Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (7 page)

Riding straight for them, Jiron and Tinok
jump from their horses and each grabs one of the men, dragging them
to the ground. When they hit the ground, they roll and come to
their feet quickly, knife blades flashing in the sun.

The two riders get to their feet quickly and
draw their swords as the two teens advance upon them. James sees
Jiron divert a thrust of the man’s sword and then strike with his
other knife, dropping him to the ground. Tinok’s man is wielding a
sword in one hand and a knife in the other and is pressing Tinok
backward.

Tinok sees out of the corner of his eye that
Jiron’s man is down and quickly begins a series of fast attacks.
The pattern makes the man defend and through precisely timed and
aimed attacks, causes him to leave a spot open where Tinok strikes,
puncturing a lung.

The man stumbles backward and begins
coughing up blood. Falling to his knees, he chokes on the blood
filling his lungs. Unable to breathe, he soon falls to the ground,
dead.

“Took you long enough,” Jiron says to Tinok
as he wipes his blades on the dead man’s clothes.

Tinok just looks at him and they both start
laughing.

Cassie by this time has made it to the man
whom they were chasing, lying in a puddle of his own blood. The
crossbow bolt must’ve struck an artery in his leg, for the blood is
flowing from the wound quickly.

James comes over, and sees the amount of
blood on the ground and when Cassie looks at him, just shakes his
head, indicating there is nothing that they are going to be able to
do for him.

“Thank you,” the man says when he sees them
approach.

Cassie comes to him and asks kindly, “For
what?”

“For letting me die a free man,” he tells
her. He’s dressed in just a loincloth, the garb of a slave.

“Were you part of the people who were
captured when the City of Light fell?” James asks. “We’re seeking
friends who were taken by the Empire’s forces.”

“It fell?” the man asks incredulously. “Bad
news indeed.” The man begins to get a glazed look in his eyes and
his voice gets weaker. “They’ll probably be taken to Korazan, to
the slave markets. That’s where I heard the slaver say we were
being taken, before I escaped.”

“Korazan?” Jiron asks intently, “where is
it?”

“Don’t know,” the man says, weakly,
“somewhere to the south…I…think.” The man takes one last light
breath and then death takes him.

“Poor man,” Delia says sadly.

“At least he didn’t die a slave,” Jiron
says. “We should bury him before we go.”

“I agree,” Cassie says. She gets up and
looks around until she finds a rock. Then she begins to scrape out
a grave for the man. The others find rocks and sticks and before
too long have a fair sized grave dug. Jiron and Tinok carry the man
over to it and lay him respectfully within. They cover him with the
excess dirt and when they are done, mount up and ride on.

“Korazan,” James says after they get going,
“anyone heard of it?”

“No”, Delia replies, the other just shake
their heads no.

“It must be within the Empire,” he guesses,
“at least we have a destination now.”

“How do you know if they’re actually being
taken there?” Cassie asks.

“Don’t,” James replies, “but it’s all we
have to go on.”

The rest nod in agreement.

They continue on, eating in the saddle to
save time. A couple more times before nightfall, they see riders
off to the east. Angling more to the west each time to avoid being
seen, they find themselves gradually being pushed more and more
westward. By the time night begins to approach, they begin to be
able to see the Silver Mountains off in the distance to the
west.

“Didn’t realize we had been going so far
westward,” James says when they stop for the evening.

“What do you mean?” Jiron asks.

He points over to the mountains in the west
and says, “That’s the Silver Mountains, they run the length of the
border between Cardri and Madoc.”

“Are we going away from Korazan?” Cassie
asks him.

“Can’t say,” he explains, “since we have no
idea where it is.”

“Oh, right,” she says a little
embarrassed.

“But I would think that the further we are
to the west, the less of the Empire’s soldiers we will encounter,”
he reasons. “Of course, that assumes that the Empire and Cardri
haven’t gone to war yet.”

“Think they have?” she asks.

“Doubt it,” he assures her. “The Empire
probably has all it can handle with Madoc right now.”

“I hope so,” she says as they get settled in
for the night.

_________________________

The morning dawns cloudy, a relief from the
sun that had been beating down on them throughout the day before.
It takes them little time to be ready to go and soon are off,
heading south to find Korazan.

Throughout the morning hours, they are able
to hold a fairly southern course, only once having to travel
westward to avoid roving patrols. About midday they begin to see a
large river flowing from the northwest to the southeast. It spans
several hundred feet and runs deep.

As they approach the banks of the river,
James looks both upriver and downriver but is unable to see any
bridge that they may use to cross. There is also no place along the
course of the river shallow enough to allow them to ford. He turns
to the others and says, “It appears we have a problem.”

“Can’t we go down one way or the other until
we find a way to cross?” Cassie asks.

“That’s what we’re going to end up having to
do,” he replies. “The question is, should we go that way,” he says
as he points upstream to the northwest, and then points downstream,
“or that way?”

“If we go downstream, that will take us
closer to Korazan,” Tinok says.

“And closer to the Empire’s forces,” Jiron
concludes.

“It’s probably safe to say that any bridge
to the east of us will be used by the Empire,” warns James,
“possibly even guarded.”

“Then we go west?” Delia guesses.

“But how far will we have to go and will it
take us too long to get back?” Jiron questions. “If we spend too
much time going west and then have to backtrack, we may be too late
to save Tersa.”

“Let’s go west for a day, and if we don’t
find anything suitable, then we’ll turn around and go east,” offers
Tinok.

“A day!” Jiron exclaims. “I’ll not waste two
whole days when Tersa is being marched to the slave markets!” He
looks around at everyone defiantly and says, “I go east! You can
all do what you want!” He then turns his horse eastward and gallops
away, not looking back to see if they are following.

Tinok looks to James and says, “I guess we
go east.”

“It would appear that way,” he replies. They
all turn their horses and gallop after Jiron.

They follow the river for several miles
before a town begins to come into view along the river ahead of
them. It sits on the north bank of the river and at the southern
edge of town, a bridge spans the river. They see several figures
moving in and around the town, plus several upon the bridge itself.
They pause only a moment before turning back toward the west and
ride until the town is once again out of sight behind them.

“That bridge would be perfect to get
across,” James says. “But it looks as if there’s guards posted on
it. I think we should wait for night and see if we can’t find a way
to sneak across.”

Indicating Jiron and himself, Tinok says,
“We can take out the guards before they even know we’re there.”

“But that would tell everyone that there are
hostiles in the area,” James counters, “then they would be
searching for us. If we can sneak across somehow,” pausing for
effect, he looks at Tinok and says with emphasis, “without killing
anyone, then we may be able to get further south before they even
know we’ve been through here.”

“Can we sneak across?” Cassie asks.

“Won’t know until tonight,” James replies.
“Let’s find a spot away from the river where we can have a bite to
eat unobserved while we wait for dark.”

“Why do we have to move away from the
river?” Cassie asks.

Sighing, James explains, “In the event that
someone is traveling down the river, we don’t want them to alert
those in the town as to our presence.”

“Oh,” she says.

They move about a half mile away from the
river and find a spot near a hill that provides them some cover.
They keep watch for anyone coming and remain undisturbed until
night has fallen and they’re ready to make the attempt to cross the
river.

Once night has deepened enough that the only
light is that of the stars, they mount up and ride back toward the
river. They follow it until the town’s lights appear and then come
to a stop. Jiron says, “I’ll go and scout the town, then we can
decide what to do.”

“Alright,” James agrees, “but be
careful.”

He gives James a look that says, ‘Of
course’, and then disappears in the night as he heads for town.
Twenty minutes go by before they hear his return.

“Well?” James asks when he rejoins the
group.

“Looks to be about twenty soldiers
garrisoned there,” he explains, “with four on duty at the bridge
and two walking patrol within the town itself. Most of the others
are gathered in a tavern located near the center of town.”

“Is there a way to create a diversion that
would draw off the guards at the bridge?” Tinok asks.

“Maybe setting fire to a building or two,”
he says, “that may do it. Unless the guards at the bridge have an
extraordinary sense of duty and remain there.”

“Most likely they are bored and would leave
just to see what’s going on,” James suggests.

“Probably,” Jiron says. Looking to Tinok, he
says, “Wanna come start some fires with me?”

“Every boy’s dream,” Tinok replies with a
smile.

“Now make sure it looks like it could’ve
been an accident, or the search may be on,” James cautions.

“Do the best we can,” Jiron says. “When
we’re done, we’ll meet you back here.”

“Good luck,” Delia says.

“Be careful,” Cassie says with concern.

“We will,” Jiron assures her, and then he
and Tinok run off toward town.

James mounts his horse after some time
passes and advises the girls to do the same, “We may need to be
ready to move fast should they return with soldiers in
pursuit.”

They sit on their horses and wait. “Where
are they?” Cassie asks after an hour has gone by, concern in her
voice.

“Don’t worry,” Delia assures her, “they’re
just taking their time to make sure they are not caught.”

“I hope so,” Cassie says.

Me too, Delia says to herself as she watches
the town for their return.

Suddenly, two shadows approach. “Get ready,”
they hear Jiron say as he mounts his horse. Tinok mounts his as
well.

They all sit and wait, but nothing
happens.

“What did you do?” James asks.

“We found a stable where they had most of
their horses,” Jiron explains. “A guard was there sleeping in a
pile of hay, with a bottle of wine lying next to him.”

“Yeah,” Tinok says, chuckling a little. “We
took one of the lanterns down, lit it and laid it beside him on the
hay. The hay was just beginning to smolder as we left.”

“But he might burn to death!” Cassie
gasps.

“Fortunes of war,” Jiron says, with little
feeling.

“Besides, it’ll look like an accident,”
Tinok explains. “It’ll look like he got drunk and was
careless.”

“And with their horses in danger,” Jiron
says, “they’ll want everyone to help with putting the fire out,
which should draw the men off the bridge.”

“Let’s hope so,” James says.

Suddenly, from the north side of town, a
reddish glow blossoms as the stable catches fire. Even from this
distance they can hear the horses neighing in terror. From within
the town, they hear the cry as the soldiers move to combat the fire
and save their horses.

The men on the bridge turn and see the
flames reaching high in the sky as the fire roars to life. As one,
they race away from the bridge and head for the inferno at the
stables.

“Now’s our chance,” James says, once the
guards have left the bridge. Getting their horses moving quickly,
they make their way toward the bridge and race across it to the
other side without anyone raising the alarm.

A road crosses over the bridge heading
south. They follow it for some distance before James slows them
down to prevent a horse from accidentally putting a hoof in a hole
and breaking its leg. They continue to follow the road for another
mile or so before deciding to pull off a ways and make camp within
a small copse of trees. A quick meal of cold rations and then they
turn in. Jiron, Tinok and James all taking their turn at watch.

Next morning, they’re on the road again
before the sun has risen very far above the horizon. James uses his
compass and with relief finds that Miko is now a little to the
north of east now, instead of south of east. We’re ahead of them,
he thinks to himself with satisfaction. To avoid encountering
Empire soldiers, they move off the road to the west and run
parallel to it.

The Silver Mountains are also getting closer
on their right as they proceed south. It’s not long before they are
close enough to be able to make out the individual trees covering
the mountain’s slope

Over the course of the next couple hours,
they see several columns of troops going north on the road to the
east of them, before James quickly moves them further west to avoid
detection. An hour before midday, they begin to see another road
running along the base of the mountains as it meanders through the
foothills. Currently no one is traveling upon it, and since the one
to the east had troops moving upon it, they decide to use it. If
they move any further west they will be riding along the slope of
the mountain.