“That’s one reason,” James agrees. “And if they come to that conclusion, they’ll be waiting for us there.”
“What do we do?” Cassie asks.
James looks to Jiron and says, “Someone needs to go and retrieve it. Or at least destroy it and the papers it carries.”
He flashes James a dark look, “You mean go all the way back there, on the chance that no one has yet looked inside and seen them?” He shakes his head, “I don’t know.”
“You’re the only one who can do it,” James urges.
He sits and thinks for a few minutes, everyone else remains quiet, waiting for his response. “Alright, I’ll do it,” he finally says. Getting up, he goes over to his horse and begins putting the saddle and tack back on.
“Shouldn’t you wait till morning,” Cassie asks.
Shaking his head, he says, “No, I better get started now. The sooner I get there, the less likely someone will have read the papers.”
James comes over and gives him some coins. He looks at them and James tells him, “For traveling expenses.”
He takes the coins, putting them in a pocket. Once he has the horse ready for travel, he mounts and says, “Where shall I meet up with you?”
“Well continue down the road and stop at the next main town,” James explains. “We’ll stay there for a day, and if you don’t show up we’ll continue on to Korazan.”
“Alright,” he says. “I’ll meet you there.”
“Be careful,” Delia and Cassie say at the same time.
“I will,” he assures them. “See you in a couple days.” He then heads his horse back down the road to the north and kicks it into a gallop as he races for Mountainside.
“Hope he’ll make it back,” Cassie says, worry in her voice.
“He will,” Tinok says with confidence. He looks into the night where Jiron had disappeared and says again, “He will!”
Chapter Eight
Jiron leaves them quickly behind as he races through the cool of the night. As frustrated as he is at James for having to go back and retrieve his stupid backpack, he finds it refreshing to ride in the cool of the night, on his own.
Making very good time, it’s not long before the lights of Arakan appear in the road ahead of him. Remembering the soldiers stationed there, he swings wide to avoid being spotted. As he rounds the town, he spies one of the townsfolk standing outside one of the outermost buildings, his form silhouetted by the light coming through an open doorway. The man must’ve heard the sound of his horse, for he turns in his direction and peers intently, but is unable to see him in the darkness. Sensing no threat, the man returns to what he was doing. Jiron finishes bypassing the town and then returns to the road, soon leaving Arakan far behind.
Continuing to race north, another hour finds him at the quiet village of Bindles. Only a few lights can be seen amongst the buildings, the rest are dark as the inhabitants are asleep in their beds for the night.
He swings wide around the town and reaches the juncture of roads on the far side, where he follows the road eastward. The mountains now loom large on his left as he races down the road. He begins to detect the faint odor of burnt wood, testament to the forest fire they escaped from some time earlier.
Once he’s several miles east of Bindles, he gets down from his horse and walks for a while, giving his horse a break. Ten minutes later, he’s back in the saddle and riding hard.
As he continues north, the odor of smoke becomes stronger and stronger. After another two hours, he begins to see a glow coming from far ahead, where the fire is still raging upon the mountain. As he rides, the glow becomes more and more pronounced, until he’s finally able to see the flames themselves as they arc into the sky.
Off to the east, the sky begins to lighten with the coming of dawn, enabling him to see an incredibly large cloud of smoke extending for miles in every direction.
Down the road ahead, a town comes into view amidst the smoke. The fire is within a mile of the outskirts and at first looks to be deserted. As he comes closer to the town, he sees that it isn’t as deserted as it had first appeared. A few people are seen passing from building to building and they all have cloths tied about their faces to protect them from the smoke.
Realizing an opportunity when he sees it, Jiron pulls up to one of the houses at the outskirts of town. He ties his horse to a tree out back before going up to the backdoor. Finding it locked, he moves to a window and looks inside, the place looks deserted. Going back to the door, he looks around quickly to make sure no one is near and then kicks it open. Entering quickly, he shuts the door behind him.
The house is quiet, the people most likely having fled the approaching fire long ago. He quickly finds a cloth and ties it around his face, effectively disguising himself. Coming back out to where his horse is tied, he remounts and tries to find where the jail had been.
He passes several people moving along the streets as he makes his way through town, but no one gives him a second thought. Up near the fire, he sees dozens of people trying to halt the advancing flames with axes and shovels, doing their best to save their homes but it doesn’t look as if they’re being too successful. Just as a group has a space cleared in the hopes of preventing it from spreading, a tree engulfed with flame falls across the cleared area, starting new fires past the fire break. People rush to beat them out before they have a chance to spread but are having limited success.
None of the firefighters on the mountain look to be soldiers, though from this distance and with all the smoke it’s hard to be sure. As he continues toward the jail, he doesn’t come across any soldiers here in town either. Guess we got them all up on the mountain.
Out of the smoke ahead of him, the jail suddenly comes into view. Cautiously, he slows down as he takes a good survey of the surrounding area for any soldiers. Not finding any, he makes his way toward the jail all the while continuously scanning for anyone approaching. But with all the smoke in the area, they would have to be really close before they would even know he was there.
Upon reaching the jail, he secures his horse to the rail outside and goes up to a window to look in. A quick look reveals the jail to be empty, a lucky break. Off to one side of the main room a table had been overturned, most likely during their jail break. Spilled on the floor beside it is James’ backpack along with their knives and other belongings.
Surprised and pleased to see all their stuff still there and apparently untouched, he glances around to make sure he’s unobserved and then enters the jail. Hurrying over to where his knives lie on the floor, he picks them up first and belts them on, feeling good now that he has them again. Stuffing Tinok’s knives into the backpack, he then slings the backpack over a shoulder and proceeds back to the front door. The sound of approaching horses stops him before he opens the door.
Moving to a window, he looks out and discovers twenty enemy soldiers approaching on horseback. He watches them for a few seconds, and when he realizes they’re on their way to the jail, he runs to the cells in the back and slips through the hole in the wall James had made during their escape. By the time he’s reached the alley behind the jail, the sound of them talking can be heard from where they’ve stopped out front. What they are saying is unknown as Jiron doesn’t speak the Empire’s language.
He slips around the back to the side alley and moves to the end where he can peer around to observe the riders out front. The majority of the soldiers are still upon their horses, one lone horse stands without a rider. Jiron’s horse sits in the middle of the group and it doesn’t appear as if anyone is paying it any attention. Shortly, a soldier’s voice can be heard calling out to the others from within the jail.
The one whose attire marks him to be an officer barks out orders and half of the remaining men dismount, as does he. The others remaining on their horses turn and proceed to move quickly in different directions through the town, as if they’re looking for something. Then he hears another soldier’s voice from inside shout excitedly as he finds the hole in the cell.
