Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [59]
From behind him, he hears Tinok break into laughter, “That’s funny.”
“What’s so funny about it?” James angrily turns to him, asking.
Tinok just laughs more as he shakes his head and turns to go back to where the others are getting their camp ready.
“Don’t be too hard on him,” the man says. “Ahlim that is. He’s had a bad lot.”
“We’ll just see how bad it is when I meet up with him again,” James insists.
“Well, good day to you,” the man says. As he returns back to his caravan, James can hear him chuckling to himself.
When he turns back to the others, he can see them trying to hold back smiles whenever he’s looking in their direction. Finally, unable to contain it, they all start to laugh.
“This isn’t funny,” James says, which only makes them laugh the harder.
Their laughter is infectious and soon he’s unable to stop a smile from coming to him. “Okay,” he admits, “maybe it is.”
He goes over to Roland and asks, “Would you be willing to come with me into town to see about getting another wagon and some barrels for water?”
“Sure,” he agrees.
Going back to the others, he announces, “Roland and I are going into town to see about purchasing some barrels for water. Just stay here and watch the wagons, keep everything safe.”
“Not a problem,” Tinok says with his arm around Cassie’s shoulder.
Jiron just nods his head from the back of the wagon where he’s been resting all afternoon.
“Be careful,” Delia advises.
“We will,” James assures her. Turning to Roland, he says, “Ready?”
Roland says a few things to Ezra and then turns to James, nodding his head, “Let’s go.”
James goes over to the wagon with the money box, and takes a large bag of coins out, placing it inside his shirt. Then with a nod to Roland, they begin to walk toward town.
Delia watches them go and then turns to Tinok, saying, “Could you go over and find out what town this is?”
“Why?” he asks.
“There may be deliveries here we could make to give us more coins,” she explains.
“Sure,” he replies and then makes his way over to one of the neighboring caravans.
She watches as he approaches some of the men sitting around a campfire. They exchange a few words and then Tinok returns.
“Zereth-Alin,” he tells her.
Excited, she exclaims, “There are three small packages that are marked for here.” She hurries over to the wagon loaded with the majority of their cargo and begins rummaging through it. She finally comes up with the three packages and looks to Tinok, a gleam in her eye.
“Tinok?” she says with a certain tone to her voice.
“You want me to help you deliver them?” he asks her.
“Yes!” she replies. “Will you?”
He looks over to Cassie sitting there with Ezra, longing to remain with her.
“We could get Cassie a present should we receive any money for these,” she suggests, temptingly.
“Alright,” he says, giving in. “But I want to be back fast.”
“We will,” she assures him, “I promise.” Letting the others know what they’ll be about, they take the three packages and head into Zereth-Alin.
Chapter Eleven
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James and Roland enter the town, and with Roland playing the role of translator, they are directed to a place where they can buy barrels for water, maybe even a wagon to carry them.
On their way, they pass by an inn from which a mouth watering aroma emanates. His stomach growls loudly, insistent on something with more substance than what they’ve been having over the past several days. He gives Roland a grin before altering his course and making a beeline for the entrance.
“What are you doing?” Roland asks when he catches up with him.
“Getting something to eat.”
“What about the others?”
Waving away the question, James says, “We’ll get something for them on the way back.” He pushes open the door and enters the building. The aroma is even more mouth watering here than it was outside. Finding an empty table, they wait for a server, who arrives promptly.
The server says something and then Roland answers as he orders for both of them. When he’s done, he tells James that it’s going to be four coppers and waits