“We understand,” Jiron says, “but think before you act next time, our lives may depend on it. Okay?”
“Alright,” Delia says.
Once the horses have been brought back outside, they remount. Then with James in the lead, they head south out of town, making their way into the grasslands.
Several times during the afternoon, they have to make detours when riders appear in the distance. Each time they were sure they would be discovered, yet each time the riders continued on until they were again out of sight.
When the sun begins to dip toward the horizon, they are still out in the middle of the grasslands. They decide to make camp, forgoing a fire in favor of not alerting the countryside to their presence.
They quickly eat before the sun sets completely and picket the horses close by their camp, leaving the saddles on in case they need to leave quickly. Not good for the horses, but necessary.
“Do you think we’re catching them?” Cassie asks while they’re eating.
“Who?” James responds. “The slavers?”
Cassie nods her head and says, “Yes.”
“I would think so,” he answers, nodding his head. “They have lots of people walking while we’re riding, even though we are taking a more roundabout way we have to be gaining on them.”
They sit there in silence for the rest of their meal. When they’re done, they all settle down and get ready for sleep. James lies there and stares up at the sky as it continues to darken into full night.
“James?” he hears Delia say.
“Yeah?” he replies.
“Where’re you from?” she asks.
“A long ways from here and probably won’t be back for quite a while,” he replies. “Why?”
“Just curious is all,” she answers.
“Is everyone there mages?” Cassie asks.
“No, there are actually none there,” he says. “I may be the first.”
“You’re the first one I’ve ever met,” she says.
“Do I live up to your expectations?” he asks, amused.
“No,” she said, “you’re nice.”
James laughs then sobers up and asks, “Are all the mages here mean?”
Tinok says, “Most people believe them to be. All you ever hear about is how mages ruin things and hurt people. Seeing what you’ve already done, it’s not hard to understand why that is.”
“It’s all perspective,” James says, “plus most tales of how mages help won’t be believed and only the interesting ones are told again and again. Those tend to be the ones where they are not very nice.”
“Suppose you’re right,” he concludes.
“Maybe we should all be thinking about going to sleep,” Jiron’s voice cuts through the night. “We have lots of ground to cover and people to find.”
“You’re right,” James agrees. Turning over, he tries to find a comfortable spot on the ground. I hate sleeping on the ground! Eventually, he’s able to drift off to sleep.
The morning dawns beautifully and James wakes up stiff and aching due to another night spent on the hard ground. After getting up, he rummages through his backpack and comes up with some food for breakfast. While he eats he begins walking around the camp, trying to work the kinks out of his muscles.
It doesn’t take long before they’re all up, eaten, and ready to ride. Once everyone is mounted, they continue south, hoping to find where the slavers are heading. At one point during the morning, James takes out his compass and locates the general direction of where the slavers are. The needle points off to the southeast, more east than south. We’re gaining on them, he thinks to himself. Putting his compass away, he continues on, beginning to feel much better about the possibility of a rescue. Just hang on Miko.
They don’t travel much further before a running man appears from the east. Behind him, two fast moving riders are in hot pursuit, racing to intercept the man.
“We must help him,” Delia cries.
Jiron and Tinok glance at one another and with a cry, they kick their horses to a gallop as they ride to aid the fleeing man. James and the girls follow behind at a safer pace, keeping an eye to the east for any other pursuers.
One of the riders aims a crossbow at the fleeing man, and James sees the man’s pace falter as he’s struck by the crossbow bolt. Stumbling, he loses his balance and hits the ground.
The riders, so intent on the man they are chasing, they fail to notice Jiron and Tinok until they are practically upon them.
Riding straight for them, Jiron and Tinok jump from their horses and each grabs one of the men, dragging them to the ground. When they hit the ground, they roll and come to their feet quickly, knife blades flashing in the sun.
The two riders get to their feet quickly and draw their swords as the two teens advance upon them. James sees Jiron divert a thrust of the man’s sword and then strike with his other knife, dropping him to the ground. Tinok’s man is wielding a sword in one hand and a knife in the other and is pressing Tinok backward.
Tinok sees out of the corner of his eye that Jiron’s man is down and quickly begins a series of fast attacks. The pattern makes the man defend and through precisely timed and aimed attacks, causes him to leave a spot open where Tinok strikes, puncturing a lung.
The man stumbles backward and begins coughing up blood. Falling to his knees, he chokes on the blood filling his lungs. Unable to breathe, he soon falls to the ground, dead.
“Took you long enough,” Jiron says to Tinok as he wipes his blades on the dead man’s clothes.
Tinok just looks at him and they both start laughing.
Cassie by this time has made it to the man whom they were chasing, lying in a puddle of his own blood. The crossbow bolt must’ve struck an artery in his leg, for the blood is flowing from the wound quickly.
James comes over, and sees the amount of blood on the ground and when Cassie looks at him, just shakes his head, indicating there is nothing that they are going to be able to do for him.
“Thank you,” the man says when he sees them approach.
Cassie comes to him and asks kindly, “For what?”
“For letting me die a free man,” he tells her. He’s dressed in just a loincloth, the garb of a slave.
“Were you part of the people who were captured when the City of Light fell?” James asks. “We’re seeking friends who were taken by the Empire’s forces.”
“It fell?” the man asks incredulously. “Bad news indeed.” The man begins to get a glazed look in his eyes and his voice gets weaker. “They’ll probably be taken to Korazan, to the slave markets. That’s where I heard the slaver say we were being taken, before I escaped.”
“Korazan?” Jiron asks intently, “where is it?”
“Don’t know,” the man says, weakly, “somewhere to the south…I…think.” The man takes one last light breath and then death takes him.
“Poor man,” Delia says sadly.
“At least he didn’t die a slave,” Jiron says. “We should bury him before we go.”
“I agree,” Cassie says. She gets up and looks around until she finds a rock. Then she begins to scrape out a grave for the man. The others find rocks and sticks and before too long have a fair sized grave dug. Jiron and Tinok carry the man over to it and lay him respectfully within. They cover him with the excess dirt and when they are done, mount up and ride on.
“Korazan,” James says after they get going, “anyone heard of it?”
“No”, Delia replies, the other just shake their heads no.
“It must be within the Empire,” he guesses, “at least we have a destination now.”
“How do you know if they’re actually being taken there?” Cassie asks.
“Don’t,” James replies, “but it’s all we have to go on.”
The rest nod in agreement.
They continue on, eating in the saddle to save time. A couple more times before nightfall, they see riders off to the east. Angling more to the west each time to avoid being seen, they find themselves gradually being pushed more and more westward. By the time night begins to approach, they begin to be able to see the Silver Mountains
