Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (30 page)

When James reaches his side, he whispers,
“I’ll go up and see what’s going on. Just wait here and I’ll be
right back.”

“Okay,” James says. Waiting there at the
bottom of the stairs, he watches as Jiron moves to the top and then
with a quick glance back he motions for James to remain where he
is.

James watches as he moves away from the top
of the stairs. Several minutes pass by before Jiron reappears and
comes back down to where James is waiting for him.

“Well?” asks James.

“Up there is pretty messed up,” he explains.
“We are going to need to be really careful, the whole place looks
unstable and about to cave in at any minute.”

Nodding, James says, “I see. We’re going to
need this to remain open so we can get out of here.”

“Exactly,” agrees Jiron. Pointing up the
stairs, he says, “Once to the top, we have to cross through the
wreckage before we’ll be able to reach the street. I couldn’t see
any better way, so we’ll just have to step very carefully.” He
looks to James and asks, “Understand?”

Nodding his head, he says, “Yes.”

“Follow me and try to go where I do,” he
tells him.

“Okay.”

Jiron again moves to the top of the stairs,
this time with James right behind him. When he gets to the top,
James understands what he was talking about. The walls near them
are still partially standing and no way to leave the building. The
only way out is across the broken, burnt floor to where a wall has
collapsed outward when the roof had caved in.

“Ready?” asks Jiron. When he gets a nod from
James, he steps out onto a blackened piece of wood that used to be
a support beam for the ceiling.

James waits until Jiron has completely
navigated it and is on another section before following. Piece by
piece, Jiron leads them closer to the hole in the wall. Suddenly
from the street outside the building, they can hear footsteps
approaching and they hold still upon their precarious perches.

The footsteps come close and James watches
as several soldiers pass right in front of the hole in the wall
they’ve been trying to reach. Had they but looked within the hole,
they would’ve seen Jiron standing there on a section of the
collapsed ceiling not six feet from them.

When their footsteps can no longer be heard,
Jiron resumes moving until he reaches what remains of the floor
beside the hole. Jiron steps to the hole in the wall, knife in one
hand, as he looks out upon the street running outside the building.
When James joins him he says, “Looks clear.”

“Alright,” replies James. “Let’s go.”

The building across the street from them
still looks to be in good shape. Jiron gestures with his head
toward it and raises an eyebrow questioningly. James nods his head
in reply and after again making sure no one is on the street, they
race across the street to the doorway.

The door proves to be locked and they have a
heart thumping few minutes standing there exposed in the street
while Jiron works on the lock. Finally, they hear a click and the
door swings open. Rushing in, they close the door behind them.

The room they find themselves in looks as if
it had been ravaged by looters. Tables overturned, items from
shelves thrown carelessly on the floor, and even a chair shows
signs of being searched. The back of it has been sliced open and
most of its stuffing lies scattered across the floor.

“They sure did a number on this place,”
James says. Looking around, he picks up a book which has been torn
apart. From the intricate design on the cover and the few pages he
scans through, it seems a work of art. Saddened, he drops it back
to the ground.

From where Jiron is looking out a window he
nods without commenting. “Looks like they have slave gangs working
to clear the streets,” he says after another minute.

Coming over to the window, James looks out
and sees a dozen slaves with two guards further down the street
where they’re clearing away the rubble. Several wagons stand ready
next to them for the debris of the collapsed and ruined buildings
they’re removing from the street. “Maybe they plan to stay here
awhile?” he guesses.

“Probably.” Jiron then glances at him and
asks, “Now that we’re here, how are you planning on discovering any
information?” Gesturing to the slaves outside, he continues, “We’ll
be seen sure as anything if we spend any time out there.”

“I know,” he replies. “Any information would
be hundreds of years old. We need to locate buildings that have
been around for centuries and somehow find a way to search
them.”

“That could include over half the town!”
Jiron exclaims. “It might take us weeks to be able to search all
the buildings that would entail. And that’s only if they’re not
currently occupied by the Empire’s forces.”

“We should probably work at night,” James
says as he breaks out in a yawn. “Less chance of being
spotted.”

“I agree,” replies Jiron. “We could use some
rest. I’ll take the first watch. Don’t think I could fall asleep
right now anyway.”

A tired James nods, not wishing to argue the
point. He turns a couch back upright before lying down. Jiron
standing before the window looking out is the last thing he sees
before closing his eyes.

It’s almost night before James wakes up.
“You didn’t wake me!” he says accusingly to Jiron where he still
stands by the window.

“Wasn’t tired,” he says. “You looked like
you needed it.”

Getting up, James walks over to look out the
window. “Anything happening?” he asks.

“No,” he says, shaking his head. “The slaves
continued all day clearing the rubble. A short time ago the wagons
left and they were taken away.”

The street outside looks deserted in the
deepening shadows. The light is beginning to fade as the sun hits
the horizon. Jiron points down the street off to the west and says,
“The only really old looking buildings I could see from here are
down that way. One has the look of a temple, though in its present
condition it’s hard to be sure.”

“Then let’s check it out once the light has
completely faded,” James tells him.

“Maybe I should go alone?” he suggests.

“No,” replies James, rejecting the idea. “I
need to go. There could be something there you’ll not recognize but
that I will.”

“As you wish,” he replies. He then nods when
he remembers the bronze plaque they found in the complex back in
the swamp and how James had recognized its significance.

For the next hour they wait by the window as
the light continues to fade until darkness completely envelopes the
city. Jiron then opens the door, peering out to make sure the
street is deserted. When he finds no one about, he moves into the
dark street with James right behind him.

Keeping to the shadows, they move slowly
down the street in the direction of the church Jiron had indicated
earlier. If there was indeed an old church there, there may also be
others in the immediate vicinity.

No patrols walk the streets of Saragon.
They’ve been in control of it for so long they no longer need worry
anymore about hold out survivors from the time of the city’s fall.
This makes it easy for them to move quickly without being seen.

A noise in the night freezes them in their
tracks. Keeping still against a wall bordering the street, they
wait for a moment, listening. When the sound doesn’t repeat itself,
they continue on.

Coming to an intersection of streets, Jiron
pauses a moment to make sure the cross street is empty of soldiers.
Looking down both ways, he then motions for James to follow as he
darts across to the other side.

“We’re almost there,” he whispers as they
work their way further down the street.

A great shadow looms in the darkness before
them. Its spire, once tall and majestic now lies broken on the
street. The smell of charred wood permeates everything, a fire had
raged through here not very long ago, a week or two maybe. James
glances in through a broken doorway of the building they’re moving
along. The light from the stars above reveals a burnt out husk.
What function the building held before the fire, can no longer be
determined.

Jiron points to the building across the
street and says, “That’s the temple I saw.”

“Let’s go then,” James tells him
eagerly.

A quick look down the side streets and then
they race across to the temple’s double entry doors. The one on the
left is askew and slightly ajar. Squeezing through, they make their
way inside. Jiron jumps when a small light appears in James’
hand.

“Sorry,” James says, orb glowing softly in
his hand.

“No one’s going to detect that are they?” he
asks.

“I don’t think so,” he assures him. “I
haven’t felt anyone do magic since coming here.”

The interior is definitely that of a temple.
Though it has been stripped and looted, it still has the
unmistakable look of a place of worship. In the minimal light the
orb is putting out, it’s hard to tell just who had been worshiped
here. “Where do you propose we look?” Jiron asks.

“I’d think in the basement below,” suggests
James. “It’s unlikely that had this been a Morcyth temple at one
time, anything would have remained where the average person would
be. The new occupants would’ve stripped off any old insignias and
replaced them with their own.”

The temple is filled with rubble, portions
of the ceiling as well as half a wall have fallen in. The debris
covering the floor makes their footing unstable. They split up as
they search for access to the lower levels, if there are any.

“Over here!” shouts James from where he’s
searching near the back. Behind a fallen column lies a stairway
going down.

Without waiting for Jiron to join him he
moves down the stairs, taking care not to trip over the debris that
has fallen upon them. As he makes his way down, the glow from the
orb reveals where the stairs end at a corridor moving to the left
and right. Glancing back to make sure Jiron is following him, he
turns to the right and proceeds cautiously down the corridor.

Not very far down the corridor, he finds a
body in the middle of the corridor. Hacked to pieces, it lays in a
pool of dried blood. From the vestments the dead man is wearing, he
looks to have been a priest of some sort.

Jiron comes close and after a brief
examination says, “Asran. This temple must’ve been to the god
Asran.”

“Asran?” asks James questioningly.

Nodding, he indicates a symbol of a plant
encircled by a ring of interwoven leaves embroidered on the dead
man’s clothes. “Asran is the god of nature, of growing things.”
Glancing to James he adds, “A very important god to farmers and the
like, can’t believe they would kill even priests, especially
these.”

“From what I’ve seen of the Empire’s
soldiers, nothing surprises me anymore,” he says.

Throughout the hallways and rooms they find
more of Asran’s slain priests. In one room, they find coffers
smashed open where the soldiers had looted the temple’s treasure. A
dozen slain priests lie just within the treasure room where they
had died defending it. Shaking his head, James just continues
on.

Room after room they search for anything
which may indicate Morcyth or the Star of Morcyth, but fail to find
any. “I don’t think we’ll find anything here,” Jiron says as they
reach the furthest room from where they entered the temple.

“I’m sure there are others close by we can
check before it gets light,” states James.

“Most likely,” replies Jiron.

As they make their way back toward the
stairs, they hear from up ahead of them the sound of footsteps
coming down the stairs. James immediately extinguishes his light as
they duck into a side room. Holding still, they listen as the
footsteps reach the bottom and begin to come their way.

It sounds as if there are two people coming,
the light from their torch beginning to illuminate the hallway
outside the room where they wait. The ones approaching are talking
amongst themselves and Jiron glances to James when they realize
it’s the speech of the Empire they’re using.

In Jiron’s hand, James sees the light from
the approaching torch reflecting off the blade of a knife. He pulls
a slug from his belt and then gives Jiron a nod as they ready
themselves.

The footsteps continue to come closer but
then suddenly turn into the room just prior to theirs. The
torchlight greatly diminishes as the bearer passes into the room.
Jiron motions for James to wait while he goes and sees what they’re
doing in the other room.

He moves to the edge of the doorway and
looks inside to find them going through the shattered remains of
some priest’s living quarters. They’re tossing things out of
drawers as well as the chest by the foot of the bed in their search
for anything that may have been overlooked by previous looters.

Jiron comes back to James and whispers,
“They’re busy looting. We might be able to slip by without them
noticing.”

Nodding, James motions for him to lead the
way.

Coming into the hallway, Jiron pauses a
moment to check within the room where the Empire’s soldiers are
looting and then motions for James to follow him.

Moving quickly, they pass by the room and
hurry down the hallway without being seen. Upon reaching the
stairs, they glance back and see that the guards are still busy
looting. They ascend the stairs and move on to the next
building.

Coming back from their third night of
seeking signs of Morcyth, they enter the home they’ve been using as
a base of operations since the first night. Except for the slave
work crew clearing the streets, this part of town has been
relatively quiet. The majority of the soldiers and civilians from
the Empire are congregated in what used to be the Government
Quarter of the city.