Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (18 page)

In dire need of the water at the oasis, they
pull in and Tinok takes the horses over one by one to drink their
fill. Delia and Cassie gather everyone’s water bottles and take
them over to the pool to fill them.

James sees Ezra near the palm-like trees
growing around the oasis, picking some of the fruit hanging from
the branches. “What’s she picking?” he asks Roland.

“She’s taking some dates off the trees,” he
replies. “It’s the custom to take a few, leaving the rest for other
travelers.”

James nods his head in understanding and
walks over to the closest tree, picking one. It’s an odd looking
fruit, purplish in color with red lines going through it. Placing
it to his mouth, he takes a bite and discovers it has a slightly
bitter taste, though not altogether unpleasant.

When Roland sees that he’s finished the
fruit, with only the pit left, he says, “You’re suppose to throw it
near the edge of the oasis.”

“What?” James asks.

Indicating the pit in James’ hand, he says,
“Throw it on the ground, away from the other trees. It’s a
tradition, so that other trees may grow thereby filling the desert
with fruit.”

Finding a likely spot, he tosses the fruit
over near the edge where it lands amidst some bushes. Looking back
to Roland, he sees him nodding his approval.

The other merchant, who had been sharing the
oasis with them, begins to leave and waves a cheery goodbye as his
wagons pull back onto the road, heading north.

They make their stop brief, just long enough
for all the horses to drink their fill and have a quick meal.
Cassie stays in the wagon with Ezra, having her meal with a playful
Arkie who continually tries to grab her food. Tinok casts glances
over to her every time he hears her laughing.

James notices that he’s longing to go over
to her so he says, “Why don’t you go help Cassie watch Arkie and
have your meal. I can finish this alone.”

“You sure?” Tinok asks, hopefully.

“Wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t,” he
replies.

“Thanks,” he says and then hurries over to
the wagon, climbing in beside Cassie. She sees him coming to join
her and smiles.

“That was nice,” Delia says to James as she
comes up behind him.

Looking back over his shoulder, he replies,
“Oh, it wasn’t much. Besides, we were almost finished anyway.”

“They sure do like each other,” she observes
as they both watch them sitting and talking together, Arkie going
from first one then the other.

“Yes,” he agrees, “they sure do.”

James finishes the watering and feeding of
the horses then takes his meal and walks over to sit under one of
the trees by the water. Peaceful, just the way he likes it. As he
eats, he can’t help but worry over the delay of Jiron’s return. He
should have been back by now, he reasons. Thinking nothing but the
worst, he continues eating.

Before he’s done, he hears several riders
coming down the road from the north. Getting up, he hurries back to
the wagons and reaches them just as the riders turn off the road
into the oasis. Soldiers!

Seven enemy soldiers and a civilian enter
the oasis and dismount by the pool of water, letting their horses
drink. They glance occasionally over at James’ group, but otherwise
pay them no heed.

Roland notices how everyone has tensed up
with the appearance of the soldiers. He comes over to James and
whispers, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” James replies, not wanting to get
Roland involved.

“Right,” he replies in a tone saying he
doesn’t believe that.

James just looks back at him, not giving him
anymore of an explanation.

The soldiers have all dismounted and are
filling their water bottles from the pool. The civilian, oddly
enough is remaining on his horse. James glances over to him and
realizes that he’s staring right at him.

A shock of recognition runs through him.
Jiron!
His eyes widen in recognition and then he nods his
head, letting Jiron know that he recognizes him. Not wishing to
alert the soldiers to the fact they know each other, James
leisurely makes his way over to where Tinok is in the back of the
wagon with Cassie.

As he approaches, Tinok hops out of the
wagon and comes up to him. Excited, he starts to say, “James! Do
you…”

Putting his finger in front of his lips for
silence, James nods and whispers, “I know.”

“What are we going to do?” he asks quietly,
casting glances over to where Jiron sits.

“Let’s take the wagons down the road a ways
and wait for them to come,” he replies. “We could ambush them.”

“We should do it now!” insists Tinok, a
little too loud. A soldier looks over in their direction at the
outburst, but otherwise continues about his business.

“What about the girls?” counters James.

“If they leave here,” Tinok argues, “we may
lose the chance to get him back!”

Roland comes over and joins them, “What’s
going on?”

“They have our companion over there,” James
tells him, nodding toward where Jiron sits, secured to the
horse.

Roland looks over and sees him there, “Are
you thinking what I think you’re thinking?” Looking into their eyes
is answer enough. “Are you crazy? Do you know who that is over
there?” He indicates the officer in charge.

James shakes his head and says, “No.”

“His insignia shows him to be a Commander of
Ten,” continues Roland.

“So?” Tinok replies, obviously not
impressed.

“A Commander of Ten only becomes one by
being the best with the sword and usually totally ruthless,” he
explains. “Any ordinary man taking him on, dies!”

“Still, we must rescue our friend,” insists
James.

Nodding, Tinok agrees.

“You’re both crazy!” Roland exclaims.

Tinok grins and says, “Probably.”

James tells him, “Go back and have the girls
start moving the wagons out of here.”

Roland gives him a look of utter disbelief
at what they intend to do, but he turns and starts walking back
toward the wagons.

Tinok looks at him in surprise and James
says, “You’re right, we need to do this here, now, before they have
a chance to get back on their horses.”

They watch as Roland reaches the wagons and
begins speaking to Delia and Cassie. Delia looks at them and slowly
nods her head, Cassie starts to cry out to Tinok, but Delia puts
her hand over her mouth and quietly whispers in her ear. With a
pained look to Tinok, Cassie gets on the second wagon and is soon
following Delia, who’s leading the first wagon back to the
road.

Looking to Tinok, James says, “Are you
ready?”

“Yeah,” he replies, “Let’s do it!”

James gathers several stones and Tinok
readies his knives. About this time, the Commander of Ten has
noticed that the wagons are rolling away, yet two have stayed
behind. He says something to one of his men and the soldier starts
walking over toward them.

As the soldier approaches, he says something
to them in his language. Getting no response, he puts his hand on
his sword as he continues to advance. By this time, all of the
Commander’s men are aware of what’s transpiring. They start to
flank out, and begin encircling them.

Not waiting any longer, James lets loose
with a stone, propels it with the force of his spell and strikes
the approaching soldier square in the chest, blasting out the
back.

As his man falls to the ground, the
Commander shouts out a command and his men, as one, draw their
swords. The whisking of them all coming out at the same time makes
an eerie sound.

James throws a second stone and takes out
another of the advancing men. The four remaining soldiers fan out
quickly, coming at them from different directions. Suddenly, he
feels the prickling sensation that tells him magic is being worked
just before he hears a shout from the Commander. Turning in his
direction, he sees a green blob arcing through the air toward
him.

Thinking fast, he creates a shield
surrounding himself just before the green blob hits. It begins to
spread, covering the shield in a green, sticky substance. Through
the green goo, he sees Tinok being hard pressed by the man he’s
fighting, with the others coming fast. His opponent is very skilled
with the blade and there’s three more coming to join him.

James changes the nature of the shield and
it bursts into flame, searing off the green goo, leaving him
covered in a film of fine ash. Quickly, he tosses his last stone at
one of the men advancing upon Tinok and catches him in the thigh,
literally blasting off his leg at the hip. The man falls to the
ground with a cry of pain.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees that
Roland has snuck around the oasis and is coming toward where Jiron
sits tied to the horse. But then his attention is again turned to
the Commander who’s drawing his sword and advancing upon him.

James readies another spell and a bolt of
energy flies from his extended hand, striking the Commander full on
the chest where it explodes in a shower of sparks. When the sparks
clear, James sees him still standing there, untouched.

Grinning evilly, the Commander continues his
advance upon him.

Another spell and the ground erupts under
him. Still, he marches on.

James quickly glances over to where Jiron
had been, but now only sees the horse with an empty saddle. Turning
his attention back to the advancing Commander, he considers the
situation.
He must be protected in some way!
James begins
backing up, prolonging the inevitable contact, trying to come up
with some sort of solution to the problem.

Catching a flash of movement out of the
corner of his eye, he sees Jiron coming to Tinok’s aid as he joins
the fight.

If I can’t use magic on him directly…

Concentrating once more, he brings his hands
together and then as he lets loose the power, he spreads them
apart.

With a crack, the ground under the Commander
opens wide. Losing his balance, he falls into the gaping hole. Once
he’s fallen below the top of the hole, James again unleashes the
power and with a clap, brings his hands back together again. The
sides of the hole containing the Commander smash together, closing
with finality.

He looks around quickly and sees Roland,
Tinok and Jiron coming over to him, the remaining soldiers lying
dead on the ground.

Jiron is covered in bruises and his clothes
are stained with blood, but otherwise in high spirits. “Thanks,” he
says when he approaches James.

“You’re welcome,” he replies. “Glad to see
you’re alive.”

“So am I,” Jiron replies. “I didn’t ever
expect to see you two again.”

“We were beginning to get worried about
you,” Tinok chides him. “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you when we catch up with the
others,” he says. They each grab one of the soldier’s horses and
mount. Riding quickly, they catch up with the girls in no time at
all.

The girls stop the wagons when they see them
coming. Once her wagon has come to a stop, Delia gets down and
rushes over to Jiron, giving him a big hug when he dismounts from
his horse.

Returning the hug, he asks her, “Miss
me?”

With tears of relief running down her face,
Delia replies, “A little.” And then she smiles.

Cassie runs and gives Tinok a warm hug and
kiss as well. He kisses her repeatedly until Jiron finally has to
break them up. A little red faced, they realize what they were
doing.

“Now,” Tinok says, “what happened?”

“Well…” he begins as he relates to them all
that had happened, up to the point where he ran out of the burning
house and was captured. “When they took me back to the jail, the
Commander had someone begin interrogating me.”

“How?” Cassie asks, wide eyed.

“The usual, I’m sure,” he replies. “Anyway,
this messenger comes in and gives him a letter. When he’s done
reading it, he barks out some orders and before I knew it, I was
being tied on a horse and we all began riding hard to the south. We
eventually stopped here, fortunately for me, and the rest you
know.”

“What were they asking you?” James
inquires.

“Mainly, they wanted to know what happened
to the men that were garrisoned at Mountainside,” he explains.
“Since I was hiding there and had killed a couple soldiers, they
felt I obviously knew something.”

“Of course you did,” interjects Tinok.

“Of course,” agrees Jiron. “But they didn’t
realize that.”

“What about the backpack?” James asks.

“I left it in the building that was on
fire,” he says. “I saw it catch fire myself so there should be no
more worries from that.”

“Thanks,” James says. “I’m sorry you got
hurt, though.”

Looking at James tiredly, Jiron says, “So am
I.” He then turns his attention to Roland and says, “Just who are
you and why did you untie me? Not that I’m complaining or
anything.”

They relate the events which led up to
Roland and his family joining them. When Tinok explains the
devilish monster walking out of the dried up Oasis, he breaks into
a laugh, “Wish I could’ve seen that!”

Leaving Jiron with the girls and the wagons,
the other three return to the oasis. There they drag the dead
bodies of the soldiers out into the desert and bury them. Once
they’ve hidden and removed all traces of the battle which had raged
there, they return to the wagons and resume their trek to Korazan.
Jiron sits in the back of the wagon with the girls and Arkie in
order to rest, soon falling asleep.

Everyone becomes quiet for awhile as they
let him sleep, understanding that he really needs it. For his part,
James is relieved at having Jiron back.
Now if we can just get
Miko and Jiron’s sister!

They ride on until late in the afternoon
when they begin to see the outlines of a fairly sizeable city
coming up ahead. With Tinok and Roland out front, they approach the
town. Off to the east they see an area where several caravans have
made their camp.