Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [53]
“I think I have,” he suddenly admits.
“Oh?” she says. “And what makes you believe that?”
“Ever since coming here,” he says trying to avoid mentioning where he’d really come from, “there’s been this little creature, about four and half feet tall. He appears and disappears in unusual fashions.”
“And?” she asks, prompting him to continue.
“And, well, he gave me the Star of Morcyth,” he explains. “Could he be Morcyth? He denies it though.”
Shaking her head, she says, “I doubt it. Every god has minions who deal with the mortal world. This creature may be one of Morcyth’s on this world.”
“But he doesn’t act like any I’ve heard of before,” he tells her. When she glances at him, he continues, “I mean, he takes me to get pizza, that’s a food where I come from. And then he takes me to a place of fun and amusement I used to visit as a child. It all seems rather pointless.”
“I doubt if it is pointless,” she says. “The gods and their minions never give straightforward directions to those from whom they want something. But whatever he’s been doing, there’s a meaning behind it. Usually the one who’s experiencing it will understand at the appointed time.”
“But why wouldn’t they just come out and say it?” he asks.
“I don’t know,” she admits. “But that is the way they work, mostly. What you need to do is think hard about what transpired during each visitation and see if anything has a meaning other than what happened.”
“Take my dream about the falling star,” she says. “Did it mean a star actually fell? No, it was pertaining to you coming here. Why you were to come here remains unclear, but here you are. The gods see far into the future, or rather paths that the future may follow.”
“Paths?” he asks.
“Yes,” she replies. “Let me explain. Say I wanted you to go from here to my house. If I asked you to, you would turn and go straight there. But if I saw that the result of that would be for you to fall and hurt yourself, then I may not tell you to go there, but arrange, through another series of events for you to make it there by another path. A series of events that would enable you to go without hurting yourself. Does that help you understand?”
Nodding his head, he says, “I think so.”
“Good,” she says. “Now, you should try to go back to sleep if you can.”
“Alright,” he says, yawning. “I am getting tired again. Will you be alright here alone?”
Smiling at him, she nods and says, “I’ll be fine, but thank you for your concern.”
James gets up and walks back into the house where he pauses by the window again as she begins her song once more. He looks out and sees the three little creatures once again standing around her in rapt attention.
He goes over to his bedroll and lies down, letting the sound of her voice lull him to sleep.
When he wakes up in the morning, he sees Jiron sitting at the table holding a necklace of beads and hair. As he gets up, Jiron turns and waves him over to the table. “Here,” he says as he hands him a note that was lying on the table. Taking the note, he reads what’s written on it:
James,
Take this necklace, it will prove useful in the days ahead,
Lyria
He looks around and Jiron says, “She’s not here. I looked for her but she’s nowhere on the island. The boat’s still here though.”
Over on a side table is stacked a bunch of fruit and roots, “I guess we’re suppose to take those with us?” he assumes. The idea of having something more than meat makes his mouth water.
“It looks that way,” Jiron replies. “They weren’t there last night.” And then he indicates where three jackets and a tunic are lying on another small stand against the wall.
James examines the necklace for a moment, a leather string with beads and a four inch length of braided hair hanging from the middle. “Wonder what this is for?” he asks.
Shrugging, Jiron says, “A charm perhaps?”
“I don’t think so,” replies James. “There’s no magic to it.” He looks at it for a moment more before putting it into his belt pouch. Looking over to Miko who’s still sleeping, he says, “Guess we better wake him and get going.”
Jiron gets