Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (21 page)

She quickly winds up the sling and then lets
go of one end while still holding onto the other. The sling opens
up and the slug flies through the air, hitting a small tree ten
yards away. Turning back to him, she says, “Easy.”

Giving him the sling, she watches as he gets
ready to place a slug in it. She adjusts the way he’s holding it
and then gestures for him to insert a slug. “Now, wind it up and
when it feels right, let only one end loose so the slug will fly
free, got it?” she asks.

“I think so,” he says. Winding up, he gets
the sling whirling fast and then lets go. He hears a chuckle coming
from behind him as the sling leaves his hands and goes flying out
into the desert, the slug still remaining within its pouch. Turning
around, he sees Tinok standing there, shaking his head and
grinning.

“Don’t mind him,” she tells James. “Just
retrieve your sling and let’s try it again.”

Once he’s returned with it, he stands the
way Delia instructs him to maintain his balance and remain
centered, then gets it whirling quickly. This time when he lets go,
he manages to retain one end of the sling, but he hears more
laughter as the slug hits one of the wagons behind him.

“Watch it!” Jiron says from where the slug
almost nailed him.

“Sorry!” James hollers over to him.

“Better,” says Delia.

“How is that better?” he exclaims. “I almost
killed Jiron.”

“You didn’t lose the sling this time,” she
explains. “Now, do it again and concentrate less on retaining the
sling and more on the target.”

Placing another slug within the sling, he
gives her a look and receives one of encouragement back. Behind
him, he hears Tinok loudly say in amusement, “Be alert, he’s trying
again.”

Trying to concentrate on the small tree that
she hit earlier, he begins to twirl and then releases. To his
satisfaction, the slug goes in somewhat the desired direction,
though still hitting the ground ten feet away from the tree.

“Not bad,” she says encouragingly. “A little
more practice and you’ll have it down. Just don’t expect to be
perfect too soon, it takes time to learn.”

Taking another slug and placing it within
the sling, he whirls it and lets it loose while at the same time
adding a touch of magic to it. The slug flies unerringly to the
tree where it strikes it dead center, punching a hole right
through.

Delia looks at him and says, “That’s
cheating.”

James shrugs and gives her a grin, and then
he puts it away as they prepare to get underway.

At one point they come across where an old
building had once stood, its wooden frame now lying broken and
vacant. At a suggestion from Tinok, they stop and jury-rig a canopy
for the water wagon from the building’s wooden remains. They find
four boards that they manage to secure to the wagons frame and then
tie a blanket atop it. Not exactly stylish but it helps. The two
lads just smile and shake their heads at it all, they’re just fine
riding in the sun on their wagons.

The rest of the day passes fairly
uneventfully, just endless miles of dry hills with only the
occasional traveler coming from the south. By the end of the day,
they’ve already emptied one of the barrels of water and have begun
to drain a second. They have had to stop every other hour to give
each horse some to drink.

With the sun settling close to the horizon,
they pull off the road to make camp. Once the horses are taken care
of, they settle down around the campfire and have dinner while they
swap tales and songs. Before the end of it, the two lads come over
and join the fun. One of them, Hakim, even sang a song while his
bother, Hakir, told a story that only Roland could understand. He
did his best to translate and everyone enjoyed it.

As the fire begin to burn low, everyone
starts turning in. James can’t seem to fall asleep, worry about
Miko keeping him awake. So he just lies back and stares at the
stars, still amazed at just how much clearer they are here than
back home.
Must be ‘cause there’s no smog here
, he figures.
Whatever the reason, they seem to work like counting sheep for
before he even realizes it, he’s asleep.

He wakes in the middle of the night, noise
from where the horses are picketed having disturbed him. The fire
has long since burned out and the only light is that from the stars
above. He sits up and looks around but doesn’t see anything out of
the ordinary, everyone else is still asleep. Even Hakim and Hakir
are snoring peacefully under their wagons.

Then one of the horses snorts again and he
can hear several others begin to pace around. Suspecting trouble,
he quietly crawls over to Jiron and wakes him with a gentle shake.
“Trouble,” he whispers to him as he comes fully awake.

He sees him nod his head in the starlight as
he sits up, looking around. “The horses are skittish for some
reason,” James whispers to him. “Go check it out and I’ll wake
Tinok.”

Again, Jiron nods his head as he gets up,
silent as a cat and begins making his way over to the horses.

Just as James reaches Tinok’s side, he sits
up, a knife in his hand as he strikes out. Stopping the blade just
inches from James’ nose, he asks, “What the hell are you
doing?”

“Quiet!” James whispers intently.
“Something’s going on.”

Suddenly very alert, Tinok looks around.

“The horses,” James whispers to him,
“something’s got them…”

Suddenly, a cry splits the night, coming
from where Jiron had gone to check on the horses. Without even
thinking, James casts a spell and his glowing orb appears over the
camp, brightly illuminating the area. There they can see Jiron in
battle with two men, armed with swords and others approaching out
of the desert.

Everyone else comes awake, Cassie screams
and James says to the rest, “Stay together!” as he and Tinok race
over to where Jiron is being hard pressed by the bandits.

As he runs, James takes out one of his iron
slugs and casts it at an oncoming bandit, taking him through the
stomach. As the slug exits through his back, gore flies as he falls
over dead.

As they reach Jiron, Tinok kicks out and
knocks one of his opponents down and then begins to battle another,
knives flashing in a blinding arc of speed.

Having Tinok distracting one of his
attackers, Jiron is able to be more on the offense with deadly
results as another of the attackers falls to the ground.

Two men appear out of the night, coming
straight for James. One of them is the man who had offered them his
services outside the merchant’s guild. “It appears you did need our
services after all,” he says with a grin full of malice.

“Not necessarily,” James says as the power
surges out of him. A wave of force throws them backward and he
takes one out quickly with a slug. The other man, the one who
approached them outside the merchant’s guild, gains his feet
quickly and comes at James with sword in hand.

Just before the man closes with James, Jiron
comes running and imposes himself between the man and James. The
man strikes out with his sword and Jiron deflects it with one knife
while following through with the other. Dancing backward, the man
pauses a moment as he takes in the situation. He’s the only one
left standing.

Turning, he begins to race away when a slug
flies from the other side of camp and strikes him between the
shoulder blades. A snap can be heard as the man’s spine is
shattered. He falls to the ground and lies still, whimpering with
pain, paralyzed.

“Good shot!” Tinok says to Delia who is
putting away her sling.

Jiron moves to the man lying on the ground
and can see the pain in his eyes. Bending over, he takes his knife
and ends the man’s misery. Turning to James he asks, “Who were
these guys?”

Pointing to the dead man at Jiron’s feet he
says, “That one offered me the service of his band for guard duty,
but I turned him down. Guess he figured we were easy prey.”

“Guess he thought wrong,” Tinok says,
chuckling. Cassie runs over to Tinok, burying her head in his
shoulder, crying.

Jiron and James check the horses and find
them fine then return to the camp. A fire has already been started
from the embers of their earlier one. “Everyone alright?” James
asks as they return.

“We’re fine,” Delia replies. The two lads
had come out as well, knives at the ready, but have sheathed them
again now that the fight was over.

James can hear Tinok trying to calm Cassie
by saying, “It’s okay, it’s over.”

Jiron begins the task of dragging the bodies
out into the desert away from camp, while everyone else takes stock
of the situation.

As James sits down by the fire, the two lads
stare at him with eyes wide. “What?” he says to them.

They reply in their own language.

“I would appreciate it if you would never
mention this to anyone?” he asks, an edge to his voice. He’s
surprised when they both nod their heads in quick agreement. Maybe
they can’t speak it, just understand it.

When Jiron returns, he says to James,
“You’re getting better, less tired.”

“Been getting a lot of practice lately,” he
says. “Too much if you ask me.”

“I’ll say,” Tinok agrees from where he
stands nearby with Cassie, though he doesn’t seem too disappointed
at being able to ‘practice’ with his knives.

After a while, when everyone has calmed
down, they all try to go back to sleep, only this time taking turns
at watch.

The next day they see scavengers over at the
dead bodies, having a little morning breakfast. As quickly as
possible, they hook up the horses and get on the road, none wish to
remain a second longer near the dead bandits.

For the rest of the day, they make very good
time, having only to stop to water and feed the horses. A little
before sunset they come to a small cluster of buildings, hardly
large enough to even call it a village.

“Looks to be just a way stop for travelers,”
guesses James.

“Could be,” agrees Jiron. “Look,” he says as
he points to a group of wagons already camped a short ways from the
buildings, “you may be right.”

James says, “Looks like as good a place as
any to stop for the night.”

“I agree,” replies Jiron.

Turning off the road, Jiron leads them a
hundred yards from the nearest building, to a place where pits for
campfires are available. Once the wagons and horses are set for the
night, Delia, James, Jiron and Roland go over to the buildings to
investigate. Cassie, Ezra and the two boys remain behind with the
wagons.

There are only four buildings, one has a
sign of a cracked egg and another one with crossed shovels.
Deciding to try the one with the cracked egg, they go over and
enter through the front door.

Inside, they find a large room with a
central hearth containing many tables. A man comes over as they
enter and says, “Welcome. How may I serve you today?” Heavy with
accent, but understandable.

“We just arrived and were looking around,
seeing what is available here,” James explains.

“Ah, first time here?” the man asks.

“Yes,” Delia pipes up.

“Here at the Broken Egg, you can get a meal
and a room if you desire,” he tells them. “The other shop across
the street has many goods that a traveler may require.” He pauses
for a response and when none is forthcoming, asks, “Would you care
for a room, or perhaps a bite to eat?”

Shaking his head, James says, “Not right
now, we may come back later though, thank you.”

“You’re welcome sirs,” and then with a
slight nod to Delia he adds, “ma’am.”

They turn to leave and once outside Jiron
says, “Nice place.”

“Maybe we could take turns and come here for
dinner this evening,” suggests James.

“That would be an excellent idea,” agrees
Roland. Jiron and Delia nod in agreement.

Crossing over to the store, they enter and
find a small man, almost a midget, asleep behind the counter. They
all look at each other wondering what they should do and then Jiron
closes the door loudly, startling the man awake.

He sits up and looks around, rubbing his
eyes. Seeing them standing there and recognizing them for
northerners, he greets them in their tongue. “Hello,” he says from
his chair, not bothering getting down. “How may I help you
today?”

“We just arrived and are looking around to
see what’s available,” Delia says.

“Of course,” the man says sleepily as a yawn
escapes him. He settles back down in his chair and watches them as
they browse through his merchandise.

It looks to be just an ordinary, traveler
supply store. Just the same old things as are in every other one.
James does see a kit with a small mirror, a comb and a pair of
scissors. Thinking of his unruly hair and how it’s been too long
since it’s been properly taken care of, he picks it up and asks the
man, “How much for this?”

The man looks over, squinting as if he can’t
see it very well and replies, “Two silvers.”

James takes a single silver out and says as
he holds it up, “Give you one for it.”

“Alright,” the man says as he holds out his
hand for the coin.

Taking the coin over to the lazy man, James
drops it into his hand. He immediately takes the mirror and looks
at himself in it. What’s looking back is almost unrecognizable. His
hair is an unruly mess, obviously running his fingers through it
has been ineffective. Stubble, actually a scraggly beard that’s not
completely growing in everywhere, now covers his face, his dirty
face. “GAH!” he exclaims as he looks at himself, rubbing his free
hand over his patchy beard.
I knew it was coming in, but my
goodness!

“What?” Delia asks.

Putting the mirror away, he says, “Nothing.”
Looking around he tries to find a shaving kit, but such a thing
doesn’t appear to have been developed in this world yet, or at
least there isn’t one here.