Read Online The Star of Morcyth: The Morcyth Saga Book Five by Brian S. Pratt - Free Book Online Page A

left.
    “I’ll try,” replies Jiron though from the
tone of his voice he isn’t planning on trying too hard.
    “You have the letter the herald gave you?”
Illan asks.
    Patting the pouch at his waist, he says,
“Right here.”
    “Good, you’ll probably need it to get in to
see the Royal Court,” Illan advises.
    “That’s what I figured.” Getting up, he says
his goodbyes. Waving a farewell to Miss Gilena, he heads for the
door and is soon out on the street. Moving toward the gates to the
castle area, he goes down several blocks and notices Miko standing
with a bunch of older youths near the side of a building. In his
hands is a bag of tarts which he is sharing with the others. James
just chuckles at that. That’s one way to get the locals to open
up to you. What amazes him is how he got them so fast.
    The gates to the castle area are well
guarded and when he approaches, one of the guards comes forward and
asks him his business.
    “I would like to talk to Ellinwyrd, the
Archive Custodian,” he tells the guard.
    “Does he know you’re coming?” the guard
asks.
    Shaking his head, he explains, “No. I
arrived into town last night and he told me that if I was ever in
the area to stop by.”
    The guard looks him up and down, as if he’s
trying to assess the validity of what he just said. Motioning for
one of the junior guards to come over, he asks James, “What’s your
name and business with him?”
    “My name is James,” he says. “I came through
some time ago and he was nice enough to help me with a bit of
research. My business I will explain to him.”
    Looking to the junior guard, the first guard
says, “Go tell the Archive Custodian that James is here and would
like to speak with him.”
    “Yes, sir,” the guard replies, then moves
through the gates and is soon out of sight.
    The first guard stands there near James
while they wait. He has him move to the side to allow people to
pass through from one side to the other. None of the people passing
through look even vaguely familiar to him. Which isn’t very
surprising since he didn’t spend all that much time in this area
last time he was here.
    The one person he’s hoping to see or maybe
even get to talk to is the Princess Alliende. Her smile she flashed
him when he passed through the last time sent a thrill through
him.
    Ten minutes after the guard left, he returns
with one of the palace pages. To the lead guard he says, “Ellinwyrd
said to allow him to enter.”
    Nodding, the guard turns to James and says,
“This page will take you in to see him.”
    “Thank you,” James tells them as the page
begins moving back into the castle area. From what he can remember,
they follow along the same path as he was taken the last time. When
they reach the courtyard with the four tiered fountain, beside
which he had previously seen the princess, a feeling of
disappointment comes over him when she isn’t present. He sighs.
    The page ahead of him pauses and then turns
back to him, “You alright sir?”
    “What?” asks James. “Oh, yeah I’m fine.”
    Giving a quick nod, the page turns and
resumes his trek to the Archives. Coming to the familiar building,
the page leads him up the steps and opens the door. Allowing James
to enter first, he then closes the door behind them and quickly
moves past him to lead the way down the corridor.
    Coming to the double wooden doors with
Ellinwyrd’s symbol engraved upon its surface, the page stops and
knocks upon the door. From within an ‘Enter’ can be heard and the
page opens the door. Standing aside, he motions for James to
precede him into the room.
    The room on the other side of the door
hasn’t changed all that much, still containing disorganized piles
of books and scrolls lying about the floor and tables. The state of
the room bothers him, being a lover of books as he is.
    “Thank you Michael,” Ellinwyrd says from his
seat across the room.
    Michael gives him a brief bow, then a nod to
James before leaving