The Star of Morcyth_ Book Five of the Morcyth Saga - Brian S. Pratt [108]
Bobbing his head, the young man asks, “Yes sir. Our wagon is around back.” The girl doesn’t look very happy about this but will not gainsay her man.
“Sure,” he replies. Holding his hand out, he adds, “Name’s James.”
With relief evident upon his face, the young man takes his hand and replies, “I’m Kerrin and this is my wife, Gayle.”
“Nice to meat you,” says James. “If you wouldn’t mind going to get your wagon, we would like to leave as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir,” the man says. “Right away and thank you.” The woman gives him a slight courtesy but still doesn’t look happy about the situation.
As the couple goes to get their wagon, James and the others begin mounting. “Are you sure this is such a good idea?” Dave asks.
“What are you worried about?” exclaims Jiron with a grimace. He hates the negativity which always seems to come from him lately.
“Relax Dave,” James says. “It’ll be nice having them along. The more we have, the less likely anyone will trouble us.”
“True,” Uther interjects. “Not to mention giving us something better to look at than Jorry’s sorry mug.”
Turning to his friend, Jorry says, “I wish you would retire that sorry old joke. No one laughs anymore.”
Uther glances around the group and sees them all staring at him, some with disapproving expressions. He says, “Very well.”
Just then from around the corner a wagon turns onto the street, the couple is seated upon the seat. “You know that wagon is going to slow us down a little,” Miko says.
“Some,” replies James with a nod. “But I just couldn’t say no.”
As the wagon draws near, the riders take up position around it and they make their way through town, toward the entrance of the pass.
This pass isn’t nearly as steep as the Merchant’s Pass had been. The road rises much more gradually as the mountains are not as tall. For the first couple of hours they steadily rise toward the summit which looks to be a day or two away.
Riding along, James casts glances back to the couple on the wagon behind them. The man always gives him a cheery smile while the woman simply looks scared. She looks as if she thinks they are going to fall upon them and attack them at any moment.
Miko is riding beside them and is regaling them with stories of their exploits. James smiles at the embellishments which have already crept into the often repeated tales. At least he’s not making any mention of anything important, like the fact he can do magic. He knows James doesn’t like that little tidbit to be talked about, so glosses over those parts. Try as he might, nothing Miko does seems to put the girl at ease. If anything his stories are only making her more nervous.
Maybe it’s the heavily tattooed Qyrll that has her spooked. He does make a rather menacing sight. Qyrll generally keeps his hood over his features since he realizes the reactions people in this part of the world have to him. So it wasn’t until they were an hour into the pass when the hood came off for one reason or another. She gasped in fright when she saw his visage and the others tried to put her at ease but to no avail. Her husband grew nervous for a time but his good natured personality resurfaced and came to accept Qyrll as non threatening.
Near the end of the day, a river appears. It flows through the pass ahead of them alongside the road and then turns more northerly before disappearing into the mountains again. From where the river disappears to the north, the sound of a mighty waterfall can be heard.
They continue along the road as it makes its way along the banks of the river for another hour until the light begins to fade with the coming of night. Finding a suitable spot, they make camp at the edge of the river under the cover of a cluster of trees. Their overhanging branches afford them some protection from the rain that’s still coming down. It’s been falling continuously all day and even though they’ve worn rain gear,