The Mists of Sorrow_ Book Seven of the Morcyth Saga - Brian S. Pratt [231]
“Then he can’t be too much further,” James says encouragingly. Already the sphere has moved further down the corridor. It hovers at the edge of the orb’s light as it waits for them to follow.
Jiron again takes the lead as they hurry to catch up with the sphere. Once they’ve come within ten feet of it, it resumes its progress down the corridor. After following it for another twenty feet or so, a red glow begins to be seen ahead of them. Motioning for the others to come to a stop, Jiron moves ahead to check it out.
The sphere continues to proceed down the corridor toward the red glow, then it reaches the top of a stairwell and begins to descend. The stairwell is where the glow is originating.
Jiron immediately comes to a stop and hurries back to the others. “That glow is coming from a set of stairs leading down,” he tells them.
“Did you hear anything?” James asks and Jiron shakes his head in reply.
“I think when we find the source of the glow, we’ll find your friend,” Brother Willim says. “We’re very close to whatever is going on.” Beside him, Miko nods in agreement.
“Then we don’t need the sphere anymore?” James asks.
“I doubt it,” replies Brother Willim. “And if we’re close, it could give us away prematurely.”
Canceling the sphere, James says, “It’s gone.” Then to Jiron he says, “Lead on.” Giving James a nod, Jiron moves to return back to the head of the stairs.
A growing sense of fear and doom has been developing within James since before they found the cells back behind them. And when the red glow first appeared, the sensation increased. Now standing at the top of the stairs, he feels the fear become an almost palpable force.
“You okay?” asks Brother Willim.
“I don’t know,” he replies.
Brother Willim glances from James and Jiron and can see the fear James is feeling reflected in Jiron’s eyes. “Wait a moment,” he says. Then he reaches into his robe and pulls forth a small crystal vial.
“What’s that for?” asks Jiron.
“It will help with the fear you are feeling,” he explains.
“I’m not feeling any fear,” Miko says.
“No, I wouldn’t think you would be,” replies Brother Willim. “You are after all a High Priest. The power of Morcyth shields you from such things.” He removes the stopper and pours out a single drop of the liquid contained within the vial upon his finger. “This is Asran’s Tears,” he says. When James looks questioningly, he adds, “Holy water in the simplest term.” He then takes the drop of holy water and rubs it across James’ left eyelid. Pouring out another drop, he does the same to his right eye.
As soon as both eyes have been treated, the fear that was threatening to take the heart from him subsides to a more tolerable level. “I can still feel it,” he tells Brother Willim.
Administering the holy water to Jiron’s eyes, he says, “It won’t remove all fear, just help you not be overcome by it.” When he finishes with Jiron, he stoppers the vial and replaces it within his robe.
Next to him, a Little Brother is beginning to behave in a most excitable manner. He looks at the earth spirit and says, “We need to hurry.”
“Why?” asks Jiron. Then all at once, a wave of evil rolls over them.
“It’s happening,” Brother Willim says as he races for the stairwell.
“What’s happening?” James asks as he rushes to follow.
Jiron beats him to the stairs right after Brother Willim and they move quickly down the steps. The further they descend, the more intense the red glow becomes. Moving down the steps, they finally come to a place where the wall on their right suddenly ends and opens up onto a large cavern.
Brother Willim comes to a stop just past where the wall ends and stares down at the cavern floor. “Lord Asran!” he exclaims.
James comes to a stop next to him and looks down. His eyes are immediately drawn to a massive red, somewhat dome shaped area with traces of black running through it. Seeing it there in the center of the cavern floor, he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is where the wave of evil had originated.
A dark