The Unsuspecting Mage (23 page)

“Look,” pleads Miko, “I’ve got nothing here. I beg for a living, take menial jobs for little pay, life with you can’t be any worse than what I have already lived through so far.”

James can hear the desperation in the boy’s voice. Using the oars, he turns the boat to head once more out toward the middle of the river, signaling that he’s made the decision to take Miko with him.

.“Thank you,” Miko says.

James can hear the relief in his voice. “Well, we’ll see if you are still thanking me later on,” he replies as he continues rowing downstream.

When the river takes them to a large span of wall arching over the water, Miko informs him that they are almost out of the city. The wall extends several yards into the river on either side before arching overhead. When the boat gets close to the wall, they both become very quiet and still, not wanting to draw attention to themselves should anyone be around. Remaining motionless, they slowly drift under the wall.

From the wall above them comes the sound of someone walking, their footfalls echoing in the tunnel through which the river flows. As they pass through to the other side, James glances up to find it to be one of the city guards. He has a heart stopping moment when the guard pauses and glances their way. But he must not have seen them for he soon turns to continue his beat along the wall.

Sighing quietly with relief, James watches the guard atop the wall until the current draws them away and the guard disappears in the night. He waits until they’ve floated far enough for the lights of the city to begin to fade behind them before taking his place back on the bench. With an oar again in each hand, he maintains a rhythm that has them speeding along.

He and Miko alternate rowing in hour intervals throughout the rest of the night until daybreak, each trying to catch some sleep while the other rows. When the sky begins to brighten with the rising of the sun, James awakens to find Miko no longer rowing. Instead, the boy’s slouched upon the bench fast asleep with the oars still gripped in his hands. Despite the lack of human direction, their boat has managed to maintain its position near the middle of the river. He glances to Miko just as a loud snore escapes the boy and smiles. He doesn’t bother waking him, instead he scans the surroundings for any sign of their pursuers.

On the east bank of the river lays a road paralleling the shoreline. To the west he finds the land to be primarily farmland, with the occasional orchard of fruit bearing trees. A grove of trees approaches up ahead which looks to be apples or some similar kind of red fruit. Hungry, James slips one of the oars from out of Miko’s hand and uses it as a rudder to bring them to the shore.

The motion of the boat changing direction awakens Miko and James points out the approaching fruit trees. “Thought we could do with a little breakfast,” he tells him.

Squinting to see through the morning sun’s glare, Miko grunts agreement. James does a good job in directing the boat, beaching it after only passing a few of the trees. He hops out of the boat and secures it to a fallen log with a rope that was coiled in the bottom. Miko joins him and they make a quick search of the immediate area. When no other person turns up, they help themselves to some fruit.

Hanging from the first tree he comes to, James locates an apple-like fruit that appears to be ripe and removes it from the branch. Biting into it, he finds the fruit has a taste similar to that of apples, though the skin is slightly thicker. He begins filling his backpack with more of the fruit as he eats the first one and soon has it filled to capacity.

Miko picks an armful of the fruit and takes them down to the boat to dump them in the bottom. As he nears the boat, motion from across the river draws his attention. “James!”

Turning, he finds Miko running back toward where he stands at the edge of the orchard.

When Miko sees him looking, he comes to a halt and points across the river. James looks to find a single horseman watching them from atop his horse. In the man’s hands is a deadly looking crossbow. Not far further south down the west bank, seven other riders were riding with all speed downriver.

Looking at the departing riders, James says, “They must be heading for a bridge to cross further south. Any idea how far it would be?”

Shaking his head no, Miko replies “Got no idea. I don’t know much of what lies outside of Bearn.”

“Doesn’t matter I guess,” he says. “They’ll be over here soon enough.”

James watches the departing riders until they pass out of sight. He then looks to the road and makes sure there are no travelers approaching from either direction. Grabbing an apple, he walks over to the edge of the river.

“You don’t think you’re going to hit him, do you?” Miko asks incredulously.

Smiling, James says, “Just watch.” He cocks his arm back and throws the apple while casting a variation of his stone spell.

Miko is amazed to see the apple arc through the air and actually pick up speed. Even though the man tries to move out of the way, the apple alters its course and nails him in the side of the head. With bits of apple flying in all directions, Miko is stunned to watch the man tumble from his horse. A thud is heard as the rider hits the ground.

James waits for several seconds to see if the man is going to get up or not. When he remains unmoving on the ground, he turns to head for the boat. “Let’s hurry,” he says, motioning for Miko to get back into the boat.

“Hurry where?” asks Miko as he comes over and climbs in. Careful not to step upon the apples lying across the bottom, he takes his seat.

Pointing to the opposite shore, James replies, “Over there.” He then grabs the side of the boat and pushes it out into the river, jumping in once the bottom is free of the sandy shore. Taking the oars, he rows hard and attempts to reach the shore not too far down from where the unconscious man lies.

When the boat grounds onto the opposite shore, he says to Miko, “See if he’s alive and if so, tie him up. Also, make sure the horse doesn’t get away, we’ll need it.”

“What are you going to do?” asks Miko.

“I’m going to hide our trail,” he replies and begins unloading their boat.

Miko goes over to the man and discovers that he’s not dead, just unconscious. Finding rope on the horse, he binds the man at the ankles and wrists. By the time he’s finished, James has unloaded their things from the boat and is standing motionless at the water’s edge. About to ask a question, he stops when he realizes James is staring at the boat and in the process of casting a spell. Taking the reins of the horse, Miko walks quietly over to see what he’s doing.

As he approaches he’s startled when the boat suddenly rocks on the beach. Then, even more shocking, the boat begins moving off the shore and into the water on its own. Being quiet so as not to break James’ concentration, he continues watching in wonder as the boat floats across the river toward the opposite shore. Inexplicably moving against the current, it finally beaches itself on the other side and continues moving up the beach until it’s far enough away from the water that the river won’t pull it back in. When the boat comes to a stop, James stops the spell and abruptly sits down.

“You okay?” Miko asks as he comes closer to his new found friend.

James looks up sees the concern on his face. Smiling to reassure the boy, he says, “Magic isn’t easy you know, it takes a lot out of you. I’ll be fine, just need to rest a bit.” Nodding over to the man, he asks, “How’s our friend over there doing?”

“You knocked him out with that apple and he’ll probably have a big bruise on his temple for a while, but I think he’ll make it.” Taking a water bottle off the horse, he hands it over to James, “Thirsty?”

“Yeah,” James says, taking the bottle and having a long drink. When he’s drunk his fill, he hands it back. “Fill it up again, we need to get going.”

Miko takes the bottle over to the river and refills it. Finished, he returns and gestures to their captive. “What shall we do with him?” he asks. “Kill him?”

“Good heavens no,” James exclaims. “I don’t kill people unless my life depends on it. We’ll have to take him with us for a ways then let him go.”

“Why do we have to take him with us?” he asks as he secures the bottle to the saddle.

“We can’t leave him here to tell his friends we’re on this side of the river,” explains James. “When they return and find the boat still on the other side, I’m hoping they will believe that we are still on that side, perhaps trying to escape cross country.”

Hearing a groan from their captive, James goes over to the man and squats down next to him.

The captive opens his eyes and takes in James and Miko squatting next to him. He flashes Miko an ugly look and tries to move but finds that his arms and legs have been tied. Testing his bonds, he soon realizes he can’t get free so settles back down on the ground, all the while keeping an eye on his captors.

“Not sure what to do with you,” James tells the man.

“Not sure where to dump my body you mean,” the captive says with scorn.

“You’re not going to die today,” James reassures the man, “at least not by my hand.” The man doesn’t look convinced that he’ll be permitted to live.

“We know that Lord Colerain hired you and your friends to catch me, perhaps even kill me,” James informs him. Seeing no change in their captive’s expression, he continues, “Just what were you going to do to me if you would have caught me?”

“Why should I tell you anything?” their captive retorts.

“Your cooperation could mean the difference from being left where someone can easily find you, and being put somewhere…,” James pauses for effect before saying, “remote.”

“Come on Torin,” Miko says, “what difference could it make now? We know you’re after us and who hired you, so you might as well tell.”

Turning his attention to Miko his face turns grim. “I always knew you to be a squealer Miko, ever since you ratted out Harry’s bunch.”

Turning indignant, Miko replies, “I never ratted him out! I didn’t even know what was going down until the news hit the streets.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ve been singing that tune just so Harry wouldn’t kill ya,” Torin says derisively.

Breaking in, James says, “It doesn’t matter anyway. Miko, secure our equipment on his horse and let’s get out of here before trouble comes back.”

Miko gets up and begins the process of securing their baggage onto the horse.

James takes out his knife and leans closer to Torin. Torin’s eyes widen in expectation of being stabbed or cut. James grabs the rope binding Torin’s legs, cuts the rope in two and then throws the pieces over to Miko who puts them in a bag on the horse.

“You’re going to have to walk,” James explains to Torin. When he makes no move to rise, James adds, “Unless you would rather to be dragged behind the horse? Your choice.” Torin nods and James helps him to his feet.

Removing another long rope from the saddle, James secures one end around the rope binding Torin’s wrists and the other end to the saddle. Miko takes up position behind Torin with the knife, just in case. Grabbing the reins, James leads the horse over to the road and they make their way south.

They don’t travel far before a small grove of trees appears off the road a ways to the east. Deciding this might be a good secluded place to leave Torin, he leaves the road and heads over to the grove. There he unties Torin from the horse and has him sit with his back to one of the trees, using the long rope to secure him to it. He tears off a strip of cloth from Torin’s shirt and uses it for a gag, securing it with another piece of rope.

Once Torin is secured to the tree, James tells him, “Don’t worry, I plan to let someone know that you are here, but not until nightfall, tomorrow at the latest. If I were you, I would hope your friends don’t ‘delay’ me. You should be free sometime tomorrow.”

Getting up, he says to Miko, “Let’s go.” James takes the reins again and leads the horse back to the road.

A little over an hour later, several buildings begin to appear over by the river. As they come closer they see where a thick rope spans the water where it ends at another set of buildings on the far side. In the middle of the river they see a flat ferry with four men and three horses. One man is pulling on the rope, slowly moving the ferry to their side of the river.

“James,” Miko says, “that’s Torin’s buddies. Your trick with the boat must not have fooled them, they’re coming back.”

Waiting near the cluster of buildings on the other side are the rest of their pursuers, awaiting their turn to cross. Sure that the men on the ferry have not yet seen them, James leads the horse off the road to the east. Once out of sight of the ferry upon the water, he reaches down a hand and helps Miko up behind him. Getting the horse up to a fast run they cut cross country, quickly leaving the ferry behind.

Cutting eastward through an open field, James continues for a little over a mile before turning the horse more to the south. Pretty sure that they have moved beyond the ferry and have put distance between themselves and the men hunting them, he slows their pace. So as not to tire their horse, they dismount and James once again takes the reins, leading the horse at a walk.

They continue south while steadily angling their way west, hopping to eventually intersect with the road. When the road finally comes into view again, they are relieved to find it deserted and head toward it.

“How long do you think they will continue the chase?” he asks Miko.

“I doubt if they’ll continue very far,” Miko responds. “They’re just local ruffians. Like me, they’ve seldom been out of the city.”

“Let’s hope so,” James says. He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a couple apples, tossing one over to Miko. Once they reach the road, they continue south all the while eating apples and casting glances over their shoulders for sign of pursuit. Just what he would have done should pursuit have materialized, James didn’t know and was glad he didn’t have to find out.

As nightfall approaches, they discover a likely place to make camp for the night sheltered within a small copse of trees near the river. Within lies a small, cleared area within which half a dozen men could camp comfortably. “I guess this spot must be used quite frequently,” he says to Miko, indicating a ring of stones encircling the charred remnants of an old campfire.