Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (11 page)

“Impressive,” Tinok says.

“Thanks,” he replies.

The rest of the day, they just sort of relax
and take it easy, recovering from the ordeal of the last two days.
Near sunset, some of them walk back toward the canyon to see how
the fire’s doing.

Smoke still fills the air and across the
canyon the trees are all blackened where the fire had raged.
Pockets of fire are still visible here and there, but for the most
part, it has consumed the readily available fuel and moved on. They
can see it as it continues to burn further up the mountain, the
flames arcing up from the tops of the trees where it’s still
burning furiously.

They make it back to the camp just as the
sun dips below the horizon and the light begins to fade. The rest
allow James to sleep as they take turns standing watch.

_________________________

When they wake in the morning and are ready
to begin hooking the horses to the wagons, they come to the
realization that no one knows how. Each wagon takes two horses,
which ones were easy to figure out, as they were bigger and more
muscular than the others. But the problem comes when they attempt
to hook the traces to the horses.

The first time they thought they had it
figured, the horses had walked right out of their harness when
Tinok flicked the reins to get them moving. The girls laughed so
hard at the expression on his face when the horses began racing
down the road and the traces fell to the ground. He was almost
pulled from the wagon but had let go of the reins in time.

“Nice,” Delia says, her brown eyes dancing
in amusement.

Trying to ignore the reaction of the girls,
Jiron runs after the horses and quickly brings them back. Taking
their time and lots of trial and error, Jiron and Tinok eventually
figure it out, finally enlisting James’ aid. Once they’re sure the
horses aren’t going to leave their traces behind again, they board
the wagons.

On one wagon rides Delia and James, with
Delia attempting to drive the wagon but is finding it much more
difficult than she had thought. Tinok is driving the second wagon
behind them with Cassie sitting beside him. Jiron is on a horse in
the lead, the rest are strung in a line tied behind Tinok’s
wagon.

Once the wagons start rolling, they begin to
learn the finer points of controlling a team of horses. Delia at
first has her wagon weaving from one side of the road to the other
and once they abruptly stopped for no apparent reason. By the end
of the day, however, both she and Tinok have begun to be able to
control them with some skill.

The road they’re following is barely wide
enough to accommodate the wagons. At one point, Delia was afraid
one of her wheels would slide off the narrow road and cause the
wagon to slide down the mountainside. Near the end of the day they
locate a good spot to make camp, an area little more than a
widening of the road amidst the trees. From the campfire ring they
find there, it would seem the smugglers have used this spot on more
than one occasion.

James’ shoulder hurts worse than the day
before. When they’re done with removing the horses from their
traces and tethering them to a nearby tree, he has Delia take off
the bandage and inspect it. The area around the wound is turning
red and is warm to the touch.

“I think it’s getting infected,” she says to
him, concern in her eyes.

“Great,” he moans. “Is there any alcohol in
the wagons?” he asks her.

“Why?” she replies.

“It may help to purify the wound,” he
explains. “Maybe even kill the infection.”

“I’ll see,” she says as she goes over and
begins rummaging around in the wagons. She returns shortly with a
bottle. “This is all I could find,” she explains, holding it out to
him. “Not sure what’s in it though.”

“Just put it back,” he tells her. “I’d
rather not take the chance.”

She returns the bottle to the wagon and then
goes over to confer with Cassie, far enough away where he can’t
hear them. They talk briefly for a few minutes and then Cassie
walks over and enters the forest. Tinok sees her leaving and runs
after her.

Delia comes back over to him and says,
“Cassie has had some training with herbs, she may be able to find
something that will help.”

James just nods as he lies there, beginning
to feel worse. His face is starting to feel flushed and his body
aches all over, a sure sign of a fever.

Cassie and Tinok come back after a few
minutes with various leaves and petals. She takes a bowl from a
wagon and proceeds to mash them all together within it. Once it has
been combined, she tears a new set of bandages from a cloak found
within one of the wagons and applies the mixture to it before
bringing it over to James.

Taking off his old bandage, she tosses it
into the fire before she applies the new one. When the mixture
touches his skin, it brings a cool, soothing sensation. The pain
noticeably diminishes and he is able to lie there more at ease.

“Thanks,” he says appreciatively to her.

“You’re welcome,” she replies with a smile,
happy to have eased his pain.

He then closes his eyes and shortly falls
asleep.

Cassie says, “I don’t like the look of his
wound. The poultice I applied will ease the pain, but will do
nothing to stop whatever is causing the redness and fever.”

“What can we do?” Jiron asks.

“Wait,” she says. “All we can do is
wait.”

“Can you find more of those herbs?” he asks
her. “He may need them again later.”

“I’ll pick more,” she says. She then walks
over to the wagon and removes a basket she found inside before
returning to the forest.

“I’ll go with you,” Tinok says as he gets up
to accompany her. Seeing the look on Jiron’s face he adds, “There
may be wild animals out there, you never know.” Then he hurries to
catch her.

Jiron turns to Delia and says, “There may be
something developing between those two.”

She watches them go into the forest together
and replies, “You may be right, but I doubt if they even realize it
yet.”

Cassie and Tinok return some time later with
the basket full of herbs and roots. She places them in the wagon
and then comes over to inspect James. He’s hot with fever and is
beginning to perspire. “This is bad,” she says, concern in her
voice.

“Bad?” asks Jiron.

“How bad?” asks Tinok at the same time.

“If he gets too hot then he’ll die,” she
explains. “I’ve seen people who have died because their fevers
became too high.”

“What can we do?” Jiron asks, worried.

“As I said before, wait. Either it will go
away on its own or it will kill him, only the gods know for sure.”
She takes a moist cloth and dabs his forehead with it as she tries
to keep him cool, wiping away the sweat that is beginning to
form.

They sit there and wait, afraid of what may
happen.

The night explodes with light, startling
them out of their sleep. They find James standing up and staring
off into the woods. He raises his hands and cries out with words
none can understand. Trees on the side of the road simply explode,
shattering into millions of pieces.

“We’re under attack!” Tinok yells as he
comes to his feet, knives at the ready. A rain of wood splinters
falls all around them from the blasted trees, the larger ones
causing pain when they strike exposed skin.

“Where are they?” Jiron yells to James. He
comes to stand with him, knives in hand and stares off into the
dark forest in the direction he’s facing.

Not paying them any attention, James sends a
wave of energy into the forest, beyond the jagged stumps of the
trees which had already been shattered. Dozens of trees bow and
break, many snapping in two as they crash to the ground from the
force of the power James is unleashing.

“I don’t see anyone!” Tinok yells to
Jiron.

“Protect the girls!” Jiron yells to Tinok as
he runs closer to the devastated area, seeking their attackers.

James cries out again and the wind begins to
blow with increased ferocity. The trees begin swaying first one way
and then the other, limbs can be heard breaking off and falling to
the ground.

Cassie yells to Tinok over the roar of the
wind as he approaches, “There is no one!”

“What?” he yells back.

“There is no one,” she cries and then she
points to James. “Look at his eyes, he’s not really seeing. It’s
the fever! He’s having a hallucination!” She pulls her long yellow
hair out of her face from where the wind continues whipping it.

As understanding dawns upon him, he sheaths
his knives and then runs over to Jiron. Before he gets there, James
cries out again and lightning flashes from the sky, striking trees
near where Jiron stands, the force of which knocks him backward. He
lands on his back, dazed, just as Tinok reaches him.

Tinok kneels down next to him and then looks
up when James screams incoherently. As he begins running into the
forest, Jiron tries to get back to his feet to follow. Tinok places
a hand on him and says, “He’s fighting dreams!”

“What?” Jiron asks in confusion, not sure if
he heard correctly.

“James!” Tinok yells, pointing to where he
ran into the forest. “It’s the fever making him do this. We’re not
under attack!”

Once he realizes what Tinok is trying to
tell him, he says, “We’ve got to help him!” He gets to his feet and
looks toward the forest where James entered just as another
explosion of immense proportion erupts to the sky.

“We can’t!” yells Tinok over the wind.
“He’ll kill us without even realizing it.”

“But…” Jiron says, wanting to help him, but
recognizing the truth in Tinok’s words. Then he looks around the
camp, wood everywhere, a section of the forest near their camp is
simply gone. Trees are toppled over, most of the horses have run
off, frightened. They gather together and he asks Cassie, “What
should we do?”

“Nothing to do,” she explains. “He doesn’t
realize what he’s doing. It will run its course if it doesn’t kill
him first.”

“How long?”

Shrugging, she says, “Who knows? I guess
we’ll find out when the noise stops.”

They look off into the forest as more lights
are seen and explosions heard. A light rain begins to fall a few
minutes later and after it has fallen for awhile, the sound of
explosions from the forest lessens until it is once again quiet,
bringing an eerie calm to the night.

“Should we find him?” Delia asks as the rain
continues to fall, plastering her short, dark brown hair to her
head.

Shaking his head, Jiron says, “Not in the
dark, we might get lost. Besides, there is no guarantee that he’s
done.” So they settle down to wait for dawn. None are able to get
any rest, what with the rain soaking them and their concern for
their friend. Sometime before morning comes, the rain stops.

When dawn at last arrives, they are able to
see the extent of the damage wrought by James during his fever
induced rampage of the night before. Around them, trees are either
blown apart at the base or toppled over, one upon another. Pieces
of wood are simply everywhere, the wagons themselves have a layer
of broken branches and wood chips covering them.

Most of the horses have found their way
back, three of the draft animals and four of the mounts. A quick
look around the surrounding area turns up one more mount and the
other draft animal.

“Should we go look for him now?” Jiron asks
Cassie.

“Since we haven’t heard anything for a
couple hours, it’s fairly safe to say that he is no longer a
danger,” she says. “We need to find him to see if he’s okay.”

Indicating the path of destruction, Tinok
says, “I don’t think it is going to be too hard to follow his
trail.”

“No,” agrees Jiron, “it won’t.” Leading the
group, he follows the trail of broken trees through the forest.
They come across area after area that shows signs of rampant
destruction. “I wonder what he thought he was fighting last night?”
he says.

“Yeah,” Tinok replies. “What could warrant
such power?”

“In his state of mind,” Cassie explains, “he
could have been imagining almost anything.”

They come to a section of the forest where
the trees look odd. Delia taps one out of curiosity and gasps,
“It’s stone!”

The others come over and feel it, mystified
at how James could have done something like that. “Incredible,”
exclaims Tinok.

Continuing on, they finally reach a point
where the destruction ends, but James is no where to be seen.
“James!” Jiron calls out, looking through the trees as far as he
can.

When there’s no answer, Delia says, “We
better split up.”

Jiron nods, saying, “That might be wise, but
let’s not get too separated.” He looks at each in turn and says,
“If in five minutes you haven’t found him, turn around and come
back here.”

They all agree and then head out into the
forest, each calling for James.

Weak as a new born lamb and his shoulder
aflame with pain, James regains consciousness. His head is fuzzy
and it’s hard to formulate thoughts. He realizes that he’s covered
in leaves and tree limbs, and that everything is damp. Unable to
even lift his arms to remove the foliage from him, he lies there,
wondering just how he came to be here.

“James!”

Suddenly alert, he hears his name being
called from far away.
They’ll never find me here!
Afraid
they might pass him by, he starts to panic. He tries calling out
but only a weak rasp comes out, “Help!”
Why am I so
weak?

He tries again, “Help!” this time managing a
little volume.

“I think I heard something!” he hears
someone shout.