The star of Morcyth ms-5 Page 11

  “Alright,” he says. “When are you planning on being back?”

  “I have no idea. But if you find those recalcitrant members of our group, tell them to stay here at the inn until I get back.” Moving to the door, he opens it to leave. As he passes through, Miko’s ‘Will do’, follows him out into the hallway.

  Closing the door, he walks quickly down and takes the stairs to the common room below. The room is empty except for one lone early riser. Miss Gilena is nowhere in sight, she must’ve returned to her bed shortly after he had gone up to his room. Leaving the inn through the front door, he moves onto the street and heads down toward the gates leading to the castle.

  The contingent of guards at the gate has doubled since the last time he came by this way. As he draws near the gates, the leader of the group moves to intercept him.

  “No one’s allowed into the castle area at this time,” the guard tells him as he comes to a stop.

  “A friend of mine was taken last night and brought here,” he explains. “I want to know what happened to him.”

  The guard eyes him suspiciously, knowing full well who it is Illan is talking about. “Sorry, but orders are, no one enters without expressed permission,” he states. “And I’m fairly sure you don’t have that do you?”

  Shaking his head, he says, “No, I don’t.”

  “Then you can’t pass through,” the guard says with finality.

  Almost ready to turn away, he pauses and then asks, “Can I send word to the Archive Custodian?”

  The guard is somewhat taken aback by that. “If you give us a letter, we can see that he receives it,” the guard replies.

  “I don’t have a letter,” he explains. “Is there a way you could just tell him that a friend of James is here and would like to talk with him?”

  The guard thinks about it for a moment. Shrugging, he says, “Very well,” He glances behind him and waves over one of the junior guards. “Find the Archive Custodian and tell him a friend of James would like an audience with him,” he tells the guard.

  “Yes sir,” the guard replies before turning and running through the gates in search of Ellinwyrd.

  “He may not be up yet,” he says. “It’s still quite early.”

  “I’ll wait if it’s all the same with you,” Illan tells him.

  “Suit yourself,” replies the guard who then moves back over with his men.

  Illan stands there impatiently as he awaits the return of the junior guard. Almost a half hour later, he sees him returning. He waits while the lead guard confers with his man and then watches as he begins moving toward where he’s waiting.

  “He said that he will meet with you,” the guard tells him. “A page is being summoned and will arrive shortly to escort you.”

  “Thank you,” says Illan. A short time later, a boy in the livery of a castle page approaches the gate and Illan moves to follow him into the castle area.

  The page leads him through to the building housing the Royal Archives. Going in through the main door, he takes him down to the doors leading into Ellinwyrd’s sanctum. He pauses a moment as he knocks upon the door and when he receives Ellinwyrd’s permission to enter, opens the door. Stepping to one side, he allows Illan to precede him into the room.

  “Thank you Michael,” Ellinwyrd says from where he sits at a table stacked haphazardly with books and scrolls.

  Nodding, Michael closes the door.

  Coming over to where Ellinwyrd sits, Illan makes his way through the ‘obstacle course’ as James had called it when he described his visit here. He can see what James meant by this place being a disorganized chaotic mess. It’s a wonder that anything can even be found.

  Ellinwyrd glances up from a book open before him as he approaches. Indicating a chair across from him, he says, “Please, sit down.”

  “Thank you for seeing me,” Illan says graciously. “I don’t know if you’re aware of what happened last night, but they came and arrested James.”

  Closing the book before him, Ellinwyrd nods his head as a sigh escapes him. “I know,” he replies.

  “Do you know what’s going to happen to him?” Illan asks.

  “I’m afraid so,” he says sadly.

  “They’re not going to hand him over to the Empire are they?” asks Illan, afraid of the answer.

  “Yes, they are,” he tells him.

  “Why in god’s name are they acceding to their request? They have to know he’s innocent!”

  “Innocence or guilt rarely has much to do with what kingdoms decide,” he explains. “First of all, Cardri is not so big that they can afford to antagonize their neighbor to the south. James isn’t even a citizen of Cardri in their eyes so to them it’s not like they’re handing over one of their own.”

  “Also, when the Ambassador’s adjutant was killed, that was just one more strain on an already shaky peace. Giving them James was a way to alleviate that strain.”

  “You know what the Empire is going to do to him, don’t you?” Illan asks. “They’ll torture and kill him.”

  “I know,” he replies.

  “If they try to give him to the Empire, he’s likely to tear down the castle and kill an awful lot of people,” Illan tells him. “I’ve seen him in action.”

  Shaking his head, Ellinwyrd says, “No, he won’t.”

  “What do you mean?” he asks.

  “I mean, there are steps one can take to ensure the safe capture of one who controls the power,” he tells him. “I believe it’s already begun to be implemented.”

  “If they try to drug him, he’ll resist,” he asserts.

  “He won’t even know it’s happening until it’s too late,” he explains. “There’s more than one way to drug a mage. They have torches that when lit, emit a narcotic fume which will render him unable to use his magic.” Illan just stares at him in horror. “After that, it’s just an easy matter to go in and collect him.”

  “But we have to do something,” he says. “We can’t just let them take him.”

  “From what I’ve gathered, they’ll not be taking him for some time,” he says. “They still must conclude the new trade agreement, and that could take another day or two.”

  Looking at Ellinwyrd, Illan narrows his eyes as he contemplates what he just heard. “A day or two eh?” he breathes as he cocks one eyebrow in question.

  Ellinwyrd nods his head. “Our Merchant’s Guild is pressing the Royal Court to get good terms with the Empire and the negotiations have at times become heated. But the general consensus is that the Empire’s representatives need to finalize the trade agreement for the next five years, and do it soon.”

  “Alright then,” replies Illan as he gets to his feet. “I don’t have much time.”

  Standing up as well, Ellinwyrd reaches into his rumpled tunic and pulls out a scroll bearing his wax seal. Handing it across the table to him, he says, “If you should see James, give him this.”

  Taking the scroll, Illan asks, “What is it?”

  “A number of questions had arisen during our last visit and I think this may answer one,” he explains.

  Putting it inside his shirt, Illan says, “I’ll be sure to.”

  “Very good,” Ellinwyrd replies. Moving over to the decorative pull rope, he summons the page Michael back and has him escort Illan back to the gates.

  “I thank you for taking the time to see me,” Illan says as he’s about to walk out the door.

  “Anytime,” he says. “And if all this should somehow become resolved, tell James to stop by again.”

  “I will.” Turning to follow Michael he closes the door to Ellinwyrd’s sanctum. Back through the castle area and out the gate, he says goodbye to Michael as he heads back to the Silver Bells.

  Once back at the inn, he hurries up the stairs to the room where he left Miko and Dave. Opening the door, he finds the room empty. They’re both gone. Damn! Nothing to do for the moment but wait, he sits down by the window and pulls out the scroll Ellinwyrd had given him wondering j
ust what was on it.

  “I’m tired of staying in this room,” Dave complains when Miko tells him that’s what Illan wants him to do. “All I’ve done is sit in here doing nothing and I’m sick of it. James is in trouble and I want to help!”

  “But there’s nothing you can do so the best thing you can do is sit tight,” explains Miko. He ordered a meal brought in for them and Dave’s done nothing but complain ever since he awoke. Frankly, Miko is sick of it.

  Dave glares at him from across the table as he continues eating his breakfast of eggs and ham steak. “Now, I’ve got a couple things I need to see to,” Miko tells him after he’s done eating. “Just stay here and don’t get into any trouble.”

  He can feel the glare of Dave’s eyes follow him as he gets up from the table and moves to the door. Without even looking back, he opens the door and quickly shuts it. I don’t know what James sees in this guy.

  At first, Dave seemed to be okay. But ever since coming to Cardri though, he’s been a pain. He doesn’t do anything, it’s just his attitude. Miko can’t stand whiny people. Maybe if their lives were reversed, he could understand better where he comes from, but that’s neither here nor there. He only puts up with him for James’ sake.

  Once out on the street, he heads down to where he and the kids were going to meet if they didn’t contact him during the night. As he approaches the open market, he sees them near the place where they ate yesterday afternoon.

  They see him coming and the little girl gives him a smile as they come to meet him. “Hungry?” he asks. Several nods and an ‘of course’ meet his question. “Then let’s get something to eat.” At the nearby open eatery, he gets then all a modest helping of taters and egg. Moving to a table, they bring their food over and begin eating.

  The older boy asks, “Did you hear what happened out in the poor section last night?”

  “Something about a killing wasn’t it?” replies Miko.

  “One of the important members of the Empire’s trade delegation got himself decapitated,” one of the younger boys adds.

  “Really?” prompts Miko, very interested in what they may know about it. “Did you see it?”

  “I did,” the older boy states. “I was in the area with a couple of the older kids and heard a fight was going down out there. So we decided to go and watch the show. It was a regular fight, one guy with two knives against another with two swords.”

  He pauses a moment as he takes a large bite and then continues through a mouth full of eggs. “It was going pretty good but then it got weird. Both fighters suddenly stopped fighting and began talking to one another. It seems the bigger guy was some sort of fighter for the Empire’s men and they got mad when the fight stopped.”

  “What happened next I’m not really sure about, but suddenly one guy’s head went flying and the other men from the Empire pulled out their swords and attacked the two fighters. I tell you, the fighting then got good and the Empire’s men were soon taken out. By that time, the whole area was in a panic and the city guards were coming, so me and my friends got the heck out of there.”

  “Interesting,” says Miko. Well that answers one question. The fighter with the two knives had to be Jiron. But just what was he doing and why was he there.

  Changing the subject, he asks, “Did you find out anything about the connection between Lord Kindering and the Empire’s Ambassador?”

  “Not much,” he replies. “They have had a few meetings outside the regular trade negotiations, but what they said we were unable to find out. Those always took place at Lord Kindering’s estate and couldn’t find anyone who knew what went on there.”

  Nodding his head, Miko says, “Thanks.” Digging into his pouch, he pulls out a handful of coppers and proceeds to give each of them two.

  After everyone has two of them, he returns the rest to his pouch and then asks, “Did they ever find the men who killed the Empire’s men at the fight?”

  Shaking his head, the older boy says, “Not that I’ve heard. They do have someone in the dungeon they believe is part of it, but I don’t know who.”

  That must be James. “Would you all be interested in continuing to find things out for me?”

  “Sure,” says one of the girls. “As long as you keep feeding us.”

  “No problem there,” he assures them. “See if you can find out what happened to those fighters from the fight. Where they might be.”

  “Why?” asks a younger boy.

  “Why what?” Miko asks him.

  “You said your master was a merchant and wanted some inside information,” he replies. “I don’t see how this has to do with anything.”

  Remaining silent for a moment as all their eyes are upon him, Miko finally asks, “Can you keep a secret?”

  All their heads nod in unison. “Now I’m not talking about an unimportant secret,” he tells them. “I’m talking about the sort of secret that if it’s told will probably get you dead.”

  The younger kids’ eyes widen at that and the older boy says, “We know when to hold our tongues.” To the others he asks, “Right?”

  The other kids all nod their heads affirmatively.

  “Alright.” Miko eyes them all seriously as he says, “The man with the knives is a friend of mine. The man they’re holding in the dungeon is another. There are things going on that I’m not at liberty to talk about right now, but believe me, they’re serious.” He locks eyes with each of them before saying, “Understand?”

  They nod their heads.

  “I believe this Lord Kindering is up to no good and is probably behind why my friend is sitting in the dungeon. I need to find my other friend and try to work this all out somehow.”

  “You going to break him out of the castle?” asks one young boy, eyes wide in wonder.

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” he says. “Are you with me?”

  “You can count on us!” the older boy says for the group.

  “Good,” says Miko with a smile. “Find out what you can but be careful. Again, I’m staying at the Silver Bells, leave word there with a Miss Gilena if you can’t find me.”

  “You got it,” the older boy says. To the others he says, “Let’s go.”

  Miko sits there and watches as the group leaves the market area. James in the dungeon, Jiron mixed up in the slaying of the Ambassador’s adjutant. What else could possibly happen?

  Getting up he decides to go down by the docks to see if there might be any scuttlebutt down there. Back in Bearn it always seemed the workers along the river had the most reliable news. And usually before anyone else, too.

  He makes his way to the dock area where he finds it a flurry of activity as dock workers transfer cargo to and from the vessels secured there. Strolling along, he keeps his ears open for anything which might relate to what he’s hoping to learn.

  The conversations he hears is just the usual stuff guys say to one another, mostly about the girl they were with the night before. One ship, a beautiful three masted merchantman has just pulled up to the dock and the dockworkers are still securing the lines.

  He misses being out on the water, though on every occasion he’s had the fortune to be sailing, something bad has happened. Despite that fact, he longs to return.

  “Out of the way!” one porter says as he nudges Miko to the side. At first annoyed at the treatment, he quickly realizes that he had been daydreaming as he stood there blocking the way. Laughing at himself he makes to move further down the dock.

  He suddenly stops in his tracks when he sees a girl begin to disembark from the newly arrived merchantman. Dressed in a startling blue outfit with a beautiful dolphin embroidered along one side of her chest, she looks strangely familiar but he can’t quite place her. Walking next to her is an older gentleman with a slight limp.

  His mind flashes back to a night back in the city of Corillian at the estate of his friend Nate’s family. Meliana, that’s who it is, the older guy must be her father. That’s the girl James has been mooni
ng about ever since we left!

  Coming out of his startlement, he quickly moves to fall in behind them as they come onto the dock. Man, is James going to be surprised. That is if we can get him out of the dungeon first.

  “Now Meliana, don’t get your hopes up,” Miko overhears her father say to her. “There’s no way to know if he’s even in Cardri.”

  “I know father,” she replies.

  She’s here looking for him! Miko breaks out into a smile as he says, “Hi!”

  They stop in their tracks and turn to see him there with a goofy smile upon his face. “Yes?” her father asks.

  “I’m Miko,” he says, his goofy smile getting goofier.

  Her father looks him up and down, a slight scowl coming to his face. “That’s nice,” he says and then turns to begin leading Meliana away.

  “No, no, you don’t understand,” he exclaims as he rushes to catch up with them.

  Taking a breath to calm his anger, the father turns back to him and says, “I don’t wish to be rude but could you please leave us alone? Or I’ll have to call for the guards.”

  “You don’t remember me do you?” he asks, looking questioningly to them.

  They both shake their heads. “No, I can’t say that I do,” her father says. “Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

  Miko is at first confused by their reaction until he remembers he really doesn’t look the same as he did. The Fire had unnaturally aged him while it was in his possession. So of course they don’t remember him.

  As they again turn away from him, he exclaims, “Wait! I’m James’ friend.”

  At that her eyes light up and she turns her full attention on him. “James? You know James?”

  “I’m Miko,” he says, “Nate’s friend from the mines.”

  Her smile begins diminishing as she tries to reconcile what he just told her with how he looks now. “But Miko was much younger than you,” she says, confused. “You can’t be him.” Her hopes dashed, Miko can see sadness begin to well in her eyes.

  “Son, I don’t know what kind of game you’re trying to play here, but we’ll have none of it!” he says quite sternly. “Now, if you don’t leave us alone, I’ll be forced to call for the guards.”