at ease.
“Thanks,” he says appreciatively to her.
“You’re welcome,” she replies with a smile, happy to have eased his pain.
He then closes his eyes and shortly falls asleep.
Cassie says, “I don’t like the look of his wound. The poultice I applied will ease the pain, but will do nothing to stop whatever is causing the redness and fever.”
“What can we do?” Jiron asks.
“Wait,” she says. “All we can do is wait.”
“Can you find more of those herbs?” he asks her. “He may need them again later.”
“I’ll pick more,” she says. She then walks over to the wagon and removes a basket she found inside before returning to the forest.
“I’ll go with you,” Tinok says as he gets up to accompany her. Seeing the look on Jiron’s face he adds, “There may be wild animals out there, you never know.” Then he hurries to catch her.
Jiron turns to Delia and says, “There may be something developing between those two.”
She watches them go into the forest together and replies, “You may be right, but I doubt if they even realize it yet.”
Cassie and Tinok return some time later with the basket full of herbs and roots. She places them in the wagon and then comes over to inspect James. He’s hot with fever and is beginning to perspire. “This is bad,” she says, concern in her voice.
“Bad?” asks Jiron.
“How bad?” asks Tinok at the same time.
“If he gets too hot then he’ll die,” she explains. “I’ve seen people who have died because their fevers became too high.”
“What can we do?” Jiron asks, worried.
“As I said before, wait. Either it will go away on its own or it will kill him, only the gods know for sure.” She takes a moist cloth and dabs his forehead with it as she tries to keep him cool, wiping away the sweat that is beginning to form.
They sit there and wait, afraid of what may happen.
The night explodes with light, startling them out of their sleep. They find James standing up and staring off into the woods. He raises his hands and cries out with words none can understand. Trees on the side of the road simply explode, shattering into millions of pieces.
“We’re under attack!” Tinok yells as he comes to his feet, knives at the ready. A rain of wood splinters falls all around them from the blasted trees, the larger ones causing pain when they strike exposed skin.
“Where are they?” Jiron yells to James. He comes to stand with him, knives in hand and stares off into the dark forest in the direction he’s facing.
Not paying them any attention, James sends a wave of energy into the forest, beyond the jagged stumps of the trees which had already been shattered. Dozens of trees bow and break, many snapping in two as they crash to the ground from the force of the power James is unleashing.
“I don’t see anyone!” Tinok yells to Jiron.
“Protect the girls!” Jiron yells to Tinok as he runs closer to the devastated area, seeking their attackers.
James cries out again and the wind begins to blow with increased ferocity. The trees begin swaying first one way and then the other, limbs can be heard breaking off and falling to the ground.
Cassie yells to Tinok over the roar of the wind as he approaches, “There is no one!”
“What?” he yells back.
“There is no one,” she cries and then she points to James. “Look at his eyes, he’s not really seeing. It’s the fever! He’s having a hallucination!” She pulls her long yellow hair out of her face from where the wind continues whipping it.
As understanding dawns upon him, he sheaths his knives and then runs over to Jiron. Before he gets there, James cries out again and lightning flashes from the sky, striking trees near where Jiron stands, the force of which knocks him backward. He lands on his back, dazed, just as Tinok reaches him.
Tinok kneels down next to him and then looks up when James screams incoherently. As he begins running into the forest, Jiron tries to get back to his feet to follow. Tinok places a hand on him and says, “He’s fighting dreams!”
“What?” Jiron asks in confusion, not sure if he heard correctly.
“James!” Tinok yells, pointing to where he ran into the forest. “It’s the fever making him do this. We’re not under attack!”
Once he realizes what Tinok is trying to tell him, he says, “We’ve got to help him!” He gets to his feet and looks toward the forest where James entered just as another explosion of immense proportion erupts to the sky.
“We can’t!” yells Tinok over the wind. “He’ll kill us without even realizing it.”
“But…” Jiron says, wanting to help him, but recognizing the truth in Tinok’s words. Then he looks around the camp, wood everywhere, a section of the forest near their camp is simply gone. Trees are toppled over, most of the horses have run off, frightened. They gather together and he asks Cassie, “What should we do?”
“Nothing to do,” she explains. “He doesn’t realize what he’s doing. It will run its course if it doesn’t kill him first.”
“How long?”
Shrugging, she says, “Who knows? I guess we’ll find out when the noise stops.”
They look off into the forest as more lights are seen and explosions heard. A light rain begins to fall a few minutes later and after it has fallen for awhile, the sound of explosions from the forest lessens until it is once again quiet, bringing an eerie calm to the night.
“Should we find him?” Delia asks as the rain continues to fall, plastering her short, dark brown hair to her head.
Shaking his head, Jiron says, “Not in the dark, we might get lost. Besides, there is no guarantee that he’s done.” So they settle down to wait for dawn. None are able to get any rest, what with the rain soaking them and their concern for their friend. Sometime before morning comes, the rain stops.
When dawn at last arrives, they are able to see the extent of the damage wrought by James during his fever induced rampage of the night before. Around them, trees are either blown apart at the base or toppled over, one upon another. Pieces of wood are simply everywhere, the wagons themselves have a layer of broken branches and wood chips covering them.
Most of the horses have found their way back, three of the draft animals and four of the mounts. A quick look around the surrounding area turns up one more mount and the other draft animal.
“Should we go look for him now?” Jiron asks Cassie.
“Since we haven’t heard anything for a couple hours, it’s fairly safe to say that he is no longer a danger,” she says. “We need to find him to see if he’s okay.”
Indicating the path of destruction, Tinok says, “I don’t think it is going to be too hard to follow his trail.”
“No,” agrees Jiron, “it won’t.” Leading the group, he follows the trail of broken trees through the forest. They come across area after area that shows signs of rampant destruction. “I wonder what he thought he was fighting last night?” he says.
“Yeah,” Tinok replies. “What could warrant such power?”
“In his state of mind,” Cassie explains, “he could have been imagining almost anything.”
They come to a section of the forest where the trees look odd. Delia taps one out of curiosity and gasps, “It’s stone!”
The others come over and feel it, mystified at how James could have done something like that. “Incredible,” exclaims Tinok.
Continuing on, they finally reach a point where the destruction ends, but James is no where to be seen. “James!” Jiron calls out, looking through the trees as far as he can.
When there’s no answer, Delia says, “We better split up.”
Jiron nods, saying, “That might be wise, but let’s not get too separated.” He looks at each in turn and says, “If in five minutes you haven’t found him, turn around and come back here.”
