Smashing into it with great force, James has the breath knocked out of him. As he tries to get his breath back, he takes another stone out of his pouch and throws it at the brown robe. Again, the stone smashes through him and the mage falls to ground.
Looking around, he doesn’t see anyone nearby. His horse had been spooked and is now running away out of town. Moving cautiously, he stays against the building and moves further into town. When he sees Jiron’s horse dying in the middle of the street, he momentarily fears for his friend. But when he doesn’t find his body anywhere, figures he’s already moved further into town. The streets are beginning to clear of pedestrians as they begin to realize fighting is going on.
James once more feels the prickling of magic being used. Just how many mages are in this stupid town? Unconsciously, he glances back to where the last mage had fallen, and stops in shock. The mage’s body is no longer there. He’d seen it fall after the stone had blasted a hole right through its chest, so just where is it?
Down the street in front of him, a brown robe stands as bolts of energy are fired toward him. He deflects them by creating a shield and throws one of his last stones toward the mage. The stone blasts through his chest and the mage falls to the ground.
James moves toward the building and pauses next to it as he watches the body of the fallen mage. After several moments, it shimmers and then disappears. An illusion!
He begins to look around, trying to find where the mage actually is. From up the street, a brown robe begins walking toward him. Without pausing, James launches a stone at the brown robe, and again, it falls to the ground dead.
James bends down and picks up a stick from the ground. He casts a seeking spell to find the source of the other mage’s magic and the stick begins to point to the building across from him. Canceling the spell, he searches all the windows before he catches a movement out of the corner of his eye. Looking all the way to the top, he sees a shadow moving upon the roof.
Gotcha! He begins to let the magic flow and directs it to the building the mage is on. Suddenly, cracking and snapping can be heard coming from within it as the support beams begin to break in two. A section of the building collapses and then the whole thing falls in.
A thick cloud of dust rises and a second later he sees the mage stumbling from the rubble, coughing and holding his broken left arm tight to his chest. Letting the magic flow, he strikes out with an energy wave which strikes the mage with great force. He’s propelled back into the wreckage and James can hear more boards break as the mage smashes into them.
Moving toward the collapsed building, James hunts for the mage. A prickling sensation can be felt as the mage begins a spell. James doesn’t wait for it to be completed, he lashes out with waves of force, pummeling the mage.
The prickling wavers and then stops. He creates the orb of light and moves into the rubble. He finds the mage, lying unconscious as blood oozes from her nose and mouth. A woman? Unable to outright kill her, he leaves her where she lies as he makes his way out of the rubble and back onto the street. He cancels his orb so as not to be a beacon in the night for his enemies.
Back on the street which is now empty, he moves further into town to find the others.
Jiron, meanwhile, turns a corner and is knocked down by a running, terrified woman. The woman falls on top of him and begins screaming. She claws at him, leaving red lines along his left forearm before she gets back up to her feet and runs away down the street. He gets back up quickly and looks down the way the woman had come, he can hear the clashing of swords. “Miko!” he cries out as he runs toward the sound.
As Jiron moves toward the sound of battle, a townsman rushes from a nearby doorway and hacks at him with his sword. Easily blocking the attack, Jiron kicks out with his foot and hears a snap as the man’s knee breaks.
The man falls to the ground, and Jiron moves around him, leaving him there in his agony. James must be rubbing off on me he thinks as he leaves the man alive behind him.
Suddenly, the sound of fighting stops and from around the corner steps Miko. Covered in blood and carrying a gore covered sword he walks toward Jiron.
“Miko!” Jiron calls out but it doesn’t seem as if he’s hearing him. Running forward, he stops in front of him and places a hand on his shoulder. “Miko, are you alright?” he asks as he shakes him slightly, looking intently in his eyes.
Miko suddenly starts, as if seeing Jiron for the first time and replies, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Thank god!” Jiron says. “Let’s go find James and get out of here.”
Nodding, Miko looks at the sword in his hand, almost seems surprised it’s there. Tossing away the sword he follows Jiron as they hunt for James.
As they run back down the street, they see him coming toward them. “You guys okay?” he asks as he comes close and sees Miko there, covered in blood.
“We’re fine,” replies Jiron. Miko nods as well.
“Then let’s get out of here,” he says. He quickly surveys the area and sees an inn. Moving quickly, he leads them around back to the stables there. Entering the stables, they find a terrified stable boy who runs to his room and hides. While they are saddling three horses, they catch him peering out at them. Whenever he sees he is being observed, the boy ducks back inside the room.
When the horses are saddled, they mount and ride out of the stables. No one is there to challenge them. As they race out onto the street and make their way to the north side of town, they see people staring out of windows and from behind doorways.
If there are any guards or soldiers remaining, they’ve decided it more prudent to be absent than to stand in their way. They make it to the north road and quickly leave the town behind them.
After they leave, the townsfolk start to come out of their homes. They begin to take stock of the damage wrought by the intruders. The most ghastly sight of all is the area where the boy had walked out. A dozen soldiers lay dead as well as several of the townsfolk who tried to help, their bodies literally hacked apart. Some wonder what had visited their town that night. Many pray that it never comes back.
Chapter Seventeen
They find a small stream several miles past the town where they pause to allow Miko a chance to clean off the blood.
While he’s by the stream, James pulls Jiron aside and asks, “What happened?”
Shrugging, he replies, “I don’t know. I heard fighting and by the time I got near, the fighting was over and he walked around the corner.”
When he pauses a moment thinking about it, James asks, “What?”
“It’s just that, when I first approached him, he didn’t seem to be aware I was even there,” he explains. “When I took him by the shoulder and shook him, that’s when he became aware of me.”
They both turn to look at their friend over by the stream. James is worried about him, not sure what happened. Maybe he was just in shock over the fighting, he hopes that’s all it was. But how had he even survived?
When Miko finishes cleaning himself as best he can, they once more mount and quickly put distance between themselves and the town. He’s not sure when it will materialize, but James is positive that pursuit will be forthcoming, and soon.
As they ride, James keeps an eye on Miko but he seems his same old self and soon quits worrying about him.
The hills begin to fall away as they move further away from the town until they finally pass into grasslands once more. As the road starts to turn more to the west, James suggests cutting cross country across the plains in order to maintain a more northerly route. Everyone is in agreement with the idea so they turn off the road, making their way into the grasslands.
As they cross the grasslands, the moon begins to reach the horizon, what light it gave them about to disappear. Once it sinks below the horizon, travel becomes more risky as they only have the light from the stars to guide them. Like ghosts, they move silently in the night, hoping there are no holes or anything else for their horses to trip upon.
&nbs
p; Throughout the night, they maintain a quick pace, pausing now and then to allow the horses to rest and grab a bite to eat. When dawn approaches and the sky begins to lighten, they find themselves still in the middle of grasslands. Off to the northeast, the lightning sky silhouettes a range of tall mountains.
“We’re pretty exposed here,” says Jiron.
“I know,” agrees James. “But not much we can do about it now.” He glances back to Miko and sees him asleep in the saddle. Despite being asleep, he’s somehow managed to remain on his horse. James cracks a slight grin at the sight.
They continue on as the day gradually brightens until finally the sun tops the mountains to the east. With the sun comes the heat of the day, James can tell it’s going to be a hot one.
As the sun makes its way up into the sky, they see a sizeable city ahead of them. This one is even bigger than the previous one. It even has a sizeable defensive wall. A small keep can be seen situated near its center. Not wishing to take the chance of being noticed by the men patrolling along the top of the wall, they turn east and move quickly toward the mountains in the distance.
They see many people moving outside the walls but none seem to take notice or even care that they’re there. Suddenly, horns can be heard coming from the city. They turn in panic, expecting soldiers to boil from the gate in pursuit. Instead, they hear answering horns sound from a large force of men consisting of both foot and cavalry approach the city from the east.
Turning south, they gallop until the city and army are no longer visible. They then slow a little to save the horses and again turn more easterly.
“Think that was a force coming back from Madoc?” asks Jiron.
“Maybe,” replies James. “Of course it could be one coming back from a battle with the Kirken Federation as well.”
“Either way, it would be best to avoid that city,” suggest Jiron.
“I agree,” Miko adds.
“We better head for the mountains and try to keep as much distance from those forces as possible,” James tells them.
“Good idea,” says Jiron.
Moving quickly, they continue pushing for the mountains to the east. The mountains continue getting larger on the horizon until they reach the foothills at their base.
“Man, can we stop?” James hears Miko ask in a tired voice from behind.
“Give us a minute or two to find a good spot,” he tells him. “And then we’ll rest until dark.”
Miko nods tiredly as they continue further into the hills. When they finally find a spot to make camp, he gets off his horse and in less than a minute, has laid out his blanket and fallen asleep.
“Never seen him that tired before,” says James. “He didn’t even eat anything, and that’s odd.”
“We have been pushing hard with little rest the past few days,” comments Jiron. Even he is showing signs of fatigue.
James glances over to the sleeping Miko and says, “Let’s split the watch and let him sleep.”
Nodding, Jiron replies, “Okay with me.”
They get the horses taken care of and then build a small fire to roast a couple rabbits that James kills. He is surprised when Miko doesn’t wake up to the smell of the rabbits roasting. When they’re fully cooked and ready to eat, he goes over and wakes him up.
“Tired?” he asks him when he gets up and comes over to the fire.
Nodding his head, he replies, “Yeah, I feel more tired than I ever have before.”
“We’ve been on the go for a long time, it seems,” James tells him. “I think we’re all reaching the point of exhaustion.”
From the other side of the fire, Jiron adds, “You’ve been taking the mid watch as well, which really plays hell on your sleep.”
“I suppose so,” he says. He eats the remainder of his portion of the rabbits in silence, then promptly returns to his blanket and in no time at all, his snores can be heard.
“He could be getting sick,” suggests James.
“Maybe, but he seems okay, just tired,” replies Jiron. “I don’t feel that tired actually, why don’t I take the first watch?” The dark circles under his eyes belies that statement.
James is more than happy to allow him to take first watch. Lying down away from the heat of the fire, he pulls his blanket over him to shield him from the sun. As exhausted as he is, it takes a while before he’s finally able to fall asleep under the heat of the midday sun.
Several hours after James had fallen asleep, Jiron begins to hear the sound of horses coming their way through the hills to the east. He moves to the top of a nearby hill and looks out at the approaching riders.
There are eleven riders, all looking like they just came from a battle. Bandages and blood soaked clothing can be seen on each and every one. They don’t really have the look of the Empire’s men and he lies there upon the hill, watching them as they move closer.
Suddenly, he gasps when he recognizes one of them. He backs down from the hill and begins to move around it as he makes to intercept their path. When the riders are close, he steps out in front of them.
They come to a sudden halt and begin to draw their weapons when Jiron looks at the one he recognizes and says loudly, “If you ain’t the sorriest piece of meat ever to be hauled out of the pit!”
“Jiron!” the rider cries out when he recognizes him. “He’s a friend!” he hollers to his comrades as he gets down from his horse and rushes over. Wrapping his arms around him, he gives Jiron a big hug.
“Easy, Fifer,” he says, “You’ll break my back.”
“I thought you dead!” Fifer exclaims. “How’d you escape the City?”
“That’s a long story,” Jiron replies. He motions over his shoulder and says, “My camp is over that way, would you and your friends care to join us?”
“Us?” Fifer asks. “Who else is with you?”
“No one you’d know,” he explains.
When Fifer’s comrades come over, he turns to them and says, “This is Jiron. We fought in the pits together, the deadliest man with two knives you’ll ever see.” Then he turns back to Jiron and asks, “Is Tinok with you?”
“He was, but we got separated some time ago,” Jiron tells him as he begins to lead them back to where James and Miko are sleeping.
“At least he survived the fall of the City,” he says. Gesturing to one of his comrades, he says, “This here is Miller, he’s our leader.”
Jiron gives him a slight bow, “Glad to meet you.”
“You as well, Jiron,” Miller replies. “Fifer here has constantly told us about the pits and the fighters there. It’ll be good to have you as one of the team.”
James is awake and looking anxiously in their direction when they round the hill. When he sees Jiron smiling and unconcerned, he visibly relaxes and returns the rock to his pouch.
Miko starts awake, at first disoriented but then comes to his senses. When he sees the band of men coming toward them he at first fears attack, but then like James, relaxes when he sees Jiron’s calm demeanor.
“James, Miko,” says Jiron as they reach the camp. “This here is Fifer, a friend from the pits.” He claps him on the back and then indicating the leader of the group, saying, “And this is Miller, the leader of this band.”
“Greetings,” James says. Miko remains quiet, unsure how to take all this. “Just what brings you all this way into the Empire?”
“We’re on the trail of a force traveling south,” Miller says. “You wouldn’t have seen them, have you?”
“As a matter of fact we did, earlier today,” replies James. “There’s a town to the east a few hours away, I believe they were heading toward it.”
Miller and Fifer exchange glances that tell James this news was not what they had hoped to hear.
Turning to Jiron, Miller asks, “Now that you know our business, would you mind telling us yours?”
“We rescued James’ friend Miko here from slavers,” Jiron explains. “Now we’re just trying to get out of the Empire.”
“Why are you pursuing that army?” James asks.
Fifer looks to Miller who nods his head. Fifer turns back to them and says, “Several days ago, there was a major battle between the forces of the Empire and those made up of Madoc’s forces as well as allies who’d come to help.”
“Our general, Lord Pytherian, was captured when the Empire made a bold attack on our flanks. A force of cavalry had cut their way through the lines and before anyone could stop them, had broken through to the command area and taken the general.”
“And you’re trying to rescue him?” James asks.
Nodding, Fifer says, “We must. The alliance is beginning to fall apart without him. Most only joined because he was in command. Without him, the opposition to the Empire in this area will simply disappear.”
“It’s worse than that,” interjects Miller. “Suspicion has been growing that one faction or another had a hand in his capture. If he’s not returned, there may be conflict between the different members of the Alliance as they begin accusing each other of the deed.”
“Join us!” exclaims Fifer. “We must get him back or the Empire will expand unchecked until all of Madoc lies under its thumb!”
“What do you plan to do?” James asks.
“Now that we know where he’s been taken,” Miller explains, “we’ll go to this city and find a way to get him out.”
“Give us a moment,” James says as he nods to Jiron and Miko. Moving away from the others, they talk quietly among themselves.
“We should help them,” Jiron says. “If things are as they say, we have no choice.”
“But we don’t know that it is,” James replies. “We just have their word.”
“Fifer wouldn’t lie to me,” Jiron asserts. “We’ve known each other too long.”
“Okay, let’s say what they say is true,” James begins. “Dare we risk what we carry to help?” He points to the pouch at Miko’s waist wherein the Fire lies.
“I know,” says Jiron.
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