As the miner is about to leave, Dave pipes up. “Ask him,” he says.
“What?” asks James.
With the others looking on, Dave explains. “We’ve come all this way and can’t find what you’re looking for. Maybe he knows.”
The miner stops and glances around at everyone. “I don’t know anything.” He resumes moving quickly away from them.
“Hang on a minute,” James says to the miner.
The miner, having reached the edge of the group, bolts away only to be quickly tackled and returned by Jorry and Uther. “He wanted to ask you a question,” Uther tells him.
Standing once more in front of James, the miner looks at him in trepidation.
“I am on sort of a quest,” he tells the miner, “and it has led me here. Maybe you would be kind enough to aid me?”
Glancing at the others, he realizes he has no choice. “How?” he asks, feet shifting nervously.
Pulling out the medallion, he holds it before the miner. “Have you ever seen this design before?” James asks.
His eyes widen in recognitions. Nodding he says, “Yes, once.”
Getting to his feet, James asks, “Where?”
The miner’s lips twitch in agitation as he gazes into James’ eyes. Pointing off to northeast, he says, “Deep in the mountains near a small lake are some old ruins.” He glances around to see what effect his words are having. “I saw that design on one of the buildings there.”
“Can you take us there?” James asks him.
“Why should I?” questions the miner.
“If you do,” James tells him, “I promise that we will keep the secret of who and what the ghost inhabiting Ironhold really is to ourselves.”
“Otherwise we tell everyone from here to Cardri,” Jiron assures him.
Sighing, the miner says, “Alright. I suppose you want to leave now?”
“That’s right,” replies James.
“Very well,” he says. “I need to get my horse and some supplies before we head out.”
“Jorry, you and Uther go with him so he won’t have a change of heart,” Jiron says.
“Don’t you trust me?” the miner asks.
At that several of them there break into a short laugh. “Hardly,” replies Jiron. To Uther he says, “When he’s got his stuff together, bring him back here.”
“You got it.” To the miner Uther says, “Let’s go.”
As he and Jorry escort the miner to collect his horse and belongings, the others go to retrieve their own horses.
“Now maybe we can get back home soon,” Dave says as he walks next to James back to where the horses are tied.
He said home. Encouraged that his friend may be coming to accept his life here, he feels like a load has been lifted off of him.
They return to the horses, and after doing a proper job on binding Miko’s wound, are soon back at the temple. Another ten minutes and they see Jorry and Uther come walking back with the miner, his horse trailing along behind.
Once they’re all mounted, Jiron asks, “How far is this place?”
“Couple days,” he replies. “It’s not really all that far, it’s just hard to get to.”
“Lead on,” James says. The miner nudges his horse into motion and the others follow.
When they’ve disappeared down the road, two figures leave a nearby building. “Spread the word,” one of them says. “They’re on the move.”
Chapter Twenty Nine
They take the east road out of town and travel for a couple hours. It’s much smaller than the main one going north and south. As it turns out, it does in fact lead to one of the abandoned mines in the area. A small ramshackle cluster of buildings sits several hundred feet from the entrance.
“Every mine in the area had a small group of buildings to house the miners while they worked,” the miner explains to them when they come into view. “These were little more than barracks, the miners spent their off time in Ironhold.”
“How do you know this?” Fifer asks.
“Been here long enough now to piece it together,” he explains.
“Ever seen an actual spirit?” inquires Qyrll.
The miner eyes him before replying. “Never actually saw one, no,” he admits. “But I’ve heard things while here that has set my nerves on edge, could’ve been just the wind.”
They make their way through the buildings, several of which are in need of an extreme amount of repair to make them serviceable. One has a roof that’s collapsed and another has a big hole in the wall, looks like something at one time ran into it.
Past the buildings they head toward the opening of the mine, but turn off onto a small path before reaching it.
Looking at the dark entrance, Jorry asks, “How many mines are there?”
“Three main ones,” the miner replies. “I found several other places where it looked like people had begun a new one but gave up.”
“Where do you mine?” Uther asks.
At that the miner becomes quiet and leads them on in silence for awhile.
The path they’re following is little more than a game trail and at times are forced to ride in single file. In the lead is the miner with James following right behind. Jiron is behind him with Dave next in line. Jorry and Uther have the thankless duty of bringing up the rear. Winding through the trees, the path makes its way through the hills until finally coming to a place where the trees open up. In the valley below is a large lake.
“Is that the lake you were talking about?” James asks as he gazes at the panoramic view. The lake is a startling blue, nestled in against the backdrop of a mountain range to the north. Altogether a stunning scene.
Glancing back to him, the miner replies, “No. That one lies another day or two to the north. We’re going to have to make our way to the left around this lake until we come to a river that flows into it from the lake we’re heading for.”
“Oh,” grunts James.
By the time they get to the shore of the lake, the sun has dipped to the peaks in the distance. “We should stop here and continue in the morning,” the miner announces.
“I agree,” states James. To the others he says, “We’re staying here tonight.”
Dismounting they set about making camp and have a fire going in no time. Sitting around the fire, the miner glances to James and asks, “Just what is your interest in this place anyway?”
“A long time ago, there was a god named Morcyth whose followers were fairly wide spread,” James explains. “Ever heard of him?”
Shaking his head, the miner says, “No.”
“Not surprising, his followers disappeared around five centuries ago.” Taking out the medallion, he shows him the design and says, “This was the symbol for their religion. I’ve been trying to find where the last priests went, you see they disappeared about the same time.”
“And you think they went here?” the miner asks.
“Perhaps,” he replies. “Won’t know until we get there. But it’s likely.”
The night begins to settle in and the stars appear above them. They’ve acquired a good store of wood for the evening, already the temperature has dropped significantly. The clear sky above them tells of another cold night to come.
