As Sheila dresses, James says to Rylin, “Miko and I can go after the bandits and see if the horses can be recovered, though I will need to rest for an hour or so before I leave. I pretty much wore myself out during the fight.”
“Perhaps I should go with you as well,” Rylin offers.
“You need to stay with the ladies and watch over them,” James replies. “You can defend them better than either Miko or myself. And we certainly don’t want to leave them alone and unprotected.”
Rylin glances over to the mother who nods her head, agreeing with the plan. “Alright, but how will we know if you are successful?”
“If we are, we’ll take them back to the road and meet you there,” explains James. “Take the horses here with you and if we don’t come back, use them as best you can to get the caravan to Trademeet.”
“Those are not draft animals,” the mother says, looking at the nearby picket of horses.
“Better than nothing wouldn’t you say?” James counters.
“I suppose so,” she agrees, though not entirely happy about the situation.
“Miko,” James says to him, “search all the bandits, especially the leader. See if there is anything that may tell us why they are here.”
“What do you mean?” Rylin asks as Miko begins to rummage through their belongings and inspecting each of the dead bodies.
“The leader seemed too professional to simply be a bandit leader,” James explains. “Also, if they were merely bandits, why did they split their forces and send the horses south? It just doesn’t feel right to me.”
“I see your point,” Rylin acknowledges.
While Miko searches the dead, Rylin and James tie the bandit’s horses in a line, bridle to saddle. Three saddlebags are found to be filled with gold and other valuables.
“This must belong to the ladies,” James guesses when he sees the fortune, “taken from their caravan.”
“Most likely,” Rylin agrees.
The rain begins to lessen though it’s still a constant nuisance. Miko returns from his search and says “Couldn’t find anything on anyone. There was some paper on the leader but it’s ash now, couldn’t make out any writing.”
“Alright, let’s get our stuff and we’ll go look for the horses,” James tells him. “Also, let’s take the tent with us, it may come in handy should the rain continue.”
“Alright, James,” Miko says as he turns to go over to where the tent is lying in the mud.
Rylin, having already assisted the ladies to mount, comes over to James and says, “Thank you for your help in rescuing them.”
“We couldn’t leave them to their fate,” he replies. “I just hope Miko and I are able to get the horses back for you.”
“So do I,” he says. “We’ll wait on the road for a day or so before continuing on toward Trademeet. If you manage to get them, try your best to find us.”
“We’ll find you,” James assures him. They walk over to Rylin’s horse and James gives him a hand mounting.
“Goodbye ladies,” James says as he turns toward them. “We’ll see you in a couple of days.”
As Rylin gets the line moving, the mother says, “Thank you again, James. I can’t begin to express my gratitude for you helping Rylin to save us. Should you ever need anything, the House of Ellinize will help you.”
“Thank you ma’am,” James replies. He stands back a bit and waves as they begin moving northward to where the caravan was abandoned back on the road.
Miko waves to them as they begin to leave. “Everything set?” James asks him.
“Yeah, I got the tent on the mule,” he answers.
“Then let’s go,” James says and then walks over toward their horses.
“What is that?” he asks as they approach the horses. On the back of the pack mule is the tent all right, but it looks like it was stuffed and tied up there without any effort made in compacting it.
He looks over at Miko and asks, “Ever folded a tent before?”
Shaking his head, Miko answers, “No, I’m a city boy.”
James begins to untie it from the horse, and then lays it on the ground. “Here, give me a hand and I’ll show you how to do it properly so it will be a much smaller package to handle.” Having never folded this particular type of tent, it takes him a couple of tries but they eventually get it down to a manageable size and secure it on the mule.
Then they mount up and begin to ride after the other band of bandits.
Chapter Eighteen
The rain continues to lessen throughout the morning until shortly after noon, when it stops altogether. Not long after the sun breaks through the clouds to bring a much welcomed relief to the sodden pair. James and Miko manage to maintain a quick pace as they try to catch up with the remaining bandits, only stopping for brief periods to rest the horses before continuing the search.
They pick up the trail about mid afternoon when they encounter a swath of grass that has recently been trampled. “I think we found their trail,” announces James.
“Looks like it,” Miko agrees. “What are we going to do when we find them?”
“Play it by ear,” he answers. “We won’t know what our options will be until we do.”
“I suppose,” he says. “Are you feeling any better?”
“Some,” replies James. “I should be recharged somewhat by the time we find them.”
“Recharged?” queries Miko.
Chuckling, James clarifies, “It’s a word from where I come from. It means that I will be able to do magic again.”
“Oh, that’s good,” says Miko.
A large group of tents with a makeshift corral set off to one side appears out of the horizon not long before dusk. The number of tents indicates a far larger group than they had anticipated. James has them enter a copse of trees from where they will be able to observe what’s going on inside the camp, yet will still be far enough away so they won’t be discovered.
“I think those are the horses,” Miko says, indicating the herd inside the corral.
“You are probably right,” agrees James. “But this is a far larger group than I anticipated. It looks like an army camp.”
Glancing questioningly to James, Miko asks, “How do you figure?”
“Several things,” James replies. “First of all the tents are lined up uniformly, in rows with the larger tents in the center. Second, they have patrols walking a perimeter around the encampment,” he points out three men who appear to be walking around the camp at distinct intervals.
“What do we do now?” Miko asks.
Thinking for a second, he replies, “Not much we can do, but it’s beginning to look as if the ladies will not be getting their horses back. Unless you think we should go down there and ask for them back?” Seeing the look of apprehension on his face, he can’t help but add, “Or attack?”
“Good heavens no!” Miko exclaims. “They’d kill us for sure.”
“Most likely,” agrees James. “We’ll hang out here for a while and see what’s going on.”
“Why?” Miko asks. “I mean if we are no longer planning on getting the horses back, what’s the point of staying here any longer than we need to?”
“You see Miko, I hate leaving things unanswered, and there are still several questions I’d like answers to.” James leans back against a tree and opens a saddle bag, taking out some travel rations to munch on while he watches the camp. He hands some over to Miko as well.
“Like what?” Miko asks in between bites.
Considering the question while he chews, James replies, “If that is an army of some kind, whose is it? I doubt if it belongs to Cardri. After all, why would the bandits take horses that they stole in their own territory to them?
