Unsuspecting Mage

by Brian S. Pratt

  Wisps of conversations drift from the camp, but they are too far away to accurately make out what is being said. There looks to be about fifty men around those fires and most are wearing armor. From what is revealed by the flickering campfires, it looks like they have constructed defensive fortifications across the road.

  “I doubt if that would hold out anybody,” Miko whispers to James as they drift past the end of the encampment and come to the fortifications.

  “So do I,” he agreed. “Maybe it’s just to delay an attacker until they get further back into the mountains. Though from what we’ve heard, it’s unlikely the Empire will move against Cardri, at least not for a while.”

  They continue to drift until the fires from the encampment can no longer be seen. The silhouette of the mountains against the night sky shows that they, too, are beginning to drop away, becoming rolling hills. Deciding that they are far enough away, James takes the oars and brings them to the northern side of the river, opposite to the side the encampment they passed was on.

  Beaching their boat among a patch of bushes, Miko helps him pull it further up the shore away from the water and hide it. “Let’s get some sleep before the sun comes up. Then we can see where we are and decide whether to follow the river or continue overland.”

  Miko lies down near the boat beneath a large bush with reddish, purple flowers. Using one of the bags for a makeshift pillow he says, “Sounds good to me.”

  James gets comfortable in the shelter of another of the flowering bushes and soon both are asleep, exhausted from the long day.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  _______________________

  The morning dawns sunny and clear. The temperature has already risen quickly, foreshadowing the hot day to come. Once awake, James peers from beneath the bush to discover where the river had brought them. Off to the west rise the mountains they passed through the day before, still close enough to be imposing. On the opposite side of the river lies a road matching its course as it makes its way from the mountains. On this side, grass covered hills roll northward with the occasional trees scattered about.

  “Looks like if we stay on the river we’ll continue to follow the road for a while,” he observes.

  “Good,” replies Miko. “I would just as soon not walk.”

  “Me too,” agrees James. “Let’s get the boat back onto the water and continue further down to see if there’s a town where we can get a couple of fast horses.”

  Putting their things back in the boat, they push it to the water’s edge where Miko hops in first. James pushes the boat the rest of the way out onto the water before jumping in. As the boat floats away from the shore, Miko takes the oars and brings them to the middle of the river. Adding his efforts to that of the current, he keeps a steady rhythm with the oars as they move along.

  They hadn’t gone very far before a column of dust is seen rising up to the sky to the east. As they steadily move toward it, they are soon able to tell the dust plume is the result of hundreds of men marching eastward along the road with a wagon train trailing along behind.

  When James realizes they will shortly be drifting past an army on the move, he takes the oars from Miko and brings them quickly to the north shore, beaching their boat. “Think that’s the Empire’s army?” he asks Miko after they get out.

  “Could be,” he replies, staring at the men in the distance. “Hard to tell from here.”

  “I think it would be wise to assume they are the Empire’s for now,” James suggests. “We better leave the river and head overland.”

  Miko takes the bags from the boat as he says, “Yeah, let’s hurry and get out of here.” When the bags are situated about his person, he looks back at the soldiers and asks, “Wonder where they’re going?”

  “Don’t know, but we better find some horses soon or we’ll never get ahead of them and beat them to the City of Light.” Picking up his backpack, he slings it across his shoulder and sets out to the northeast, angling slightly more north than east to begin putting distance between them and the soldiers.

  As they walk James scans the ground and gathers several fair sized stones, placing them in his pocket.

  Miko sees what he’s doing and asks, “Expecting trouble?”

  “Never know,” he replies as he bends over to pick up another, “but it’s best to be prepared.”

  “Wish I still had my crossbow,” Miko says, thinking of the crossbow left under the stairs with the rest of their things in the abandon keep.

  Nodding, James hurries them along.

  They travel for no more than half an hour when dozens of people appear on the horizon ahead of them. Some are running but all are making the best speed they can. Several have small children in tow, others are burdened with bundles either tied to their backs or carried in their arms.

  “Must be refugees fleeing from another town the Empire has taken,” James guesses. “Or is about to.”

  “What’ll we do?” asks Miko, obviously concerned seeing as how the refugees are heading their way.

  Coming up behind the fleeing people and riding hard to overtake them are six riders wielding clubs. As the riders reach the stragglers, they strike them in the head with their clubs, felling them. Then they leave them where they lie as they race to the next fleeing refugee.

  Behind the riders roll three wagons, each trailing a line of naked people, both men and women of varying age. Out in front of each wagon walk two people who, when they come to a felled refugee, start slapping or hitting them until they regain consciousness. Once they’ve regained consciousness, they are pulled to their feet, stripped of their clothes and then have their hands tied behind them. After that they are taken and added to the line of naked people behind the wagon.

  “Slavers!” James says in disgust. He stands there watching them for a moment as a woman carrying a baby gets struck in the head. As the woman falls, the baby goes flying out of her arms and strikes the ground where it begins crying piteously. The mother doesn’t lose consciousness and crawls over to her baby, wrapping her arms protectively around it. In a vain attempt at escape she attempts to crawl away. When the wagon comes, one of the men pulls the baby out of her arms. James can hear the woman’s scream as she tries to hang onto her child. The man strikes her across the face with his fist and rips the baby from her arms. With the mother’s pleas falling on deaf ears, the man returns to the wagon and hands the baby to someone inside. He then returns to the wailing woman, and dragging her by the hair, takes her to the rear of the slave line trailing behind the wagon. There she is stripped and put in line with the others.

  “James!” Miko says as he pulls on his arm insistently, “we have to get out of here!”

  Shaking his head, James says, “No.” He turns his head to look at Miko and says, “You don’t have to stay.” Turning back toward the oncoming horsemen, he reaches inside his pouch and grabs several of the stones he collected and holds them in his left hand. He then takes one in his right and starts walking toward the horsemen.

  “Crap!” he hears Miko say behind him as the boy follows him into battle.

  One of the horsemen is fast approaching a man who is carrying a bundle on his back. The man looks back and sees the horseman almost upon him. Tossing the bundle aside, he breaks into a run. The horseman closes with him and raises his club to bludgeon the man to the ground. Suddenly, something strikes him in the chest, going through the leather armor he’s wearing and blasting out the back. He looks at his chest for a moment in disbelief before toppling off his horse, hitting the ground dead.

  Another horseman sees his partner fall and cries out alerting the other riders. He hooks his club to the saddle then draws his sword as he pauses, looking around for whoever it was that killed his partner. Seeing James standing defiant when everyone else is fleeing, he kicks his horse and charges straight at him, sword raised to cut him in half.

  James cocks his arm and lets fly another stone, striking the charging rider through the forehead and blasting ou
t the back of his head. Like a limp rag doll, the rider falls from his horse.

  “Miko,” James says over his shoulder while indicating the horses of the fallen riders, “grab the horses, we’ll need them. Also search the dead riders for valuables or any papers.” Not looking to see whether or not Miko is doing what was asked of him, his attention remains focused on the four riders racing toward him, swords raised.

  James concentrates and then lets the magic flow.

  Crumph!

  The ground under two of the charging riders erupts, throwing debris, horses and riders into the air.

  James turns to the remaining two riders who are almost upon him and throws another stone, catching one in the chest, creating a hole as it passes through. James jumps to one side, rolling on the ground when the remaining rider strikes down at him with his sword. He feels its passing as it comes within inches.

  The rider turns and tries to trample him with his horse’s hooves as he lies there on the ground.

  James rolls out of the way quickly and then tries to stand up when one of the horse’s hooves clips him in the side of the head, knocking him down, causing the world to spin wildly.

  He rolls on his back and sees a blurry horseman with sword raised, ready to finish him off. Sure that his time has come, James is surprised when two other blurry shapes jump up and grab the rider, pulling him off the horse.

  Another blurry shape comes over and asks, “James? You okay?”

  “Yeah,” he replies as he sits up, recognizing Miko’s voice. “The horse clipped me in the head. Be okay in a few minutes, I hope.”

  “Thank you!” a woman cries as she kneels down, putting her arms around James and giving him a big hug.

  As his vision begins to clear and becomes steady, he sees many people around him, all trying to express their gratitude. That’s when he realizes they were the people fleeing the oncoming slavers. Miko is standing there with two horses, smiling broadly.

  The two riders who had been knocked off their horses by the erupting ground have been torn to pieces by the refugees. Several people are walking toward him from the dead bodies, each wielding a bloody knife or stick.

  “We need to free the people in the slave lines behind the wagons,” he says as he tries to get up.

  “Already being taken care of,” a man says as he points to four horses racing toward the wagon. Riding each is a man who earlier had been fleeing for his life. Now with a sword in their hands and vengeance in their hearts they ride to free their neighbors and friends. Others are following on foot to give what aid they can.

  James regains his feet and looks around at all the faces. Some smiling but many have seen too many horrors to ever smile again. “Where are you from?” he asks.

  “Pleasant Meadows,” answers one woman. “It’s further downstream where the road crosses the river. The Empire was seen last night heading in our direction and the whole town fled in every direction.” She looks at James and says, “I guess we were fortunate to flee this way.”

  Many people around her nod their head in agreement.

  James looks off toward the wagons and sees that two of them have already been liberated, the people in the slave lines being untied and led this way. The four riders are closing fast with the remaining wagon, engaging the two men on foot as they try to make a stand. One of the riders is struck and James sees him fall from his horse while the remaining riders strike and kill the last of the enemy.

  “You better make as best time you can before the Empire sends scouts out this way and discovers what has happened,” James says. “If you follow the river toward the mountains, you’ll find an encampment of soldiers at the beginning of the Pass, they look to be friendly. You definitely don’t want to be here when the Empire shows up.”

  James motions to Miko and he brings over the horses, giving him one. James swings up on the horse and looks over the people that surround him. Miko mounts as well.

  “Good luck,” he says to them, “and God speed!”

  “Where are you going?” one of them asks.

  “City of Light,” Miko replies, getting a stern look from James.

  “You mustn’t go there!” one man insists. “The Empire will surely not stop until they take the City. It is the key to the entire southern region of Madoc.”

  “He’s right,” another interjects, “their forces are swarming this area, looking for people fleeing. You’ll never make it.”

  “I appreciate your concern, but we must.” Turning to Miko he says, “Let’s go,” as he heads his horse toward the northeast. The people surrounding him make way and soon they are galloping across the hills with cries of gratitude following them.

  When they’ve traveled a ways and are out of sight of the people they just aided, James stops his horse and turns to confront Miko. With anger in his voice he says, “You never, NEVER! tell anyone our business unless I tell you it’s okay to do so. Do you understand?”

  Withering under James’ stern glare, Miko says defensively, “But who are they going to tell?”

  “How about the Empire for one! If those poor souls back there get recaptured, the Empire is going to want to know what happened to their men.” Pointing back the way they had come he continues, “One of them is bound to tell them who it was and where we are going. What someone doesn’t know can’t be tortured out of them!”

  “I don’t think they know our names,” Miko says in his defense.

  “True, but they know what we look like and they know where we are going.” Shaking his head, he continues, “Miko, you need to learn when to talk and when not to. Our lives could very well depend on it.” Pausing for a moment, he looks in Miko’s eyes to see if he’s gotten his point across, “Okay?”

  Feeling like he’s let his friend down, Miko hangs his head and says, “I’m sorry James. I’ll try to do better.”

  “Don’t say try,” James replies kindly, “try means you expect to fail.” He puts his hand on Miko’s shoulder, gives him a smile and then turns his horse and kicks it into a gallop.

  Miko silently vows silently to himself not to let James down again as he races after his friend.

  Figuring the Empire’s forces are to the east and south of them, James bears even further to the north. The terrain slowly turns from hills to a rolling plain, tall grass waving in the summer breeze.

  They make good time for several hours, when Miko suddenly yells “James, look!” as he points to the south.

  James looks and they can barely make out column after column of soldiers marching toward the northeast. The dust they’re kicking up must be visible for miles away.

  “They must be heading for the City of Light,” observes Miko. “Think it’s the same ones we saw earlier?”

  “Doubt it,” states James. “We better hustle if we’re going to be able to reach the City of Light and still have time to get out before they arrive.”

  James angles them now almost due north and they ride quickly until the soldiers are no longer visible on the horizon. They then go no more than a couple more miles when out of the north appear a score of horsemen heading south, right for them.

  James immediately veers to the east and brings his horse to a gallop, trying to put distance between them, hoping to remain unobserved.

  Looking over his shoulder at the riders, he sees them turning to give chase. From behind he hears Miko cry out, his horse has put a foot in a gopher hole and snapped its leg. Crashing to the ground, Miko is thrown off the horse and sails through the air before landing hard upon the ground.

  James quickly turns and races back to where Miko is getting to his feet. Reaching down a hand, he swings the boy on the horse behind him. Looking northward again he sees the horsemen approaching fast. He kicks his horse in the side and they race toward the east, the riders continuing to follow.

  “James!” Miko hollers. “They’re gaining.”

  “I know,” he replies. “We’re not going to outrun them, not riding double.” Regardless, James continues to
ride hard, prolonging the inevitable.

  Miko starts shaking James’ shoulder, “James, I don’t think they’re the Empires’ soldiers.”

  “Are you sure?” he asks.

  “Yes,” Miko responds. “Their uniforms are different than the ones we saw marching earlier.”

  “Madoc’s?” James asks over his shoulder.

  “Could be,” he replies. “They’re not from Cardri.”

  James slows his horse to a canter then turns to face the oncoming riders, finally bringing them to a stop. They both dismount to wait for the riders to approach.

  Upon seeing them dismounted and waiting for their arrival, the riders slow their advance to a trot. When they reach James and Miko, they encircle them while two men with crossbows take aim and wait. One of the riders, an officer by the embroidery on his uniform, comes forward and asks, “Who are you and what business do you have in Madoc?”

  “Then am I safe in assuming that you are not of the Empire?” James asks hopefully.

  “That is correct,” the officer replies. “Now answer the question!”

  “My name is James and this is my traveling companion Miko. We are on our way to the City of Light with a package to be delivered to the Great Library.”

  “What package is so important that it requires you to pass through a war zone?” the officer asks.

  Shrugging, James says, “I don’t know, only that the Custodian of the Royal Archives in Cardri requested that we deliver it.”

  The officer signals for his men to stand down and the crossbowmen to lower their crossbows. “Let me see this package,” he demands.