Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

“In their eyes, it’s a private matter, not one that affects Madoc as a whole,” he tells him. “Actually, if something should happen between you and Councilman Rillian, then it would fall to me to deal with it. So that’s what I’m doing.”

“What are you doing?” asks James.

“Letting you know about it so you can take measures against it,” he says. “We owe you that much. Though I’d suggest you leave Lythylla as soon as possible to avoid any such attempts.”

“But Jiron is still out there with the enemy,” he reminds him.

“I know,” Lord Pytherian says. “That’s not working in your favor either. True, Jiron stopped the Parvatis when we needed him to. But he also went with them to their camp, some see that as a questionable act.”

Seeing the look on James’ face, he says, “I know, but there are those who will always believe what they want to believe.”

Sighing, James nods his head. “What about Korgan? Has there been any word since the attack?”

“No one has seen him,” he tells him. “We think he’s left the city since they know we know about him. Councilman Rillian definitely doesn’t wish to be connected to him.”

“I suppose not,” agrees James.

“Where do you plan to go from here?” he asks.

“We’re heading to Cardri,” he replies. “Jiron’s sister and others are waiting for us there.”

“How do you plan to get there?” he asks.

“Honestly, I haven’t thought that far ahead,” admits James.

“Maybe I can help you out there,” Lord Pytherian says.

“How?” asks James.

“It would greatly speed your trip if you sailed across the Sea of the Gods rather than made your way around it,” he explains. “I’ll send a letter to the inn where you’re staying that you can take with you. It’ll request that whoever reads it to help you in any way possible. With it, you should be able to get someone to ferry you across to the other side.”

Nodding, James says, “That would be quite helpful, thank you.”

“Like I said,” he says, “it’s the least we can do. I’ll have it over there by nightfall.”

“I don’t plan to leave until Jiron returns, anyway” he says. “But once he does, we’ll be gone.”

“Good,” he states. “I would hate to have anything happen to you before then.”

“So would I,” replies James.

Getting up, Lord Pytherian extends his hand to James who stands as well, taking it. “I must be off, there’re still things I must take care of,” he says, indicating the meeting is over.

“Thank you again, milord,” James says.

“You’re welcome, and good luck.” He goes over to the door and opens it. Stepping out into the hallway, he turns to the right and the guards fall into step behind him.

The same page that had brought him here steps in through the open door and says, “If you’ll follow me sir, I’ll take you back.”

“Very well,” James says as he comes around the table and follows the page out the door. He’s led back through the castle along the same route that he’d been taken on his way in. It doesn’t take them long to return to the inn and at his door, the page says goodbye before promptly returning to the castle.

He opens the door a crack so he can peek in to make sure Miko is still there. When he sees him sleeping on the bed, he sighs in relief and closes the door. Moving down the hallway to the next door, he knocks and it’s opened again by Uther.

Opening the door wide, he steps aside to allow James to come in the room. Everyone’s there except Jiron and the ones on the wall watching for his return.

“What happened?” Illan asks.

James relates what Lord Pytherian had told him. He can see their faces get red when they find out nothing is going to be done about anything. “We should take care of this ourselves!” Uther shouts.

“They kill Miller and we’re just supposed to walk away?” Yern asks incredulously. “I don’t think so.”

He can see everyone there is thinking the same thing: Revenge!

“Can’t you look in that mirror thing of yours and find out where this Councilman Rillian is?” asks Jorry. “Or maybe Korgan, the one eyed man?”

“Before I do,” James says, “I don’t want us to do anything until Jiron comes back. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Illan says, the others nodding their heads.

“Okay,” he says as he pulls the mirror out of the pouch at his hip. He takes a seat in one of the chairs and places the mirror on the table as everyone gathers around to look.

“Find that councilman first!” insists Uther.

James concentrates until the mirror begins to coalesce into an image of Councilman Rillian sitting at a table with six other important looking men. “Must be the Council,” he guesses.

The image begins to change as he starts concentrating on Korgan. When the image clarifies, they see him riding a horse through the grasslands. “He could be anywhere by this time!” he hears one of them exclaim. He lets the image go and the mirror reverts back to normal.

“It doesn’t look as if there’s anything that can be done now,” James states. He leans back in the chair and contemplates the remnants of Miller’s band. “What do you all plan to do now?”

They look at each other and Uther says, “We haven’t really thought about it.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Illan adds. “Miller was our leader, our heart and soul.”

“What are you going to do?” Jorry asks him.

“When Jiron returns, we’ll probably start heading back to Cardri as fast as possible,” he tells them.

“Why?” asks Uther. “I mean, Madoc could use you and what you can do.”

“I know,” he says, “but they’ll have to get along without me. There are other things that I must do.”

“Like what?” asks Yern.

He looks from one face to another and says, “I’m not entirely sure. I’m still trying to figure that out, but I’m sure it’s not to embroil myself in this war. I feel that to be true.”

“Will it be to the detriment of the Empire?” asks Uther.

“I don’t know,” replies James. “But since I’ve started on this path, I’ve done nothing but hurt them, though.”

“Yeah, that’s the truth,” Jorry says and then breaks out into a laugh that’s shared by all.

“We’ve been talking while you were at the castle,” Illan says. “If you wouldn’t mind, we’d kind of like to stay with you for a while. Miller’s gone so all we’d be doing is joining the regular army and none of us are cut out for that. Of course I can’t speak for the ones on the wall waiting for Jiron, but I’m sure they’d go along with it.”

James considers it a fraction of a second before saying, “I’d be more than happy to have you come along.”

“Great!” says Illan and the others offer other exclamations of jubilation as well.

“But, if you’re to follow me, that means what I say goes,” he tells them. “Will there be a problem with that?”

They all shake their head no. “In that case, I want you to forget about Councilman Rillian.” He sees their faces scowl and their expressions turn dark. “There may be a time of retribution, but that time is not now,” he tells them firmly. Looking from one to the other, he asks, “Okay?”

He gets their grudging agreement and then says, “We’ll need horses. Can someone go back and retrieve yours from that burned down inn?”

Uther gives him a grin and says, “Already done. They’re out in the stable behind the inn. We have Miller’s and Shyn’s as well, so we just need two more so everyone will have one.”

“The horses I came here on are who knows where,” James says. “Somehow, we’ll need to procure two more.”