The morning dawns cloudy, a relief from the sun that had been beating down on them throughout the day before. It takes them little time to be ready to go and soon are off, heading south to find Korazan.
Throughout the morning hours, they are able to hold a fairly southern course, only once having to travel westward to avoid roving patrols. About midday they begin to see a large river flowing from the northwest to the southeast. It spans several hundred feet and runs deep.
As they approach the banks of the river, James looks both upriver and downriver but is unable to see any bridge that they may use to cross. There is also no place along the course of the river shallow enough to allow them to ford. He turns to the others and says, “It appears we have a problem.”
“Can’t we go down one way or the other until we find a way to cross?” Cassie asks.
“That’s what we’re going to end up having to do,” he replies. “The question is, should we go that way,” he says as he points upstream to the northwest, and then points downstream, “or that way?”
“If we go downstream, that will take us closer to Korazan,” Tinok says.
“And closer to the Empire’s forces,” Jiron concludes.
“It’s probably safe to say that any bridge to the east of us will be used by the Empire,” warns James, “possibly even guarded.”
“Then we go west?” Delia guesses.
“But how far will we have to go and will it take us too long to get back?” Jiron questions. “If we spend too much time going west and then have to backtrack, we may be too late to save Tersa.”
“Let’s go west for a day, and if we don’t find anything suitable, then we’ll turn around and go east,” offers Tinok.
“A day!” Jiron exclaims. “I’ll not waste two whole days when Tersa is being marched to the slave markets!” He looks around at everyone defiantly and says, “I go east! You can all do what you want!” He then turns his horse eastward and gallops away, not looking back to see if they are following.
Tinok looks to James and says, “I guess we go east.”
“It would appear that way,” he replies. They all turn their horses and gallop after Jiron.
They follow the river for several miles before a town begins to come into view along the river ahead of them. It sits on the north bank of the river and at the southern edge of town, a bridge spans the river. They see several figures moving in and around the town, plus several upon the bridge itself. They pause only a moment before turning back toward the west and ride until the town is once again out of sight behind them.
“That bridge would be perfect to get across,” James says. “But it looks as if there’s guards posted on it. I think we should wait for night and see if we can’t find a way to sneak across.”
Indicating Jiron and himself, Tinok says, “We can take out the guards before they even know we’re there.”
“But that would tell everyone that there are hostiles in the area,” James counters, “then they would be searching for us. If we can sneak across somehow,” pausing for effect, he looks at Tinok and says with emphasis, “without killing anyone, then we may be able to get further south before they even know we’ve been through here.”
“Can we sneak across?” Cassie asks.
“Won’t know until tonight,” James replies. “Let’s find a spot away from the river where we can have a bite to eat unobserved while we wait for dark.”
“Why do we have to move away from the river?” Cassie asks.
Sighing, James explains, “In the event that someone is traveling down the river, we don’t want them to alert those in the town as to our presence.”
“Oh,” she says.
They move about a half mile away from the river and find a spot near a hill that provides them some cover. They keep watch for anyone coming and remain undisturbed until night has fallen and they’re ready to make the attempt to cross the river.
Once night has deepened enough that the only light is that of the stars, they mount up and ride back toward the river. They follow it until the town’s lights appear and then come to a stop. Jiron says, “I’ll go and scout the town, then we can decide what to do.”
“Alright,” James agrees, “but be careful.”
He gives James a look that says, ‘Of course’, and then disappears in the night as he heads for town. Twenty minutes go by before they hear his return.
“Well?” James asks when he rejoins the group.
“Looks to be about twenty soldiers garrisoned there,” he explains, “with four on duty at the bridge and two walking patrol within the town itself. Most of the others are gathered in a tavern located near the center of town.”
“Is there a way to create a diversion that would draw off the guards at the bridge?” Tinok asks.
“Maybe setting fire to a building or two,” he says, “that may do it. Unless the guards at the bridge have an extraordinary sense of duty and remain there.”
“Most likely they are bored and would leave just to see what’s going on,” James suggests.
“Probably,” Jiron says. Looking to Tinok, he says, “Wanna come start some fires with me?”
“Every boy’s dream,” Tinok replies with a smile.
“Now make sure it looks like it could’ve been an accident, or the search may be on,” James cautions.
“Do the best we can,” Jiron says. “When we’re done, we’ll meet you back here.”
“Good luck,” Delia says.
“Be careful,” Cassie says with concern.
“We will,” Jiron assures her, and then he and Tinok run off toward town.
James mounts his horse after some time passes and advises the girls to do the same, “We may need to be ready to move fast should they return with soldiers in pursuit.”
They sit on their horses and wait. “Where are they?” Cassie asks after an hour has gone by, concern in her voice.
“Don’t worry,” Delia assures her, “they’re just taking their time to make sure they are not caught.”
“I hope so,” Cassie says.
Me too, Delia says to herself as she watches the town for their return.
Suddenly, two shadows approach. “Get ready,” they hear Jiron say as he mounts his horse. Tinok mounts his as well.
They all sit and wait, but nothing happens.
“What did you do?” James asks.
“We found a stable where they had most of their horses,” Jiron explains. “A guard was there sleeping in a pile of hay, with a bottle of wine lying next to him.”
“Yeah,” Tinok says, chuckling a little. “We took one of the lanterns down, lit it and laid it beside him on the hay. The hay was just beginning to smolder as we left.”
“But he might burn to death!” Cassie gasps.
“Fortunes of war,” Jiron says, with little feeling.
“Besides, it’ll look like an accident,” Tinok explains. “It’ll look like he got drunk and was careless.”
“And with their horses in danger,” Jiron says, “they’ll want everyone to help with putting the fire out, which should draw the men off the bridge.”
“Let’s hope so,” James says.
Suddenly, from the north side of town, a reddish glow blossoms as the stable catches fire. Even from this distance they can hear the horses neighing in terror. From within the town, they hear the cry as the soldiers move to combat the fire and save their horses.
The men on the bridge turn and see the flames reaching high in the sky as the fire roars to life. As one, they race away from the bridge and head for the inferno at the stables.
“Now’s our chance,” James says, once the guards have left the bridge. Getting their horses moving quickly, they make their way toward the bridge and race across it to the other side without anyone raising the alarm.
A road crosses over the bridge heading south. They follow it for some distance before James slows them down to prevent a horse from accidentally putting a hoof in a hole and breaking its leg. They continue to follow the road for another mile or so before deciding to pull off a ways and make camp within a small copse of trees. A quick meal of cold rations and then they turn in. Jiron, Tinok and James all taking their turn at watch.
Next morning, they’re on the road again before the sun has risen very far above the horizon. James uses his compass and with relief finds that Miko is now a little to the north of east now, instead of south of east. We’re ahead of them, he thinks to himself with satisfaction. To avoid encountering Empire soldiers, they move off the road to the west and run parallel to it.
The Silver Mountains are also getting closer on their right as they proceed south. It’s not long before they are close enough to be able to make out the individual trees covering the mountain’s slope
Over the course of the next couple hours, they see several columns of troops going north on the road to the east of them, before James quickly moves them further west to avoid detection. An hour before midday, they begin to see another road running along the base of the mountains as it meanders through the foothills. Currently no one is traveling upon it, and since the one to the east had troops moving upon it, they decide to use it. If they move any further west they will be riding along the slope of the mountain.
“Should we even be on this road?” Cassie asks, nervously.
“There’s no one on it,” James explains, “at least not right now. If we were to go further east, then we run the risk of meeting troops going north. If someone comes, then there’s always the mountain.”
She looks over to the mountain but doesn’t look too happy at the prospect of going there.
Early afternoon, they pull off the road to have some lunch and to rest the horses. They find an area to the west, behind some of the rolling hills, which will keep them out of the view of anyone who may be traveling upon the road.
“How are we going to get to Korazan?” Delia asks.
“What do you mean?” Jiron asks.
“I mean, how will we get there without being seen?” she clarifies. “Once we cross the border, we’re going to stand out as northerners, we don’t even know the customs.”
Jiron and James look at each other and James says, “Well, I hadn’t actually thought that far yet.”
“Did you think we would just ride in, find them, and then be allowed to ride away free and clear?” she asks incredulously.
“I’m sure we’ll figure a way,” Jiron assures her.
She looks at them and says, “You’re both going to get us all killed if you don’t do a little planning ahead.”
“How?” asks James. “It’s true we don’t know the customs, but there’s no way to learn before we get there anyway. We may stand out now, but once there, we can acquire clothing that will enable us to blend in.”
“Besides,” Jiron adds, “are they really going to be expecting a group, such as ourselves, to be up to mischief? I’m sure we can wing a plausible reason should one be needed.”
“Then you better think fast,” she tells him.
“Why?” Jiron asks.
She points behind him to the six riders wearing Empire uniforms who are approaching their camp from the foothills, three have crossbows loaded and aimed at them. One who looks to be the officer in charge of the group comes toward them, flanked by the remaining two.
They all stand as he approaches. “Well, what do we have here?” he asks with a smile, coming to a stop a few feet away.
Cassie clings to Delia while James steps forward to speak, “Just some friends out having some fun is all.”
“I see,” he says, a small smile playing across his lips. “And what kind of ‘fun’ would bring you to this area?”
“We we’re camping up in the mountains and had come down to get some more supplies,” he explains. “We ran out.”
“Ah, yes,” the leader says. “And what town were you heading to for the supplies?”
“We don’t actually know where any are,” he admits. “You see we’re from Lornigan over in Cardri…”
“But,” Jiron jumps in, “we figured if we were to follow this road, it would eventually lead us to one.”
The officer nods his head and signals the crossbowmen to lower their weapons. “Then you’re in luck,” he says, “we were just on our way to a town just south of here. You’re more than welcome to accompany us and purchase your supplies there.”
“That would be great,” James says. “Just give us a moment and we’ll be ready.”
The officer nods his head and takes his men a short distance away, where he speaks to one of them in a language that none of their group understands. After a few short words, the man turns his horse and races off to the south.
The officer sees James looking at the departing rider and says, “He’s just gone ahead to keep a lookout for rogues.” Giving James a disarming, charming smile he continues, “You can’t be too careful.”
James comes over to his horse and gets ready to mount, when Jiron places his hand on his arm and whispers, “Are you crazy?”
James gives him a look of desperation and replies in a hushed whisper, “We’ve got no choice. We’d never be able to stop the crossbowmen before they fire, someone could get killed. Let’s just bide our time, and see what opportunities develop.” He mounts his horse and continues, “We can’t risk having the girls hurt.”
Not happy about it, Jiron mounts his horse as the officer and his men approach again. “Ready, are we?” he asks.
“Yes, we are,” James replies. “We appreciate the escort, though it’s not really necessary.”
Smiling a charming smile, he says, “Not a problem, really. As I said, we were already heading in that direction.”
The remaining man without a crossbow heads out first, leading the way. The officer rides next to James while his three crossbowmen take up position at the rear behind the girls.
James is very uncomfortable with the ‘helpfulness’ of the soldiers. Having three crossbowmen behind the girls doesn’t leave much opportunity to get out of the situation. Trying to appear nonchalant, he asks the officer, who’s riding next to him, “So what are you doing out in these parts?”
“Just on a routine patrol,” he replies, “making sure no one makes mischief, that sort of thing.”
“What town are we going to?” James asks.
“The locals call it Mountainside,” he explains. “Not a very original name if you ask me.”
“No,” comments James, “I suppose not.”
They ride for a short time before the town comes into view. “Ah,” he says to James, indicating the town up ahead, “there it is.”
Sitting at the base of the mountain is a rather small town, even though it’s at a junction of roads. A little over two dozen buildings are apparently all there is to it. As they approach, James begins to realize there are no people out amidst the buildings, just more of the Empire’s soldiers. As they pass a few houses, he can see faces peering out from windows. Faces full of fear and worry.
Suddenly very nervous, James glances back at his companions and can see his fears mirrored in their faces. But with the three crossbowmen behind, he dares do nothing yet.
They are led to a large, two story building on the edge of town, where several soldiers are standing around outside. One says something to the officer, who answers back in the same language. James sees them smile and one even laughs a little.
The officer stops his horse in front of the building and says, “You can get what you need inside, I am sure.” He gets down, handing the reins to a soldier who’s standing there and starts toward the door, where he pauses. Glancing back at them, he asks, “Coming?”
James gets down and the rest of them follow suit. Then the officer goes in through the front door, leaving it open behind him. They glance to each other, fear in their eyes, but not knowing what else to do. The three crossbowmen are still sitting astride their horses, looking casual but with the crossbows pointed in their general direction. Not exactly threatening with them, but they could definitely aim and fire in very little time.
With James in the lead, they walk up to and then pass through the front door. They enter a large room where the officer is already seated behind a desk across the room. “Do come in,” he says to them as they hesitate in the doorway.
“There’re no supplies here!” James says accusingly as they enter the room. Tinok, who’s bringing up the rear, is nudged in the back with something sharp. Looking behind him, he sees one of the crossbowmen right behind him, the crossbow close to his back. The other two crossbowmen have dismounted and are following them inside.
The officer smiles at them and says, “Of course not, I’m surprised you even believed me.” He gestures to four other crossbowmen on the second floor balcony overlooking the room. “Please, don’t try anything,” he says to James and the others, “it would be, unpleasant.”
“What are you going to do?” Jiron asks.
A couple soldiers enter from a side door and begin taking their things from them, including James’ backpack. “My orders are simple; detain anyone passing through the area.”
They search them and take their weapons, including the knives of Jiron and Tinok.
“What happened to the people who use to live here?” Delia inquires.
“Alas, they objected to us being here so had to be dealt with,” he explains.
“Dealt with?” she asks, afraid of the answer.
“Yes my dear, dealt with,” he says to her. “Now they stay in their homes and don’t bother us any more.”
When they’re done with removing everything from them but the clothes on their back, they place all of it on the desk. The officer says a few words to one of them in their language and then turns to their prisoners. “Now, just follow this soldier here and he’ll take you to your cell.”
“Why are we being locked up?” Tinok asks angrily.
“Would you rather we just kill you now?” he asks.
James can hear Cassie gasp and quickly says, “No, that won’t be necessary.”
“Good,” he says, giving them a smile, “then please follow along peacefully and you won’t be hurt.”
A soldier leads them through a back door into a hallway lined with solid looking wooden doors, each containing a small barred window. The soldier opens the cell doors and has them enter, one per cell. He puts three of them on one side and three on the other. Once they’re in and the doors are secured, the soldier takes up position in a chair at the end of the hallway.
James hears Cassie sobbing, but fortunately everyone has the good sense to keep quiet while the guard is there and can overhear everything they say.
“Don’t worry Cassie,” Tinok’s voice can be heard saying. “I’m sure they’ll let us go once they realize we’re no threat to them.”
James can hear someone enter the hallway from the outer room and the footsteps pause before his cell. He can see the officer looking in through the window in his door and then hears him say something to the soldier with him. A key turns in the lock and the door swings open, the officer walking in. Framed in the doorway is a soldier with a crossbow who has it aimed at James to prevent any mischief.
Once he’s in the room, the officer holds up the amulet James bought from a merchant a while back, the same one that ol’ One Eye had questioned him about earlier in the warehouse back in the City of Light. “Where did you get this?” he asks.
“I bought it at a merchant’s stand a couple weeks ago,” he replies. “Why?”
“Hmmm…” he says as he considers what James had said. “Be that as it may, this changes things.”
“How?”
The man looks to James but doesn’t answer. He leaves the room and James can hear him mumble to himself as he leaves, “Yes, this definitely changes things…”
The soldier with the crossbow closes his cell door and James is left alone to ponder what he just heard. Why does having that amulet change things? That amulet must mean something special, even ol’ One Eye was extra curious about it. Unable to come up with any idea that makes sense, he just sits on the floor with his back against the wall and thinks of his options.
The hallway door opens and then closes as the officer leaves the cell area. Jiron whispers, “James, the guard left with him. What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know,” he replies. “It’s not too long until dark, we better wait until then. Can you pick the lock?”
“No, they took my lock picks when they searched me. You?” he asks.
“Probably,” James responds. “Let me think about it.”
“I’m scared!” they hear Cassie cry pitifully from her cell at the end of the hallway.
“We all are,” Delia tells her. “Just be patient, I’m sure we’ll be able to get out of this.”
“I hope so,” she says, as she once again starts to cry softly.
“This was a stupid idea!” Tinok’s voice rings out. “We should’ve taken ‘em out when we first met them. Now there’s a whole lot more to deal with.”
“We couldn’t risk the girls,” Jiron says.
“Think they’re any safer now?” he asks angrily.
“Shut up!” Delia whispers sternly. “This isn’t doing us any good!”
Everyone quiets down after that. James looks out the little window that overlooks the back alley, but all he can see is the rear of the building across from him.
Just then they hear the hallway door open again and the chair creaks as the guard retakes his position again at the end of the hallway.
They sit there for another hour in silence, each occupied with their own thoughts. James sits by the window and listens to the goings on outside, but aside from the sounds of the occasional horse going by the front of the building, or conversations in the Empire’s language, he fails to hear anything useful. He contemplates several means where magic could facilitate their escape and plans several contingencies.
Outside, the sun begins to go down and the light slowly starts to fade. Suddenly, the door at the end of the hallway opens and two soldiers come in and begin talking to the guard. They exchange words for several minutes, then James can hear them chuckling. The two men begin to make their way down to the end of the hallway and stop outside of Cassie’s door.
He hears a click and then a squeal of rusty hinges as they open her cell door. He hears them saying something to her in their language, and then suddenly a cry from Cassie.
“What’s happening?” Jiron asks.
Tinok, who’s in the cell across from her, says, “They’re going to rape her!”
“Jiron, Tinok, go help her,” James says as he releases the magic. Everyone hears an audible click as their doors unlock.
Without any thought but to help her, Jiron and Tinok burst out of their cells and rush into hers. James comes out and turns to the shocked guard at the end of the hallway. Loosing the power, James slams the man against the wall, knocking him out.
He rushes down to Cassie’s cell and finds the two soldiers dead on the ground, with Delia helping Cassie to her feet. Jiron and Tinok are standing over the dead men, with the dead men’s knives in their hand, dripping blood.
As James enters, Jiron says, “Time to leave?”
“I would think so,” James replies. They come out of her cell just as the doorway at the end of the hallway slams open. The officer strides in to see what the commotion is all about. He comes to a sudden stop when he sees the guard lying before him on the floor unconscious. Looking down the hallway, his eyes widen when he sees their cell doors open and them out of their cells, two with knives that are red with blood. He begins yelling as he quickly turns and exits the hallway, returning back to the front room. Even though James can’t understand what he’s saying, he has a pretty good idea.
“Jiron,” he says, “give Tinok your knife, quick!”
When Tinok has both knives, James says to him as he points down the hallway, “They’re going to be coming through that door. You’ve got to stop them for a minute or two.”
Tinok glances at Cassie, then with an evil grin he says, “You got it.” He walks close to the end of the hallway and awaits the first soldier to pass through the door.
Grabbing Jiron’s arm, James says, “Come with me.” He leads him to the rear cell where Tinok had been, whose little window overlooks the same narrow alley that his had. The girls follow them in there.
“What are we doing?” he asks James.
“Just wait,” he replies as he begins concentrating.
Jiron hears the clash of metal from the hallway and sticks his head out to see how Tinok’s doing. One soldier lies on the floor, bleeding to death, while his knives dance with another. A third soldier has entered the hallway behind the one battling Tinok, but the narrowness of the corridor allows but one to come at him at a time.
He turns back to the cell and watches as James begins tracing the seams of the stones surrounding the barred window. His finger follows the seam all the way around and when he reaches his starting point, he stops and says, “Alright, give me a hand.”
Reaching up to the bars, he begins pulling on them. Jiron steps up and lends his strength to the effort.
“Give up,” they hear the officer exclaim from down the hallway, “you’ve got nowhere to go!”
“Bring ‘em on!” they hear Tinok’s reply. More clashes can be heard as he parries and blocks, giving them time to do what they need to.
“What’s the count?” Jiron yells over his shoulder to Tinok.
“Four!” they hear him hollering back.
James and Jiron pull with all their strength on the bars and a section of the wall surrounding them suddenly slides outward half an inch.
“Five!”
Delia joins them and together, they slowly pull the bars and the adjoining stones away from the wall until the whole thing crashes to the floor with a thud.
James looks out the hole and doesn’t see anyone around, while Jiron goes back to the dead guards in Cassie’s cell and retrieves a sword.
Coming to the hole, he tosses the sword through and then follows it, climbing through the hole.
“Six!”
He takes the sword and comes back to the hole. “Cassie,” he says, “come on!” Keeping an eye out for anyone entering the ally, he offers his hand to help her through.
James and Jiron help Cassie make it through the hole, and then Delia. Once they’re safely on the other side, James climbs through as well. “Tinok!” Jiron yells, “Time to go!”
“Seven!” they hear just before he runs through the door. Upon seeing the hole in the wall, he yells, “Stand back!” as he races toward it and dives through. He sails through the opening, hits the ground on the other side, and then rolls, coming to rest against the wall of the opposite building.
James sees guards rushing into the room after him. When they see the hole in the wall, one yells something back down the hallway as most of them turn and race back the way they had come.
“Let’s get out of here!” James says, as he leads them down the alley. As they reach the end, he looks back the way they had come and sees soldiers entering the alley, hell bent on catching them. They turn and run down the lane, trying to make the edge of town. A guard runs around a corner in front of them, and before he even realizes they’re there, Jiron has cut him down with the sword.
“Good with a sword too?” asks James, panting from the exertion.
“Didn’t always use the knives,” he replies, “I just prefer them.”
When they come to the end of the lane, they realize they’ve made it to the edge of town, rising before them is the mountain. Behind them are dozens of soldiers racing after them and several crossbow bolts fly past, missing by a narrow margin.
They make a break for the mountain and the relative safety of the trees. The ground begins to rise as they reach the treeline.
From behind, they hear the soldiers in pursuit. James glances back and realizes they’re gaining on them. As he runs, James searches the ground for rocks, but in the dusk of early evening, it’s hard to make any out. Spotting a couple, he pauses only momentarily to pick them up before he races to catch up with the others.
He glances back again and now can make out about a dozen and a half soldiers are in pursuit, it doesn’t look as if the officer is among them. “We’re either going to have to convince them to not follow us, or take them out,” he says to the others. “We’ll never outrun them.”
Jiron looks back and says, “I agree.”
“Ladies,” James says, “you continue on up, we’ll find you.”
Delia grabs Cassie’s hand and together they continue on up the mountain as fast as they can.
“Alright gentlemen,” he says, “let’s do it.” He stops and turns to face the soldiers while Jiron and Tinok split off to either side.
He finds the crossbowmen and using the stones he collected, begins taking them out one by one. Jiron and Tinok move forward to engage the oncoming soldiers. Jiron using his sword and Tinok with his knives, they weave a dance of death that begins felling soldiers at a quick pace.
James stays to the rear and continues throwing stones, with the added speed and accuracy only magic can achieve, until all but a couple of the soldiers have been eliminated. Turning tail, the remaining soldiers promptly retreat back to town.
When they come back together to watch the retreating soldiers, James notices Jiron has acquired two knives from the fallen soldiers. “Let’s find the girls,” he says as they turn and hurry to catch up to them.