As the road continues northward, it stays among the hills for several miles before beginning to ease back into the grasslands. From up ahead, they see a group of riders coming toward them.
Miko begins to turn off the road, but James stops him. “They’ve already seen us,” he tells him. “If we run, they’ll chase us just to find out why.”
He then turns to Jiron and says, “If we just ride like we belong, maybe they’ll go right past.”
“Either way, they’re going to be here in a few minutes,” Jiron replies.
“Just continue on and stay calm,” James says.
Miko moves closer to James, with Jiron just a few feet in front of them.
As the riders near, they can tell they are part of the Empire’s cavalry. James watches them approach, his heart beating rapidly and then they ride right on past. The riders give them a once over as they go by, but fail to stop.
Once they’ve disappeared to the south, they all breathe a sigh of relief. “Why didn’t they stop us?” Miko asks. When James turns to look at him, he continues, “I mean, we don’t look like we belong here.”
“Most people see what they think they’re supposed to,” he tells him. “Since we were behaving normally and not acting odd, they assumed we belonged here.”
“When they get further south and hear about us, they’ll probably give the alarm,” says Jiron.
“Maybe,” he says. “Hopefully we’ll be further north and not have to worry about it by then.”
They continue moving north and Miko glances behind them every once in a while as he searches for the return of the riders.
A little past noon, they begin to see a town up ahead. It’s a fair sized town with a sizeable defensive wall. Many people can be seen moving along the outer perimeter of the walls, as well as guards walking along the top.
“We better steer clear of that,” Jiron says while they pause to consider their course of action.
“But which way to go?” asks James. “To the right looks to be hills but from what Jobi said, that may put us closer to the keep. Around the left side looks to be just plains with little chance to sneak by.”
“Let’s wait till dark,” suggests Miko. “Then we could pass by and not be seen.”
Nodding, James says, “That would give the horses a chance to rest as well.” Seeing how tired Miko is, adds, “We could use one too.”
They turn around and head back down the road several miles before turning off into the hills. When they’ve gone far enough into the hills that the road is no longer visible, they set up camp.
After the horses are staked out and they’ve had a bite to eat, Jiron climbs the hill overlooking the road in the distance. Lying down up there so as not to create a silhouette, he keeps watch while the others try to get some sleep. Able to do with little sleep, he doesn’t bother waking them up for a turn at watch.
From his vantage point, he can clearly see the road and it remains devoid of traffic throughout the rest of the day. By nightfall, when he determines it’s getting dark enough to conceal them, he returns to the camp and awakens the others.
They quickly mount and again move to the road as they begin to return to the town. Off in the distance the town’s lights become visible. Jiron leads them to the west, maintaining a goodly distance between them as they circumnavigate the town.
As they pass around the town, they come across a road heading out from the town to the west. Not seeing anyone coming or going, they cross it and continue moving around the town. Several farms are scattered in the area which cause them to take it slow, having to thread their way through them.
A dog barks at them as they pass close to one farmhouse. The front door opens and they can see the farmer outlined by the light inside the house as he stands in the doorway. He yells something at the dog and looks out into the night, but fails to see them passing by in the dark.
The dog continues to bark and the man yells at it again. Giving a couple more barks, the dog finally becomes silent. The farmer stares out into the night for another minute before going back inside the house.
Upon reaching the far side of town, they pick the road up again and continue following it north. With the town now behind them, they’re able to once more make good speed.
The three quarter moon gives them plenty of light to see by. As it slowly makes its arc across the sky, they move ever further toward the north. As it reaches its zenith, a band of riders can be heard approaching quickly out of the night from the east.
A shout can be heard coming from them, James looks and sees them there in the moonlight, heading straight for them. A crossbow bolt flies past as one of their pursuers takes a shot.
“Move!” James yells as he kicks his horse into a gallop. The other two follow suit as they race away from the approaching riders. Glancing back, he sees the riders turn to follow them. He can make out at least seven in the moonlight, there could be more in the darkness behind them, he’s not sure.
“We’re not going to be able to outrun them,” announces Jiron.
James glances back and sees the riders are continuing to gain slowly. “You’re right,” he agrees. He brings his horse to a stop and turns to face them. Jiron and Miko do the same just as a bola flies out of the dark and wraps around him, pinning his arms to his sides.
Losing his balance, James tumbles backward off his horse and thuds to the ground. He snaps the bola in half with a thought just as Jiron and Miko fall to the ground, bolas wrapped around them as well.
Crumph!
The ground under the approaching riders explodes upward, throwing them in every direction. James draws his knife and soon has Jiron free as the remaining riders approach.
Jumping to his feet, Jiron takes the severed pieces of the bola which had bound him and throws them at the approaching horsemen. One flies wide, but the other half connects with the lead horse in the chest causing him to stumble and throw its rider.
A stone flies and takes the remaining rider through the middle, gore exploding out his back.
Jiron engages the man who had just been thrown from his horse, his knives easily deflecting the sword of the rider. From behind he hears James yell, “Need him alive!”
Concentrating now on the sword and less on attack, he bides his time. Suddenly, he sees the maneuver he was waiting for. When the rider thrusts with his sword, he locks his knives together around the blade and with a twist of his wrists, the sword goes flying.
The rider tries to turn and flee, but Jiron tackles him and puts a knife to his throat.
James comes up to them and asks the captured rider, “Who are you?”
The rider just stares back defiantly.
“You are not of the Empire,” he says holding a bola. “This, if nothing else, would indicate that. I have not seen anything like this in the Empire before.”
Continuing on maintaining a defiant demeanor, the rider lies there uncooperatively.
“Are you from the Kirken Federation?” he asks. “That would be my guess, perhaps a raiding party?”
The man’s eyes flinch just enough for James to know he’d hit the mark. “Let him go Jiron,” he says.
Not taking his knife away, he says, “But they tried to kill us.”
Looking at the man, James asks, “If we let you go, will you return from where you came and leave us alone?”
The man stares at James a moment, considering the voracity of his words. Then, he nods his head affirmatively.
To Jiron, he says, “Let him go.”
Jiron slowly pulls the knife away from the man’s throat. When no attack is forthcoming from him, he gets slowly to his feet, never taking his eyes off the Kirken soldier.
As the man stands up, James tells him, “We are not of the Empire, we are from the north and are currently at war with the Empire ourselves.”
“Madoc?” the man asks.
“He is,” James says, indicating Jiron. Gesturing to Miko and himself, he says, “We’re from Cardri.”
The Kirken says, “We thought you to be the Empire’s men.” He looks around at his men lying dead around him before returning his attention to James, “A costly mistake.”
“We would not want to count the Kirken’s as enemies,” James says.
The man nods, “You are not, and I’m sorry we attacked you.” He goes over to a horse and grabs the dangling reins. “I must return and tell of what happened here. You’re welcome to come with me.”
Shaking his head, James says, “No, we cannot take the time, I’m afraid.”
“As you wish,” he says. He rounds up the other horses and then places the dead upon their backs, securing them into place. Then he ties the horses in line before mounting the lead horse. Then with a wave, he’s off.
They watch him as he disappears into the night with the bodies of his dead comrades. “It’s a shame they had to die,” James says.
“Fortunes of war, I’m afraid,” Jiron adds.
“Why didn’t we go with him?” Miko asks. “It seemed like a good idea.”
“We don’t want to get caught up in someone else’s war,” he says. “We’ve got our own problems and duties.”
“What duties?” he asks.
“Have you forgotten so soon?” he asks, pointing to his pouch.
“Oh, right,” he says then drops to a whisper, “the Fire.”
“Exactly,” replies James. “We can’t risk anyone getting their hands on it or even knowing about it.”
Getting back on their horses, they begin moving once more toward the north. They travel for several minutes when Jiron asks, “Just what did they hit us with anyway?”
“It’s called a bola,” he explains. “It’s a length of rope with weights at both ends. They twirl it and then let it fly at their target. If they do it right, then the target gets wrapped up and entangled.”
“Those things seemed pretty effective,” he says.
Nodding, James continues, “I’ve known them to be spiked and even have metal wires running the length of the rope to prevent it from being cut.”
“Nasty,” he hears Miko say.
“It can be,” admits James.
They ride on in silence as they eat up the miles. In a short while, they come to where a new road forms going west, into the heart of the Empire. Staying with the northerly route, they soon leave it behind.
After midnight, they stop for a quick meal of old rations, plus some from the Parvati’s. “You know,” James begins, “this riding at night is a whole lot better than riding in the day.”
“Yeah,” pipes up Miko. “No one can see us passing by.”
“Exactly,” replies James. “Maybe we can keep this up till we reach Madoc.”
“Maybe,” Jiron agrees. “As long as we’re able to find a place to hole up during the day.”
From up ahead, lights of a town begin to be visible. This town is a lot smaller than the one they’d skirted around earlier in the evening. Jiron leads them westward around it, making their way again through the farms and homes along the outskirts.
Once they made it to the north side of town, Jiron again leads them along the road to the north. The trees become denser as they move further away from the town. After only a mile or so, the trees become so thick, their upper branches virtually block out the light of the moon.
The road is quite dark now so James casts his light spell, just enough to be able to discern their way and stay upon the road. The night becomes stiller as they continue along the road through the forest. Off in the distance, they can hear the sound of wolves and other nocturnal creatures.
A shiver goes up James’ back as he remembers his first night in this world when poor Seth had been torn to pieces. If I would have known then what I do now, he would still be alive.
Several hours later, they come to a small river flowing to the south, a bridge had been built over it. The hollow sound of the horses’ hooves walking across reminds James of Ichabod in Sleepy Hollow. He almost expects to hear the maniacal laugh of the headless horseman as he comes charging out of the woods.
They continue through the forest for several more hours before the sky begins to lighten. Once it becomes bright enough, James cancels his light spell. The forest is a little less foreboding in the light than it had been in the dark.
“Should we find a spot to hole up for the day?” asks Miko.
“Naw,” replies James. “We’d loose too much time, daylight’s longer in the summer than the winter. Let’s ride another hour or two before we stop.”
Obviously tired and wanting nothing more than to get off the horse and sleep, Miko nods his head. James looks over to his friend, understanding his need, but they must continue to make time while they can.
He feels like they must be nearing the border, couple more days or so and they should be there. That’s when the fun is really going to start as they try to break through the lines. Hopefully, Madoc’s soldiers won’t mistake them for the Empire and attack. That’s been James’ biggest worry for the last day or so. Ever since the Kirken’s mistook them for the Empire and attacked, he’s been worried about other non-hostiles doing the same.
From up ahead, they begin to hear the sound of wagons coming their way. Jiron leads them off into the woods to hide as they approach. A small caravan of ten wagons and an accompaniment of twenty of the Empire’s cavalry slowly make their way by.
“Those wagons are coming from a mine,” whispers Miko.
“How can you tell?” Jiron asks him.
“I know, trust me,” he replies. “There must be a mining complex somewhere to the north.”
“I’m not destroying this one,” James announces a little too loud. One of the cavalrymen turns to look out into the forest in their direction as he pauses a moment.
Holding very still and quiet, they look through the trees at the rider as he continues to search. Another of the cavalrymen comes over to him and they begin having a quiet conversation. The other man looks out in their direction as well, but after a couple more moments, he says something to the other and they both resume their place along the wagons.
Once the wagons have passed their hiding places and have moved further down the road, Jiron walks to the road and looks south after the departing wagons. When he sees the wagons are out of sight, he waves the others back onto the road.
“Sorry,” apologizes James for his lapse in judgment back there when he spoke too loudly.
“Don’t worry about it, nothing happened,” assures Jiron.
They turn and continue back toward the north. “Wonder what they were carrying that requires an escort?” Miko asks.
“Could just be so the Kirken’s won’t attack it,” suggests James.
“You’re probably right,” agrees Jiron.
“We’ll need to keep on our guard from here on out,” says James. “If this is an ore shipment route, they’ll probably have patrols or guards all along this stretch of the road.”
Jiron glances back to him and nods before turning back. They quicken their pace, anxious to get out of the confining forest.
Two hours later, they’re all getting fatigued, and the horses are starting to show signs of wear. They decide it’s time to stop and move into the forest, far enough from the road so anyone passing by will be unable to see them through the trees. Tying the horses to neighboring trees, they take a moment to clear a camp before settling down.
James takes the first watch, with Jiron taking the last. Miko hates the middle watch, he never seems to get adequate sleep when he does. During James’ watch, he hears horses moving fast from the north and disappearing to the south. He tells Miko about the riders when it’s his turn at watch.
Jiron wakes everyone up when the light in the forest begins to fade. They have a quick meal of stale rations before mounting up and moving back to the road.
After several miles, James begins to realize the trees here don’t seem nearly as thick as the ones the night before, light from the moon is able to filter down through them more effectively. The road is barely discernable in the faint light, but enough can be seen so James doesn’t have to create his orb.
They travel down the road for several more hours before the trees begin to thin out even more. The ground begins to rise and fall as they enter what seems to be rolling hills. “If there are mountains ahead, that would explain where those wagons had come from,” James says.
“We’ll see,” replies Jiron. Leading them on, he keeps a brisk, distance eating pace.
The road begins to wind through a series of increasingly tall hills and after it goes around a large one, the lights from a small village appear in the distance ahead. The road proceeds directly down the center of the village. There are not many buildings, kind of reminding James of a ghost town he once visited with his family.
“Do we go around?” Miko asks.
“The hills are getting pretty steep,” Jiron says.
“We may have no choice but to go through,” James tells him. “We can’t afford to stumble around in rugged hills at night.”
“There doesn’t seem to be any guards or soldiers around,” Jiron announces.
James gives the village a long look and nods his head, “You’re right, I don’t see any either.” He glances from one to the other before continuing, “Let’s chance it. Move in and pass through as quickly as possible.”
Moving quickly, not so fast as to draw undue notice, they move toward the town. As soon as they pass the first building, someone sitting on its steps calls a greeting to them.
Unable to speak the language, Jiron just waves as he continues on through. As they pass by the one who greeted them, the man calls to them again but they pointedly ignore him. Then from behind they hear the man obviously swear at them, Miko turns around and sees him waving his fist. The man soon stops and to Miko’s relief, settles back down on the steps.
Others call out to them as they pass through the town as well, and they hear curses follow them when they fail to respond to them.
At the outskirts on the other side of town, they breathe a sigh of relief as they pass the last building. They glance back to the town and see several people there staring after them but are making no move to follow.
“Guess we got off lucky there,” Jiron says once they’ve put the village behind them.
“Looks that way,” agrees James.
“I’ll be glad to be back where I can understand what someone’s trying to tell me,” Miko pipes up. “It’s unnerving when you don’t know what they’re saying.”
“I know what you mean,” agrees James.
The road continues to wind through steep hills, with little in the way of hiding spots should the need arise. They continue along the road for several more hours, the hills continuing to be steep and inaccessible.
The light from another town begins to be visible from up ahead. This one is sizably larger than the one they recently passed through. There are many buildings and when they pause a moment to survey the area, they see guards walking the streets.
“We could pass by over there,” Jiron suggests, pointing to an area west of town.
James looks where he’s pointing and sees just a few buildings. The whole area is fairly dark, just some light escaping through several of the windows. Nodding, he says, “Looks like our best bet, let’s go.”
With Jiron in the lead, they stay as close to the sides of the hill as they can. They’re forced to pass close by one of the buildings and as they move past, the door suddenly opens and a man steps out.
The light from within the house illuminates them as they sit there on their horses, frozen in the man’s back yard. They stare at each other a moment when suddenly the man calls out and two dogs begin barking.
James sees two dogs run around the house and head straight for them as the man goes back in the house, shutting the door. He takes a stone from his pocket and throws it at one of the dogs, taking it through the head.
Jiron jumps down from his horse as his knives flash in the moonlight. The dog jumps for him and he twists as his knives strike the dog as it flies past. It falls to the ground and begins whimpering as blood flows from the wound in its side. The dog tries to get up but is unable and soon lies still as its life leaves it.
From the other side of the house, they hear the man running into town, raising the alarm. “That tears it!” exclaims Jiron as he gets back on his horse.
No longer trying to remain quiet, they race toward the north side of town and the road. Lights begin springing up as people fill the street to see what’s going on.
From up ahead of them, they see a dozen soldiers moving to block their escape. Kicking their horses to greater speed, they race to beat them to where the road moves back into the hills.
“They’re going to make it first!” cries out Jiron.
Crumph!
The ground under the running soldiers erupts, tossing them every which way. The few that remain, turn around and run back toward town.
Suddenly, James feels the prickling sensation of someone doing magic. “They’ve got a mage here!” he hollers at the others.
A wall of flame springs into being ten feet in front of them, the heat searing their skin. The horses cry out and come to a quick stop. James hears Miko yell, “James!” Turning to look, he sees Miko’s panicked horse running directly toward town, nothing he does seems to be able to alter its course.
“Miko!” he cries out as he turns to follow. The heat behind him increases and he realizes the wall of flame is moving quickly toward him. He concentrates and the wall begins to decrease in size as it slows in its approach.
Seeing James occupied with the wall of flame, Jiron says to him, “I’ll get Miko!” Without waiting to see if he’s been heard, he turns his horse and races into town.
James finally gets the wall of flame to vanish and he looks around, trying to find the mage. He locates the brown robe off to his right. Taking a stone from his pocket, he launches it at the mage and watches as the stone hits him, blasting out the back.
When the mage falls to the ground, he turns his horse toward town and moves to follow Jiron.
Jiron, upon reaching the edge of the town, is thrown from his horse when a crossbow bolt strikes it, knocking it out from under him. Jumping clear, he rolls and comes to a crouching position as he surveys the area.
Another crossbow bolt strikes the ground near his foot, he looks back along its trajectory and sees the crossbowman pulling the wire back. Without hesitation, Jiron sprints toward the crossbowman to engage him before he can get it ready again.
The crossbowman sees him approaching and throws the crossbow at him as he draws his sword. He thrusts at Jiron who deflects the sword with one knife and then follows through with the other, sinking the blade three inches into the man’s side.
The man falls to the ground and begins coughing up blood as his lungs fill from where Jiron’s knife had punctured them.
With him out of the way, he looks around and tries to see Miko, but can’t see him anywhere. The town is in total chaos, people running everywhere. “Miko!” he hollers, but no reply comes. “Damn!” he curses as he sets off into town on foot to locate him.
James reaches the outskirts just as the prickling sensation starts again. Looking around, he sees another brown robe just as the air between them begins to shimmer and a wave of force knocks him backward off his horse and into the side of the building.
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.