As silently as possible, he makes his way down the alley to the courtyard behind the inn. The gate is open and he hurries through just as the pursuers pass the mouth of the alley he just vacated, on their way to search for him further down the street.
He glances back down the alley, thankfully discovering none of those hunting for him had thought to come this way. Setting James down against the inner wall of the courtyard, he makes his way over to the stables, in search of a couple of horses.
Once within the stables, he finds a stableboy asleep in a small room at the far end. He wakes him up by placing a knife at his throat and motions for him to remain quiet. The boy nods and remains quiet as Jiron ties him up and places a gag in his mouth to keep him quiet. Then he goes back to the horses and begins saddling two of them.
After he’s saddled them, he returns to where he left James. Picking him up, he carries him over to the stable where he puts him on one of the horses. Taking out a length of rope, he ties him securely to the saddle. Once James is secured, he goes over to where the stableboy is tied up and places ten gold pieces on the ground before him. He points to the gold and then to the horses and the stableboy nods his head. Whether he understands the gold is for the horses’ owners or not, Jiron isn’t sure, but his conscience is clear.
Mounting up, he takes the reins of James’ horse and leads him out of the stables to the courtyard. Pausing momentarily at the entrance to the alley, he makes sure it’s clear before leaving the courtyard and entering into the alley. He makes his way toward the end of the alley where he again pauses to look in either direction down the street.
For the moment, the street appears deserted, but he can hear commotion on neighboring streets as the search for them continues. He enters the street with James’ horse in tow and begins heading toward the part of town that seems to have the least amount of disturbance going on.
Moving as quickly as he can, he continues along toward the edge of town, somehow avoiding the roving patrols. Coming out of an alley he sees the wall ahead of him. Keeping close to the buildings, he rides along in the shadows until reaching a gate. Where before there had been but two guards, now they have been increased to a squad of twenty and the gate is shut and locked. His plan to ride through the guards at the gate is no longer feasible, he’ll have to find another way out of the city.
Realizing he’s now sitting on useless horses, he makes his way to a side alley and dismounts. James begins mumbling incoherently as Jiron removes him from his horse. “Not now!” he whispers vehemently to him. The last thing he needs is for James’ nonsensical ramblings to attract notice.
Once removed from the horse, James continues to mumble, thankfully not very loud. He throws him across his shoulders again as he quickly makes for the wall. Upon reaching it, Jiron pushes him up and rests him across the top before he climbs up next to him. He then carefully lowers him down to the other side and then swings over as he lets go, feet landing on the ground next to where James had settled. It doesn’t take him long to realize that he is now on the opposite side of the town from where his horse waits for him.
Shouldering James once more, he begins making his way to the other side of town, detouring occasionally when a search party on horseback comes into view. During one such time while he was hiding among some bushes, waiting for a search party to pass, he notices that James’ eyes were open and looking around.
“You awake now?” he asks him.
James nods his head yes, but is still having trouble talking, slurring his speech so bad as to be unintelligible.
“Can you walk?” Jiron asks.
He shakes his head no.
“Damn!” Jiron silently exclaims as he hoists James across his shoulders yet again and hurries along. When he comes to the spot where he had left his horse, he finds that it’s no longer there. He quickly looks around the area but finds no trace of it anywhere. Someone must’ve come along and helped themselves to it.
Without horses, they’re not likely going to make it very far. He sits James down and says, “Stay here!” When he gets no response, he asks, “Understand?”
James gives him a wobbly nod.
“I’ll be back. I need to get a couple horses,” he tells him. Leaving him hidden there among the bushes, Jiron moves through the night until he sees two riders riding leisurely back into town. They’re not in any hurry. Perfect!
Angling to intercept them, he races through the dark. The moon above enables him to see the terrain well enough to keep from tripping over the desert shrubs. Just a dark shadow in the night, he maneuvers until he’s directly behind them.
The riders talk to each other, occasionally laughing at the witticism of the other, totally oblivious to the impending attack coming up behind them. He paces them for several feet until the space between the two horses closes to just the right distance. Then, running as fast as he can, he races to catch them. As he nears, he jumps and grabs each from behind and pulls them backward off their horses.
As the two men hit the ground, Jiron draws his knives and advances on the one getting to his feet first. He kicks out and connects with the man’s middle, knocking him over again and then attacks with his knives before the man has a chance to recover. A quick stab through the chest ends the man’s life.
Jiron turns to face his partner who is now ready with sword and shield. The man thrusts with his sword, Jiron able to deflect it easily to the side. He tries to counterstrike with his other knife but it’s knocked aside by the man’s shield.
They circle each other for a second then the man strikes out with an overhand blow that Jiron has to sidestep to avoid. As the sword swings past him, Jiron strikes out with one of his knives and scores a cut along the man’s sword arm.
Angered, the man advances rapidly and begins attacking him with a flurry of blows that Jiron easily avoids or deflects aside. He continues to defend against the man’s attack, waiting for his chance. Patience is often a knife fighter’s best friend.
Suddenly, the opening presents itself and he strikes out at the man’s sword arm. The man cries out as his sword drops to the ground after Jiron’s knife severs the tendons in his arm. He pushes Jiron back with his shield as he cradles his arm, trying to stop the blood from pumping out.
Jiron goes on the offensive and after a quick series of blows which the man cannot defend against with just a shield, he sinks to the ground, eyes vacant as death takes him. Jiron wipes his knives on the man’s tunic before returning them to their sheaths. Gathering the horses, he mounts one and takes the reins of the other as he rides back to where he left James. It takes a minute to locate the exact spot where he left him, but a hushed call from James leads him there.
He gets down from his horse to help James into the saddle. No sooner is James in the saddle then the hoof beats of a patrol is heard coming their way. Jiron takes a piece of rope and quickly secures him to the saddle, all the while listening to the patrol coming closer and closer. Finished with securing James, he quickly mounts and they wait in silence as the patrol passes by in the dark. He then leads them out into the desert, away from the city. Behind them, the sound of patrol begins to recede in the distance as they move further away. Once the sound of the patrol can no longer be heard, Jiron brings the two horses to a gallop as they begin to cover the miles quickly. After traveling for some time, he hears James holler, “Stop!”
He brings the horses to a halt and then looks back to see James untying himself. Slipping off the horse, James doubles up and begins to retch into the dirt. Once his stomach is again under control, he stands back up and leans against his horse for support.
“You okay?” Jiron asks.
“Better,” he assures him, his speech only slightly affected.
“What happened to you?” Jiron asks, dismounting and coming over to him.
“Not really sure,” he replies. “I remember you leaving and then things get kind of fuzzy after that. I remember being carried over your shoulder through town, or at least parts of it.
But nothing really clear until a short time ago when I came to on the horse.”
Jiron relates to James the events from when he returned to the camp and found him being loaded onto the wagon until now. “They must’ve done something to you,” he states.
“I agree,” he says. “Probably a drug of some kind.”
“Think so?” Jiron asks.
“It would make sense,” he replies. “A mage who’s drugged wouldn’t be able to focus clearly and do magic. Actually, it was quite effective.” Holding his head, he looks to Jiron.
“I would say so,” he agrees. “Can you do magic now?”
James concentrates, or tries to anyway and then shakes his head. “Not even if my life depended on it,” he tells him. “Just have to wait until the effects wear off.”
“Think they will?” Jiron asks.
“Don’t know why they wouldn’t,” he says and then suddenly begins to panic as he grabs his shirt. “The medallion!” he cries out. “They took the medallion!”
Jiron reaches into the pouch hanging on his belt and removes the medallion, handing it back to James. “I grabbed it while I was getting you out of there,” he tells him.
Sighing with relief, he takes it and places it once more around his neck. “Thank you,” he says gratefully to Jiron.
“Thought you might want it when I saw it lying there,” he says, grinning. “But we need to get going, if you think you can ride.” He holds up the rope used to secure him to the saddle and asks, “Should I tie you to the saddle or can you make it on your own?”
“I think I’ll be okay for now,” James assures him. As he tries to get back in the saddle, he has a little difficulty with his coordination and balance. With a little help from Jiron he makes it up onto the horse. Once in the saddle, he’s able to maintain his balance well enough despite continual spells of dizziness. With an eye on James, Jiron mounts up and they continue on into the desert.
The next morning when James wakes up, all effects of the drug have worn off. His head is clear and he once again is able to maintain his balance. While they prepare to ride, James realizes that his belt and slugs are gone.
“What’s wrong?” Jiron asks him.
“My belt with the slugs is missing,” he explains. “They must have taken it when they captured me.”
Jiron takes the pouch off his belt and tosses it over to him, “Look in there.” When James catches it and opens it up he continues, “I think all your stuff is in there. I quickly scraped everything off the table where they had placed your things.”
James pulls out his belt and finds only five slugs remaining. He puts it back on and then looks through the pouch again. He pulls out a vial containing a clear liquid. Holding it up, he takes a close look at it as he says, “This might be the drug they used.” He hands it over to Jiron who examines it.
“Didn’t realize I had taken it,” he tells him as he hands it back.
“It may come in useful,” James says as he places it back in his pouch. Yes, it may just come in useful.
Before they mount, James pulls out his mirror and again finds Miko in the dark, picking away at the stone wall. “At least he’s still alive,” he says to Jiron.
“That’s something, for sure,” he replies.
James takes out the piece of cloth and casts his directional spell. It moves to indicate Miko lies off to the southwest, a little more west than south. “He’s that way,” he says to Jiron, pointing to the southwest before putting the cloth away.
Jiron sits for a second on his horse, contemplating how to say this, “You know, the noose is tightening. By now, soldiers are going to be swarming this entire area looking for us. And it’s not just soldiers in the hunt, but mages too.”
“What are you saying?” he asks him. “That we should give up? Leave him to his fate?” Shaking his head, he says, “No, I could never do that. If you feel you can’t continue, I’ll understand, but I need to try, or die doing it.”
“It may well be impossible to reach him,” he continues. “It may not be possible for us to even escape the Empire.”
“Maybe not,” agrees James, “but I’ve got to try.”
“Don’t worry about me abandoning you here,” Jiron assures him, “I won’t. I just wanted you to understand that things are getting more complicated.”
“I know,” he says. “I understand, we just need to be more alert and careful.”
Jiron turns his horse to the southwest and asks, “Ready to go?”
Nodding, he says, “Yes.”
As they ride, Jiron gets a notion and asks James, “Can your mirror locate enemies in the area? If we had that information, maybe we could avoid them and make better time.”
“Possibly,” he replies as he digs out his mirror. Handing his reins to Jiron, he concentrates as he stares into the mirror. The image blurs and then he sees a bird’s eye view of them riding along. Expanding the view, he widens the scope to be able to see more of the surrounding desert than just themselves.
He’s able to scroll the image for some distance in any direction. The further he scrolls the image away from their position, the greater the amount of magic needed to maintain the spell. He’s also always able to come back and center the view on them with just a thought. “Yeah,” he tells him, “I think I can manage that.”
“Good,” says Jiron. “Anyone in the vicinity?”
James scrolls the image and then shakes his head, saying, “No, there doesn’t appear to be anyone ahead. Off to the north is a sizeable force but they’re not coming our way.”
“How far are we away from the coast?” he asks.
James tries scrolling the image, but fails to pick up the coast before the power drain becomes too severe. “I don’t know,” he replies. “I’m not able to see that far.”
“Oh well, at least we know we’re okay for awhile,” he says, relieved. “Just check it often so we’ll know when to detour.”
“Alright,” agrees James. He checks the area one last time and when he finds no one ahead, replaces the mirror back into his shaving kit.
They ride for several hours, James checking periodically for hostiles with his mirror. The second time he checked, he found a dozen riders coming their way and they had to swing to the south to avoid detection. Continuing to detour around pockets of hostiles, they wind their way closer to the coast.
When night begins to fall, they stop for a short meal. All they have with them is what the riders had with them when Jiron appropriated their horses, which isn’t much. “Think we should continue through the night?” Jiron asks him.
“I think the horses will be okay,” he replies. “Besides, we’re less likely to be discovered in the dark of night.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he tells him as he finishes his meal and mounts. James mounts as well and they continue their way toward the ocean.
Once night has fallen, the mirror becomes useless as everything is black. Now they have to depend on their senses to detect anyone approaching. A half moon rises later in the evening, giving them some light to see by. Sometime around midnight, they cross the main road going north and south. A short time after that, they begin to see the moon being reflected off of a body of water in the distance. The smell of salt in the air tells them they’ve reached the ocean’s shore.
When they reach the shore, they pause a moment as Jiron asks, “Now where?”
Taking out his cloth, James again casts his directional spell and the cloth stiffens up and points out along the coast, almost due south. “Further south, it looks like,” he tells Jiron as he puts away his cloth.
“Guess we follow the shoreline,” he says to James.
Nodding in the dark, James replies, “That would seem to be the plan.”
They follow the shoreline for another hour or two before running across what looks to be an old abandoned shack set up along the beach. It looks the worse for wear but it could hide them while they get a little sleep, they’re both becoming quite tired. Jiron dism
ounts and goes up to the shack to look inside. He signals James to come on over when he finds it empty.
There’s barely enough room inside for them and the horses, but leaving them outside would tell anyone passing by that someone’s here. Bringing them in with them, they close the door and alternate between sleeping and keeping watch through the rest of the night.
The morning sun coming through the cracks of the shack awakens James. He sits up abruptly when he fails to see Jiron. His horse is here, but he’s not.
Going to the door, he looks out and sees him outside walking along the shore, head down looking at the sand. Coming out, he asks, “What are you doing?”
Jiron holds up a conch shell and says, “I found this over by the water, incredible isn’t it?”
Smiling, James replies, “Yeah, that’s something alright.”
With a last look around the sandy beach, Jiron joins James as he walks back to the shack. Once back inside, he puts the conch shell into one of his bags. “Going to give it to Tersa when we make it back,” he explains.
“I’m sure she’ll like it,” he says.
They bring the horses out and mount, James checks the mirror before they leave and finds no enemy soldiers in the immediate vicinity or further to the south. He keeps the mirror out so he can check it periodically as they make their way along the shoreline.
After traveling for over an hour, James asks, “You got any water?”
Jiron shakes his head and says, “No, I used up the last of it this morning.”
“We’re going to need to find some soon, or we’re not going to last long under this sun,” he tells him.
“I know, my horse really could use some too,” he says. “Can you find a source close by?”
“Maybe,” he replies as he again gets out his mirror. After concentrating on water, the mirror opens up on a great expanse of water, “Think I may have found something.” He expands the view and the edge of the water comes in and he sees two men on horseback riding along beside it. His excitement ends when he realizes that it’s Jiron and him that he’s seeing and that the body of water is the ocean.
Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two Page 36