Suddenly two knives flash into his hands as he stands ready. Jiron takes up position next to him and two knives appear like magic in his hands as well, flashing in the reflected candle light.
He looks to Tinok and says, “You ready?”
“Yeah,” Tinok replies with an evil grin. “Let’s get it on!”
They stand there to either side of the doorway, James and the girls stand a little ways back from them.
Suddenly an enemy soldier comes into the room, sword out, and Tinok closes with him. The soldier sees him and strikes with his sword. Tinok easily deflects the blade with one knife while following through with a thrust with the other, piercing the man’s chest and puncturing his heart. The soldier slides lifelessly off his blade to the floor as another soldier comes through the doorway, into the room.
Jiron takes this one and almost as fast as Tinok, dispatches him.
“You’re getting slow, Jiron,” Tinok says as he closes with the next one to come in. Knives flash and another body sinks to the floor.
The next soldier to come through is carrying a shield along with a sword and closes with Jiron. Jiron deflects the thrust of the sword with one knife as the shield comes and crashes into his chest, pushing him back further into the room. The soldier advances on him when all of a sudden one of his legs goes out and he crashes to the floor. Tinok had hamstrung him from behind as the soldier was closing in on Jiron. Jiron presses the soldier as he lies there on the ground, blocking a cut from the sword and avoiding the shield. He gets inside the man’s defenses and slits his throat. He looks up to see Tinok battling another one.
“Don’t need any help,” Jiron says to Tinok with a grin.
“Sorry,” Tinok replies, “I’ll try not to save your life next time.” His knives flash and another soldier falls to the floor.
Suddenly there’s a pause as no more soldiers come through the opening. Tinok turns to James and says, “Alright Mr. Mage, you got any ideas?”
James suddenly realizes that he had been watching the fighting, awestruck at the relative ease in which they’ve been taking out the soldiers and not thinking about the situation at all. Red faced, he begins pondering the situation instead of wool gathering.
Another soldier enters, a veritable giant of a man. Standing easily a head taller than either Jiron or Tinok, covered in armor from head to toe, with a long shield on his left arm, he enters the room and immediately engages Jiron.
The man’s sword is enormous and Jiron is unable to get inside his defense. The blows from his sword pack enormous power and when Jiron blocks a slash aimed at his midsection, his knife is knocked out of his hand, leaving it tingling.
Tinok is unable to go to his aid as he is fighting with another soldier, this one of a more regular size but carrying a shield. The soldier begins pushing Tinok back as another soldier enters the room.
James makes his mind up and releases the power. The ground begins to shake and from the passage leading from the room, they can hear a roar as the ceiling of the passage crashes down on those still within it. A cloud of dust fills the room as Tinok and Jiron battle the three soldiers that had made it in before the collapse.
The bull of a man is pressing Jiron, who now only has one knife and is reluctant to close with him. He’s trying to stay just out of reach and stall for time, hoping that Tinok can finish with his two and come to his aid.
James scans the room but the only stones he can find to use are the ones near the collapsed passageway, and he is unable to reach them due to the fighting.
He tries to think of some sort of a spell he can use when he sees Jiron fall to the ground and the man raise his sword to finish him off. Cassie screams.
Seeing his chance, he releases the power and the man is picked up and thrown against the wall. Bones can be heard breaking as he connects with it. He slides to the ground, the tapestry that had once hung on the wall, falls with him, covering him as if it’s his death shroud.
James looks to Tinok as one of his attackers falls to the ground, the man’s tunic under his left arm, now red as his life’s blood flows from him. Tinok easily parries a series of attacks from the remaining soldier, before slicing him across the forearm, causing him to drop his sword. He twists and with his other knife, comes in and thrusts between the ribs, piercing his heart.
As the last attacker falls, Tinok turns and looks at Jiron, “You okay?”
“Yeah,” he replies, “my arm’s a bit numb but it’s beginning to get its feeling back. You?”
Shrugging, he says, “Got a couple cuts, but nothing major.” He turns to James and says, “Now what? With the passage blocked we got nowhere to go.”
“I don’t know,” he admits, “let me rest a second and we’ll see what I can come up with.”
They sit down while James considers the options. Jiron walks over to the large man, looking closely at him. “I’ve never seen someone so big,” he says to the rest of the group.
“I thought he had you for a second there,” Tinok says. He picks up Jiron’s knife from the floor and hands it to him.
“Me too,” agrees Jiron as he takes the knife. Turning to James he says, “That was sure some spell you used. Why did you wait so long?”
“I am new to this magic business and as long as you were in close contact with him, I couldn’t do it without possibly hurting you as well.”
Nodding, Jiron glances back at the giant. Then his eye catches something on the wall, behind where the tapestry had hung. “Look at this!” he says, waving everyone over.
On the wall is an indentation in the form of the Star of Morcyth. When James sees it, he unconsciously grabs the medallion through his shirt.
“Wonder what it is?” Cassie asks.
“I don’t know,” admits Jiron. “Strange how we never noticed it before.”
“It’s the Star of Morcyth,” James explains.
They all turn toward him and Delia asks, “The star of what?”
“The Star of Morcyth,” repeats James. He reaches in and takes out the medallion, showing it to them. Looking around as if for the first time, he says, “And this must be part of the High Temple of Morcyth that was destroyed centuries ago.”
He removes the medallion from around his neck and goes over to the wall, placing it within the indentation. It’s a perfect fit.
From behind them, they hear the sound of stone scraping on stone. Turning around, they are surprised to discover a section of the floor sliding over to reveal a staircase leading down.
“I’ll be damned,” Tinok says.
“Maybe it’s a way out,” suggests Cassie.
“Don’t know,” says James as his glowing orb appears in his hand. “But there’s only one way to find out.” He goes over and begins to descend the steps.
The rest glance at each other and then follow him down.
Chapter Two
Fourteen steps take them down to a hallway that runs for a hundred feet before ending at a door. James can see another indentation, similar to the one found in the room above them, carved into the door. Taking the medallion, he places the face of it within the indentation and the door begins to silently swing open.
The first thing they notice when the door swings open is a four foot high white marble pedestal standing in the center of the room. Centered on top of it is a small, raised platform which looks to be made entirely of crystal.
James is the first to enter the room and a soft light springs to life, growing until it illuminates every corner. It seems to come from the very walls themselves. The room is octagonal in shape, with no discernible exit except the doorway he just passed through. The walls are unadorned, just plain ordinary stone, the floor is simply dirt. The only thing of interest in the room is the pedestal.
“James,” Delia asks as she crosses into the room after him, “just what is this place?”
