“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 Pass. 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 pass, 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 orb 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 basement.
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?
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.
“That’s good!” Jiron hollers to those in the hallway and then begins making his way down to James. The others enter and begin following him down.
“Stop!” James cries up at them when he sees they’re about to all come down the stairs at once. “The stairs won’t support you all,” he tells them. “You need to come down one at a time. And Uther?” he asks. Once he has Uther’s attention, he says, “See if you can find a thick piece of wood out in the woods, about three feet long.” He uses his hands to show the size he wants.
“What do you want that for?” he asks.
“Just do,” he replies.
Illan turns to him and says, “Take Jorry with you, and be quick.”
Uther and Jorry leave to do as requested. Once Jiron has reached the bottom, Illan begins to descend. The stairs groan badly in one spot and he even hears one of the boards give a little crack. Continuing carefully, he makes it to the bottom.
Looking around the room, he says, “There’s nowhere to go.”
“Yes there is,” James says as he moves to where the entrance to the secret door in the wall is located. Tapping on it, he says, “Behind here is the old escape route from this keep. It leads through an underground cavern to an underground river that eventually leads to the river at the bottom of the canyon.”
“And you plan to hide that,” he asks, indicating the box containing the Fire, “somewhere down there.”
“Precisely,” he says.
“Why do you need the boat?” he asks.
“I don’t plan to hide this in an easily accessible location,” he explains. “But rather somewhere that would make it very hard to get, even if someone should learn of its location.”
Illan nods as he glances around the room.
From the hallway at the top of the stairs, they hear Jorry and Uther coming back. They’re talking to one another and when they enter the room they both begin to descend the stairs at the same time.
Illan notices them and cries out, “One at a time!” but is too late.
The stairs give out with a loud crack and the top section upon where they’re stepping suddenly collapses and Uther falls forward, hitting the step just after the section that fell, and smashing though it with a grunt. They fall ten feet and land on the equipment James and Miko had left there from their earlier visit.
