Bakkian Chronicles, Book I - The Prophecy (45 page)

Focusing all his mental energies, Steve called upon his jhorun for a different type of task: burning something he couldn’t see. Feeling the blindfold around his head, he stretched his neck silently from one side to the other, feeling the straps move slightly on his head.

There. Those straps by his ears. That’d be the perfect place to try.

Okay
, Steve thought, addressing his jhorun,
you’ve been great so far. Done everything I’ve asked. I have another job for you. I want those straps to burn through. Just the straps
.

It only took a couple of moments before he could detect the scent of burnt leather. The pressure over his eyes lessened: the blindfold was loose. A quick jerk of his head had his vision restored. However, he still couldn’t see anything. Damn. Nighttime. How long had he been out, anyway?

His eyes started adjusting to the absence of light, allowing him to see the faint outline of the cart he was laying in. As silently as possible, he twisted so that he could see the ropes binding his arms and legs. Hoping that no one was walking alongside the cart to smell what he was about to do, he focused his jhorun to produce a tiny pinprick of intense fire, and then caressed that red-hot dot along his bonds. His arms were free! Now, his legs. The ropes fell away, neatly sliced open. Making sure there wasn’t any other ropes holding on to him, Steve contemplated his next course of action. Should he just jump out of the cart and yell surprise? Or should he maybe try to sneak out and make a break for it?

At that moment, the cart hit a series of ruts in the road, making quite a racket. Thinking quickly, he silently leapt out of the cart.

“
Be careful, dolt! Do ye wish to wake him?”

Steve’s angry voice floated out of the darkness.

“
And if he’s already awake?”

Twin jets of fire illuminated the shocked faces of his captors, catching all by surprise. In that moment of illumination, Steve finally saw who he was dealing with. There were three of them, all dressed in dark tunics and trousers. One was leading the horse and cart, and the others had been picking their way down the mountain path. Down the path? Where the hell was he, anyway?

“
Now, do not try anything rash, scum. There is no way ye can take out all three of us before one of us makes it to ye. Just put yer hands above yer head and ye might live through this.”

Steve couldn’t help it. It just came out of him. He laughed.

Nervously eyeing each other, the would-be captors watched helplessly as their victim held up his right hand, still ignited. A large fiery orb appeared. Using the light from his chaser, he observed his attackers. All had swords, but none were drawn. They had instead opted to fit arrows to their bows. And, all three bows simultaneously snapped as they burned to ash. While the startled men looked to one another to figure out what they should do next, Steve’s gaze dropped to the closest man’s scabbard, with his sword still in it. It only took a few seconds before it was glowing solid red. The man howled in pain, scrambling frantically to get the red-hot weapon off his belt. The other two men went through the same ordeal, all howling in pain as their swords literally melted in their scabbards.

“
Would you like to rephrase that?” Steve casually asked, tossing the chaser from one hand to the other.

The man that had been holding on to the reins of the horse turned tail and ran, disappearing into the darkness. There was a frantic scrambling in the distance and then they heard a scream of despair as the fleeing mercenary ran right off the edge of the path, plummeting hundreds of feet to the valley floor below.

Eyeing the two nervous men, he hefted the chaser in his right hand. “I like to call this a ‘chaser’,” Steve casually explained. “What is a chaser, you might ask? Let me explain. If I hurl this, it’ll give chase. No matter how fast you run, no matter where you try to hide, it will find its target. And not just one, but both of you. I’ve used them before. Trust me, I have no problem using it again.”

“
What do ye want?” The high-pitched voice came out as a nervous squeak.

“
Who are you? Who do you work for?”

The two thugs shared a glance, and then both darted away, running as fast as possible. They had to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the fire thrower before he had a chance to react. However, before Steve could throw the chaser, both men discovered the sharp turn on the mountain road that their unfortunate friend had found, and as a result, both ran right off the edge, plunging to their deaths. Echoes of their screams bounced around the canyon walls for several minutes before finally fading away.

Standing in complete shock, Steve’s hands snuffed themselves out. Now what was he supposed to do? His prisoners had fled before he had a chance to figure out where he was, effectively stranding him in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. He patted the horse on the head.

“
I don’t suppose you know how to get us out of here?”

Neighing in fright, the horse took off. The clattering of the receding cart eventually fading away until he was left standing by himself in the darkness.

“
Oh, this is just great.”

****

Sarah didn’t think she had ever run this much in her entire life. She just couldn’t seem to catch her breath, yet she wasn’t about to stop now. To do so would mean she’d be left behind, and she wasn’t about to let that happen.

The other four soldiers had each taken a different direction. They were to search for an hour, and then report back to the camp to compare notes. All had donned their full gear, anticipating the worst. But it was Rhein who proved the most useful. He had managed to stumble across a roosting owl, and after only a few moments, was able to calm the agitated bird to make her his familiar.

The owl took flight immediately, searching for anything out of the ordinary, any disturbances, or any other people on the move in the area. In less than thirty minutes, the owl had located the horse and cart. The frightened horse was finally apprehended when, exhausted, it had stopped to rest, its head drooping low to the ground. All Kern had to do was grab the reins. The tired horse even whinnied its appreciation to its new owners.

After finally securing the spooked animal, Kern gave an exclamation of surprise. By the light of the newly risen moon he was able to see what lay discarded in the wooden cart. Reaching inside, he retrieved the ropes that had previously held Steve captive.

“
Lieutenant, someone was held prisoner here. Look, these ropes were cut!”

Rhein took the ropes, scrutinizing them closely while Kern fidgeted from his left foot to his right.

“
Think they were used on sir Steve?”

Rhein nodded.

“
Aye, I do. See the ends of the rope? No fraying. All the ends are singed. These ropes were burned off.”

“
Do we search the area?”

“
Nay, my owl found the horse running full tilt.” He patted the tired horse. “We do not know where he was coming from. Back to the camp. We have to rendezvous with the others.”

“
Ye found it where?” Rhenyon studied the cut ropes.

“
About three leagues from here, due west. From which direction the horse was running, I cannot say.”

Sarah held up a section of rope. “But these were burned off. That has got to mean it was done by Steve, right?”

Rhenyon nodded in agreement. “I have seen ropes burned off before, but in this case, I do not believe in coincidences. Sir Steve was bound, in that cart. He managed to free himself, of that we can be certain.

“
What now?” Sarah wanted to know. “Do we search for him?”

“
I am sorry, Lady Sarah, but it is too dangerous at night. We are close to several cliffs. We must wait for first light.”

Tears filled Sarah’s eyes. Please be okay, she silently thought to her husband. We’ll find you.

****

The following morning, dawn came without preamble. Without any vegetation, trees, or the like, there weren’t any creatures or insects to generate the typical morning cacophony he had become accustomed to. Whether it was sheer exhaustion or the lack of noise to wake him, Steve slept in longer than he probably should have.

Snoring loudly, Steve’s back sent constant jolts of pain up and down his spine. The intensity of the pain finally penetrated his awareness and brought him agonizingly back to full consciousness. Stiffly, he rose to a sitting position. Looking around in bewilderment, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings, Steve had to give himself a full five minutes before the memories of the previous night came back to him.

Wincing with pain, he stood, rubbing his aching temples. His headache from the previous night was still with him, and now, thanks to his hours of sleeping on solid rock, his back wasn’t too pleased with him, either. Groaning softly, he finally took stock of his location. He was standing on an open expanse of rock along a steep wall, with a small path continuing upwards. The path also bordered the mountain’s edge, with the drop off plunging straight down for over two hundred feet.

Bewildered, Steve looked around. There were mountains surrounding him on all sides, and far below, a small valley. Stepping out onto the path he looked both down and then up the path. It was barely wide enough for a horse-drawn cart. Where had they been taking him? He sure as hell didn’t want to keep going that way. Best to head the opposite direction. Maybe there was a branch in the path that would take him back to where he came from.

Steve paused. Did he really know which direction that was if he found another path to take? He shook his head. Nope. Not a clue. Maybe he could light a signal fire, or shoot off several jets of fire into the sky. Nope, bad idea. If he did that, then not only could he alert his friends, but it would also alert any undesirables in the area.

Steve thought back to last night. If memory served, while he was restrained in the cart he did recall a gentle, downwards pull, so if he wanted to head in the opposite direction that meant uphill, right? He sighed. Of course. Uphill. Should have known. Trudging slowly up the path, he reached the sharp bend which had been the downfall of his captors. Steve leaned over the edge and looked down.

“
Too bad, so sad, guys. Serves your asses right.”

Did the horse and cart go over the edge, too? Man alive, he hoped not. Having grown up in southwestern Idaho with horses on his family’s farm, he had a certain fondness for the four-legged animals, and wouldn’t wish a horse any type of harm, no matter what its temperament was.

Following the bend in the path, he picked up the pace as much as he was able. He asked himself yet again if he really know where the hell he was going. Somewhere out in the open. Some place away from heights. He didn’t really have a problem with heights, but falling from them? That he could do without.

****

By midday he was feeling better. His headache had dulled to a muted throb, but now his stomach was protesting angrily for being ignored. After several hours of walking he had finally reached the path’s summit. He had to admit, it made for one hell of a view. It didn’t do anything to dispel his uneasiness, however. Unfamiliar terrain spread out all about him, and directly ahead? The path, unfortunately, terminated at the beginning of a large, open mesa that was covered with tall grass that rose to his waist. Which way was north, anyway? He glanced up. Judging by his shadow he guessed it was just after noon, and that the sun was heading to his left, which meant north was straight through the grass.

As he walked, the nagging fear of being lost refused to go away. Was he making things worse by trying to figure out which way to go? Maybe he should stop and stay in one place, in case someone was looking for him.

A gentle breeze began to blow, causing the grass he was wading through to sway gently to the left. He had just started noticing the hypnotizing effect of the gently rocking grass when the wind started to pick up. What’s going on? In just a matter of moments, the gentle breeze had rapidly increased to a gale force wind and was blowing so hard that the grass was now blown flat against the ground. The wind was buffeting him so hard that he could barely stand. What the hell was going on? Was a tornado heading this way?