the saddle. James mounts, then reaches down a hand and Miko swings up behind him. “Still better than walking, eh?” he says as they begin heading northward.
“A little bit,” Miko replies. “How far do you think the City is from here?”
“I’ve no clue,” says James. “Maybe a couple days, more if we have to detour around any of the Empire’s forces.”
They make good time, even riding double. The ground continues leveling off until it’s fairly flat, with tall grass swaying in the summer breeze. They continue their course for another two hours when they see an unusually large congregation of birds off to the east. Curious, James angles eastward to take a closer look.
There they find around fifty of the Empire’s forces, dead and bloating in the sun. The birds squawk and take to the air as they come near. The smell of rotting corpses is nauseating so they keep their distance.
“Looks like the Empire took a beating here,” says James.
“Good!” Miko exclaims. “Serves them right.”
They circle the field of battle for a ways but fail to find anyone other than the Empire’s men. “Either Madoc was really fortunate or they took their dead with them,” James reasons.
“Yeah,” Miko agrees, “the losers tend to stay where they fall unless their rotting corpses will bother someone.”
Not seeing anything of interest, James once more turns and makes speed northward.
During the ride, Miko eventually nods off, head lying against James’ back. He begins to dream of his life before James when he lived on the street and had no one to trust. In some ways he’s glad to be gone from there, but in others he misses his old life. No one was ever trying to kill him, at least not seriously.
Deep in a dream about he and a friend filching fruit from a merchant’s stand, he’s suddenly startled out of his reverie by the sudden motion of James jerking his arm forward. “What’s going on?” he asks sleepily.
James points off to the right where he had dropped a rabbit with one of his stones. “I figured it was time for dinner,” he explains. Then he breaks out in a smile as he adds, “Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Wasn’t sleeping,” Miko exclaims defensively, “just thinking is all.”
James grins knowingly. “Let’s take a short break and cook us some dinner,” he says.
Miko nods and swings down, James following right after. While James gets the rabbit ready for dinner, Miko makes a fire from some of the dried grass and small sticks in the area.
James watches him as he begins putting the fuel for the fire together and says, “Make sure you have a bare area around the fire, we don’t want to start a wildfire.”
“Wildfire?” Miko asks.
“If you catch some of the grass on fire, the wind can blow it along and before you know it the entire grassland is aflame,” he explains.
“I’ll be careful,” says Miko as he strikes flint making a spark and then blows gently to coax it into a flame. When he gets a small flame going, he gradually adds more fuel until a sizable blaze is burning.
James notices with worry at the smoke rising like a signal to all in the area that they are there. “We better eat fast and leave before someone comes to see what this fire is all about,” he says.
Miko glances up and sees the smoke rising like a beacon, “Should I put it out?” he asks.
“No, just use the driest grass you can find and that should minimize the amount it emits,” James replies. “Besides, we need to eat or we’ll be too weak to defend ourselves in an emergency.”
James finds a fair sized stick and impales the rabbit upon it, using it as a skewer to cook the rabbit over the fire. When the rabbit is done, he quickly extinguishes the fire by kicking dirt over it until the smoke stops.
They eat in silence, all the while keeping watch for anyone approaching. Once finished, they remount and proceed on again, riding quickly until it gets too dark to see. They make camp, staking the horse out near them.
“We’ll take turns keeping watch tonight,” James says.
“Alright,” agrees Miko. “Do you want me to go first?”
“No, I’m not that tired,” he replies. “You go ahead and sleep. I’ll wake you when it’s your turn.”
Miko settles in and is soon asleep.
James lies back and watches the stars overhead, marveling how different they are from the ones at home. At midnight he wakes Miko for his turn.
“Now don’t fall asleep,” he tells Miko who seems to be having a hard time keeping his eyes open.
“Don’t worry,” Miko assures him, as he stifles a yawn, “you just get some sleep.” He then gets up and begins pacing around the camp, keeping himself awake.
James lies down and listens to Miko’s steps for a few minutes before sleep takes him.
As the sky begins to brighten, James awakens to find Miko asleep a few feet away. Shaking his head, he goes over and nudges him in the side with his foot. “Wakey, wakey sleepyhead,” he says as Miko begins to stir.
Miko’s eyes shoot open and he sits up quickly, “I fell asleep!”
“Yes you did,” James says to him. “Luckily nothing happened, this time. Let’s get going.”
Feeling bad, Miko gets the horse ready and soon they are once again mounted and making good time northward.
They keep alert for others on the plains and once during the late morning have to veer more to the north when they encounter a force over three hundred strong marching from the southeast. They push the horse hard for a short time to put distance between them and only slow down to a canter again once the forces vanish from sight.
They again come across forces on the move in the afternoon, but this time they are moving from the northwest going generally eastward. “Must be reinforcements on their way to the City of Light,” observes Miko.
“I think you are right,” James agrees. “Still, let’s give them a wide berth, we don’t want to be mistaken for the Empire again.”
They backtrack half a mile before proceeding to the northwest for another two miles. Once they figure they have put Madoc’s army behind them they again turn more easterly. Moving quickly, they press on for several more hours.
When the sun begins to dip toward the horizon, a great body of water appears to the east. A road runs along the shoreline upon which many people are coming from the south. Most are on foot while some ride in wagons or pull carts. Those on foot carry bundles while the wagons and carts are filled to overflowing with belongings.
Coming to the road, James inquires of one traveler, “Where are you all coming from?”
The man looks up at James with a face totally lacking in hope or joy, “The City of Light,” the man replies despondently.
“It’s fallen already?” James asks him in shock.
Shaking his head, the man says, “No, at least not when I left. But those you see here didn’t want to stay and be there when the Empire besieges it.”
“It’s certain then that they are heading to the City?” he asks.
“That’s the rumor,” the man replies.
“Then the Empire hasn’t reached the City yet?” James asks anxiously.
“I don’t think so,” he says. “They said our army was going to engage them in the field before they can reach the city. With our allies and mercenaries, they hope to stop them before they get that far.”
“How far is the City from here?” James inquires.
“It’ll probably take you a day with your horse,” he replies. “I’ve been on the road two days, heading for relatives up north.”
“Thank you for your help,” James tells the man.
The man nods and then continues on his way.
“Still a ways to go,” Miko says.
James nods and turns his head to say, “But at least we’re close, and unlikely to run into the Empire’s forces along the way. Unless they are already besieging the City of Light by the time we get there.”
“Let’s get as much distance behind us as we can before dark,” Miko suggests.
“Good idea,” James replies. He looks at the sinking sun and says, “We probably only have a couple of hours left anyway.”
Bringing the horse to a canter, they quickly make their way down the road. The other travelers on the road
