Suddenly from out of the crowd on the street, a porter carrying several boxes appears before him and he crashes into the man. Boxes flying everywhere, James and the man go crashing down to the street.
Miko and Fifer in their haste move past before they even realize what’s happened. When they do, they come to a stop and return to him just as Orlander and his bunch show up.
James pulls out a rock from his pocket as he and the others ready to meet the charge. Then from behind Orlander’s group, several horses appear in the intersection they had just left. Another starburst in the sky and the horsemen turn to race their way.
“No tricks are going to save you this time,” Orlander says as he readies his sword and advances upon him. He takes three steps forward before he hears the thunder of the hooves approaching from behind. Turning, he sees Jiron and the rest bearing down fast. Lurching to the side, he moves out of their way a split second before they would’ve run over him.
Jiron reaches down a hand to James who swings up onto the horse behind him. Qyrll grabs Fifer and Uther takes Miko. They fly down the street away from Orlander. Glancing back, James sees him picking himself off the ground and staring at him, hate in his eyes.
At the next intersection, he signals Jiron to come to a stop. “I still need to talk to the Renlon’s.”
Nodding, he says to the others, “Go back and get their horses, James and I are going back.”
“Are you mad?” Dave asks from his position next to them. “They’ll kill you!”
“Not now Dave,” James tells him. To everyone he says, “Meet us east of town in half an hour or less.”
“We’ll be there,” Fifer tells him.
As the others begin leaving, Dave hesitates. “Go on Dave,” James tells him. “Stay with the others, I’ll be alright.”
Not happy about the situation, Dave turns his horse and gallops after the others.
“Let’s make this fast,” he tells Jiron.
Turning down a side street, they angle their way quickly around town until the complex of Renlon’s Iron appears before them. The whole place looks deserted for the evening save for a single light coming from the window of the office building where he met them the last time.
Coming to a stop before the door, James gets down and says, “Don’t go anywhere.”
Chuckling, Jiron replies, “That’s a dumb thing to say.”
James flashes him a grin and nods. Moving to the door, he opens it and passes through to the other side.
The older Renlon is sitting at the desk as he was the last time. Looking up, his eyes widen is surprise when he sees him come in. “James!” he exclaims coming to his feet. “What are you doing back here?”
Dispensing with the pleasantries, he asks, “Ever heard of a place called Ironhold?”
“Ironhold?” he asks. “What makes you ask about that?”
“I need to find it,” he explains. “Do you know where it is?”
“Sure,” he says. “Just follow the north road out of town and you’ll run right into it.”
“Thanks,” says James as he turns to leave.
“Just a minute,” the senior Renlon says.
Pausing, James turns back and says, “I haven’t much time.”
Nodding, he replies, “I heard about Orlander’s tavern, bad business that. You do that?”
“Yeah,” he says. “Didn’t mean to, things just sort of got out of hand.”
“Heard he wants you in a bad way.” Looking at him with a worried expression he asks, “He didn’t follow you here did he?”
Shaking his head, James says, “I don’t think so.”
“Good, we don’t need that headache,” he replies. Returning to his seat behind the desk he motions for James to sit in the chair opposite him. “About Ironhold,” he begins. “Just what takes you there?”
“Can’t really explain,” is all the answer he’s willing to give.
He looks at him for a moment before saying, “It’s the northern most town in Madoc, situated in the pass leading to the northern kingdoms. Used to be a mining town, been there for as long as I remember. They say it’s haunted.”
“Haunted?” James asks.
“That’s right,” he says, nodding. “Over the last century or so there have been those who have tried to bring those mines back in service. But every time something happens and the project fails.”
“Like what?” he asks.
“Last time the miners claimed apparitions of those who have died in the mines before appeared. Scared them bad and they left. Other times ore carts are found broken apart, things come up missing. I even heard one time several miners disappeared for several days only to be found wandering around in the forest days later.”
“The whole place is cursed,” he warns. “You might wish to reconsider going there.”
James sits there a moment as he digests what he just heard. Then he says, “Nevertheless, I have to go.”
Getting to his feet, the senior Renlon says, “Then be careful.”
“I will,” replies James as he, too, gets to his feet. “I appreciate the warning.”
The door opens and Jiron’s head pops in. “James, we’ve got to go.”
“Be right there,” he says. Turning back he holds his hand out as he says, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” Renlon says, shaking his hand.
Moving quickly to the door, he joins Jiron outside and they mount. He turns to the sound of the door opening and waves to the senior Renlon standing there as Jiron kicks the horse into motion and they bolt away into the night.
As soon as they leave Renlon’s Iron, they turn and ride around the edge of town until they meet up with the others on the eastern side. “Any trouble?” asks Fifer.
Shaking his head, James replies, “No.” He dismounts from behind Jiron and moves over to mount his own steed.
“Did you find out what you wanted to know?” Dave asks.
“Yes I did,” he says. “If we follow the north road out of town, we’ll come right to it.”
“Excellent,” Uther states. “How far is it?”
James’ enthusiasm dampens somewhat when he replies, “I forgot to ask.”
“No matter,” interjects Jiron. “We know where it lies.”
They get their horses in motion and circumvent the town until they reach the north road then turn to follow it. James doesn’t inform them about the strange occurrences at the mines. He figures they have enough to worry about right now. Besides, they could be the overactive imagination of miners left too long alone. Somehow that idea doesn’t bring him any consolation.
Riding through the night, they decide to put many miles behind them before they stop and rest until morning. The road moves through the foothills for the first couple of hours but then finally leaves them behind as it moves into open plains. No inns in sight, they pull off the road and make a camp some ways from the road.
Bellies grumbling from lack of food, they settle into their blankets. The stars are bright overhead which on the one hand is good as there’ll be no rain. But bad on the other as what warmth there is in the air will be gone by morning, escaping back into space.
In the morning as the sun breaks over the horizon, they awaken to find frost covering the grass and their breath fogs in the cold air of a fall morning. Shivering, they break camp and return to the road.
“I’m starving,” complains Dave as they make the road and turn to follow it north.
“We all are,” assures James. “We’ll get something to eat at the next town.”
“If there is a next town,” he hears his friend grumble under his breath.
Sighing, James rolls his eyes and tries not to worry about his friend. Frankly he has too much on his mind. He worries whether or not Orlander will be coming after him, if the Empire has more forces in the area, not to mention those creatures.
Also on his mind is what that crazy guy back in Illion had said. The temple must rise. Then he went and contradicted himself by saying the temple had to fall. He would completely dismiss it if it weren’t for the other things the man had said about shadows and fire. He could’ve been just a crazy man and his ramblings nonsense, but he doesn’t think so. And finally ahead of them is a place he’s been told strange occurrences have been happening for some time. Altogether too much to worry about.