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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