“Don’t thank me,” he says, “thank James, he’s the one who paid for you.”
They all express their thanks to him. Delia begins to hand out the clothes that they bought for the ones they knew about and they quickly remove their slave clothes and don the others.
While they’re changing, Jiron explains what’s going on and that they’re still searching for James’ friend, Miko. How they’re going to act as a caravan and that they’ll be playing the part of the guards.
“You know,” Scar says after he hears about Miko, “an official came through and took a whole bunch of them the morning after the escape attempt.”
“Yeah,” says the little guy whose name, accurately enough, is Shorty. “The slaver in charge seemed really unhappy about him coming and taking them all away.”
“It seemed like he had no choice in the matter,” adds Potbelly. “Your friend is most likely in that group.”
“Think we could find out where they’re headed?” James asks. “I do know they are at least headed south.”
“Maybe,” Jiron says.
“We still need some weapons, too,” Shorty pipes up.
“We got enough left for that?” Jiron asks James.
“Might have,” he says.
“Let’s go back in and get the rest of it then,” he says.
“May as well,” James replies as he grabs Roland and with Jiron, head back into town. The newly acquired ‘guards’ are more than happy to stay behind and catch up on what’s going on with Tinok and the others.
Their first stop is to the clothier to pick up James’ belt for his iron slugs. He’s managed to have the belt ready and James tries it on, a perfect fit. Taking a slug out of a pocket, he tries sliding it in. It’s a firm fit and is unlikely to fall out on its own. Using his finger, he presses against the slug through the slit in the side of the pouch and is able to slide it out with little difficulty.
“Perfect,” he tells the man as he hands over the remaining three silvers he owes.
“I’m glad,” the clothier says as he takes the coins. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“Common where I come from,” he says, thinking of gun belts. “Thank you,” he says as he makes ready to leave.
“You’re very welcome,” the clothier says. “Do come again.”
After leaving the clothier’s shop, they complete the rest of their shopping quickly, this time carrying their belongings with them since there isn’t quite as much as before.
When they return to the caravan and distribute the clothes and weapons, Shorty is absolutely ecstatic about the set of throwing knives they bought him. Taking one out, he throws it at nearby tree where it strikes point first and embeds itself three inches into the trunk. He runs over and removes it, replacing it back in the belt with the others.
James takes in the newly dressed men and is satisfied that they should now be less likely to stand out, as well as better protected.
“James,” Delia says to him as she approaches.
“Yeah?”
“Do you think it would be possible to find out where your friend Miko is heading?”
“Why?”
“I’ve found out there are two main roads to the south and if I knew which one we’ll be taking, I may be able to arrange for cargo to help replenish our depleted supply of coins.”
“Maybe,” he says as he gets up to retrieve the mirror from his shaving kit. Settling on the ground with the mirror cupped within his hands, he concentrates on Miko.
Delia sits down next to him and watches as Miko appears, still riding in the wagon. “Can you expand the image? Try to see more of the surrounding area,” she asks. “One of the roads follows the river that flows out of the lake.”
Nodding, he concentrates and they watch as the view expands and sure enough, the road is following the river. “Does that help?” he asks her.
“Yes, it does,” she says. Getting up, she signals Roland and Tinok and they follow her as she heads back to town.
He relaxes the rest of the afternoon, watching as the men get familiar with their new weapons, sparring with one another. James is amazed at the speed with which they move their weapons, also surprising is that no one is even nicked by a blade during it all.
The lad with the quarterstaff works primarily by himself, whirling and twirling the staff until it begins to whine. He sees James watching him and gives him a nod, smiling, before resuming the practice.
Several hours later, when the sun begins to dip toward the horizon, Delia returns. Tinok is carrying a large sack full of food, “I thought everyone could use one last good meal before we hit the road tomorrow,” she explains.
“Good idea,” he says.
“I did manage to acquire a couple consignments, nothing major, that are to be delivered at a few towns along the road,” she tells him. “They’ll be bringing them out to us in a little while.”
When the smell of the roasted meat contained within the sack hits the guys practicing, all practicing halts as they hurry over to get some. Ravenous for some real food, they pretty much consume it all, but not before everyone else was able to get some for themselves.
Over the next hour, three different wagons come and deliver the goods for transport, transferring them to their wagons.
Delia comes over to James and sits down, saying, “I neglected to mention to you that the road your friend is traveling on leads to the capitol of the Empire.”
“Oh?” he replies.
“Doesn’t that make you nervous?”
“A little,” he admits, “but there’s not much I can do about it, is there?”
“No, I suppose not.”
When they all settle down for the night, there is one thing that James realizes that he forgot to get for the new arrivals, bedrolls. But they don’t seem to mind, sleeping free is good no matter what.
Chapter Sixteen
The next morning they begin rolling with the rising of the sun, everyone is anxious to leave Korazan and the slave market behind.
With Jiron riding lead, the rest of the guards space themselves along the caravan with Potbelly at the rear. Getting them into the saddle that morning brought back the time when he first started riding back in Trendle. Smiling at the memory, he watches as Jiron and Tinok attempt to show them the proper way to mount a horse.
After several attempts, which remind James of an old Three Stooges’ episode, they manage to get everyone one into the saddle. The first couple of miles are the worse as the novice riders begin to get the hang of commanding their horses, as well as staying upon them. By the end of the first day, they’re all sore and stiff; oh the complaining that was heard around the campfire that night. You would’ve thought they had just fought a hard and long campaign and suffered grievous wounds.
“You poor little babies,” Tinok says mockingly as they sit and moan about their sore posteriors. “Do you want me to rub your bum bums for you?”
“Shut up!” Scar says to him.
“Yeah, or we’ll beat your head in,” adds Potbelly as he gingerly sits down near the campfire.
Tinok just laughs and says, “By this time tomorrow, you should be really stiff and sore.”
They just give him an ugly look and say nothing.
“It takes a few days for you to get use to sitting on a horse,” Jiron assures them. “It does get better, once your muscles become accustomed to it.”
