“We camp here for the night,” he says. “Tinok, find some wood to keep the fire going until dawn. Cassie, search the wagons for any food and drink.” Turning to Delia he says, “You stay here with James, I’m going to scout a little further down the trail to see what’s there. I’ll be back shortly.”
Getting up he hollers over to Tinok who’s gathering wood, “I’ll be back shortly.”
“Be careful,” he hollers back.
Turning toward the east, he breaks into a quick jog which soon has him disappearing down the road.
When he returns, he finds James awake and having a meal of trail rations that Cassie had found in one of the wagons. “How do you feel?” he asks.
“Shoulder hurts bad,” he says. “I can barely move my right arm.”
“At least you’re alive,” Jiron says.
“There is that,” he agrees.
“There’s nothing down the road for a while but more trees,” Jiron says as he sits on the ground next to him. Seeing a pile of papers on the ground near James he asks, “What’s that?”
“Had Tinok search the wagons and he found bills of sales and contracts,” he explains. “Seems we ran across some smugglers, at least I think they were. No honorable trader would’ve attacked us like that.” He holds one up and says, “This one here is for a shipment of…, I’m not exactly sure what it is, to a man in Korazan.”
“Korazan?” Jiron asks excitedly.
“Yeah,” James replies, “seems we caught a break on that one.” He holds up another paper and says, “This one is in a language that I can’t read, but it has what looks to be an official seal here at the bottom. I’m hoping it’s a letter allowing us to travel through the Empire, though we won’t know until we put it to the test.”
“If you’re wrong, it could be bad,” he says.
“Probably,” he agrees, “but we don’t have much choice.”
“So we’re going to pretend to be those guys there?” he asks, pointing to the two stiffs lying off in the woods.
“That’s the plan,” he replies. “Oh, we found a chest filled with gold and some gems. So things are looking better.”
“We probably should stay here until tomorrow,” James tells him, “give me a chance to heal and everyone could use the rest. Then we’ll push on down the road and see just where it leads.”
While they take their ease, Tinok comes over to him and asks, “You didn’t get all weak and tired like you did the last time you did magic. Why not?”
“Last time I had used the power within me,” he explains. “This time I had time to plan ahead for the battle, so was able to harness other sources of power.”
“Other sources?” he asks. “What do you mean?”
“I set up spells that would slowly absorb power from the trees and other living things around them, storing it up until needed. Over the course of several hours, they had absorbed all the power they required for their spells. So when they went off, no power was drained from me. That’s why a lot of the vegetation around them had begun to look wilted.”
“Impressive,” Tinok says.
“Thanks,” he replies.
The rest of the day, they just sort of relax and take it easy, recovering from the ordeal of the last two days. Near sunset, some of them walk back toward the canyon to see how the fire’s doing.
Smoke still fills the air and across the canyon the trees are all blackened where the fire had raged. Pockets of fire are still visible here and there, but for the most part, it has consumed the readily available fuel and moved on. They can see it as it continues to burn further up the mountain, the flames arcing up from the tops of the trees where it’s still burning furiously.
They make it back to the camp just as the sun dips below the horizon and the light begins to fade. The rest allow James to sleep as they take turns standing watch.
Chapter Six
When they wake in the morning and are ready to begin hooking the horses to the wagons, they come to the realization that no one knows how. Each wagon takes two horses, which ones were easy to figure out, as they were bigger and more muscular than the others. But the problem comes when they attempt to hook the traces to the horses.
The first time they thought they had it figured, the horses had walked right out of their harness when Tinok flicked the reins to get them moving. The girls laughed so hard at the expression on his face when the horses began racing down the road and the traces fell to the ground. He was almost pulled from the wagon but had let go of the reins in time.
“Nice,” Delia says, her brown eyes dancing in amusement.
Trying to ignore the reaction of the girls, Jiron runs after the horses and quickly brings them back. Taking their time and lots of trial and error, Jiron and Tinok eventually figure it out, finally enlisting James’ aid. Once they’re sure the horses aren’t going to leave their traces behind again, they board the wagons.
On one wagon rides Delia and James, with Delia attempting to drive the wagon but is finding it much more difficult than she had thought. Tinok is driving the second wagon behind them with Cassie sitting beside him. Jiron is on a horse in the lead, the rest are strung in a line tied behind Tinok’s wagon.
Once the wagons start rolling, they begin to learn the finer points of controlling a team of horses. Delia at first has her wagon weaving from one side of the road to the other and once they abruptly stopped for no apparent reason. By the end of the day, however, both she and Tinok have begun to be able to control them with some skill.
The road they’re following is barely wide enough to accommodate the wagons. At one point, Delia was afraid one of her wheels would slide off the narrow road and cause the wagon to slide down the mountainside. Near the end of the day they locate a good spot to make camp, an area little more than a widening of the road amidst the trees. From the campfire ring they find there, it would seem the smugglers have used this spot on more than one occasion.
James’ shoulder hurts worse than the day before. When they’re done with removing the horses from their traces and tethering them to a nearby tree, he has Delia take off the bandage and inspect it. The area around the wound is turning red and is warm to the touch.
“I think it’s getting infected,” she says to him, concern in her eyes.
“Great,” he moans. “Is there any alcohol in the wagons?” he asks her.
“Why?” she replies.
“It may help to purify the wound,” he explains. “Maybe even kill the infection.”
“I’ll see,” she says as she goes over and begins rummaging around in the wagons. She returns shortly with a bottle. “This is all I could find,” she explains, holding it out to him. “Not sure what’s in it though.”
“Just put it back,” he tells her. “I’d rather not take the chance.”
She returns the bottle to the wagon and then goes over to confer with Cassie, far enough away where he can’t hear them. They talk briefly for a few minutes and then Cassie walks over and enters the forest. Tinok sees her leaving and runs after her.
Delia comes back over to him and says, “Cassie has had some training with herbs, she may be able to find something that will help.”
James just nods as he lies there, beginning to feel worse. His face is starting to feel flushed and his body aches all over, a sure sign of a fever.
Cassie and Tinok come back after a few minutes with various leaves and petals. She takes a bowl from a wagon and proceeds to mash them all together within it. Once it has been combined, she tears a new set of bandages from a cloak found within one of the wagons and applies the mixture to it before bringing it over to James.
Taking off his old bandage, she tosses it into the fire before she applies the new one. When the mixture touches his skin, it brings a cool, soothing sensation. The pain noticeably diminishes and he is able to lie there more
