“I hope so,” says Qynn, the quarterstaffer.
Delia sees James sitting a little ways off by himself and goes over to him. “You okay?” she asks him.
“Just worried about Miko is all,” he tells her.
“Did you check the mirror again?” she asks when she sees it lying next to him.
“Yeah, it just shows him still traveling,” he replies. “I think they’re making better time than we are.”
“Not too surprising since they don’t have wagons slowing them down,” she reasons.
“It just seems like we’re getting further and further behind,” he says despondently. “Sometimes I feel like I’ll never be able to catch up with him.”
“They’ve got to stop some time,” she assures him.
Sighing, he says, “I know, it just gets to me once in a while.”
“Come on over to the camp and join the rest of us,” she suggests. “It’ll take your mind off your worries for a time.”
Nodding his head, he gets up and comes back over to the campfire, where Scar and Potbelly are regaling everyone with their exploits at the fall of the City of Light.
“…and then when the last one fell,” Scar is saying, “we ran, trying to find a way out of the City.”
“Yeah,” Potbelly joins in, “by that time there was only four of us left. We didn’t get far before Hinck and Olin bought it.”
“A squad of soldiers had come upon us and the fighting was fierce. Me and Potbelly stood back to back, Hinck and Olin did the same. After the last of the soldiers we were facing fell was when we saw them lying dead,” Scar says. “From the stack of bodies surrounding them, they must’ve taken out over a dozen before being overpowered.”
“Those of the Pits are hard fighters,” Jiron says.
Tinok nods his head and adds, “The best.”
“Then what happened?” Cassie asks from where she’s sitting next to Tinok, eyes wide at their account.
“They took us the only way you can take a pit fighter,” Scar explains. “We rounded a corner and came face to face with half a dozen crossbowmen and that was that.”
“Yeah,” Potbelly adds. “They bound us and before we knew it, we’re tied in the slave lines outside the City with the rest of them that were took.”
Jiron holds up his water bottle and says, “Not much to toast with, but here’s to the pit fighters who didn’t make it through the last battle.”
The others hold up theirs, pausing in a silent toast, and then take a drink.
Suddenly Arkie begins to cry and Roland and Ezra make their goodnights as they take Arkie to the wagon where they bed down for the night.
Shortly after they’ve left, the rest begin to turn in, until the only one still up is Stig who managed to draw first watch. He begins walking a perimeter in the dark around their camp. The sound of the crackling of the fire and his footsteps as he walks around the camp are the only sounds James hears as he tries to fall asleep. Worry about Miko’s fate, as well as those traveling with him, weigh heavily upon him. Eventually though, sleep wins out.
The next morning, Tinok takes great pleasure in watching as his friends get up and begin to work the stiffness and aches out of their legs.
“You all look like a bunch of old ladies the way you’re hobbling around like that,” he informs them, smiling at their misery.
“Leave ‘em alone, Tinok” Jiron tells him.
“Alright,” he agrees when he sees how serious Jiron is, “I’ll leave ‘em alone.”
They’re able to get back in their saddles, but not without groans of pain. “You wouldn’t think they had spent years in the pits to hear them carry on so,” Jiron whispers to James.
“This is different,” he replies. “Besides it may not be just the pain, but an outlet for the fear and humiliation they’ve endured while they were slaves.”
Jiron nods his head and says, “Perhaps.”
After leaving the caravansary, they pull back onto the road. At the gates of Korazan, they come to where the road splits. They can either continue on through the gates and into Korazan, or turn left to follow the road around the walls rather than trying to forge their way through the crowded streets.
Jiron leads them to the left and around the walls. On the far side of the city, they rejoin the main road and follow it as it follows the shoreline of the lake. Before they reach the southern shore of the lake, the road splits. One branch continues following alongside the lake while the other takes a more southeasterly direction.
James hollers to Jiron to continue following the road by the lake. He glances back and nods as he turns his horse to follow it. Not too long after that, they come to the southern shore of the lake and begin to follow the river flowing out of it to the south.
The road is quite busy with many people, both walking and riding, passing them on their way to Korazan. At one point, a long caravan passes them going north, James counts twenty five wagons and almost thirty guards.
A couple of hours past midday they come across a man on the side of the road who’s standing by a wagon with a broken wheel. When Jiron comes abreast of him, the man says something but he’s unable to understand what.
“Can’t understand you,” he says to the man.
Looking frustrated, the man starts speaking to Jiron again, and this time talking real slow. He takes extra care to pronounce his words more carefully and clearly, as if that would enable Jiron to understand better.
By this time, Roland rolls up in his wagon and begins conversing with the man. With a look of relief, the man begins talking rapidly and when he pauses, Roland says to everyone gathered around, “He’s asking if we can take him and his cargo on to the next town, a place called Inziala. Apparently, there’s some kind of celebration going on there and he’s been contracted to supply wine.”
James looks at the poor man for a second before Roland says, “He’s willing to pay us five golds just to transport him a few miles down the road.”
“Sure,” James agrees, “we’ve got the room.” Turning to Stig and Scar he says, “Could you please help this gentleman transfer his barrels into the water wagon? There should be enough room for them.”
They get down from their horses and proceed transferring the barrels from his wagon to theirs. The man starts speaking again and Roland tells them he’s thanking them for their help. He then removes his horses from their traces and ties them to the rear of Roland’s wagon. Once his horses are secured, he climbs up and sits on the seat next to Roland as he waits for his cargo to be transferred.
James can hear Stig mumbling, “Lazy merchant…”
“Yeah, he could’ve at least helped…” Scar says to Stig.
When all the barrels have been transferred, they get back into the saddle and their caravan continues on down the road. Roland talks with the merchant and then says to James in the next wagon, “It seems the celebration is a yearly festival where people come from far and wide to just have fun.”
“Kind of like a county fair,” states James.
“What’s that?” Roland asks.
“It’s a festival where I come from that happens every year,” he replies.
“Oh,” he says.
“Maybe we could stop for the night there?” Delia asks him. When he looks at her, she says, “It wouldn’t take much time away from traveling, especially since we will need to stop for the night anyway. Also, I have a couple deliveries to drop off there as well.”
“You guys can go have fun,” he tells her, “but I don’t think I’ll be in much of a mood.”
Three hours later they come to Inziala, a large city sitting at a crossroads. To the north of the city along the river is a large area with hundreds of tents spread out. A crowd of people are moving in and around the tents. That must be the festival.
To the east of town is an area where the caravans have all gathered while they’re enjoying the fun. Finding a good spot near the other caravans, they set up camp while Delia takes the merchant with his wine over to the festival. She takes Scar and Potbelly along for protection.
After they’re settled in, Tinok, Cassie, Jiron and Tersa along with Roland, Ezra and Arkie deicide to go and enjoy the festival. “Do you want to come along?” Cassie asks James.
