Laying his hand on Dave’s shoulder he says, “I wouldn’t want you to do otherwise. I need a voice of reason in this chaotic and hostile world.”
Giving his friend a grin, he says, “You got it.”
“Now, let’s go back to the others,” suggests James. “And this time, don’t go calling them blood thirsty killers.”
“I won’t, promise,” Dave assures his friend.
As they’re walking back to the fire, a sound comes to them from the darkened town. A wailing sounds in the night as if a spirit is writhing in torment. They rush to the edge which overlooks the town and see a light atop one of the buildings. From this distance it’s hard to make out just what it is, but it looks to be the size of a man and it’s moving.
“What the heck is that?” Dave asks.
The others join them as he says, “I don’t know.”
“It’s a ghost!” Miko exclaims.
“Could be,” agrees James. Too bad Qyrll is missing this. He would’ve loved it.
The light continues to pace back and forth along the roof as the wailing continues. It lasts for ten minutes before the light and wailing disappear.
A hushed silence falls over the companions as they stand there in the dark and cold a moment. When it doesn’t look as if the spirit will be returning, they make their way back to camp.
As James takes his seat and begins warming his freezing hands, he considers the predicament they’re in. On the one side they have a hostile force most likely bent on their destruction. On the other is a city with free roaming spirits. At least the spirits mostly come out at night, mostly.
Chapter Twenty Eight
It’s been over an hour since they left. Where are they? Pacing around, James is worried about what may have happened to them. To add more to his already worried mind the spirit from Ironhold makes two other appearances in different parts of town, always a lone spirit and always on top of a building.
No one is getting much sleep tonight, not with the racket going on when the spirit appears. It’s been twenty minutes or more since the last spectral appearance and a few of the others have fallen asleep. The only one other than himself who’s still awake is Miko. Try as he might, he can’t bring himself to relax enough to slip away.
James glances in his direction every once in awhile to see if he’s managed to fall asleep, and each time he sees his eyes wide open.
The silence of the night is broken by the sound of something moving toward the camp through the trees. Miko hears it too and sits up, his hand on the hilt of his sword which is resting on the ground next to him. He glances to James and begins getting up when Qyrll and Jiron enter the firelight.
“Glad you’re back,” James says in relief. “I was getting worried.”
“Sorry,” apologizes Jiron. “It took us some doing to move close enough for Qyrll to be able to understand what they were saying.”
By the time they take their seats at the fire, the others have awoken and moved closer to hear. “What did you learn?” he asks Qyrll.
“From what I heard, they are but one band of many situated in the hills surrounding Ironhold,” he explains. “They are waiting for something, no one said for sure exactly what. One of the men was complaining about something not being here yet, couldn’t tell if it was more men, one man or what.”
“So if we attack them,” James says, “it would be safe to say the other bands will go on the offensive right away.”
Nodding, he replies, “I think so. If they were discovered, their first inclination would be to attack.”
Looking around the assembled faces, he summarizes their situation, “Either we attack one band and face what’s out there now, or we wait for whatever else may be coming.”
“That would seem to be the choices before us,” agrees Jiron.
James sits back and thinks on the situation for a minute. The others remain quiet to give him time to think. He glances to Dave but he knows what he’ll say, ‘Leave’. The others want to attack, he’s sure of that. They’re men of action and don’t like the idea of waiting.
“If what they’re waiting for takes another day or two to get here,” he says, “we may be finished and on our way home.”
“I don’t think we should count on that,” Fifer states.
“He’s right,” agrees Jiron, the others nodding in agreement.
James sits and contemplates the various options before him. He can see the logic in an attack, but his inclination is to avoid direct confrontation if at all possible. “Right now, we do nothing,” he tells them. Around him he can see them reacting negatively to his decision, all that is but Dave.
“We’ll keep an eye on the band near us through the night and tomorrow we find another place to hole up, maybe in one of the mines.” He glances to the others a moment before saying, “It would be more defensible should they attack.”
“With no way out,” Miko warns.
Turning to him, James replies, “I know. But it’s still better than sitting out here in the open. If anyone comes up with a better idea, let me know. Now let’s get some sleep while we can.”
He no sooner says the last word before another wail comes from Ironhold.
“What was that?” Qyrll asks as he gets to his feet and moves to where he can look out over the town.
“The ghost of Ironhold,” Fifer says.
“He’s been going on that way for some time now,” Miko explains.
The others come to stand near him and see the spirit atop another building on the far side of town. Qyrll makes to move toward Ironhold and James puts a restraining hand on his arm. Qyrll glances to him and sees him shake his head.
“Might not be a good idea to go down there,” warns James.
Mixed desires war within him but he finally sighs and stays put. The spirit stays active for a few more minutes and then again disappears.
“It’s been doing that since shortly after you guys left,” Miko says.
“I really didn’t think the tales we heard were actually true,” admits Jiron. Glancing to James he says, “Think that’s the miner Miko saw?”
“Could be,” replies James. “Though from what Miko said, it wasn’t glowing or making any sound.”
“It’s possible it will only do that at night,” suggests Qyrll.
“Perhaps,” nods James.
They stand there a moment longer before the cold drives everyone but Qyrll back to the fire. Since it doesn’t look as if he has any intention of going to sleep right away, Jiron hollers for him to wake him when it’s his turn at watch. Qyrll nods in reply but never takes his eyes off the darkness concealing Ironhold.
As the night progresses, the visitations of the spirit diminishes until finally coming to a halt sometime after midnight.
Dawn comes, cold and crisp. A high pressure system must be keeping the clouds at bay, the sky is a dazzling crystal blue and frost covers most everything.
When James gets up he sees Miko over near the fire where he’s been trying to keep warm during his shift at watch. Glancing around he notices Qyrll is nowhere around. Coming to Miko he asks, “Where’s Qyrll?”
“He went down to Ironhold,” he replies. “Said something about wanting to investigate where the ghosts appeared.”
“What?” he exclaims. “How long ago did he leave?”
“About a half hour or so,” Miko tells him. “Said not to wake you, that he would be back shortly.”
“Damn!” curses James. He quickly moves around and gets everyone up, telling them that Qyrll has gone into town. “Get up and get ready, we’re going after him.”
“Why?” asks Dave. “He’s a big boy and can take care of himself.”
