“What choice do we have?” he replies grimly.
Jiron throws open the door and quickly engages the closest soldier, taking him by surprise. At the clash of metal, every eye turns toward them. Jiron quickly disposes of the soldier as he turns to face the others.
James pauses momentarily as he gazes at the dozens of soldiers in the street that are now intent upon them.
Crumph!
The ground explodes to their right, throwing soldiers and dirt into the air. Then he releases the power again as the ground to their left explodes upward. Two soldiers are left dazed and standing after the two explosions.
Jiron closes with the first one and in his dazed state, is unable to defend himself. Jiron takes him out in short order. The other soldier gains his senses quickly and draws his sword as he advances.
James looks back to the building they just vacated and sees the soldiers coming down the stairs from the roof, heading for the open door. Almost out of reflex, he unleashes a blast of energy through the door, knocking them backward and slowing them down.
“Come on!” Jiron says to him as the second soldier falls to the ground.
His head bursting with pain and knees wobbly, he hurries as best he can. Jiron sees the condition he’s in and takes his arm, helping him toward the inn.
They move along the path left between the two large holes in the road he created with the explosions and move into another alley on the far side. Hurrying as best they can, they come to the rear wall of the inn’s courtyard.
The inn’s courtyard is crowded with people who begin screaming and running when they see Jiron and James approaching. Jiron is a ghastly site, covered in blood as he is with one knife drawn, glinting in the torchlight. The courtyard is soon cleared of the panicked people. They move to the stable to retrieve their horses that they had left saddled for a quick escape.
Once in the saddle, they ride out of the courtyard and into the street where Jiron plows through a group of soldiers, knocking them to the ground. Riding with all speed, they race for the edge of town, several crossbow blots fly in their direction but all miss their mark.
They gallop with reckless speed through the streets, heedless of anyone in their way as they make for the edge of town. Suddenly, Jiron pulls up and stops. “Why did you stop?” James hollers at him as he slows to a halt beside him.
Jiron points down the street and says, “Look.”
Looking to where Jiron is pointing, he gasps when he sees the men stationed along the road ahead of them. There are easily thirty crossbowmen and another fifty foot soldiers barring their way. “Oh my god!” he says. Beyond the waiting men is the edge of town, and escape.
Looking behind them, Jiron sees a swarm of soldiers heading their way. “Looks like we’re trapped,” he says.
“Jiron,” James says.
“Yes?” he replies without taking his eyes off the approaching soldiers.
James removes a rope from behind his saddle and begins tying himself in place. “You may need to lead my horse should I lose consciousness.”
Jiron looks over to him and sees what he’s doing, “What do you plan?”
“Don’t have time to explain,” he replies. “Just don’t let go of my horse, whatever you do.”
Jiron nods his head and takes the reins as James closes his eyes. Behind them, the soldiers are gaining, only five buildings separate them from where he’s sitting on his horse. The soldiers barring the edge of town have taken notice of them as well and have begun advancing slowly toward them. Come on, James! he thinks to himself as he watches the men getting closer.
All of a sudden, two of the buildings behind them blast apart, their stones raining down upon the men running in the street. Cries ring out as the stones crush the men. With great relief, Jiron sees the street behind them is now completely blocked by the rubble.
He looks over to James and sees perspiration beginning to form and course down his face. His breathing is coming in gasps and he’s leaning slightly in the saddle.
“James?” he asks but then stops when James shakes his head.
The wind suddenly begins blowing harder as it steadily increases in intensity. Jiron looks to the sky as clouds appear, moving toward them with unnatural speed from all directions. James begins to moan in pain but still he concentrates, directing the magic.
Having just witnessed the power James unleashed on the men now dead under the rubble, the soldiers waiting for them at the edge of town become restless. They become even more so when they see the clouds gathering in the sky above them. Several crossbow bolts fly in their direction, but the force of the wind knocks them awry. A man with a commanding presence, an officer by his bearing, stands there yelling at the nervous soldiers, attempting to bolster their courage.
Jiron looks on in absolute amazement as he watches a section of the clouds begin to descend a little ways down from the dark mass above. And then suddenly, with great speed, it slams into the waiting men below. Nothing can be heard but the roar of the tornado as it rips through the gathered men beneath it. Bodies are ejected from it, flying in all directions to land broken and lifeless. Those not directly under it are sucked into it until they too are eventually thrown out, falling lifeless to the ground.
A very few of the men that were gathered at the edge of town survived the initial plunge of the tornado. Thrown around by the wind, the rest flee for their very lives. Suddenly, a cry comes from James and the tornado splits in two, each half moving away from the center of the street in opposite directions.
Jiron glances back to James who is trying to say something but is having trouble being heard over the roar of the wind. Leaning closer, he’s able to make it out, “Now, go between them!” Trusting in James, he gets the horses moving quickly and they approach the towering funnels. The wind whips them mercilessly as he approaches the gap between the two.
The horses balk at going between the two towering tornadoes, but with whips and kicks, Jiron forces them through. “Hurry!” he barely hears James shout as they pass between the swirling masses of destruction. Kicking the horses harder, Jiron at last emerges from the other side, where it takes little encouragement to get the horses into a gallop.
Another cry escapes James before he passes into unconsciousness. Jiron looks back to the tornadoes and sees them melding back together into one large tornado that quickly dissipates. Seeing no imminent pursuit, he turns the horses southeast and races out into the desert.
“Please drop your weapons,” the Eye says to them.
Roland glares at the captain, feeling betrayed. The captain just returns his stare, his face devoid of any emotions.
The Eye raises his hand and the crossbowmen take aim as he repeats his command, “Drop your weapons, now!”
With little choice they remove their weapons and drop them to the ship’s deck.
“You’ve given us quite a chase,” he says to them. “Fortunately, that is now over.” Turning to the captain, the Eye says, “Have your men secure their hands behind them.”
The captain glances behind him to his men standing there, “You heard him boys.”
“Aye, captain,” one of them says as they start to move toward Roland and the rest.
As they pass through where the crossbowmen stand, they suddenly turn and knock the crossbows out of their hands, quickly subduing them. The captain, in a fluid motion, draws his sword and rests the point on the Eye’s chest.
“What is this, captain?” the Eye exclaims in anger when he sees the captain’s sword threatening him.
“You’re not taking them,” he informs the Eye.
“I’ll have you killed for this, captain!” the Eye warns vehemently. “I’ll send your ship to the bottom of the sea!”
“Toss em over, lads,” the captain tells his crew, ignoring the threats of the Eye.
One by one, the crossbowmen are thrown overboard until only the Eye remains. “Captain!” one of the men up in the rigging hollers out as he points toward the docks, “we’ve
got company!”
The captain looks over to the docks and sees a score of men running toward his ship. “You’ll never get out of this harbor alive,” the Eye warns him.
“Cast off,” he cries to his men who begin casting off lines and climbing the rigging.
“Your death will be a pleasure,” the Eye continues, “watching as you wriggle upon the end of a pole as it slowly pushes its way through your guts from your ass!”
“Would you just shut up!” the captain yells at the Eye. He turns him around, boots him in the butt and watches as he plummets over the rail into the sea below.
“Thank you captain,” Tersa says as she comes forward.
“Enough time for that later,” he tells her. “You and the others stay out of our way and we may yet live through this.”
“Mr. Kerny!” he hollers.
“Yes sir,” a sailor yells from the other side of the ship.
“Make for deep water!” he cries.
“Aye, aye captain!” he replies as he begins turning the wheel to steer them out to sea. The wind begins filling their sails as they slowly turn away from the docks and head out of the harbor.
Splash!
A rock hits the water not five feet from the side of the ship. “Look!” Stig cries as another boulder flies through the air toward them. They brace for impact but it flies over the ship, landing with a splash twenty feet away.
“That was close,” exclaims Shorty.
“Mr. Kerny!” the captain yells.
“Yes, captain,” Mr. Kerny replies.
“Hard to port, evasive actions!” he tells him.
“Aye, aye captain!” and then they feel the ship lurch as Mr. Kerny begins attempting to evade the oncoming boulders.
“Captain, look!” Delia cries as she sees two ships beginning to pull away from the docks.
“I see ‘em, lass,” the captain tells her, “but if we can beat them to open water, they’ll never catch us.”
“Ahoy aloft! Full sails!” he shouts to the sailors in the rigging.
Without even a reply, they begin to completely unfurl the sails. Once they’re fully extended, the boat lurches as the wind fills the sails.
Delia looks to the ships that are pulled out, but they’ve already begun to fall behind. She soon realizes that they are not going to be able to catch them.
The captain comes over to where they’re crouching by the railing and asks, “So, do you have my fifty gold pieces?”
She nods to Roland who hands over the pouch containing the gold.
The captain opens it and looks through it, satisfied.
“You did all this for fifty golds?” Stig asks incredulously.
“No, son,” the captain replies, “I did it because I hate the empire.”
“But you’ve risked your life and your ship for us,” Delia says. “How can we ever repay you?”
“Having the pleasure of kicking that son of sea cow overboard was payment enough,” he tells her breaking into a big smile.
“Make yourselves comfortable,” he tells them. “It’s a three day trip to Cardri.”
The wind starts to fall off suddenly and there’s a cry from up above. The captain looks to the sky and watches in amazement as the clouds begin rushing toward Al-Kur. “What the hell?” he exclaims.
“It’s James,” Delia whispers to the others.
“You think so?” Tersa asks.
“Yeah, only magic could make the clouds react like that,” she explains.
They look back to Al-Kur and watch as the clouds intensify over the town and then suddenly seem to descend to the ground in one spot. After a couple minutes, the clouds begin dissipating and everything returns to normal.
“Hope they’re alright,” Tersa says, worried for her brother.
“Those two can take care of themselves,” Scar assures her.
“I hope so,” she says as she watches Al-Kur slowly disappear in the distance. “I hope so.”
Chapter Twenty Two
The days since the fall of the City of Light have blurred together until he no longer knows how long it’s been since it all began. His butt has finally stopped aching from sitting on the seat in the wagon and the sore on his leg from the manacle around his ankle is beginning to toughen up and become a callus. His is but one of several wagons loaded with slaves.
Miko stares numbly out at the water of the ocean as the wagon he’s in continues its journey. To where, he doesn’t know nor care anymore. He was sure that James would’ve found him by now, but day after day of hope unfulfilled has left him doubting if he would come at all. After all he’s only one boy and a street rat at that. Hardly worth risking one’s life for. Why did he think James would even bother coming after him?
His arm still throbs from where he got cut by a fellow slave back in the city of Azzac. It was during the night after they arrived at the city and been placed in holding pens with other slaves. During their journey, as they came to different cities, they would stop off at the local magistrate’s building and some slaves would be taken off or others added. Often the ones who were added were those who had been sentenced by the courts for some heinous crime and were on their way to wherever their sentence decreed.
It was during one such stop the day before their arrival at Azzac that they acquired an individual who took an immediate disliking to Miko. When the man was put in the wagon, he sat across from Miko. The chain from the manacle on his foot was secured to the same eye ring in the bed of the wagon that Miko’s was.
Miko disliked the looks of him from the beginning, he was missing two fingers on his right hand and a scar ran across one eye that was white and obviously blinded. His hair was greasy and dirty, many of his teeth were missing and those that remained were crooked and beginning to turn black. He began to refer to him as Black Tooth, but only in his mind.
Black Tooth kept staring at Miko after the wagon began rolling and then he said something to him. When Miko failed to respond he began to grow agitated. One of the other slaves in the wagon, who had been riding with Miko for a while, said something to him.
Black Tooth turned to Miko and said something else before a crooked smile played across his face, which did anything but put him at ease. The rest of that day, Black Tooth kept staring at him and by the end of the day, Miko was feeling very uncomfortable and worried.
When the slave caravan stopped for the night, they unloaded the slaves and had them all settle in close together for the night, with several slavers armed with crossbows standing watch over them. Their legs were manacled together but their hands were kept free. One by one, they were marched away from camp where they were allowed to answer nature’s call and then returned to the others.
Miko was relieved that Black Tooth was nowhere near his place. He did catch him glancing over at him from where he was sitting on the other side of the group. Each time he did, a chill would run through Miko and his nerves would start getting the better of him.
In the morning, when he woke up, many slaves were talking among themselves and pointing off the road to the east. Miko gets up and looks to see a wall of fog off in the distance. No one there speaks his language so he’s left to his own imagination as to why they’re so excited about it.
Once more led to the edge of camp, Miko takes care of nature’s business and then is brought back to the wagon where his manacles are once again secured to the eye ring in the bed of the wagon. Black Tooth is seated on his side of the wagon with two others between them, much to Miko’s relief.
All that day they continue riding under the blazing hot sun, Miko is surprised at just how dark he’s becoming from the sun. Near nightfall, he sees a large city appearing on the horizon ahead of them. One of the other’s in the wagon says ‘Azzac’ to him as the man points to it.
Miko gazes at the approaching city and wonders if this will be the end of the line for him, where he will truly become a slave. With apprehension, he watches the city grow closer until finally they pass through the gates.
They roll on through the city for awhile until they arrive at a large compound where the wagon stops and they’re removed from the wagon. Feet still manacled, they’re led into the building and divided into two holding pens where their manacles are removed.
Miko is the second to enter the pen and he watches with dread as Black Tooth is ushered into his pen behind him. When Black Tooth sees him there, he breaks into the smile that sets Miko’s nerves on edge.
Trying to put as much distance between them as possible, Miko moves to a far corner and settles down there. He watches Black Tooth as he goes over to several guys in the corner and begins talking to them. From the way they’re acting, it doesn’t look to him like the others know him at all.
The only time when Miko leaves his corner is when they’re fed and when he has to use the slop bucket. It’s not long after they’re fed that the light begins to fade with the coming of night. The slaves in the pens begin settling down to get what sleep they can.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Miko is awakened when someone grabs him. Startled, he tries to break free but the man only laughs. Black Tooth! Frantic now, Miko struggles harder and strikes out with his elbow, catching Black Tooth in the side.
Black Tooth’s grip loosens slightly but it’s enough for Miko to wriggle away from him. In his haste to get away, Miko trips over a sleeping slave who cries out in protest.
In the dim light filtering in through the windows, he sees Black Tooth begin approaching him, something held in his hand, glinting in the dim light. Miko starts hollering “Help! Guards!”
Black Tooth says something and then rushes toward him.
Miko keeps hollering as he tries to get away from Black Tooth. The other men in the pen realize what’s going on and quickly move to the edge to get out of harm’s way. Some begin calling out and before you know it, the whole area is in a roar with words and cheers, none of which Miko understands.
A door opens and light fills the pens from several torches brought in by the guards to see what the commotion is about.
Black Tooth continues chasing him around the pen as the guards enter the holding area, and when Miko gets close to the men at the side, one of them trips him. Falling to the floor, Miko quickly rolls on his back and sees Black Tooth right on top of him.
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