on the ground and begins inspecting them.
Cassie and Tinok are sitting close together, heads leaned against one another as they sit there, Tinok with his arm around her. Both are looking quite content.
Jiron comes over to where James is looking over his new toy and sits down. “Do you think they’re at Korazan yet?” he asks him.
“Maybe, though I can’t be sure,” he replies, stuffing the slugs and sling back in the pouch. He secures the pouch on his belt to keep it handy.
“Can’t you do that compass thing?” he suggests.
James nods over to the two lads and says, “Don’t want to alert them about my abilities until it becomes absolutely necessary. Don’t know how they’ll react, or even who they would tell.” Pausing a moment, he turns his head to look at Jiron in the eye and says, “It doesn’t matter if they are or not, we can’t get there faster.”
“True,” Jiron says, crestfallen. “I just wanted to know.”
“So do I, I’m worried about them. But they should be alright until they get sold and hopefully we’ll be there before then.”
Jiron just sits there, his mood dark as thoughts of his sister and what may be happening to her run through his mind.
Not too long after, they break up and turn in. The two lads sleep under their wagons while the rest of the group stays together around the campfire.
Chapter Twelve
They’re up and ready to roll by the time the sun crests the horizon. Now a much larger caravan, they decide to have Roland drive the wagon in which Ezra and Arkie ride. Jiron again rides point now that he’s mostly recovered from his ordeal, while Tinok and Cassie drive the water wagon. James and Delia take the front wagon with the two lads eating dust at the rear. They still have the string of five horses they acquired earlier, as well as Roland’s two, just in case.
The road south of Zereth-Alin slowly begins to turn hilly the further they ride. The hills are sparsely covered with scrub brush, the occasional snake or lizard makes an appearance. There’s not too much traffic on the road, the heat of summer must keep all non essential travel to a minimum.
During a stop to water the horses, Delia approaches James and asks, “Ready?”
“For what?” he replies.
“To learn how to use your sling,” she replies.
Getting down from his wagon and the cool of the shade he says, “Sure.” He then rummages in the pouch at his waist and pulls out the sling as well as five of the slugs.
She leads him away from the others and then takes the sling from him. She also takes one of the slugs and puts it into the sling’s pouch. “What you want to do is hold it by the two loops on the ends like this,” she says as she demonstrates the proper technique. “Then you slowly wind it up and release one end of the sling when it reaches the proper position that will enable the slug to fly where you want it. Watch.”
She quickly winds up the sling and then lets go of one end while still holding onto the other. The sling opens up and the slug flies through the air, hitting a small tree ten yards away. Turning back to him, she says, “Easy.”
Giving him the sling, she watches as he gets ready to place a slug in it. She adjusts the way he’s holding it and then gestures for him to insert a slug. “Now, wind it up and when it feels right, let only one end loose so the slug will fly free, got it?” she asks.
“I think so,” he says. Winding up, he gets the sling whirling fast and then lets go. He hears a chuckle coming from behind him as the sling leaves his hands and goes flying out into the desert, the slug still remaining within its pouch. Turning around, he sees Tinok standing there, shaking his head and grinning.
“Don’t mind him,” she tells James. “Just retrieve your sling and let’s try it again.”
Once he’s returned with it, he stands the way Delia instructs him to maintain his balance and remain centered, then gets it whirling quickly. This time when he lets go, he manages to retain one end of the sling, but he hears more laughter as the slug hits one of the wagons behind him.
“Watch it!” Jiron says from where the slug almost nailed him.
“Sorry!” James hollers over to him.
“Better,” says Delia.
“How is that better?” he exclaims. “I almost killed Jiron.”
“You didn’t lose the sling this time,” she explains. “Now, do it again and concentrate less on retaining the sling and more on the target.”
Placing another slug within the sling, he gives her a look and receives one of encouragement back. Behind him, he hears Tinok loudly say in amusement, “Be alert, he’s trying again.”
Trying to concentrate on the small tree that she hit earlier, he begins to twirl and then releases. To his satisfaction, the slug goes in somewhat the desired direction, though still hitting the ground ten feet away from the tree.
“Not bad,” she says encouragingly. “A little more practice and you’ll have it down. Just don’t expect to be perfect too soon, it takes time to learn.”
Taking another slug and placing it within the sling, he whirls it and lets it loose while at the same time adding a touch of magic to it. The slug flies unerringly to the tree where it strikes it dead center, punching a hole right through.
Delia looks at him and says, “That’s cheating.”
James shrugs and gives her a grin, and then he puts it away as they prepare to get underway.
At one point they come across where an old building had once stood, its wooden frame now lying broken and vacant. At a suggestion from Tinok, they stop and jury-rig a canopy for the water wagon from the building’s wooden remains. They find four boards that they manage to secure to the wagons frame and then tie a blanket atop it. Not exactly stylish but it helps. The two lads just smile and shake their heads at it all, they’re just fine riding in the sun on their wagons.
The rest of the day passes fairly uneventfully, just endless miles of dry hills with only the occasional traveler coming from the south. By the end of the day, they’ve already emptied one of the barrels of water and have begun to drain a second. They have had to stop every other hour to give each horse some to drink.
With the sun settling close to the horizon, they pull off the road to make camp. Once the horses are taken care of, they settle down around the campfire and have dinner while they swap tales and songs. Before the end of it, the two lads come over and join the fun. One of them, Hakim, even sang a song while his bother, Hakir, told a story that only Roland could understand. He did his best to translate and everyone enjoyed it.
As the fire begin to burn low, everyone starts turning in. James can’t seem to fall asleep, worry about Miko keeping him awake. So he just lies back and stares at the stars, still amazed at just how much clearer they are here than back home. Must be ‘cause there’s no smog here, he figures. Whatever the reason, they seem to work like counting sheep for before he even realizes it, he’s asleep.
He wakes in the middle of the night, noise from where the horses are picketed having disturbed him. The fire has long since burned out and the only light is that from the stars above. He sits up and looks around but doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary, everyone else is still asleep. Even Hakim and Hakir are snoring peacefully under their wagons.
Then one of the horses snorts again and he can hear several others begin to pace around. Suspecting trouble, he quietly crawls over to Jiron and wakes him with a gentle shake. “Trouble,” he whispers to him as he comes fully awake.
He sees him nod his head in the starlight as he sits up, looking around. “The horses are skittish for some reason,” James whispers to him. “Go check it out and I’ll wake Tinok.”
Again, Jiron nods his head as he gets up, silent as a cat and begins making his way over to the horses.
Just as James reaches Tinok’s side, he sits up, a knife in his hand as he strikes out. Stopping the blade just inches from James’ nose, he asks, “What the hell are you doing?”
