her to her feet. He has her lean on him as they make it back up to where the others are waiting for them. Behind them, more trees burst into flame as the wind spreads the fire rapidly.
Looking at the treetops, James notices how the fire hopping from one tree to the next, reminiscent of a documentary of the Yellowstone fire he saw years earlier. As Tinok and Cassie join them, they once more begin moving as fast as possible away from the quickly approaching inferno.
Suddenly, they break from the confines of the forest and stumble upon a small road running due east. Ruts line the road, showing that wagons have moved through here. Turning onto it, they’re able to make better time.
The fire behind them is gaining rapidly, they begin to feel the heat of the raging inferno drawing ever closer. James looks up again and sees that the treetops above them are already beginning to catch. There’s no way we’re going to outrun this!
Continuing on as best they can with the smoke thickening rapidly, their lungs burn from the heated smoke they’re breathing. Cassie falls to her knees, coughing, overcome by the smoke and unable to continue. In desperation, Tinok picks her up and carries her onward. James looks in dread as the trees along the road ahead of them begin to catch fire, the wind pushing the blaze ever forward.
“We’re not going to make it!” Delia cries out to him over the roar of the fire.
The forest before them suddenly opens up to a wide canyon, five hundred feet across. A rope suspension bridge, barely wide enough to accommodate a wagon, spans it.
Thank goodness! James thinks to himself when it comes into view. Just then, a branch being consumed by flame falls upon the bridge, twenty feet from the edge. James stares in disbelief as the fire which is consuming the branch begins licking the ropes holding the bridge in place.
“Move!” he yells, allowing Jiron and Delia to cross first and then Tinok with Cassie right behind. Once everyone is on and crossing to the other side, he steps upon the bridge and begins to cross.
Delia comes to the point where the burning branch has fallen upon the bridge, but it’s burning so hot, she has to pass by as far to the side as she can. The wooden planks she’s walking upon are beginning to burn as well as the supporting ropes.
When James gets to the fire on the bridge, he can see that the ropes have already almost completely burned through, only a few strands keep it from snapping in two. “Hurry!” he shouts as they quickly make their way to the other side.
Jiron reaches the other side first, just ahead of Delia. Then Tinok reaches the other side and carries Cassie away from the edge of the canyon before he lays her on the ground. James is almost to the end when one the remaining strands of the support rope snaps, causing the bridge to skew suddenly, throwing him to his knees.
“James!” Delia cries out when she sees the bridge lurch to the side and James almost plummeting to his death on the rocks far below.
Jiron comes to the edge and reaches out to help him the last of the way. Seeing the hand before him, James stretches his arm out, trying to grab hold of it. Before he’s able to take Jiron’s hand, the remaining rope suddenly snaps, causing the bridge to break in two and each half falling against their side of the canyon.
James loses his grip and falls. Reaching out in panic, he tries to grab hold of one of the wooden planks of the bridge. He finally manages to stop his plummet ten feet further down as he catches hold of one of the planks that’s still attached securely to the rope. He holds on tight as the bridge slams into the side of the mountain and prays he doesn’t fall. Once the section of bridge he’s clinging to settles down, he looks up and sees Jiron looking down at him from the top, twenty feet away.
“Come on!” he yells. “Climb up, you can make it.”
James makes the mistake of looking down at the river far below. Panic overcomes him for a few seconds, causing him to hug the board in a death grip. The panic slowly subsides when he realizes he’s not going to immediately plummet to his death. After taking a couple deep breaths, he reaches up to grab the board above him and starts climbing up.
One by one, he climbs the boards on his way toward the top. Suddenly he hears one of the girls scream and looks up, but Jiron is no longer there. He continues climbing and when he is less than five feet from the top, a body flies over the edge and falls, narrowly missing him.
What the hell?
Climbing as fast as he can, he reaches the top only to find Jiron and Tinok standing shoulder to shoulder as they face three men with swords. Six men already lie dead on the ground. As James climbs over the top, another of the men falls to the ground as he holds his stomach where Jiron had sliced him open. Then in a flurry of motion, Jiron and Tinok each take out one of the remaining two.
Coming over to them, he asks, “Everyone okay?”
Jiron has a wound in his side oozing blood, other than that, its just minor scrapes and cuts. Delia comes and helps him to bind it, while James goes over to where Tinok is holding a coughing Cassie and asks, “Is she going to be okay?”
“I think so,” he replies. “She just needs to get the smoke out of her lungs.”
“What happened?” he asks, referring to the dead men.
“They came out of the trees just after the bridge broke,” he explains. “I think they were robbers, probably in the area and coming to see about the fire. When they saw us, they attacked without warning.”
At mention of the fire, they all look across the chasm at the roaring inferno consuming the road they just left. Some embers are being carried across the canyon, but are failing to start any fires.
“Let’s search them and see if they have anything we can use,” James says.
He and Jiron go about the task of searching the bodies, but only come up with a pouch for each of them and a belt knife. They also find some coins, though not nearly replacing the amount that is still within his backpack back in town.
By this time Cassie is doing better, just coughing a little bit. “Ready to go?” James asks as he comes over to her.
She nods her head yes and then gets up with Delia’s help. James and Jiron again take the lead as they continue to follow the narrow road through the forest. Behind them across the canyon, the fire still blazes with violent intensity. Even from this distance, they can feel the heat.
They follow the road as it twists and turns among the trees, continuing its way through the forest, leaving the canyon and the heat from the fire behind. They don’t travel very far before the road opens up to a clearing. Within the clearing they find two wagons as well as two men sitting on the ground next to a fire. Twelve horses are secured in a picket near them.
At their approach, one of the men turns toward their way and begins to say, “Herec, what did you…?” He stops abruptly when he sees them entering the clearing. Grabbing a crossbow sitting on the ground next to him, he hollers to his friend who grabs one as well. Without even a word of warning, he lets loose a bolt, taking James through the right shoulder, knocking him backward to the ground.
Knives flash as Jiron and Tinok advance upon the men. Cassie and Delia come to render what aid they can for James.
The second man, seeing Jiron and Tinok coming toward him, lets fly with his bolt but it goes wide, missing Tinok by scant inches. Drawing their swords, the men prepare to defend themselves.
Tinok closes with the first man, while Jiron goes after the second. Knives dance as they parry the sword thrusts, but the men are no match for them and are soon lying on the ground, dead.
They come over to James where he’s lying on the ground, blood welling out from where the bolt had struck him. Jiron rolls him over slightly to look at his back and sees that it hasn’t gone all the way through. He looks in James’ eyes and says, “It’s got to come out.”
James just nods his head in understanding and braces himself.
“Hold him tight, Tinok,” Jiron says. Tinok comes and holds James firmly as Jiron grabs hold of the bolt. “Alright, on three, okay?” he asks James.
James nods his head again and braces for it.
“One…two…” and then he yanks it out, causing James to cry out in pain before passing out. Turning to Delia he says, “Look through the wagons and see if there is anything we can use for bandages.”
She rushes over to the wagons and then comes back with a couple of shirts that she quickly tears into strips. Jiron takes them from her and uses them to bind James’ wound.
