Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (3 page)

One comes and fills James’ with a sweet,
smooth wine, reminiscent of the one he’d become plastered with back
when he’d first met Miko in Bearn. Memories of the hangover he’d
suffered through the following day makes him take only small sips
during the meal.

Miko fills his plate to overflowing, much to
the amusement of Nate, as he tries to eat some of everything placed
before him.

During the dinner, entertainers come and
perform within the open area surrounded by the tables. Acrobats,
magicians, and dancers come and go as the meal progresses.

Once most of the guests have slowed down on
their consumption of the bounty, the entertainers are cleared away
and people begin moving toward the center of the floor as the band
strikes up a waltz like tune and everyone begins to dance.

The dance is similar in nature to those
James had seen in old movies of England, all structured and
choreographed. All the dancers move in a pattern, weaving and
bobbing in time to the music.

When the first dance had ended and the
musicians were preparing to begin the next set, Miriam comes over
to James and says, “Why don’t you ask Meliana to dance?”

He glances over to her and sees her looking
eagerly over to him. He turns back to Miriam and says, “But I don’t
know any of these dances.”

“Don’t be silly,” she tells him. “They’re
not hard.”

He feels a nudge in the ribs and hears Jiron
says, “Let’s go!” He grabs James arm as he propels him to the dance
floor. Meliana sees him leaving his table and when she gets a nod
from Miriam, says something to her father before getting up from
the table. She makes her way toward him through the crowded dance
floor.

When she reaches his side and gets into
position to dance with him, he tells her, “I can’t dance!”

“Relax and just follow me,” she says to him.
“It’s easy, I’ll show you what to do.”

He stands there nervous with Meliana
standing in line across from him and Jiron in position to his
right. When the music starts, he tries to follow Meliana’s lead and
feels like he’s making a big spectacle of himself out in front of
everyone.

But as he begins to learn the steps and the
pattern of the dance, he’s able to relax and starts to enjoy
himself. By the time the dance is over, he has the pattern figured
out and found that he actually likes dancing. Of course, the fact
he was dancing with as beautiful a girl as Meliana helped some
too.

Once the dance is over, Meliana takes him
over to her table where she sits with her family. “Momma,” she says
to the woman sitting next to her father, “this is James.”

She gives him the critical once over all
mothers give those their daughter’s have an interest in. Then she
gives him a warm smile as she says, “Nice to meet you James.”

“You too ma’am,” he replies, blushing
slightly under her stare.

“You dance well,” she tells him. “I just
wish I could get my husband out there.”

Turning to her, her husband says, “You know
I hurt my leg this morning!”

Nodding, she says, “Yes, dear.” She gives
James a knowing look and continues, “He’ll do anything to get out
of dancing.”

Meliana’s father just gives her an annoyed
look and doesn’t take the bait.

The band is in the middle of another dance
number and when they finish, Meliana takes James’ arm. With a quick
farewell to her parents, she drags him back to the dance floor
before the band has a chance to start up again.

They dance all evening, occasionally taking
a break for drinks or just to talk. She doesn’t leave his side all
night. At the end of one dance, her mother comes over to them and
says, “We need to be leaving now.” She turns to James and says,
“Would you be so kind as to escort Meliana home when she’s ready to
leave?”

“Yes ma’am,” he assures her. “I’d be happy
to.”

“Good,” she replies. Turning to her
daughter, she says, “Your father’s leg is hurting, so we must
leave. Don’t stay out all night, dear.”

“I won’t mother,” she assures her.

“Good evening, James,” she says to him. “It
was good to meet you.”

“You too, ma’am,” he says.

Her mother returns to their table where she
helps her father to his feet and they begin to leave the hall.

The rest of the evening is spent dancing and
talking as they share past experiences. During one such break from
the dance floor, James is amused when he sees Miriam has gotten
Miko out on the dance floor. How she did it, he’d like to know.
Miko looked positively frightened and lost out there. When the
dance was over, he beat a retreat back to his seat next to
Nate.

Miriam sees James watching and gives him a
mischievous smile. He smiles back and then resumes talking with
Meliana.

When most of the guests have left, James
figures it’s about time to take her home. He goes over to Miko and
says, “I’m taking Meliana home, would you like to come with
us?”

Shaking his head, Miko replies, “I’m going
to see Nate to his room and then stay there for a while before
turning in.”

“Very well,” James says, disappointed. As
much as he likes Meliana, he’s just a little scared of being alone
with her. He sees Jiron over to the side of the dance floor talking
to a couple girls and makes his way over to him.

When he asks if he’d like to go with them,
he just says “No.”

“But what will her parents think if she’s
with me all by herself?” he asks him.

“They wouldn’t have asked you to take her
home if they were concerned about you,” he assures him.

“I suppose you’re right,” he admits. He
looks over to where Meliana and Miriam are standing near the front
doors, talking.

He leaves Jiron and makes his way over to
where the girls are. They stop talking when they see him
approaching. As he joins them, Miriam says, “Well, I better go and
see how Nate’s doing.”

“Miko is going to see him to his room and
stay with him for a while,” he tells her.

“I better check anyway,” she says. She gives
Meliana a hug and says, “Goodbye, I’m glad you were able to
come.”

Glancing briefly at James, she gives a
little smile and says, “Me too.”

She slides her arm through James’ as they
walk out into the warm summer evening. “Where do you live?” he
asks, feeling good with her on his arm.

“Oh, it’s not too far from here,” she tells
him. Pointing down the street to the right, she says, “It’s several
blocks that way.”

Turning into the indicated direction, he
slowly strolls along the street with her. There are other guests
from the banquet walking along the street as well, while others are
in carriages on their way home.

“It’s too bad you’re leaving in the
morning,” Meliana says with disappointment as she lays her head on
his shoulder.

“Yeah, I know,” he replies. “It’s been nice
being here.”

“Maybe you could stay longer?” she asks
hopefully.

“I wish I could, but I’m unable to,” he
tells her. “I need to help get Jiron and Miko out of the Empire and
back home.”

“I understand,” she says. “Maybe when things
change, you could come back and visit?”

“Perhaps,” he says, “but that is highly
unlikely.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she agrees.

Arm in arm, they walk down the street until
they come to her house. A light is on in the front room. “Mother is
waiting up for me, it looks like,” she says as they come to the
front door.

“I guess this is where we say goodbye,” he
says to her.

Suddenly, she embraces him and places her
lips upon his, giving him a warm and eager kiss.

When she breaks off the kiss, James is left
breathless and a little flustered. “I’ll miss you,” she tells
him.

“I’ll miss you too,” he says when he finally
gets his voice working again.

She turns and begins to open the door when
she pauses and says, “Goodbye James.”

“Goodbye Meliana,” he replies as he watches
her enter her home and close the door.

Feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, he makes
his way back toward Nate’s family estate. Visions of Meliana and
the way her lips felt on his fill his mind until he realizes he’s
already back to the door to his room. He doesn’t even remember
walking back, he must’ve been on autopilot.

Opening the door, he finds Jiron snuggled in
his bed with one of the serving girls he’s been seeing.

“How’d it go?” he asks from the bed, not the
least bit embarrassed.

“It went well,” James replies. “Want me to
leave?”

“Don’t have to if you don’t want to,” he
replies. “We’re done anyway.”

James goes over to his bed and gets
undressed in the dark and then slips under the covers. Thoughts of
Meliana keep him awake long into the night before he can finally
fall asleep.

The next morning after waking up, James
discovers the girl who had shared Jiron’s bed with him the night
before had already left. Jiron is lying there sleeping so
peacefully, he almost doesn’t want to wake him up. Almost. He and
his girlfriend had awakened James up twice during the night and
he’d found it incredibly difficult to fall back to sleep while
‘that’ was going on in the bed next to him.

He gets up out of his bed and walks over to
Jiron’s with a mischievous smile upon his face. Grabbing hold of
his mattress, he upends it, spilling Jiron onto the floor with a
thud.

After hitting the ground, Jiron gets to his
feet quickly with a knife in his hand. Looking around, he sees
James standing there with the mattress still in his hand. “Get up,”
James tells him. “We’ve got a ship to catch.”

“What did you do that for!” he yells, anger
in his eyes.

“For keeping me awake all night,” he says as
he replaces the mattress.

The anger quickly disappears and a grin
takes its place, “Sorry about that. She was a randy one, she
was.”

Returning to his bedside, he begins to get
dressed. Jiron follows suit.

James notices him putting his new clothes
inside his pack and asks, “Taking them with you?”

Jiron glances over to him and nods, saying,
“Yeah, I think Tersa would like to see me in them. You?”

Shaking his head no, he replies, “Green just
isn’t my color.” Jiron just laughs.

After they’re both dressed, they shoulder
their packs and leave the room. James leaves the box of slugs, he
already has enough, what with his belt filled as well as a small
pouch of them within his pack. Out in the hallway, they turn toward
the stairs and go up to Miko’s room. Finding it empty, they go on
down to Nate’s room where they find him saying goodbye to his
friend.

“Come on, Miko,” James tells him. “We gotta
go.”

“Bye Nate,” he says to him as he goes over
and gives his friend a hug.

Patting him on the back, Nate says, “You
take care, now. Come back if you can.”

“I will, promise,” Miko says as he fights
back tears forming in his eyes. The last week with Nate had been
one of the best of his life. He really feels bad about leaving
him.

“You take care of him,” Nate says as he
looks to James.

“As best I can, you can rest assured,” he
replies.

Jiron shakes Nate’s hand and then the three
friends leave his room. Going back down the stairs, they make their
way along the corridor toward the main door.

On their way, they’re stopped by Miriam who
gives each of them a sack. “What’s this?” James asks.

“It’s traveling money,” she explains. “My
parents thought it an ample reward for saving their son.”

“There must be over fifty golds in here,”
Jiron says as he feels the sack.

“Actually, each holds seventy five,” she
tells him.

“Thanks!” he replies as he puts the sack in
his pack.

“You’re welcome,” she replies and then
proceeds to give each a goodbye hug. When she gets to James, she
says, “You better hurry, Captain Caril won’t like it if you keep
him waiting.”

“I will,” he says to her. “Say goodbye to
Meliana for me.”

“Next time I see her,” she says as she gives
him a hug. She says goodbye to both Jiron and Miko before they turn
toward the door and leave.

Walking down the street toward the dock,
James says, “I hope this Captain Caril wouldn’t have sailed without
us.”

“I doubt it,” replies Jiron. “He’s doing it
for Nate’s family, so I think he’d at least give us the courtesy of
waiting a little bit.”

“How long do you think it’ll be before we’re
back to Cardri?” asks Miko.

“She said probably a couple weeks,” James
explains. “We’re not going straight there, but are hitching a ride
as they go along their trade route.”

“Oh,” he says.

Sails can be seen on the horizon as they
near the docks. Once there, they ask the Harbor Master which ship
is Captain Caril’s and he points to a two masted vessel, further
down.

“Thank you,” James says to him as they
proceed down to the ship.

When they arrive at the Foam Breaker, James
hollers up to the ship, “Permission to come aboard?”

A man, obviously the captain by his dress,
comes to the gangplank and looks down at them standing there on the
dock. “You James?” he asks.

He nods his head. “That’s me, and this is
Miko and Jiron.” he says, indicating the others standing next to
him.

“Come aboard,” the captain says before
turning and moving back away from the gangplank.

As they start walking up the gangplank, he
begins shouting orders to his crew and the lines are cast off. Once
they’re on board, the gangplank is pulled in. The mainsail gets
unfurled and the ship begins to move as the wind fills it. The
helmsman turns the wheel and the ship pulls away from the dock on
its way to open water.

“We appreciate you taking us on,” James says
to the captain.