Trail of the Gods_ The Morcyth Saga Book Four - Brian S. Pratt [0]
The Morcyth Saga
Book Four
Brian S. Pratt
Copyright 2006, 2008
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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The Fantasy Worlds of
Brian S. Pratt
The Morcyth Saga
The Unsuspecting Mage
Fires of Prophecy
Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li
Trail of the Gods
The Star of Morcyth
Shades of the Past
The Mists of Sorrow*
*(Conclusion of The Morcyth Saga)
Travail of The Dark Mage
Sequel to The Morcyth Saga
1-Light in the Barren Lands
2- (forthcoming)
The Broken Key
#1- Shepherd’s Quest
#2-Hunter of the Horde
#3-Quest’s End
Qyaendri Adventures
Ring of the Or’tux
Dungeon Crawler Adventures
Underground
Portals
The Adventurer’s Guild
#1-Jaikus and Reneeke Join the Guild
For my grandparents who took me places and gave me the joy of travel, and of seeing new sights. The yearly treks to Alberta, Canada where I worked on my uncle’s farm are some of the fondest memories of my childhood.
Thank you both.
Chapter One
_________________________
Easy, not too much now.
He stares across the small room to the focal point of his attention. Slowly, only a minuscule amount at a time, he lets the magic flow. As the magic reaches the object, it activates the latent spells embedded within. He begins feeling a subtle drawing of power as the object absorbs magic from him, and his excitement starts to mount.
A smile begins to break out on his face, he can feel how it draws the magic from its surroundings as well as himself, into itself. A subtle red glow grows within its center as it gradually holds more and more magic.
Bang!
The crystal explodes sending shards all over the room. James holds up his arms in an attempt to protect his face but several of the flying shards still find their mark in his cheek. Once the danger has passed, he lowers his arms which now have many small dots welling blood from where the shards have struck.
“Damn!” he curses as he looks back at what remains of the crystal. The floor around the small table upon which it had sat is strewn with a thin layer of shattered crystal from earlier experiments.
Walking back over to the table, he picks up a large shard, the shard he first acquired in the swamp. The shard which had given him the idea that they may in some way be able to absorb and store magical energy. How’d they do it? Shaking his head, he brings the shard over to his workbench and settles down on the stool. Rolling the shard between his fingers absentmindedly, he thinks about what happened.
Every time, they explode! Why? Can they only hold so much power before they blow? If so, then how much?
A knock at the door brings him out of his reverie. “Yes?” he calls out.
Ezra’s voice can be heard from the other side, “Lunch is ready, sir.” Her grasp of the language has improved, especially since she is now completely immersed in it. She still has an accent and he hopes she never grows out of it, he enjoys listening to the way she speaks.
“Be right there,” he hollers back.
Still, he wishes she would stop calling him sir. When he first came to live at Hern’s old place, he asked Roland and Ezra to come work for him to help take care of the place. He figured he would be gone most of the time or just not have the time or inclination to do it himself. Also, it seemed like a nice thing to do. They agreed and from that point on, she had called him sir.
He spoke to Roland about it, but Roland just shrugged and told him that it was