Free The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five by Brian S. Pratt Page B

hallway which opens up on a
large audience hall, crowded with spectators. Before he can get a
better look, the door shuts.
    Glancing around the room, he finds a vacant
chair over against the wall across from the doors and makes his way
over. Sitting down, he leans back comfortably and takes in the
people waiting in the room with him.
    Several look like local business men while
others appear to be of a higher social standing. One gentleman in
particular is dressed in clothes of obvious superior quality and
has what can only be called an ‘uppity’ attitude. James wonders
what such a man is doing here.
    “Excuse me?” a voice next to him brings him
out of his reverie.
    A man of low standing judging by the state
of his clothes is standing next to him. “Yes?” he says.
    “Wonder how long they’ll be in there?” the
man asks.
    Shrugging, James replies, “I don’t know.
Probably as long as they want.”
    “True,” agrees the man. He has a beat up hat
in his hands which he is nervously fidgeting with.
    “Nervous?” James asks.
    “What?” the man asks, seeming to have spaced
out for a moment. Coming back to the moment, he says, “A
little.”
    James wishes the man would just go bother
someone else, he has way too much on his mind.
    Just then, the doors to the audience chamber
open and the officious looking man appears. “Farmer Tibbins?” he
states loudly.
    The man next to James suddenly drops his hat
and his face turns pale. “H…here,” he stammers, voice cracking.
    “The Royal Court is ready for you,” the man
tells him.
    Bending over to pick up his hat, James can
see his hands are visibly shaking. “Relax,” he says quietly to
farmer Tibbins.
    The hat again in his hands, he glances at
James and then makes his way to the double doors. After he’s passed
through, the doors once more close shut.
    One by one, the people who were there ahead
of him are summoned through the double doors, none of which come
back out. James figures there must be another exit for those with
whom the Court is finished.
    Most of the people are not nearly as nervous
as farmer Tibbins had been, perhaps they’re simply petitioners for
one thing or another. He sits there and wonders just what that
farmer had done which would warrant such a reaction of nervousness.
He may never know.
    Over an hour after he initially arrived, the
doors open up and the officious looking man announces, “The mage
known as James.”
    Getting up, he approaches the double doors.
He can hear gasps from some of those who heard what the man had
just said. Every eye in the room is on him as he makes his way
across the room to the double doors.
    As he reaches them, the officious man turns
and leads him into the room. The double doors shut behind him with
a resounding thud.

Chapter Six
_________________________

    “You’re full of it!” the boy says to
Miko.
    “Am not!” he asserts. “There are lizards
bigger than all of us here put together way down south.”
    Miko has accumulated quite a gathering of
the local youths around himself. At first when he left the inn, he
wasn’t sure just how to find out what James wants to learn. How he
used to do it is no longer an option seeing as he’s more a man than
boy now.
    His first stop had been to a bakery where he
bought a bag of tarts. To him, tarts are the best tasting delight
he’s ever experienced. Shortly after the bakery, he was standing by
a chandler’s shop when a youth walked by. For some reason he held
out a tart and offered it to him.
    At first the lad eyed him with suspicion. He
completely understands how the lad is feeling, he’s been on the
other side more times than he can count. Whenever a person offers
someone from the street something, there’s usually a catch.
    He took the tart hesitantly and bit into it.
It wasn’t long before several more youths showed up and before he
knew it, his bag of tarts was empty.
    Better than almost anyone else, Miko knew
what drove these kids, their needs