The Unsuspecting Mage (37 page)

The sudden cessation of wind causes the men to slow their advance as they begin to understand that something strange is happening. Suddenly, the clouds above them begin to swirl and Miko looks in frightened awe as a section of the swirling clouds descends toward them, the center of which is open and clear. It rapidly slams all the way to the ground, enveloping the men approaching the hill.

The wind whips around the hill in a frightening mass of flying debris and deafening sound. Standing amidst the relative calm upon the hilltop, Miko holds tight to the horses, trying to keep them from becoming frightened amidst the noise going on around them.

From within the tempest surrounding them he could hear the cries of men and horses being ravaged by the savage wind. Suddenly, one of the riders is flung from the storm and slams into the ground a few feet from him. Miko looks closely at the man and sees that his body is broken and lifeless. Truly awed by what James has done, he stands there holding tightly to the reins and watches as the storm continues to swirl around the hill. Looking straight up, he sees what appears to be a tunnel going all the way through the storm to the blue sky at the other end.

Not long after that, the storm begins to slowly dissipate as the swirling mass surrounding the hill thins and then fades away. The clouds above start breaking apart until they resume their normal course through the sky. Amazed, Miko looks at the grassland surrounding the hill and can see just how wide the storm had been. It started at the base of the hill, and he can see how the grass had been ripped and torn by the force of the winds in a swath several hundred feet wide all the way around. Scattered throughout the area were horses and men, all lifeless and broken.

When the winds finally recede completely, James’ knees buckle and he collapses to the ground. Miko rushes over, relieved to find that he is only unconscious, not dead. Unable to rouse him, he gently lays James out comfortably and gets a blanket to use as a pillow for his head. Once he has taken care of James, he goes over and removes the hoods from the horses and pack mule, letting them loose to graze.

Sitting down next to James, he waits for him to regain consciousness, all the while keeping an eye on the horizon for any sign of other unwelcome visitors.

It isn’t until just before sunset that James begins to stir. Cracking an eye open, he discovers Miko has already started a fire and made camp with the horses picketed nearby. A groan escapes him drawing the attention of Miko who comes to his side bearing a water bottle. With Miko’s help, James sits up slightly to take the bottle and drinks deeply before handing the bottle back to him.

“Who?” asks Miko. “The dead riders?” He looks out at the scene surrounding the hill with undisguised revulsion at the thought of going near the dead men.

“Maybe there will be a letter or something on them that may tell us who sent them and why,” explains James, the final words all but unintelligible.

“No, I haven’t,” Miko answers before realizing that he’s already fallen asleep. Knowing how important this is to James, he gets up and goes through the grisly task of searching all the dead bodies, both men and horses for anything that may tell them what they need to know. He returns a half hour later with an armload of saddlebags, pouches and one of the crossbows along with a brace of bolts. He sets the saddlebags and pouches on the ground near James which causes him to awaken once more.

Now rested enough that he won’t immediately succumb to sleep, he props himself up on one elbow and gives the pile of saddlebags and pouches a once over. Then he notices the crossbow in Miko’s hand and asks, “What are you going to do with that?”

Calming down, James sits up further and returns his attention to the bags and pouches on the ground before him. The pounding in his head has diminished to a tolerable level.

While James begins going through them, Miko takes out some of the food that Miss Gilena had given them before they left. When both have food and drink, he sits down next to James and begins to eat while he watches as James inspects the pouches.

As James goes through pouch after pouch, he begins dividing their contents into three piles. One contains coins, gems and jewelry, another useless junk, and still another is a pile of papers. He places a stone on top of the papers to keep the wind from blowing them away.

When he finishes with the last pouch, he says, “Take the money and put it in with ours alright, Miko?”

“Okay James,” Miko replies, getting up to do it.

While Miko is busy with putting away the valuables, James begins to read through the papers. All but one he crumbles up and tosses into the fire.

Seeing the one he has kept, Miko asks, “Why did you keep that one?”

“This one is an order from someone called Korgan to someone named Vorim. I can only assume that this Vorim lies dead out there somewhere,” he says, gesturing to the dead bodies surrounding the hill. “It’s basically an order to capture and interrogate us, that a person named ‘Cytok’ is interested in finding out who we are working for. They were also to find out the names of any other agents that we may be in contact with.”

“Why did they come after us?” Miko asks.

“Who knows?” replies James. “When I rescued Perrilin, one of his captors managed to escape on horseback. I guess they found out that I helped him escape. So, since they didn’t get Perrilin, they went after me, probably assuming that I work with him. It seems our friend is more than the simple bard he claims to be.”

“Wonder who this Korgan is and why he’s after Perrilin?” wonders Miko.

“We’ll have to ask Perrilin about that when we see him next,” James says. “First Lord Colerain, and now this Korgan. Wonder if they are working together?” Sighing at the fact that though he has been in this world such a short time, he has acquired some rather deadly enemies, he folds the paper and puts it in with his other papers. He starts to yawn and once he has finished dinner, lies down in his makeshift bed. Miko gives him another blanket and soon he’s off to sleep.

Miko sits up awhile unable to sleep. He lays a couple more sticks of wood on the fire, keeping it going while he thinks about everything that has happened to him since he first met James. James told him that it may be safer not to travel with him, and that has definitely turned out to be true. But James is the only person who has ever treated him nice, and as more of an equal, well mostly, than anyone. He decides that no matter what, he will stay with him as long as James will let him. He sets several more sticks on the fire then lies down and finally falls asleep.

_______________________

With a city guard hot on his trail, he raced through the streets of Bearn. Clutched tightly to his chest is a loaf of bread that had until just recently, sat on display in front of a baker’s shop. Still warm and emitting a most mouthwatering aroma, it would likely be the only meal he will have this day. Unless of course he was caught.

Usually he took more care when purloining food, those in his situation had to keep under the radar of the authorities. For once they became known as thieves, life became all the harder.

Miko never wished to be a thief. His life being what it is, he was forced to from time to time merely to survive. The odd job that came along never paid much and as often as not, afterward was forced to relinquish his coins to the older kids or suffer a beating. Life on the street was not easy.

“
Stop!” the guard yelled. “Thief!”

A glance over his shoulder revealed the guard had closed some distance and was gaining fast. Up ahead loomed the dark mouth of an alley and he bolted toward it. Dodging around a servant girl with a basket full of fruit, he reached the alley and shot inside.

A form emerged out of the shadows before him. Unable to stop in time, he struck the emerging shadow dead center.

“
What the hell?” a voice cried as a boy several years Miko’s senior was knocked to the ground only to have Miko land atop him.

“
Miko!” another boy shouted.

Before he knew what was happening, Miko was pulled off the older boy, his hard won bounty ripped from his hands, and a poorly shod foot kicked him in the side.

Just then, the guard appeared at the mouth of the alley. “Stay right there!” he commanded. Drawing his sword, he was about to step into the alley when the group of older boys took off. As they disappeared into the shadows, one of them cried, “Thanks Miko!” to the laughter of his fellows.

“
Stop!” the guard ordered but the boys were gone. Then he turned his attention to Miko. “It’s the axe man for you boy,” the guard said.

Miko knew what ‘axe man’ the guard meant. Anyone caught in the act of stealing would lose a hand, even if it was a loaf of bread. For not yet being of age to shave, he would most likely lose his left as a lesson while leaving him his right in order that he may still be a productive member of society after having seen the error of his ways. Unable to face such a future, he bolted.

The guard’s foot lashed out and tripped him before he could take two steps. “Oh no you don’t,” said the guard as Miko’s head slammed into the alley’s wall. Landing in a pile of refuse, he squirmed away but the guard placed his foot against his back, pinioning him to the ground.

“
No use struggling,” the guard said, laughing. “You ain’t getting away.”

Noooooooooo!

Coming awake in a cold sweat, heart beating fast, Miko sits up and is about to bolt when realization of where he was sank in. It had only been a dream. The familiar sight of their horses and mule, as well as James lying still asleep nearby gave validity to that assumption.

Glancing over to the sleeping form of James, he worked to calm himself as he thought,
And you think coming with you is dangerous!
What he has gone through so far in his travels with James was nowhere near as bad as his previous life had been. At least with James, he is treated as an equal of sorts.

The caw of a bird draws his attention upward where several are fighting over something small. No sooner does one steal the prize from another, than that bird loses it in turn. Rubbing the sweat from his forehead the dream had produced, he freaks out when he removes his hand and finds it smeared with blood.

“James!” he shouts. “I’m bleeding!”

Startled out of a deep sleep, James raises his head and looks over to Miko. All vestiges of sleep vanish where he finds a scene that sends chills down his spine. Forehead darkened with blood and a hand to match, Miko sits not far away with wide and frantic eyes, staring at his blood smeared hand. Alarmed, James hurries over.

As he kneels down to better inspect Miko’s forehead, he says, “Now just calm down, it doesn’t look like it is still bleeding.” He puts his hand on the ground for balance and squishes something soft and a little bit nasty beneath his palm. Quickly lifting his hand, he discovers a small, bloody mass mixed in with the dirt.

“Miko, look!” he says as he picks up a stick.

As he bends over to look at it more closely, James uses the stick to first poke at it then turn it over. Miko watches, and when the object turns and is revealed to be a human eye, loses it. Bending over, he loses what little his stomach holds upon on the ground. Disgusted, James flips the eye out of camp.

A dark form swoops out of the sky, and in a deft aerial maneuver, snatches the eye before it hits the ground. James throws the stick at the bird who adroitly avoids the missile. As it flies away, two other black birds give chase.

“It hit me in the head!” Miko says when he’s finally able to stop vomiting.

“Relax,” James says as he heads over to the nearest horse. “You’ll live.” After removing the water bottle from behind the saddle, he rinses the blood off his hand then hands it to Miko. While Miko cleans himself, James gazes around the immediate vicinity. Groups of the black birds are massed upon the dead men and horses, feasting. His gorge rising, he quickly gets ready to travel so they can leave this place behind.

Miko helps him while both do their best to ignore what is going on around them. When they are finally ready to ride, Miko is the first in the saddle and races past the clumps of feasting birds with eyes closed, not stopping until they are no more than black specks on the horizon.