Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (36 page)

Nodding his head, he says, “That makes
sense.”

“Yeah,” she says. “They held us until he
showed up and then began questioning us as to how the letter and
the cargo came to be in our possession. He hadn’t been at it very
long before you guys showed up.” She lays her head on his shoulder
and he puts his arm around her as sobs begin to wrack her body.

Holding her close, he sits there silently as
she lets out all the emotions she’s kept bottled up since the
ordeal.

When she’s done, she wipes her eyes and
says, “Thanks.”

“That’s what friends are for,” he assures
her. He gives her one more hug and then says, “Now, you go and get
some sleep, you look like you could use it.”

Nodding her head, she begins to turn toward
the house. Then she comes back over to him and gives him one last
hug before leaving him there alone.

He watches her go until she’s inside the
house. Brushing away the tears that had fallen from his eyes in the
dark, he turns his attention back to keeping watch.

Late in the night as Stig is taking his turn
at watch, he hears horses passing off in the distance. He quickly
moves to try to better see where they’re going. In the moonlight
he’s able to see a company of twenty empirical horsemen ride past,
going to the east.

He continues watching them until they
disappear into the night. When he wakes Yorn for his turn, he tells
him of the riders before turning in.

Yorn keeps a watchful eye and ear out for
any other visitors, but his watch passes quietly.

“This is not the afterlife,” Scar assures
Potbelly when he wakes up, thinking he’s dead.

“It’s not?” he asks confused. “But I died
last night.” He sits up, even though the pain in his side is
throbbing greatly.

“Don’t you tear out those stitches!” Scar
admonishes him severely. He lays a hand on his friend and says,
“You need to rest and let you’re body heal.”

Potbelly gives his friend an annoying look
as he knocks his hand off his shoulder. “Don’t need no nursemaid!”
he exclaims. “Been hurt worse than this many times in the
pits.”

“Stubborn,” Potbelly tells him, “that’s what
you are.”

Tersa walks over to see how he’s doing and
he asks, “Are you sure this isn’t the afterlife? For there surely
must stand an angel.”

She smiles at him and asks, “How are you
doing?”

“Better,” he replies, “seeing as how I’m not
dead.”

“That’s good,” she tells him. “Jiron was
saying that we might stay here till tomorrow if nobody shows
up.”

“What for?” Potbelly asks.

“So we can rest and you can heal,” she
replies.

“Heal? Me?” he asks as if the thought had
never even occurred to him. “Now don’t be thinking that I need any
rest.” He starts to get up and says through teeth clinched in pain,
“I hardly even notice it.”

“Be that as it may,” she tells him, “we’re
here for a while so you may as well take advantage of it and heal
the best you can.” She gives him a playful, stern gaze.

“Yes ma’am,” he replies as he settles back
down to the floor.

“Keep an eye on him,” she says to Scar,
giving him a wink and a smile.

“You can count on it,” he assures her as he
turns his gaze to Potbelly. “You rest!”

Potbelly gives them both a small smile as he
lies back down and soon drifts off to sleep once more.

Over to the other side of the room, James
has awakened and is talking with Jiron. “Did everyone make it?” he
asks.

“Yeah,” he replies, “we’re all here.
Potbelly took a bolt in the side, but he’ll survive.”

“That’s good,” James says. “We should
probably get going soon.”

“You need rest,” Jiron tells him, “and
Potbelly could use a day for his wound to heal.”

“We may not have that much time,” warns
James. “They’re going to want us bad. Lord Cytok will most likely
want revenge for what we did to him.” He looks to Jiron and says,
“He’ll mobilize everything he can to search for us.”

“What should we do?” he asks.

“I’m still going after Miko, but the rest of
you should try to get out of the Empire,” he says.

“You helped me get Tersa back, I’m not going
to leave you before you rescue your friend,” he tells him.

James looks at him a moment and then
replies, “Alright. We’re near the coast, or at least we were. Maybe
we can sneak into a port town and get passage for the others on a
ship, sailing up the coast to Cardri. If the Empire isn’t at war
with them, then there still should be unrestricted access for
Cardri captains.”

Jiron nods and adds, “With them out of
danger, you and I can go after your friend.”

“We just need to figure a way into a port
where a Cardri ship is at anchor,” he says.

“That’s going to be the tricky part,” agrees
Jiron.

“What’s going to be the tricky part?” asks
Yorn as he comes over and joins the conversation.

Jiron quickly fills him in on the plan thus
far. “You and the others need to get Tersa and Delia to a safe
place and hole up while we’re rescuing his friend.”

“Take her to Trendle, it’s a village to the
north of Bearn,” suggests James. “When you get there, find a Forest
Warden by the name of Ceryn and let him know what’s going on. He
should be able to get you settled in while you wait for us.”

“Alright,” agrees Yorn.

“Now,” James says, “ready or not, we need to
get out of here.”

______________________

“Get away from me!” Potbelly yells at Scar
who’s trying to assist him in mounting his horse. “I ain’t no
invalid.”

“Alright,” Scar replies impatiently as he
backs away. “Tear out those stitches then, I hope you bleed to
death you pig headed mule!” He stands there and watches as Potbelly
grabs the saddle and swings himself up onto his horse with a
groan.

“See,” he says through teeth gritted in
pain, perspiration beginning to form on his face, “don’t need your
help.”

Scar shakes his head at his friend then
mounts his own horse. Staying close in case Potbelly needs him, he
sits and waits for the others to get ready.

Delia rides over to them, nods to Potbelly
as she asks Scar, “How’s he doing?”

“I’m fine!” Potbelly answers, irritated at
her for talking about him like he isn’t even there.

“Stubborn and likely to kill himself because
of it,” he says with a slight smile, “but I think he’ll survive the
ride.”

“Let’s hope so,” she says.

Jiron is the last to mount. He turns toward
the others and says, “We’ll make for the sea and then travel along
the coast. First chance we get, we’ll acquire some clothes that
will allow us to pass ourselves off as Empire citizens.”

Yorn asks, “What are we to do if we
encounter the enemy?”

“Avoid them if possible,” he replies. “Kill
them if not.”

Yorn gives him a satisfied grin at the
thought of a little payback for the sacking of his home.

“Now, let’s ride!” Jiron exclaims as he
kicks his horse into a trot. Heading to the northwest, he leads
them toward the sea.

James rides in the lead with Jiron as they
make their way back through the desert to the road. “Think we’ll
make it?” Jiron asks him.

“We can but try,” he replies.

“What do you plan to do once you get your
friend?” he asks.

“Make our way back to Cardri,” he says. “At
least there it’s reasonably safe right now. After that, who
knows?”

Shorty hollers from the rear, “Jiron! Riders
coming from the north! Looks like an advance patrol.”

They turn to see ten riders coming directly
at them, they have little chance in avoiding contact. “Potbelly!
Stay and watch the others,” Jiron hollers to him. Turning his
horse, he cries to the rest, “We can’t let even one escape, or
they’ll bring more.”

Leaving Potbelly to protect Roland and the
ladies, the others turn and race to meet the oncoming horsemen.
Before they close the distance, two slugs fly from behind each
taking out a horse causing the riders to fall to the ground.
Drawing their swords and knives, they race forward, closing with
the enemy.

Shorty lets fly with a knife and takes out
one rider as the knife embeds itself in his chest. He then slows
his horse and jumps to the ground, as knives are little use in
mounted combat. He dives to the ground to avoid the blows of the
mounted riders and regains his feet quickly as he heads for the
ones approaching on foot whose horses were knocked out from under
them.

Stig closes with a horseman, his shield on
the arm holding the reins and his mace striking out. With a clash
of metal, the combatants begin beating at one another, each looking
for an opening.

James holds back and is looking for a clear
shot to take out another rider, but his friends are too close, he
dares not try it.

Two swords weaving a pattern of death, Scar
engages a horseman and soon has him falling to the ground, blood
welling from where his sword took him through the chest. Looking
around, he sees Shorty running toward the two men on the ground.
Suddenly he notices a horseman riding toward him from behind, sword
raised to cut him down.

“Shorty!” he yells, “Behind you!” He watches
as Shorty turns to see the horseman almost upon him and dives to
the ground, avoiding by inches the sword of the rider. Then Scar’s
attention is diverted as he’s beset by another horseman, having to
block an overhand attack with one sword while slicing back with the
other.

Yorn is engaged with two and is having a
hard time, trading blows with one while turning his horse to avoid
the other. Suddenly, the one he had been trying to avoid falls from
his horse as one of James’ slugs explodes out of his back.

Shorty regains his feet as the two on foot
reach him. He circles, trying to keep it so only one is able to
attack him at a time. He catches the sword of his attacker on his
left knife as he follows through with the other, opening up a long
slash along the man’s forearm causing him to drop his sword.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the
rider turn and begin to come back toward him as the remaining man
closes in and engages him. Unable to disengage, he tries to quickly
finish him off but is distracted by the advancing rider.

Suddenly, just when the rider is almost upon
him, another horse runs full tilt into his attacker, knocking the
horse off its stride. As Stig’s horse crashes into the other, he
vaults from his saddle and grabs the rider, dragging him to the
ground. Stig lands on top of the rider and gets up first, mace
smashing into him as he tries to rise, crushing his shoulder. He
follows through with another blow that caves in the side of the
man’s head. Looking around, he sees Shorty engaged with one of the
unhorsed horsemen and hurries over to render aid.

Able now to focus his attention on the
remaining man, Shorty circles as he looks for an opening. The enemy
strikes out with his sword and he deflects it to the side with the
knife in his left hand. He twirls quickly and his elbow connects
with the man’s face, blood flowing from his broken nose.

The man staggers backward and then comes
again at Shorty, who easily deflects another blow. Kicking out,
Shorty knocks him backward toward the approaching Stig. As the man
regains his balance, he’s struck from behind in the head with
Stig’s mace and falls to the ground, lifeless.

Looking around, Shorty sees the battle is
pretty much over, the last horseman is engaged with Yorn. Seeing
his fellows dead or dying, the horseman starts to flee as he turns
his horse and begins racing across the desert. Shorty is about to
holler when the man falls to the ground amidst a gory spray as
James’ slug exits the man’s chest.

“Anyone hurt?” Jiron shouts out over the
battlefield.

“Slight cut, but nothing serious,” Yorn
yells back. Everyone else has sustained only minor injuries as
well.

“Are any left alive?” James shouts.

“One!” replies Shorty as he comes to the one
he sliced on the forearm. The man is lying there, trying with
little luck to stop the blood from flowing out of the wound.

“Roland!” James hollers back over to where
he’s waiting with Potbelly and the ladies. “We need you!” He
continues over to the fallen man as Roland and the others ride up
to him.

“How may I help?” he asks when he reaches
James.

James indicates the fallen man and says,
“Maybe we can find out what their orders were and where they were
to patrol.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he says as he
dismounts and comes over to the fallen man. He starts to talk to
him, but the man is unresponsive, just stares back at him.

“He’s not going to cooperate,” Roland tells
him.

Looking to James, Stig asks, “Is this
important?”

“Could be,” James replies.

Stig draws a knife and comes over to the man
as he says to Roland, “Ask him again.”

Stig holds the knife in front of the man’s
face, intimidating him as Roland again begins speaking to him.

The man’s eyes widen but still he refuses to
say anything. “Tell him if he doesn’t answer, I’ll start removing
fingers,” he says to Roland as he grabs the man’s forefinger,
placing the edge of the knife against it.

Still the man doesn’t answer, so true to his
word, Stig takes a firm hold of the man’s finger. He makes ready to
slice the finger off and glances meaningfully at the dying man.

The man almost seems to deflate as he cries
something out. Stig moves the knife away from the man’s finger as
he looks to Roland.

“I think he’ll talk now,” he says, relief
obvious in his voice.

James says, “Ask him what they were doing
here.”

Roland exchanges words with him and then
says, “They were looking for a group of assassins who tried to kill
Lord Cytok.”