Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

“Not a problem,” Jorry says. “When the time comes to leave, I’m sure we can get them.”

Yawning, James gets up and says, “I need to get some sleep before we go. If they return with Jiron, get me up. And put someone in the hall to watch out for whatever Councilman Rillian may have planned.”

“Right,” says Jorry. “We’ll take care of that.”

“Good,” he says as he heads for the door. Once through the door and he’s on his way back to his room, he can hear them as they discuss what he just said. He’s glad they are coming with him, especially since Jiron’s shoulder is hurt so badly. It’s going to take him a while to fully heal and recover.

Before he opens the door, he can hear Miko’s snores coming from the other side. Smiling, he opens the door and enters. Closing the door behind him, he goes over to his bed, kicks off his boots and lies down. When his head hits the pillow, he realizes just how tired he is. It isn’t long before he’s asleep.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Startled awake by someone at the door, James sits up in bed. The room is dark, night has already fallen. Glancing over to the other bed, he notices that Miko is no longer there.

Getting to his feet, he goes over to the door and finds Fifer there when he opens it. Suddenly excited, James asks, “Jiron’s back?”

“In a way,” he replies moving into the room. He goes over to the candle on the table and quickly lights it.

“In a way?” asks James, perplexed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sitting in a chair at the table, Fifer explains. “A group of Parvatis had escorted him back to the gates,” he begins, then starts to chuckle. “Apparently there was some disagreement about them doing that among the rest of their army. I thought they were going to begin fighting each other right then and there.”

“But the Parvatis are a sizeable part of their army so got their way in this. I’m sure there’ll be a reckoning at some time in the future about it. Anyway, as they were approaching, those of us on the wall began thinking they might be starting an attack. But then we realized the force approaching us was small and we could see Jiron among the ones in front.”

“Henri, who had been stationed on the wall just for this, hollers to open the gates and let Jiron in. Everyone was ready for a surprise attack or something like that, but Jiron walked toward the gate by himself and the Parvatis just turned around and walked back to their camp.”

“Where’s Jiron now?” asks James.

“Henri took him up to the castle to talk with Lord Pytherian about the enemy’s camp,” he replies. “Said he’d be back in a little bit.” Pulling out a letter with a seal at the bottom, he hands it to James and says, “This came from Lord Pytherian while you were sleeping, we didn’t want to wake you.”

Taking the letter, James says, “Thank you.”

“Uh, one more thing,” he says, looking a little embarrassed.

“What?” asks James as he puts the letter in his pouch.

“It’s Miko,” he begins.

“What? Is he gone?” James suddenly asks, worriedly.

“No, nothing like that,” he assures him. “It’s just that he makes us kind of, well, nervous.”

“In what way?” inquires James.

“It’s just that he is changing awfully fast, growing up quicker than normal,” he explains. “It’s kind of weird.”

“I know,” replies James, “it worries me too. But I assure you that he’s harmless. I know what’s going on but there’s nothing that can be done right now.”

“He fights way better than he aught to,” he says.

Nodding, James says, “I know, that’s a part of it as well. Just assure everyone that Miko is harmless, just as long as we keep him away from any fighting. Okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” he agrees, not sounding entirely reassured.

“By the way, where is he?” James asks.

Gesturing to the wall behind him, he says, “He’s in there with the others.”

Getting up, James says, “Well, we may as well all wait for Jiron’s return together.” Yern stands watch out in the hallway and nods to him as he leaves his room.

Fifer gets up as well and follows James out into the hallway and over to the other room. From outside the door, James can hear Miko’s voice. Opening the door, he finds Miko standing with his back to him as he’s talking to the others.

“…the torso came toward us and Jiron kept slicing it with his knives but nothing he did slowed it down. Then James holds up that medallion of his and a bright light shone from it. The light somehow caused the torso to die, how I haven’t a clue. Then…”

Noticing the looks of his audience, he glances around to see James standing there. “Oh, you’re awake?”

“Yes I am,” replies James as he enters the room. Fifer and Yern follow him in.

“I was just telling them about that place we found back in the swamp,” he explains.

“Yeah, I heard,” he says. Looking to all of the faces gazing at him, he says, “It’s called the Star of Morcyth.” Pulling the medallion out of his shirt, he shows it to him.

“It’s one of those things I am trying to find out about,” he explains.

They come closer, looking at it and he asks them, “Has anyone seen or heard of anything like this before?”

Every one of them shakes their heads no. Once they’ve had a good look, he returns it to within his shirt. “How long has it been since Jiron was taken to the castle?”

“Fifer returned back ten minutes ago,” replies Illan. “So it hasn’t been long.”

“We have the horse situation taken care of,” Uther tells him. “We now have enough for all of us.”

“How did you do that?” he asks.

Gesturing to Miko, he says, “After he came in here, we started talking and the conversation got around to horses. He said that there might be two where he and Jiron had left them. When he and I went to look, sure enough, they were still there.”

“Great,” James says approvingly. “Now we just need Jiron back and we’ll be able to get out of here.” Moving over to one of the beds, the others scoot over, making room for him to sit down.

Miko glances over to him with a questioning look on his face and he says, “Go ahead and continue.”

“The torso fell to the floor and looked like it just melted away…”

Over the next hour they swap tales and James learns more of these people who’ve decided to tie their fates to his. Of course, Miko’s tales of his exploits made him feel uncomfortable. He did a somewhat accurate job in relating the details, only once or twice embellishing the story for effect.

By the time Miko had launched into the tale of them working their way through the mine after rescuing Lord Pytherian, they hear a knock on the door to James’ room. Everyone becomes instantly silent as they glance from one to the other. They hadn’t forgotten Lord Pytherian’s warning that Councilman Rillian may try something.

James gets up and motions for them to be quiet, several of them grab their swords as he makes his way over to the door. He hears the knocking again as he slowly opens the door a crack to look out into the hallway.

“Jiron!” he cries when he finally sees who it is. The page from the castle had brought him to the inn. Throwing open the door, he comes out into the hallway.

Turning in his direction, Jiron says “I thought we’d missed you.”

Shaking his head, James says, “No, just in here with the others while we waited for your return.” Waving him over, he says, “Come on in, we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“Thank you,” he says to the page who then turns and heads back to the castle.

Once they are back in the room and the door is shut, James asks, “Okay, what happened.”