Trail of the Gods Part 20

As the sun begins its descent toward the horizon, they see the river coming up ahead of them. James has them continue to follow it as it flows to the south. "If Bearn is up ahead, we can cross there."

"Aren't you worried about running into Lord Colerain?" Jiron asks.

"I don't plan on taking us through the city, just around the outside of it," he explains. "It's doubtful if we'll encounter him or anyone else who knows us."

"Let's hope not," Uther says.

The skyline of Bearn appears ahead of them a couple hours before nightfall. He forgot the bridge sits in the middle of town. They'll not be able to circ.u.mvent the city as it sprawls on both banks of the river.

"Guess we have to go through," Illan states. "Or continue further downriver to the next one."

"There is a ferry we might take," he tells them. "Not sure just how far it is though."

"What do you want to do?" Jiron asks him.

James pulls out a hooded cloak from his baggage and slips it on. A little hot but at least it covers his features well enough. "That might work," says Illan. "As long as no one takes a close look, you should be fine."

"Lead on," James says.

They approach the outskirts of town and pa.s.s through the outlying buildings before coming to the gate. A brief questioning by the guards and they're waved on through. "Just head straight through," James tells Illan. "I believe this road leads directly to the other side."

Riding their horses at a walk through the crowded city streets, it takes them a little over an hour to reach the gate in the eastern wall. The sun is almost to the horizon as they draw near the gate. Just before they reach the eastern wall, they can see the guards beginning the process of closing the gates for the night. "Let's hurry!" Illan says to the others as he kicks his horse into a trot.

"Hold the gate!" he hollers to the guards there. One of them looks their way and cries, "Hold!" to his fellows. They wait for them to ride through the gate before closing it.

"That was close!" Jorry exclaims.

"Yeah!" agrees Uther.

Riding along the road through the outlying buildings, they eventually leave the edge of town. Another hour and they find a spot to make camp.

During the night, James is awakened by Uther who's on watch. The box is again glowing as someone seeks to find the Fire contained within. James immediately casts out his senses to aid the crystal but finds the power behind the search is lessened quite a bit.

The others are awakened by Uther while James is concentrating on the box. He glances to them and says, "It isn't nearly as strong as it had been the last time. It almost feels fainter, like it's only the fringe of the spell."

"Maybe it's being directed elsewhere," suggests Illan.

"That's possible," agrees James. "If so, it looks like this might actually work. You guys go ahead and get some rest, I'm going to keep an eye on this until whoever is trying to find it stops."

Though they lay back down, none of them are able to return to sleep as long as the crystals on the box glowed. When a half hour later, the crystals finally subside back to their normal glow, everyone relaxes and begins drifting off to sleep.

The following morning, after a quick meal, they resume their way east to Trademeet. The travelers they meet are mainly merchants, with the few odd travelers thrown in. They ride quickly with only short breaks to give the horses a rest before continuing on.

By the end of the day, they come to a crossroads where they learn from a fellow traveler that the north road will take them to Osgrin and then on to Trendle. An inn and a couple other buildings have been constructed here and they decide to stop for the night.

The inn is of good quality and has a stable with a stableboy who lives in a small room in the back to keep an eye on things. A quick supper and James. .h.i.ts the bed, he's still not completely over the ordeal of the day before. The night goes by quickly and he wakes up almost feeling back to normal.

They have a quick meal in the common room before heading out on the road, the box again secured behind James' saddle. They take it quick, really wanting this whole thing over.

An hour or so after they start, they come to a fair sized town sitting at a crossroads. They discover it's called Guellin, a town whose main source of trade is wool and wool products. James could've figured that out by the number of sheep farms they came across along the road as they drew near.

The road heading south would take them to Willimet if they were going in that direction. Willimet! Just hearing the name makes him seethe after the way that woman treated him. If he wasn't in such a hurry, he'd go down there and demand his money back. Not to mention that she begin telling the truth about what happened and stop all this demon possession talk. That's probably what's driving the curious out to The Ranch.

Leaving Guellin behind, he comes to the realization that this may be a good place to procure some wool stuffing for Tersa's teddy bears she's making. Have to talk to Delia about that.

The road ahead of them begins to have fewer and fewer travelers as they progress until it's just the odd caravan coming to or from Trademeet. From what one caravan master said, Trademeet is still over a day away unless they want to kill their horses getting there, which they don't.

By the time the sun begins to dip below the horizon, they're still out in the middle of nowhere. James says he's not that exhausted and that he could go another couple hours in the hopes of finding an inn. So they press on and two hours after night had fallen, they begin to see the lights from a small town ahead of them.

Finding an inn, they get settled in and after a meal in the common room, head to their rooms for the night.

The next morning, clouds can be seen coming in from the west. James sees the approaching storm as a blessing which will hopefully give him some relief from the hot summer sun beating down upon them. By noon, the clouds have blanketed the sky and a short while after that a drizzling rain begins falling, making everyone uncomfortable. Except James, who finds this a welcome relief to the sun. Since coming here, he's managed to get quite a tan. They plod on through the rain the rest of the day until they see Trademeet appear on the horizon ahead of them.

Chapter Fourteen.

Upon reaching the outskirts, James announces, "Fifer and Yern should be here somewhere."

"So this is where they went to?" Uther asks.

Nodding, James continues, "I had them come ahead of us to procure some things we'll need, as well as scout around."

"I would think they'll be in a tavern somewhere getting drunk," Jorry says.

"This place is pretty big, may take us awhile to find them," Illan tells him.

"I realize that," says James. "If I would have known of a place here, they could've met us there, but I didn't."

They begin searching the taverns and inns along their way. Finally, after searching in over ten places, they find them sitting at a table, each with a buxom young woman on their knee.

When Fifer sees them walk through the front door, he has the girl get off his knee as he says to Yern, "Looks like the fun is over." Seeing Yern's confused look he indicates the door.

"d.a.m.n," Yern curses under his breath. "Sorry my lovely, but duty calls," he tells the girl in his lap as he gently removes her from his knee.

"There you layabouts are!" Uther exclaims at them as he comes to their table.

Giving him a grin, Fifer says, "You have poor timing my friend. Couldn't you have waited an hour more?"

"An hour?" Jorry asks laughing. "It wouldn't have taken you that long."

James comes forward and asks, "Did you get everything?"

"Yes we did," replies Fifer. "It's out back in the wagon."

"Wagon?" asks Uther.

James turns to Uther and says, "See if there are a couple more rooms available for the night." When he nods and moves to find the innkeeper, James says to the others, "Let's talk about this somewhere more private."

Uther returns shortly with two keys and says they've got stall s.p.a.ce for their horses. Illan has him and Jorry take the horses out to the stables while the rest of them go up to their rooms with the box.

Once the horses are taken care of, and everyone is crammed into one room with the door shut, James asks them, "Is the Pa.s.s open?"

Shaking his head, Yern says, "No. From what we've been told, the area on the other side is still too volatile and they're not allowing anyone to cross over."

"But, we may have arranged a way for us to be allowed up the mountain, though," adds Fifer.

"How?" James asks.

"The last few days we sort of made friends with the guard in charge of this side of the Pa.s.s," he explains. "We told him that we come here every year to fish up in the Pa.s.s, along with some friends of ours. I believe we convinced him we don't plan on crossing over so he said as long as we give him our word to stay on this side of the way stop at the summit, we can proceed up the Pa.s.s."

"Excellent!" exclaims James. "That's better than I was hoping for. And you definitely got everything I asked for?"

"Yep," Fifer says, nodding. "It's all in the back of the wagon. Most of the stuff we got real cheap, seems the merchant's around here are having a bad time now that no more traffic is coming through the Pa.s.s." He hands James a coin filled pouch, what's left of the coins he gave them when they left The Ranch.

"I can understand that," says James, taking the pouch. "Well, since all is in order, I suggest we get some sleep and head out early."

"Hope this rain stops," Jorry moans as they begin to file out on the way to their rooms.

"Would you stop your complaining!" Uther commands.

James smiles as he hears their bickering continue down the hallway. Jiron again shares the room with him and he says, "I know you plan to hide it somewhere around here, but is it a good idea to do it so close to the Empire's forces?"

"I know what I'm doing," he says. "It'll take them some doing to find it where I plan to put it."

"I hope so," he says as he blows the light out.

As James lies there in the dark trying to sleep, he suddenly notices the crystals of the box begin to glow brighter again. This time, he hardly has to use any of his own power to sustain the spells.

Whoever is seeking it, is directing their search far from here. Thank goodness. It looks like his misdirection earlier is definitely going to work. If they should concentrate directly on the area where the box is when he's gone, it's over. But they'll have to be pretty lucky to do that.

The rain is coming down harder the following morning as they make their way to the barricade blocking the entrance to the Pa.s.s. A contingent of guards stand watch and one comes forward as they approach.

"So, you still plan to go up there and fish in this weather?" he asks Fifer with a smile, the rain pelting them as they exchange words.

"Sure do," he says. "Should be back in a couple days."

"Bring me one," the guard says.

"Will do," he says.

The guard hollers over to the men at the barricade and they swing a section of it clear to allow the wagon James is driving through. They stare questioningly at the boat tied down in the back, but just stand back as he rolls on by. Once they're all through, the barricade is again replaced.

As they trundle along the road up the pa.s.s, the rain continues its downpour. The many waterfalls along the road are fat from the recent rains adding even more spray to soak the already drenched party.

James reminisces about when he and Miko had traveled this same route. He smiles at the wonder Miko had shown at the spectacles of nature along the way. When they reach the bridge by the one big waterfall, he pauses a moment to watch it as it cascades down the side of the mountain.

The others just look at him strange while he sits there on the wagon, remembering Miko as a lad before the Fire changed him. Saddened, he flicks the reins and the wagon once again rolls forward.

It's close to dark when they reach the plateau with the abandoned keep. "That's where we want to go," he tells them.

"In there?" asks Uther incredulously. "That place doesn't look like it could keep anything secure anymore."

Smiling a sad smile, he replies, "You'd be surprised."

They move forward and he has them go around to the back where they secure the horses and the wagon. When he starts to untie the boat from the back of the wagon, they look at him like he's crazy.

"Give me a hand, would you please?" he asks them. Coming to his aid, they help him get the boat off the wagon and set it on the ground. In the bed of the wagon, they find packs, bulging with equipment along with a couple small sledgehammers.

Taking one of the backpacks, he slings it over his shoulder and says, "We need this stuff too." Everyone comes over and either takes a pack or a sledge hammer. Much to his chagrin, Uther gets stuck with both.

Going back over to the boat, James says, "Now, those of you with just the packs, help me with this."

Illan, Fifer and Jorry come over and help him lift it. "We need to take it around front and carry it inside."

"You heard him," Illan says as they begin to carry the boat around. When they come to the front door, Uther and Yern open it wide to enable them to enter. Inside is very dark so he creates his...o...b..and has it settle on his shoulder.

James directs them down the hallway with the now more decomposed corpse. Stepping carefully, they carry the boat down the hallway to the broken door leading to the bas.e.m.e.nt.

He indicates they should rest the boat on the floor for a moment. He takes the orb off his shoulder and carries it over to the door where he looks down the broken stairs. Still looks the same. Wonder if the stuff is still under the stairs? Wonder if the stuff is still under the stairs?

Turning back to the others, he says, "We need to get the boat down to the room below. There's a flight of stairs, but they're broken and unlikely to hold everyone's weight at once."

"Then what are we going to do?" Yern asks.

"I'll go down first and you can lower the boat down to me." To Fifer he asks, "Which pack has the rope?"

"They all do," he says. "We weren't sure just how much you would need so we got a lot."

"Good thinking," he says. "While I make my way down to the bottom, one of you tie a rope to the boat. Then when I say so, slide it down the stairs slowly until I have it settled on the floor below."

Creating a second orb, he leaves it with the boat and then begins to descend the rickety and broken stairs to the room below. He notices the circle on the wall, the first trigger which will open the secret door, as he makes his way down. Once on the floor, he hollers back up for them to send the boat down. While he waits for them to begin lowering the boat, he checks under the stairs and is pleased to find all his equipment still there, looking as if it's remained undisturbed.

Jiron comes to the top of the stairs and then the boat begins making its way through the doorway as he guides it toward the stairs. The stairs groan when the weight of the boat settles upon it and begins to slide down. James moves back to the bottom of the stairs where he can watch and guide the boat coming down.

Those in the hallway hold onto the rope while they slowly allow the boat to slide down the stairs to where James is waiting. From his vantage point at the top of the stairs, Jiron is able to direct those in the hallway.

"Easy," he says to them as inch by inch the boat makes its way down. "Almost there."

When the boat draws near, James takes hold of it and guides it the rest of the way to the bottom. When the front end touches the floor, he pulls on the boat until it's completely off the stairs and resting on the floor.