The Star of Morcyth_ Book Five of the Morcyth Saga - Brian S. Pratt [24]
When the Fire shines Bright,
And the Star walks the Land.
Time for the Lost,
Will soon be at Hand.
At the foot of the King,
Bathe in his Cup.
Pull his Beard,
To make him sit Up.
Seven to Nine,
Six to Four.
Spit in the wind,
And open the door.
When he’s done, he sits back and waits for Ellinwyrd’s response. “Doesn’t make much sense does it?” he asks after Ellinwyrd remains quiet for a few minutes.
“No, it doesn’t,” he replies. “Some of it I understand. The star must mean the Star of Morcyth, not the medallion you’re carrying, but the real one.”
“Oh?” he asks.
“Since your last visit, I’ve been doing research about Morcyth and I’ve come up with several items of note.”
“Such as?” prompts James.
“The Star of Morcyth is the focal point of the god on this world,” he says. “Through it, the old writing says, many wonderful things were accomplished by the priests of Morcyth. Just what, isn’t mentioned.”
“Now the fire which is mentioned, I saw mentioned in the same text as the one which told of the Star. Dmon-Li, the god who obliterated Morcyth’s priesthood also has a focal point in this world, that being the Fire. Through it, terrible things happened. It seems that whoever is in possession of one of these focal points is able to have tremendous power. The text doesn’t say where any of these are, most likely they’re in the possession of the high priest of each order.”
“Interesting,” states James. Nothing new here, just reinforcing what he already knew.
“The next stanza doesn’t seem to make much sense,” says Ellinwyrd with a smile. “I mean who’s going to bathe in a cup at the king’s feet and then pull his beard?”
“I know,” says James.
Suddenly, what sounds like a church bell begins tolling. “What’s that?”
“It signals that the Royal Court will be meeting shortly,” he replies.
Coming to his feet, James says, “I better go then.”
“Surely you don’t plan to present yourself before the Royal Court looking like that are you?” Ellinwyrd asks.
Looking down at himself, he realizes what he means. His travel worn clothes would be ill suited for such an occasion. “What should I do?”
Getting up, Ellinwyrd says, “Follow me.” Moving to the door of his sanctum, he opens it and passes through with James right behind.
“Where are we going?” he asks.
“To get you suitable attire,” is the reply.
Following Ellinwyrd, he moves along the hallway and ascends up a flight of stairs to the next level. Upon reaching the second floor, they move down the hallway and come to a halt before the third door on the right. Removing a key from his robe, he opens the door and enters.
A lone window gives the room some light and James can see this is some kind of storage room. Several chests and dressers are placed about the room as well as two wardrobes.
Ellinwyrd goes over to a table and lights the candle to give them more light, then walks over to one of the wardrobes. “It’s amazing what accumulates over the years,” he says as he opens the door.
Within are five sets of clothes hanging from hangers. All are of good quality and two look to be about James’ size. One is green and the other is a dark brown color. “Take your pick,” he says as he moves back to give him some room. “These were left by various apprentices I’ve had over the years.”
James removes the dark brown set and says, “I like this one.”
“That will do nicely,” he says. “We’ll go down the hall to a room where you can dress without worrying about getting dust all over them.”
Blowing the candle out, he replaces it back on the table and then leads James out of the room and down the hall. Two doors down, he pauses in front of the door as he says, “You can use this one to change.”
Nodding, James opens the door and enters. The room on the other side has but a single bed and dresser, a plain room all things considered. Laying the clothes on the bed, he commences changing. As he’s putting on the new set, he debates whether to wear