“You okay?” he asks Jiron.
Giving him another slight nod he turns away and walks out of the lighted area into the night. Qyrll and Fifer go with him.
He watches him stalk away, saddened by the fact he used his power on him. Jiron has always been a trusted companion and with any luck this won’t come between them. Returning his attention to his friend Dave, he kneels down next to him.
Laying a hand upon his chest, he gives him a little shake and says softly, “Dave.” When he receives no reaction, he shakes him more vigorously, “Dave, wake up!”
Eyes flying open, they look around quickly but then finally focus on James’ face there before him.
“How are ya doing?” he asks, concern for his friend in his voice.
“Where’s Jiron?” he asks in reply.
Nodding off to the side, he says, “Over there somewhere. He won’t bother you again.”
Sitting up, Dave looks around at the others staring at him, distrust and a little bit of anger is all he sees. “I’m sorry for everything James,” he finally says.
“It’s alright Dave,” assures James. “I understand.” Getting up, he holds out a hand.
Taking it, he makes it to his feet. His jaw is sore from where Jiron connected with it but otherwise still serviceable.
James glances around and that’s when he notices the outcropping where Jiron hit is cracked. He didn’t think Jiron hit all that hard but a one inch crack runs down the side. Intrigued for some reason, he moves toward it and realizes the crack is much too straight and even to be the result of the impact.
Uther comes up behind him and says, “Maybe we should resume the search in the morning when there’s more light and everyone has had a chance to calm down.”
Not paying him any attention, James reaches out to the crack and inserts his fingers within it. Pulling slightly, the crack widens and then the piece of outcropping suddenly comes loose and falls to the ground with a crash.
“Would you look at that,” Jorry says from where he and Uther are standing behind James. Everyone moves closer to look, even Jiron comes out of the dark to see what’s going on.
On the face of the outcropping where the other piece detached is engraved the Star of Morcyth. “James,” Miko breathes in anticipation, “use your medallion.”
Taking it out, he removes it from around his neck and sets it in the diagram. When nothing happens, he tries to turn it and a good portion of the rock surrounding the Star rotates a quarter turn before stopping.
From further up the outcropping, a grinding noise can be heard as a section of the rock face rises. Jiron rushes over and peers inside. He glances to where James and the others are watching, “Stairs and they go down.”
“That’s it!” exclaims James. Removing the Star from the diagram in the outcropping, he places it around his neck again and hurries over to where Jiron stands next to the opening. The glowing orbs illuminating the clearing suddenly wink out and a single one springs to life on the palm of his hand. “Let’s go,” he says as he moves through the opening and begins to take the stairs down.
Jiron and Dave both move to be the next to follow, but after a warning glare from Jiron, Dave backs down and is the third through. Even the miner goes with them, intrigued by all the unusual happenings. Of course most likely he didn’t want to remain out there all by himself.
Finally, Jorry and Uther bring up the rear and the clearing is once more dark and quiet.
Chapter Thirty One
The first thing James notices after entering the opening is a slight breeze coming from within. It brings the smell of earth and mustiness with it. Twenty steps bring him to a small narrow way carved out of the rock. Barely wide enough to allow one man to walk without scraping his shoulders, it extends further into the mountain.
“Be careful,” Jiron says to him.
“Hadn’t planned on not being careful,” he replies.
He follows the narrow passageway and eventually comes to a natural cavern that’s barely large enough for them all to fit. One section of the wall on their right has been smoothed and seven recesses have been carved into the surface.
Six of the recesses sit in two rows, one atop the other. The first and third in each row are of uniform size and each center recess is a third of the size of the others. It goes: large, small, large. The seventh recess is a foot away from the others along the wall and contains many small iron cubes.
Miko moves to the cubes and picks one up. Rust has begun to eat away at it but the cube hasn’t deteriorated very much. Holding it up for James to see he says, “Wonder what these are for?”
“I don’t know,” James replies. Glancing around he realizes the only way for them to leave is the way they came. The breeze he’s been feeling is coming through a small narrow fissure in the wall on the opposite side from where the recesses lie.
“Another secret door?” Jiron asks. He remembers all the other times when it looked like there was no way to proceed and each time James had managed to discover a secret door.
“I would think so,” he says. “Everybody stand back and give me room.” He begins examining the walls with his fingers, checking every nook and cranny. When he gets to the fissure where the breeze is blowing through he brings his orb close to try to look through to the other side but is unable to see anything. Spending extra time there, he fails to find anything and then moves on.
“Going to use your magic?” Jiron asks.
Shrugging he says, “If I have too. But let’s see if it can be figured out without that. Might attract unwanted visitors, though they may already know we’re here anyway.”
“At the foot of the king, bathe in his cup, pull his beard to make him sit up,” Fifer says from where he’s standing watching James do his thing. “That makes sense now. At the base of Kiliticus, you got on the water and saw a bearded figure made by the shadows cast by the setting sun. At the spot where the shadow’s beard lay, we pulled down a piece of the outcropping and with your medallion, a piece rose up.”
He glances over to where James had paused in his search to listen to him. “Maybe the next set of lines will aid us here.”
Seven to Nine,
Six to Four.
Spit in the wind,
And open the door.
“That’s the last of the prophecy,” he says.
“Okay then,” says Fifer. “There’s a breeze coming through here so that could be the wind. But what does seven to nine and six to four have to do with anything?”
“How about these?” suggests Miko. Everyone turns and sees him there with one of the iron cubes in his hand. “These have to be here for a reason.”
“Could the numbers mentioned in the prophecy correlate to the two rows of holes in the wall?” Qyrll asks.
Coming to where Miko stands before the iron cubes, James does a quick count and finds there probably could be enough to put the specified numbers in each of the four major recesses. “Let’s see,” he says as he and Miko begin taking the cubes from their resting place and putting them in the recesses.
On the top row they put seven cubes in the left one and nine in the right. The second row gets six in the first one and four in the last. “There’s still some left over,” Miko says as he points to the four cubes left.
“That’s probably to throw off whoever makes it this far,” suggests James. “Without the prophecy they would be trying to use them all and it wouldn’t work.”
Nodding, he replies, “Makes sense.”
They all hold their breath for a moment, expecting something to happen, but the room remains quiescent. “Nothing’s happening,” Uther says.
“Maybe you should spit into the wind,” the miner suggests. When James turns to look at him he shrugs and
