Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (18 page)

“Miko!” he hears Uther’s voice exclaim as
the lantern’s light turns away from him. “Didn’t think you would be
returning till morning.”

“We’ve got trouble,” he tells him and then
gives him a brief rundown of what he overheard back in Osgrin.
“You’d better keep extra alert.”

“I will, and thanks,” he tells him.

Kicking his horse, he races down the lane to
the house. Not bothering to tie his horse, he jumps down and rushes
inside and slams open James’ bedroom door.

Startled awake, James wakes to find Miko
framed in his doorway. Figuring him to be mad about having him ride
for hours, he begins to say, “Miko, glad you made it back. “Sorry
about…”

Interrupting him, Miko says, “James,
there’re men from the Empire in Osgrin!”

Sitting up, all thoughts of having forgotten
about Miko earlier vanish. “What?” he exclaims. “When?”

Roland comes to the door behind Miko and
asks, “What’s going on?”

“Miko says there’re men from the Empire down
in Osgrin,” he explains to him.

“Are you sure?” Roland asks.

“Absolutely,” he replies. “After the time
I’ve spent around them, I can recognize their speech.”

About this time, Illan and the others show
up with their weapons. “Uther just came and told us we’re about to
be attacked,” he says.

“Everyone quiet!” James shouts. All talking
ceases as they turn their attention to James. “Now,” he says to
Miko, “tell us what happened?”

Miko runs through the whole story, trying
not to leave out even the most insignificant detail. When he’s
done, he glances from one face to another and then settles on
James. “What are we going to do?” he asks.

“Illan?” James asks, looking at the veteran
soldier.

“Since we know the are coming, we can be
prepared,” he says. “That’s half the battle.” To Jorry he says,
“Wake up the new recruits and send them out into the forest, tell
them what’s going on and to keep their eyes open. After that, join
Uther out by the road. One by the shack, and the other a little
ways away so if they come down the road, they won’t see both of
you.”

“Right!” he says as he bolts down the
hallway to the front door.

Turning to Miko, he asks, “You say there
were ten of them?”

“There were five at the table next to me,”
he tells him. “I saw another five scattered throughout the
inn.”

“So ten,” he says. “With the element of
surprise gone, we should be able to take them on with no trouble.”
To Jiron he says, “Take a horse into town, if you don’t find them
on the road then head on into Osgrin and see if you can locate
them. They probably haven’t left Osgrin yet and with any luck,
they’ll stay the night there and not head out till morning.”

“They were at the Cooked Hog,” Miko tells
him. “They may be staying the night there.”

“Thanks,” he says as he hurries out to the
stable to get his horse.

“What should the rest of us do?” asks
Roland.

“Nothing much else to do until we know where
they are,” he says. “Go back to bed.”

“But how can I sleep knowing we could be
attacked at any minute?”

Giving him an exasperated look, Illan turns
to James and says, “You stay here, get some sleep if you can. You
too Miko, you’re dead on your feet now. You’ll be no use in a fight
if you’re too tired.”

“What about you?” James asks.

“I’ll be outside, keeping an eye on
everything,” he tells him. “Don’t worry about a thing, we’ll know
if something’s about to happen before it does.”

“If you say so,” Miko says as he goes to try
to get some sleep.

Illan hurries to get his armor on and then
goes outside where James can hear him barking out orders to those
patrolling the woods. Returning to his bed, he lies there thinking
about the upcoming attack. At least they know what’s going on first
this time. Maybe it wasn’t just chance that had him forgetting
about Miko? Perhaps another had taken a hand in it? His mind
finally calms down enough so he can fall back asleep.

He wakes early the next morning and gets out
of bed fast. Leaving his room, he finds out that nothing out of the
ordinary has happened during the night. Jiron hasn’t returned yet
and that has Illan worried.

“Should we send someone after him?” he asks
Illan when he learns Jiron has yet to return.

“Can’t afford to,” he says. “Should they
launch an attack here, we’ll need everyone we have.”

“You’re right of course,” admits James.

“I’m going to start rotating them in for
some rest and food,” Illan tells him as he heads out to the woods
and the new recruits on patrol there.

Worry for Jiron still nags at him so he goes
out to his workshop where he gets his mirror. Laying it out in
front of him on his workbench, he concentrates on Jiron. As the
image begins to coalesce, he sees him riding his horse hard along a
road. Enlarging the view, he’s still unable to determine exactly
where he is.
Probably on his way here.

Putting the mirror away, he leaves the
workshop and sees Jace coming in out of the forest. Moving to
intercept him, he asks, “Is Illan still out in the forest?”

Jace looks at him, brown eyes widening at
being addressed by him. Pushing aside the lock of hair that’s
forever curling down in front of his face, he replies, “I think
so.”

“Thanks,” he tells him then heads into the
forest.

He finds Illan further in where he’s talking
with Errin. When he sees James coming, he says one last thing to
Errin before she heads off into the forest. He then turns and walks
toward James.

“Jiron’s on the road, riding hard,” James
informs him. “Couldn’t determine exactly where though.” As Illan
comes abreast of him, James turns and walks with him out of the
forest. “I’m thinking he’s coming back here to give us word about
the mercenaries.”

“Most likely,” Illan agrees. “We’ll know
soon enough. When he returns, we’ll have a better idea what’s going
on and then we’ll know what we’re going to need to do.”

As they exit the forest, they see Ezra
standing out by the kitchen door. When she sees them, she signals
for them that breakfast is ready. James gives her a nod and heads
over there.

“I’ll be along in a few minutes,” Illan
tells him. “I just need to find Moyil and then I’ll join you.”

“Alright,” James says. Illan angles away
from him to proceed around the house as they draw near. The sound
of hammering can be heard from the construction sight as the
builders resume working on the house. He wonders if it’s a good
idea to have them here with what may be coming their way. Perhaps
it’s better to give the appearance of normalcy so the attackers
won’t think they’re ready for them.

Entering the kitchen, he finds Jace, Orry
and Devin seated at the table, first time any of the recruits have
sat there. They’re all waiting for him, Ezra must’ve already
instructed them in the proper etiquette when eating at the master’s
table. Once he’s seated and has begun to spoon eggs on his plate,
they begin grabbing serving bowls and platters.

“Seen anything?” he asks them after
swallowing his first bite.

“Nothing,” replies Devin.

“What’s going on exactly?” Orry asks.

Glancing at him, James replies, “I’ve made
some enemies and we’ve gotten word some may be on their way to try
to kill me.”

“That’s dumb,” Jace exclaims.

“Why is that dumb?” James asks him.

“Trying to kill a mage, I mean,” he says.
“One spell from you and they’re toast.” The other recruits nod
their heads at what he said.

“It’s not as easy as that,” he explains to
them. Just then, the door opens up and Illan walks in. “Did you
find him?” he asks him.

Illan takes his seat and while he begins
filling his plate, he replies, “Yes I did, everyone’s accounted
for.” He glances around the table and when he doesn’t see Miko,
asks, “Is he still sleeping?
James nods his head. “He was up pretty late last night.”

Just then, they hear the sound of a horse
racing down the lane toward the house. “Jiron!” he exclaims as he
comes to his feet and practically runs through the front room to
the door. He hurries outside as Jiron brings his horse to a
stop.

Dismounting, Jiron comes over to him and
says, “I found them.”

“Where?” Illan asks from the doorway before
James can get the words out.

“They spent the night in Osgrin and headed
out this morning,” he tells them. “It didn’t seem that they were in
all that much of a hurry, though. When I saw they were taking the
road to Trendle, I came back as fast as I could.”

“How many were there?”

James motions him to come inside as he
answers. “Twenty one. The party that left Osgrin had eighteen men
at arms as well as two wagons. Couldn’t tell what was in the
wagons, but one was being driven by a single man, the other had a
man and a woman.”

“A woman?” Illan asks as they return to the
kitchen where they all take their seats at the table.

“Yeah,” Jiron replies as he begins helping
himself to the food. “She didn’t have the look of a fighter.”

“Maybe a mage?” James asks.

Shrugging, Jiron says, “Maybe.”

“I want you and young Devin here to go back
and find them,” Illan tells Jiron. “If anything develops that we
need to know about, send Devin back.”

Devin gets an excited look in his eye when
he hears that he’ll be going with Jiron on a ‘mission’.

Turning to James, Illan continues, “I think
we should stand everyone down seeing as how an attack is not
imminent.”

“You know best,” he says.

The rest of the meal goes fairly quickly,
Jiron hurries and eats so he can return to find them. As soon as
Devin is done, Illan has him go out to the stable and get two
horses saddled and ready for when Jiron is finished eating.

After Devin’s left, James says to Jiron,
“You be careful.”

“I will,” he assures him. “They’ve probably
not come too far along by now, the wagons are going to slow them
down. They’re most likely going to reach Trendle sometime before
nightfall.” Scooping up the last of the food from his plate, he
stands up and makes to leave.

“Good luck,” Illan says to him.

“Thanks,” he replies and then goes outside
to where Devin sits on his horse waiting for him. Once mounted,
they quickly ride down the lane to the road where they break into a
gallop as they head toward the advancing party.

They caught up with the men and wagons an
hour past Trendle. Jiron and Devin continued at a gallop past the
mercenaries. When they were far enough beyond them that they were
no longer visible, they turned around and followed them at a
discreet distance, keeping them just within visual range.

“What are we going to do?” Devin asks.

“Follow them and see what they plan to do,”
he replies. “When we know, I’ll have you ride back and alert the
others as to what’s going on.”

Devin nods his head, excited at the prospect
of being the one to bring back word.

The group continues traveling at a steady
pace, reaching Trendle several hours past noon. Without pausing
they make their way through town and continue on past, crossing
over the river Kelewan. At a clearing a mile past the river they
pull off the road and appear to be settling in for the night.

“Don’t you think it’s too early for
travelers to stop for the night?” asks Devin.

Glancing at him, Jiron nods and says, “Yes,
unless you’ve reached your destination.” He looks at the group
settling into the clearing, his unease growing. Once Jiron has
determined that they definitely plan to camp there, he sends Devin
back to The Ranch with word. Leaving his horse a good ways away, he
moves closer and finds a concealed spot from which to keep an eye
on them.

The clearing they’re in is one in which
Delia has used on occasion with her caravan whenever she stopped
for a visit. Lately though, she’s just gone to The Ranch itself
with her wagons.

Tents begin to spring up and two campfires
are made, one near the wagons and the tents the civilians are
using. The other is further away where most of the mercenaries
congregate.

After watching the clearing from the cover
of the trees for several minutes, he sees Ceryn, the forest warden
in these parts, walk out of the trees on the other side of the
camp. Jiron immediately gets ready for trouble but none is
forthcoming. The civilians hail him as he enters their camp and
waves for him to come over and sit by their fire.
Strange.

Ceryn shakes his head, and says something to
them, but Jiron’s just too far away from them to be able to hear
what’s being said. The woman suddenly stands up and gives Ceryn a
hug and a peck on the cheek. A few more words are exchanged before
Ceryn begins leaving the camp as he makes for the road.

Jiron quietly makes his way through the
trees as he moves to intercept Ceryn. Before he even reaches the
edge of the treeline, Ceryn says, “You can come out now,
Jiron.”

Surprised that he even knew he was there,
Jiron comes the rest of the way out of the trees and joins him on
the road.

“So, what brings you out spying?” Ceryn asks
as he gestures behind them to the camp. He resumes walking down the
road away from the clearing with Jiron right beside him.

“We were told they meant to come and kill
James,” he explains.

Stopping dead in his tracks, Ceryn turns his
full attention on him and asks, “Who told you that?” The expression
on his face is one of slightly controlled anger.

“Miko,” he replies.

“Miko?” Ceryn asks. “James’ friend?”

“That’s’ the one.”

“Now why would he think that?” he asks.

Jiron then relates all Miko had told him of
the conversations that he’d overheard back in Osgrin. When he’s
done, Ceryn begins breaking out in laughter as he again continues
down the road.