Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (42 page)

It’s a small home and appears that there
isn’t anyone currently inside. Going to the door, he slowly opens
it and slips inside, closing it behind him. Moving around in the
dark, he finds the kitchen area and starts looking through the
shelves and cupboards for food. Removing the sack he brought with
him, he places a loaf of bread and some vegetables within it.

Moving to another shelf, he finds a few
strips of dried fish and other dried meat which he takes as well.
Figuring he’s taken enough to last them for a few more days, he
takes out two silver pieces and lays them on the table.

Stealing from those who have plenty has
never bothered him. But taking from those who obviously have
nothing, that’s something he could never do, so he leaves the
coins. Slipping back out the door, he quickly leaves town and heads
back to where he left his horse.

As he approaches the area where he’s sure he
left his horse, he begins to see a light coming from up ahead. Wary
of danger, he draws one of his knives and slips closer. Passing
between the hills, he sees four teens near his horse. They’re
bending over where the contents of one of his bags have been
emptied upon the ground.

Setting down the sack of food, he approaches
them, knife still in his hand. As he enters the light, he says,
“Get away from my horse and my things.”

All four of the teens stand up and look in
his direction. One of them says, “Back off, this is our stuff now.”
Drawing his knife, the teen threatens him with it as he says, “Go
away if you don’t want to get hurt.” The others stand behind him
and draw their knives as well.

Drawing his other knife, he advances upon
them saying, “But I do want to get hurt.”

The first teen gets an uncertain look in his
eye, as if he can’t believe Jiron isn’t going away.

When Jiron gets to within five feet of the
teens he stops and says, “Just put back everything you took and I
won’t have to kill any of you.” Whether it’s the look in his eye,
or the sure way he’s holding himself, the teens all back up a
step.

They begin to empty their pockets and coins,
as well as a few other things join the rest of the items lying on
the ground. He gestures to the pile on the ground with his knife
and says, “Now, please put everything back into the bag.” He stands
there with knives still drawn as one of the other teens
complies.

Then he says, “Now everyone back up and away
from the horse.” He advances on them as they back up until he’s
next to the bag. Without taking his eyes off the teens, he reaches
down and picks it up. After replacing the bag back on the horse
behind the saddle, he takes the horse’s reins and backs toward
where he left the food sack. Reaching down, he picks it up, and
then secures it to the horse as well.

He sheathes his knives before mounting.
Turning his horse, he gives the boys one last look before heading
out into the night. As he leaves, he goes in the opposite direction
of where James lies in case the boys decide to tell anyone about
meeting him. He doubts they will, though, it would make them look
cowardly.

He travels through the hills for a few
hundred feet before turning back to the north and to James. Finding
the cave in the dark proves difficult but he at last comes across
it and is relieved to find James still sleeping and
undisturbed.

Securing his horse with the other, he sits
back down at the entrance and keeps watch while James sleeps.

When the sun hits James’ face, he wakes up
and feels much improved over the day before. Lying next to him is a
few strips of dried meat and vegetables. “Found some?” he asks
Jiron.

“A little bit,” he replies from where he’s
sitting at the cave entrance.

Tearing off a strip of meat with his teeth,
he chews it for a bit then takes a bite of one of the veggies.

“Able to ride today?” Jiron asks.

“Yes,” he replies through a mouthful of
food, “I think so. My head is not hurting as bad as it was
yesterday and I don’t feel nearly as wobbly.”

“Good,” he says, “we need to get moving
before we’re discovered here.”

“Let me see if I can find out where he is
first,” James says as he gets up and goes over to his horse to
retrieve the mirror from his shaving kit. Stuffing the rest of the
dried meat in his mouth, he pulls the mirror out and takes it over
to the cave entrance where he sits next to Jiron. Cupping the
mirror between his hands, he concentrates. The image begins to
waver and suddenly they see Miko sitting with other people,
someplace dark. He expands the picture and after watching it for a
few minutes, states, “I think he’s on a boat.”

“You sure?” Jiron asks.

“Pretty sure,” he replies. “He’s somewhere
dark and if you watch, it seems like the view is slowly rocking
back and forth. It reminds me of being on a ship at sea.”

“He could be going anywhere then,” Jiron
says.

“Yeah, I know,” agrees James. “It’ll be
harder to follow him if we’re going to need a boat.”

“Let’s worry about one thing at a time,” he
tells him. “Where is he?”

James thinks for a moment and then removes a
short piece of cloth from his bags. He takes it outside and walks
down near the water. Jiron gets up and follows him down to where
the waves are crashing upon the beach.

Standing still at the water’s edge, he holds
the cloth by one end and extends his arm outward as he concentrates
on Miko, willing the cloth to point the way. If it worked with a
piece of wood, it should also work with the cloth. The cloth in his
hand begins to move, not with the breeze coming in off the water,
but on its own. Maintaining his concentration, he opens his eyes to
see the cloth pointing south along the beach. He turns to Jiron as
he terminates the spell and says, “He’s to the south and I get the
feeling quite a ways away.”

“Then we better get going,” he says.

James nods his head as they return to the
cave to get their horses and leave. Once inside, Jiron asks him to
use the mirror to see if the others made it safely on board the
ship.

So James takes out his mirror again and
concentrates on Delia and her surroundings. The image in the mirror
begins to swirl until Delia appears along with several of the
others, including Jiron’s sister, Tersa. Widening the view, they’re
relieved to see them on board a boat that’s at sea. From the
expressions on everyone’s face, it would seem they are not in
distress.

“Looks like they made it,” James tells
him.

Sighing with relief, Jiron says, “I’m glad
that Tersa is safe, that’s been worrying me ever since we
left.”

“Me too,” adds James. Putting his mirror
back in his shaving kit, he places the kit in the saddlebag before
mounting his horse.

Jiron quickly gets into the saddle as well
and then leads them out of the cave. Turning away from the water,
they head through the hills, continuing to angle away from the
water.

“Why don’t we follow the shoreline?” asks
James.

“There’s a village up ahead along the coast
I visited last night,” he replies. “They may be looking for someone
who took some food. I did leave money, two silvers, but they still
may be looking.”

James nods his head, leaving it to Jiron’s
judgment.

As they continue to angle away from the
shoreline, they come across the main road running north and south.
A quick look reveals no one currently traveling upon the road so
they quickly cross and enter the cover of the foothills on the
other side. Staying within the hills, they’re able to run parallel
with the road as they continue their way to the south.

They don’t ride very long before they begin
to hear the sound of marching feet coming from up ahead of them.
Leaving the horses between two hills, they climb to the crest of
the next hill and peer over the top.

From their vantage point, they’re able to
see the road and the army of marching men upon it coming their way.
Easily a thousand strong, the army marches north and at their head
are two brown robes upon horses, as well as two others who look to
be civilians. A wagon train, most likely carrying supplies,
stretches behind them for as far as the road is visible. Flanking
them out in the hills are several riders, most likely scouts.

“Uh, oh,” Jiron says as he indicates the
riders in the hills on both sides of the road. “Scouts! We’ve got
to get out of here, fast!”

Glancing back to the brown robes, James
says, “Yeah.”

Rushing down the hill, they get to their
horses and mount quickly. Turning their horses due east, they
gallop away, hoping the scouts won’t catch sight of them. “Do you
think they’re looking for us?” Jiron asks.

“It’s likely,” he replies. “We did sort of
upset them back in Al-Kur.”

With a short laugh, Jiron adds, “I guess you
could say that.”

Suddenly a horn sounds behind them and they
turn to see a scout upon a horse at the top of a hill. Kicking
their horses into even greater speed, they fly through the hills.
The scout follows, keeping them in sight and periodically sounding
his horn to alert the host behind him as to their position.

“Damn!” James hears Jiron exclaim as they
race through the hills.

“At least the majority of the soldiers back
there were on foot,” James says.

“True, but the mages weren’t,” states
Jiron.

They continue to ride hard and James glances
behind them but doesn’t see any pursuit developing, other than that
annoying scout who continues alerting everyone as to their
whereabouts.

“Hold up a minute,” James finally says as he
brings his horse around and turns toward the scout. He sees the
scout holding still, two hills back as he once more sounds his
horn. Reaching into his pouch, James brings out one of his
remaining slugs.

“Can you hit him from here?” Jiron asks.

“We’ll see,” he replies as he throws the
slug and at the same time, lets the magic flow.

Jiron watches as the slug flies through the
air toward the scout on the distant hill. The scout must’ve seen
the slug for he quickly moves down off the hill and out of James’
line of sight. The slug alters course slightly and then disappears
behind the hill where the scout went. “Did you get him?”

“Not sure. But let’s not wait around to find
out.”

They turn their horses around and once again
race through the hills. After several more minutes of riding, they
slow down. “Looks like you did get him,” Jiron says when the scout
doesn’t show himself again.

“Maybe now we can lose them in these hills,”
James says with relief.

The plan to escape in the hills dies as
after a few brief minutes they clear the hills and are once again
in the rocky desert with the scrub brush and stunted trees. Turning
south, they follow the edge of the hills and only ride a short
distance before they again hear the sound of the horn. Turning to
glance behind them, Jiron exclaims, “Dear god!”

James turns and sees at least a hundred
horsemen charging toward them from the north. Kicking their horses
to a gallop they ride fast, hoping to stay ahead of the approaching
cavalry. Another horn sounds to their right as they see the
soldiers from the road coming into view as they crest the hills.
The brown robed mages are at the fore.

Coming to the inevitable conclusion that
magic will again become necessary, James takes the rope out of his
saddlebag and again ties himself to the saddle. When he notices
Jiron looking at him, he just shrugs and pulls the rope
tighter.

He begins to feel the tingle that always
heralds another mage who is working magic. Glancing back toward the
mages on the hill, he sees one has his arms raised. “Fly!” he yells
to Jiron as he kicks his own horse into a gallop and rides to the
southeast, angling away from the two armies.

The tingles suddenly intensifies and he
looks back to see a fireball flying toward them. He counters with a
spell and it explodes harmlessly before it even reaches them.

The cavalry has swung to intercept them but
aren’t gaining very fast. James realizes he’s unlikely to destroy
both armies without unleashing something cataclysmic. His only hope
is to hide, disappear. Suddenly, a memory surfaces of a time he and
his family had vacationed in Las Vegas during the summer when a
Santa Ana had come through. They had been caught out on the back
roads and the flying sand was so bad, his grandfather had to pull
off the road and wait it out because he couldn’t see the
pavement.

He yells to Jiron, “Take a cloth and cover
your face!”

“What?” he yells back.

James pulls out a cloth and yells again,
“Cover your face!” He then takes the cloth and ties it around his
face until only his eyes are showing. He sees Jiron getting the
idea and beginning to do the same. James starts concentrating on
air pressure and the winds begin to increase.

They’ve left the armies on foot behind but
the cavalry is still gaining ground. Jiron realizes that they’re
not going to be able to outrun them. He looks over to James and
sees him there with his eyes closed. He moves his horse closer to
James and grabs his reins so they won’t become separated.

As they continue to gallop, the wind begins
to pick up. It’s almost as if the wind is slamming into the ground
and drawing the dirt and sand up into the air. Before too much
longer, the air is becoming hazy as more and more of the dirt and
sand is being sucked up into the air.

The intensity of the wind hurls the sand
into them with sufficient force to sting where it strikes exposed
flesh. Jiron looks back but the dust in the air has obscured
everything and the cavalrymen are no longer visible through it.

He begins to angle slightly more to the
south, hoping to throw off their pursuers. The storm continues
growing in intensity and he hollers to James, “That’s enough!
You’re going to get us killed if you don’t back off!”