Trail of the G.o.ds.

by Brian S. Pratt.

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 pa.s.sed, he lowers his arms which now have many small dots welling blood from where the shards have struck.

"d.a.m.n!" 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? 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. 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 just her way. Roland has no problem calling him James, and to little Arkie, he's Uncle James.

Before leaving his workshop, he picks the shards out of his arm and face. Sighing, he gets up and walks out of his workshop. It's set a ways from the main house since he doesn't want to put anyone but himself in jeopardy with his experiments.

Off to the side, he sees where the workmen are busy with the construction of another house. That one will be the one he'll live in and where his guests will stay. Hern's old house will be Roland and his family's, as long as they're here. Several other buildings are sprouting up as well; a stable that will be large enough to hold over a dozen horses and another barn seeing as how Hern's old one must have been built a century before and is in poor repair.

It had taken him the better part of a week to recover from the fight at the pa.s.s. During his recovery, he arranged to take possession of Hern's old place. He mentioned to Corbin how he would like to have a place around Trendle in which to live. The next day, the mayor showed up personally to give him the deed to Hern's place.

The mayor had refused payment, saying how it's ample reward for what he did for them. At first he was highly flattered that the mayor had troubled himself to come all the way out here to give it to him personally. That is until he realized it had been just an excuse to get away from his wife and spend time with his old drinking buddies.

In the course of one conversation or another since acquiring it, he referred to Hern's old place as 'The Ranch' and the name stuck.

Coming through the back door into the kitchen, he sees the others have already taken their seats at the table. Illan and the rest of Miller's old band are there as well. For some reason, they've attached themselves to James, sort of become his bodyguards. His own private secret service as he's begun to think of them. All that is but Hinney. Ever since his friend Keril died back at the pa.s.s, he's been melancholy. One day, he mentioned having family in a little town in the northern part of Madoc and left the following day to spend some time with them.

"James!" Tersa cries out when she sees the blood welling on his face and arms. Getting up from the table, she takes a towel off the counter and dips it in a bucket of water. Coming over to him, she quickly dabs the blood off, as well as picking out several more pieces of crystal out of his cheek.

"Another mishap?" Jiron asks from where he sits at the table.

"Yeah," he replies. Taking the towel from Tersa, he says, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she replies as she moves back to take her seat.

Moving around the table, he comes to his seat at the head. No one has yet begun to eat, Ezra won't allow it. He's the master of the house and no one better begin until either he's there, or they know he's not coming. Woe to the man who crosses her. Some around the table had learned the hard way the first couple of days they were together. After eating sc.r.a.ps outside after the meal was over for a day, they soon did as she said.

Since taking over the household, she's changed from the sweet nice woman they had traveled with to a stricter disciplinarian. James doesn't care. As long as she maintains order, he'll back her. Besides, she's not so strict with the 'master of the house'.

Once he's seated, they wait for him to help himself first. Another of Ezra's rules, since he's providing, he better be the first one to eat. Taking a bowl of tubers, potatoes really, he places two on his plate. As soon as the first one hits, everyone else begins grabbing the nearest source of food and filling their plates.

"I just can't seem to make it work," he announces to all.

"We know it can," Miko says from James' left. "That large shard we saw over the pool did, so I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out." James had thought that once the Fire was no longer in his possession that he might revert back to his former self. But that wasn't the case. It seems the changes wrought while the Fire had been in his possession are going to be permanent, which saddens him. No one should ever be robbed of his youth like that.

His skill at arms has remained as well, though nothing like it had been while the Fire had taken control. He practices with Illan and the rest, and they say he's one of the best swordsmen they've ever crossed blades with.

It wasn't long after he recovered that the Fire had gone into hiding. He purchased a small iron chest and had Miko place the Fire within. Now, only James knows exactly where it's hidden. He snuck out one night with the chest and buried it.

After swallowing a piece of the tuber, he asks Jiron, "How soon will Delia be back? I used the last of the crystals." Delia, with the funds the ten gems Jiron acquired back in the underground complex, had bought a couple wagons and begun the life of a trader.

Having had a taste of it during their sojourn through the Empire, she decided that's what she wants to do now that they're back. Unable to gainsay her, he handed over the gems. The pit fighters had all agreed to hire on with her as caravan guards, once Jiron had finished talking with them about it.

"Should be any day," he replies. "She had to go all the way to Cardri to get your money from Thelonius."

"I know," he says. He gave her a letter from Alexander, the money lender here in Trendle, for his brother asking him to relinquish James' money. Only way he could've done it without the letter was to go all the way there himself. And Delia was more than happy to do it, for a small fee of course.

Alexander had been more than happy to advance him some money to set up The Ranch and to begin construction. Which brings him to his next problem, he needs to somehow generate a steady flow of income for The Ranch. All these mouths to feed, not to mention any and all supplies he's going to need, will cost many golds. Plus he understands there's a property tax due to the town at the beginning of the year. How is he going to afford all this?

One thing at a time. He needs to get the crystals to hold magic. Where the Fire lies now is not going to be good enough forever and for what he has planned, he needs the crystals to secure the Fire forever.

Tasting the fried chicken, he turns to Ezra and says, "Perfect, as always." She beams as the others at the table offer their appreciation as well. James has realized that she needs him to make some comment about every meal to her. It was during the second dinner she had fixed that he failed to say whether it was good or not. The next day, she was more subdued and he could see that she was troubled by something. He asked Roland what was wrong and he said that she felt he didn't like her cooking. Of course, he immediately went to her and told her he did, which improved her mood immensely.

"It's just that she's insecure and wants to please," Roland told him. "After a while, she'll know you like it and it won't matter if you say anything. Just try to make some comment during every meal, no matter how small, for the next week or so."

He had no problem with that, she really was a great cook.

Outside, a rooster crows from the makeshift coop they threw together out back. Ezra now has dozens of hens and two roosters she has to keep separated or they'll fight each other. Fresh eggs in the morning and fried chicken once a week is reward enough for putting up with them.

"What do you plan to do now?" Illan asks.

"I still have the crystal I originally found," he replies. "I'll probably just study it until Delia shows up with more, though I don't want to risk it. There may be something about it that I'm not seeing, which makes it different than the others."

"Could be," he says. "By the way, I'm going to take the boys out and do some hunting in the forest. See if we can't lay in some supplies."

"Not a bad idea," agrees James.

The sound of a rider approaching the house can be heard before they finish their meal. Illan gestures for Yern to go and see who it is.

From the front room, they hear him call out, "It's Shorty."

James gets up and heads for the front door. As he enters the front room he asks, "Is he by himself?"

Yern turns from the window and nods, "Just him."

Opening the front door, he steps out just as Shorty pulls to a stop. "Anything wrong?" he asks him, worried.

Shaking his head, he pulls a sack filled almost to capacity off his horse and hands it to James. He can see Jiron and Tersa standing in the doorway behind him. "Everything's fine," he a.s.sures them. "We picked up a shipment back in Bearn that had to be in Wurt first thing in the morning, so she sent me here to drop off your stuff."

James opens the sack and finds it stuffed with crystals, the common ones he's been working with. Smiling, he says, "Tell her thank you."

"Will do that," he says as he pulls out a letter. "This is from Thelonius back in Cardri."

Taking the letter, he asks, "Would you like to stay for lunch? We have plenty."

"No, she told me to get back fast before they moved much further down the road," he tells him. Pulling himself back up on his horse, he turns to leave.

"You tell her to stop by when she pa.s.ses through next time," he says to Shorty.

"I'll do that," he replies. "Goodbye, James."

"Bye Shorty," he says. "And thanks again."

Giving him a brief wave, he kicks his horse into a gallop and races back down the road to rejoin the caravan.

As he turns back to the house, he sees Jiron and Tersa standing there. Holding up the sack, he says, "At least she dropped these off before she headed north."

"She wouldn't forget about you," Jiron a.s.sures him.

"No," adds Tersa. "She knows how important those are to you."

Coming back to the dining room, he takes his seat and pulls out some of the crystals and sets them beside his plate. While he finishes his meal, he closely examines them. As far as he can tell, they're exactly the same as the one he took from the underground complex. It has to be with how he's doing it. It has to!

Once he's through eating, he gets up from the table and takes his plate and cup into the kitchen where he sets them on the counter. He knows it annoys Ezra that he does it, the master should not have to clear his own dinnerware. But he just can't leave it there, his mom and then his grandma had ingrained that in him too well.

He returns to the dining room and puts the crystals back in the sack. Illan and the others are beginning to leave for the hunt, "We're going to take Miko with us."

"Good idea," agrees James. "He's pretty good with that crossbow of his."

"So he keeps telling us," Illan replies with a grin.

Miko stands up, all six foot two. He's quite the man physically, but inside, he's still a boy. Giving James a grin, he goes to his room to retrieve his crossbow and bolts.

"Be back by dark," Illan tells him as he leads the others out through the front room. Miko quickly joins them before they get too far away from the house. James watches him as he walks with the others. They've really taken a liking to him, sort of taken him under their wing so to speak. Their initial wariness back at Lythylla has long since worn off.

Ezra and Tersa are busy in the kitchen and dining room, getting everything cleared off and cleaned up. Roland grabs an axe and heads out to lay in some firewood. Though fall is still well over a month away, he needs to get busy so they'll have plenty when it does arrive. James tells them that he'll be going into town for a few hours to see Alexander.

Taking his sack of crystals out to his workshop, he sits them down by his workbench. Then he heads over to the old barn where his horse is currently stabled and prepares him for the ride into town.

A smile comes over him as he remembers that time with Corbin when he first mounted a horse. He's come a long ways since then.

When his horse is ready, he leads him out of the barn and then mounts. Riding out to the so-called road that pa.s.ses by the end of his lane, he pa.s.ses where the workmen are hard at work on the new buildings. They wave to him as he rides by.

Townsmen from Trendle, they're happy to have this work. Seems there are many who are barely able to make it around here and those that got this job are sure thankful. The buildings are going up fast, they should be done before fall gets here. At least that's the general consensus.

As he rides into town, the people on the street pause as they call out a greeting or wave to him as he goes by. Ever since that situation at the estate in the forest, he's become some sort of celebrity around here. He waves back cheerfully, taking it all in stride.

He pulls up in front of Alexander's shop and ties his horse to the post outside. Going in, he finds the same guards as had been there the last time. One opens the door to the back and tells Alexander he's here.

James moves to the window in the wall and Alexander's head appears just as he gets there. "Ah, James," he says. "I take it you've heard back from my brother?"

Pulling the letter out, he hands it over to him.

Taking but a moment, Alexander opens the letter and reads the contents. "Seems you still have quite a sum here," he says. "Do you wish to have the same type of account you had last time?"

"Yes, that would be fine," he replies. "Could I have a hundred golds of that broken into smaller coinage?"

"Not a problem," he says. "Just give me a moment and I'll be right back."

"Okay," replies James as Alexander ducks back inside. He waits there only a couple minutes before he reappears at the window with two bulging sacks of coins.

He sets the sacks of coins down on the window's counter along with several papers. "Here," he says. "I just need your signature on these and we're all set. After taking out what I've already loaned you and the hundred you're taking with you, you still have three hundred and ten golds left."

Nodding, James takes the offered quill and signs where he's told to. Once done, Alexander takes the papers and says, "You're all set. In the sacks there, I put 60 gold coins and 397 silver and 600 copper. That almost wiped me out of what smaller coins I had."

"Sorry," James says.

"Don't worry about it," he a.s.sures him. "I still have plenty."

"Thank you," he says to him as he bends down to pick up the heavy sacks. The guard takes one and escorts him back out to his horse. Alexander says, "Come again if I can help you with anything further."

"I will," he replies as he exits the shop. Securing the sacks behind his saddle takes some doing but with the guard's help, he manages.

He tells the guard thanks for his help and then mounts. So as not to over tax his horse, he takes it slow all the way back, the sacks of coins jingling behind him.

Once back at The Ranch, he goes to the main house and removes the sacks from his horse and takes them into his bedroom where Hern's old money chest sits. It's barely large enough to accommodate the coins but he manages to get the lid closed and the lock secured. Hern had only had two silvers and a handful of coppers in it when he found it.

He's going to have to have Delia acquire him some writing materials so he'll be able to keep a ledger of his spending. It would also be nice to be able to keep notes about his experiments with the crystals.