“The shattering of the crystal in some way caused the demon to return to its realm,” a cheer rises from the crowd. “The poor man, who had come to me for help, lay there, whimpering with fear.” Her voice softens, “‘Mama, is that you?’ the poor man cried as I came close. Not knowing what else to say I replied, ‘Yes, it is dear’.”
Looking around, James can see the people around the marketplace are in rapt attention to every word Serenna is telling them. Some of the women are openly sobbing with tears streaking their face. Even a few of the men are visibly moved.
“I held him there, blood still welling from my wounds, pain throbbing in my face and arms, yet still I held him. He slowly came to his senses and at first did not know where he was, ‘Where am I?’ he asked. ‘You’re safe, that is all that’s important now,’ I assured him. He suddenly jumped up, fear again in his eyes and ran out of my tent. I called for him to return, so that I might help him, but he did not heed me.”
The audience begins to applaud and James would have been moved by the story too, if he didn’t know it was just a bunch of lies. Feeling slightly offended, he continues toward her.
Attention drawn to the presence of a rider approaching, she recognizes him. “There he is!” she cries pointing toward him. The crowd as one turns their attention upon him, the marks on his face and hands visible. They are a match to the ones she herself bears.
“It is him,” utters many whispered voices throughout the crowd.
“I am glad you are now safe,” Serenna says, loud enough for the crowd to hear.
“That’s quite a story,” James says, raising his voice loud enough to carry across the marketplace. “But not quite true, is it?” Turning to the crowd he continues, “There was no demon…”
A scream rips through the marketplace. With a crazed look in her eyes, Serenna screams again then cries out to the crowd, “The demon has taken this man’s soul for his own. Do not hearken to him.” She points an accusing finger at James.
His line of thought broken by the unexpected shriek, he begins formulating his next rejoinder.
“Uh, James,” says Miko staring at the crowd.
“Not now Miko,” James says, still trying to come up with a counter to what Serenna had just said.
“James,” he says again with a slight tenseness and sense of urgency to his voice.
James looks back toward Miko and then the crowd. The crowd is staring at him in a less than friendly manner.
“Be gone demon!” Serenna cries out. “Bother not our city!”
“Maybe we should go,” Miko suggests nervously.
The crowd grows ever more edgy. Fearing it could easily transform into a mob, he nods and they turn to proceed back the way they had come. The crowd parts for them as they leave. Every eye is on him as they make their way from the marketplace. As they leave the area, they hear Serenna once again speaking to the crowd though they are no longer able to make out the words. The crowd within the marketplace cheers loudly to something that she says.
Shaking his head, James leads them out of the city and once again they head east toward the Merchant’s Pass.
Chapter Seventeen
Riding out of Willimet, they remain quiet for some time. Miko is worried about his friend who has fallen into a dark, brooding mood. After the outskirts of town are no longer visible behind them, James suddenly stops his horse in the middle of the road and cries, “That bitch!”
Miko comes to a stop and looks back toward him saying, “Don’t take it too much to heart, James.”
“What? What did you tell me?” he yells, turning his attention on Miko. “Not only was that story a complete lie, but she forced me out of there so I couldn’t even reveal it for the lie that it was. And after I gave her fifteen gold pieces to get a new crystal ball because I felt sorry for her.” Glancing back down the road toward town he yells, “I want my money back!”
“Now just calm down,” Miko says as he brings his horse closer to his friend. “There is not much you could have done, not with that crowd believing everything she was saying.”
James gives him an ugly glare, but Miko continues anyway. “Just why are you so mad? Because you were made out to be a wimpy momma’s boy in front of the crowd? So what?”
James turns his horse around and begins to head back toward Willimet.
Miko quickly turns his horse and rides past, then turns to block his way back to town.
“Get out of my way,” James growls at Miko as he brings his horse to a stop.
“No,” Miko tells him, “I won’t. And you’re not going to go back either, not with the way she had that crowd believing everything she said. You’ll never have the chance to get close to her.”
“Look,” he continues while James listens, “let’s finish what we set out to do. Go and find this temple. Then afterward we can come back to deal with her if you still want.” Seeing James considering his words, he adds, “Remember, we have to make it to the City of Light before Saragon falls and the Empire advances further north.”
James stares at him for a second, emotions playing across his face, then slowly nods his head and says, “Alright, we will deal with her should we come back this way.” Turning his horse around yet again, he resumes their trek east toward Trademeet.
Seeing his friend turn about, Miko breathes a sigh of relief as he gets his horse moving and hurries to catch up. He wasn’t sure what more he could have done had James been set on returning to Willimet.
For the rest of the day, Miko rides in silence while James continues brooding about the way he had been treated and how she drove him out of town. His mood gradually improves and by late afternoon comes to the realization that going back truly would have been the wrong decision, maybe even a costly one.
Sunset finds them still on the road in the middle of nowhere with naught more than grass and low hills as far as they can see. Just before the sun dips below the horizon, they make camp atop a nearby hill.
After supper while they are relaxing around the fire, James hears a rumble off in the distance. “Looks like a storm may be coming in,” he tells Miko.
“Great,” moans Miko as he stares toward the storm on the horizon. Shortly, flashes of lightning begin to appear. “What are we going to do?” he asks.
“Get wet I suppose, not much else we can do,” James says as he stares out across the grasslands. Except for the occasional tree, there is nothing which could be used for shelter.
Pointing off in the distance where two lone trees grew Miko says, “We could take shelter under those trees over there. At least we could stay dry a little bit.”
Shaking his head, James says, “Not in a thunder storm. Lightning can hit the treetops and travel down to the ground where we would be. People have died from being struck by lightning, I would rather get wet.”
Miko looks longingly at the shelter the trees would provide, but trusts in James’ judgment and stays put. “Maybe it won’t reach us until tomorrow,” he hopes.
“Maybe,” James says not sounding as if he believes it. “There’s a good way to tell, though.”
“How?” Miko asks.
“Watch the storm and when you see a flash of lightning, start counting slowly. Stop when you hear the rumble of thunder. Do it every time, and if you are able to reach a higher number the second time, then it’s going away from you. If on the other hand, your count is short before hearing the rumble, it’s coming toward you.”
Miko watches the storm and waits for a flash of lightning. Flash! “1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8.” Boom!
Miko looks over toward James who says, “Now, if your next number is a 9 then the storm is moving away, if it’s a 7 then it’s coming closer.”
“What if it’s the same?” he asks.
“Then it’s most likely moving across the horizon, neither toward nor away from you.”
“That makes sense,” Miko says and once again looks toward the storm. Flash! “1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8… 9” Boom! Smiling he turns toward James, “It’s moving away!” he exclaims happily.
“Maybe,” concedes James. “However you should wait a few minutes before trying it again, some storms cover a wide area and the lightning could appear within different areas of the same storm.”
