Jiron makes his way toward it and asks, “Doesn’t this look familiar?”
James comes over and takes a closer look. It’s a roughly four foot high pedestal with a small platform atop it. Upon closer examination, the platform has the Star of Morcyth engraved within it. Glancing back to Jiron he shakes his head, “No, I can’t place it.”
“It’s the same as the one we found back in the City of Light when we first met,” he explains.
“Right, under your hideout,” he says. Now it comes to him. When he and Jiron first met, they ended up having to flee through an underground secret passage which the medallion had opened. There they found a room with a marble pedestal with a crystal platform on top similar to this one. Only that one, instead of having the Star of Morcyth engraved within it, had an open space within it in the shape of an inverted pyramid.
He reaches up and tries to remove the platform but it is an integral part of the altar and doesn’t budge. The one in the City of Light had revealed a secret door when removed. He tries putting the Star diagram of his medallion on the Star of the platform but that fails to yield any results.
The others have spread out to search the building, Fifer and Qyrll take the stairs to the upper level and return shortly. “Nothing up there but a couple rooms filled with moss covered furniture.”
“Let me see,” says James and he takes the stairs up. Two rooms sit across from each other at the top of the stairs and after a brief examination, turns up nothing.
As he comes back down, Jiron says, “I don’t think you’ll find anything in here.”
“Why not?” James asks.
“Remember the riddle from Saragon?” he replies. “It said ‘At the foot of the king, bathe in his cup.’ Seems to me the ‘cup’ would be the lake out there.” He then points out the open window to where they can see the lake a short ways away.
He contemplates that for a minute, and after another quick glance around the temple says, “You may be right.” He then turns to Fifer and says, “Take the others and see if you can find a building we can use as a headquarters while we search the area. Get the horses settled in and gather wood, we may be here a while.”
“You got it,” he says. Taking Qyrll, Jorry and Uther with him, he takes care of it.
Leaving the temple, James and the rest move toward the lake. Jiron turns to the miner and asks, “Is there another way out of here?”
“Why?” he asks.
“In the event the Empire’s forces show up, we may not have the option of returning the way we came,” he explains.
“I’m not sure,” he admits. “I only came here once and that was years ago.”
Glancing around at the area surrounding them, he hopes there may be another way out. The fact that the Empire’s soldiers had been camped around Ironhold makes him nervous. Despite not having seen any evidence of them being followed, he knows they’re out there somewhere.
At the water’s edge, James comes to a stop and looks around. He mumbles to himself, ‘At the foot of the king, bathe in his cup. Pull his beard to make him sit up.’ Gazing first one way and then the other, he doesn’t see anything which could remotely be considered a beard.
The water doesn’t even come to the edge of the mountain. Rather it ends several hundred feet before, most of the buildings sit between the water and where the mountain begins its rise.
“Maybe you have to get into the water,” suggests Jiron.
Turning to glance at him he exclaims, “Are you crazy? That water must be at or near freezing. I wouldn’t last more than a minute.”
“Yeah,” adds Dave. “Think next time.”
Jiron turns a cold stare toward him which is returned with equal intensity. His hand is flexing upon a hilt of one of his knifes and only the presence of James prevents him from killing Dave on the spot. Getting his anger under control, he returns his attention to James and says, “It did say ‘Bathe in his cup’.” Gesturing to the water he adds, “That seems to be the only thing around here which could be considered a cup.”
James brings his gaze to the water and a shiver runs through him as he contemplates the idea of entering its frigid depths. “Man I don’t want to do that,” he says. “If we can’t come up with another theory, I’ll do it tomorrow. Until then, let’s try to figure another way.”
“As you will,” he says.
The sound of someone approaching from the town causes him to turn and see Fifer walking toward them. “We found a building which will suffice,” he says. “It has all four walls still intact and most of the ceiling. It’s large enough for us as well as the horses, might’ve been an inn.”
“Good,” says James. Glancing to where the sun is reaching toward the peaks to the west, he turns to Jiron and says, “We better make sure to post a watch tonight. Don’t want the Empire getting the drop on us now, not with us being so close and all.”
“I figured as much already,” he says. “Two to a watch.”
They follow Fifer back to the building he’s staked out for their headquarters. It does look like an inn, there are several rooms off the ground floor but they’re all planning on staying together in the common room. Better to keep warm that way.
Once there, James tells the miner that he’ll no longer hold him should he wish to depart.
“If it’s all the same with you guys, I’d just as soon stay,” he says. “With all the talk of the Empire being out there, I wouldn’t want to head back alone.”
“You’re more than welcomed to stay,” James assures him.
James and Dave have the first watch. They figure Dave will be okay on watch as long as he’s with his friend. No one else would have him any way.
Bundling up tight, he and Dave leave the inn after having a quick meal and set about finding a spot from which they can keep an eye on what’s going on. A nearby building with an upper story will work out perfectly. One wall has caved in and most of the upper area has as well. From up there they have an unrestricted view of almost the entire settlement.
“Can’t we have a fire?” asks Dave after ten minutes of freezing in the cold breeze.
“We dare not risk it,” replies James. “Besides ruining our night vision, anyone in the area will know we’re up here.”
Teeth chattering, Dave says, “I don’t care, I’m freezing!”
“Relax, it’s only another hour before we go get Jorry and Uther for their watch.” The darkness is beginning to settle in and it isn’t long before they can’t see much more than shadows.
Their watch passes uneventfully and Dave is quite happy when they return to the warmth of the inn and wake Jorry and Uther for their turn at watch. James explains to them where the lookout they found is and they’re soon out the door.
Dave settles in by the fire, dropping off to sleep quickly. James on the other hand sits up for awhile as he tries to figure out another way other than getting into the water.
Chapter Thirty
The following morning, the only alternative James could come up with is constructing a raft and floating out upon the surface. If that fails to produce any results then he’ll brave the icy water.
It takes them some time to construct a raft large enough to support him safely. Miko suggested for him to use his magic in the effort but he was simply too concerned with there being another mage in the area who might pick up on it. If a mage was with the Empire’s force, who knows what he would do should he detect magic being used.
So it took longer than it could have but they finally put one together before lunch. James is more than happy to put off going out there while they take a break and have something to eat.
“What are you looking for out there?” Jorry asks during their meal.
“I don’t really know,” he replies. “On the face of it, it seems kind of dumb.”
“Prophecies are often that way,” agrees Uther. “They make no sense until it’s time for them to be understood.”