor there. A resounding slap across his face and he comes back to
his senses. “Come on!” Igor yells at him as he turns and begins
running away from the cabin.

The presence of evil behind him suddenly
grows and a quick glance back shows the shadow is moving quickly to
take him. Fear again erupts within him but is no longer
overpowering as it had been before. With renewed strength, he runs
to follow Igor.

A white light flashes from Igor and slams
into the shadow, producing another hellish scream. To James’
horror, answering screams can be heard coming from all around
them.

“What are they?” he shouts to Igor as he
catches up with him.

“You’d call them demons,” he explains. “Not
exactly what you think, but it’s the closest comparison that you’ll
understand. Now shut up and run. There’s only one place we can
leave here and there’s a chance we may not be able to reach it in
time.”

“Why?” James asks.

“We don’t belong here,” he replies. “Me
especially. The gate won’t last forever.”

From behind them, he can see several shadows
have now joined with the first in pursuit. Igor suddenly stops and
turns to confront them. White light again shoots out and strikes
the shadows, generating wails of pain and outrage.

Igor grabs him again and propels him onward.
“These are relatively harmless, but all this commotion could
attract something we would really rather avoid.”

“Like what?” James asks.

Igor ignores him as they continue running.
Periodically he stops and slows down their pursuers with another
flash of light before resuming their flight. “There it is!” he
says.

Ahead of them, James can see a bright arch
shining in the darkness. Surprisingly, there’re no shadows close to
it. “Won’t that attract them?”

“No. They’re unable to see it,” he says. “If
they’re close enough, they might feel it though.” He glances to him
as he says, “Especially the more powerful ones.”

The wailing behind them increases as more of
the shadows join their fellows. Suddenly, a deeper growl can be
heard. Materializing before them is a ten foot tall figure of
horror. Roughly man shape, but that’s where the similarity ends.
Its body writhes and ripples as it continuously changes form. It
has no head, just two protrusions sprouting up from its main torso,
like horns or tentacles.

A scream of fear erupts from James as he
comes to a stop, terror freezing him into immobility. Igor gasps
when he sees it. Turning back to James, he quickly rubs his thumbs
over James’ eyes and says, “You’ve got to make it through that
arch. Do you understand?”

Glancing behind Igor, he sees the
monstrosity advancing toward them. A stinging slap brings his eyes
back to Igor. “Don’t look at it. Concentrate on the arch and only
the arch! Make for it, it’s your only chance.”

Sudden realization strikes him, “What about
you?”

“You’ve got to make it through!” he yells.
“Now go!” Turning, Igor faces the monstrosity as he moves to
intercept it. A white light flashes and strikes it, causing it to
slow its pace momentarily, but then it resumes. The light seems to
have less of an effect on this creature than it did on the
shadows.

James looks to the arch, the sight of it
giving him renewed determination. Getting his legs moving, he runs
toward the arch. He feels the presence of the monstrosity, its gaze
upon him when another blinding flash of light, this time brighter
and more intense than before, strikes it. A roar of pain and hate
reverberates through the air as it stumbles backward a step.

He quickly glances to Igor who’s now
wielding a blindingly bright sword as he strikes out and slices
into the creature. A wave of dark power comes out of the creature,
striking Igor, throwing him back a step. Igor sees him pausing
there. “Get through the arch!” he yells as he moves to strike out
at his opponent.

Again, James runs as fast as his legs will
move toward the arch. As he reaches it, he can feel a calming aura
emanating from it. He looks back at the fight just as the
monstrosity connects with Igor and knocks the shining sword from
his hand. “Flee! NOW!” he hears as bolts of white strike the
creature.

Suddenly on the other side of the arch, he
sees another monstrosity approaching. In terror he dives through
the arch.

A scream rips through the night, jarring
Jiron out of sleep. The door bursts open and Jorry comes in, sword
in his hand. They both look to find James sitting up in bed, the
look of absolute terror on his face.

“James!” cries out Jiron as he comes to his
side. To Jorry he says, “Get Illan.” As he leaves the room, Jiron
sits next to James and says to him, “James, you’re okay. You’re
safe.”