Jiron takes in the scene, Miko having his hands tied behind him and a gag in his mouth. “The miner is no ghost!” he exclaims, drawing both knives as he bolts forward.
Miko lurches toward the miner and knocks him down the stairs. Losing his balance, Miko falls as well and lands upon the steps with a thud.
The miner rolls down to the bottom of the stairs and quickly gets to his feet. One glance at Jiron approaching and all pretense of being a ghost disappears. The man turns and runs for his life down the street.
“Get the miner!” James yells to the others. “I’ll take care of Miko.” As the others take off after the miner, he approaches Miko and helps him to sit up.
With a groan, Miko gets to a sitting position. His leg that had been entrapped in the floor has a blood soaked cloth tied around it, with more blood still oozing through. James removes the gag from his mouth and then uses it to tie around the wound in an attempt to stop the blood loss.
“He came to me up there,” Miko says through gritted teeth. “At first I thought he was a ghost but then he gagged me and got me out of the floor.” Gasping, he stops talking when James tightens the knot securing the rag in place. “Ripped my leg some doing it.”
“I think that will do for now,” he says. “When we get you back to the horses we’ll do a better job.”
“Thanks,” he says.
The sound of approaching feet heralds the return of Jiron and the others. Marching in front of them and looking the worse for wear is the miner. His face is reddening slightly on one side and a trickle of blood can be seen from the corner of his mouth.
“Good job,” says James.
“He almost lost us by ducking into a building but Fifer was smart enough to run around to the other side and tackled him as he left,” Jiron says. Shoving the miner forward toward James he says, “Not much of a ghost.”
Shaking his head, James replies, “They usually aren’t once you figure out what’s really going on.” He glances to Dave with a grin and says, “A man in a mask.”
At first Dave doesn’t know what he’s talking about but then cracks a brief grin as he nods. “I get you,” he says, remembering Saturday morning cartoons.
“What should we do with him?” Uther asks.
“I say we kill him right here,” Jorry threatens.
“No!” the miner cries out. “Don’t kill me. I wasn’t going to hurt anyone.”
“Oh yeah? Then what were you going to do with our friend here?” he asks as he indicated Miko.
Defeated, the man says, “I just wanted to scare you away. I would’ve let him go after awhile.”
“Were you the ghosts we saw last night?” Qyrll suddenly asks.
Glancing at the tattooed visage of Qyrll, the man nods. “Usually that’s all it takes before everyone leaves. You guys wouldn’t go.”
“Have you been doing this long?” James asks him.
“Years and years,” the man explains.
“Why?” Jiron asks.
When the man doesn’t reply, James says, “There are only two reasons I can think of. One, you like your privacy and I somehow doubt that would be the reason. Or two, you discovered something up here you would rather not share with the rest of the world.”
The miner’s eyes widen at the last one and James nods. “Thought so. What did you find?” he asks. “Gold? Gems?”
Staring back in silence, the miner refuses to answer.
Taking a knife out, Jiron asks, “Want me to persuade him to talk?” Holding the knife before the miner, he threatens him menacingly.
“No and put that away,” James tells him. “We don’t need to know that badly.” To the miner he says, “You keep your secrets, I really don’t care.”
“What are you going to do with me?” he asks.
“What should we do with you?” asks James in return.
“I will cause you no more trouble,” the man whines. “If you let me go, I’ll not bother you again. I swear.”
“Very well,” says James, seeing the earnestness in his eyes. “I see no benefit in either your death or keeping you with us. Get out of here.”
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.