and slips inside, closing it behind him. Moving around in the dark, he finds the kitchen area and starts looking through the shelves and cupboards for food. Removing the sack he brought with him, he places a loaf of bread and some vegetables within it.
Moving to another shelf, he finds a few strips of dried fish and other dried meat which he takes as well. Figuring he’s taken enough to last them for a few more days, he takes out two silver pieces and lays them on the table.
Stealing from those who have plenty has never bothered him. But taking from those who obviously have nothing, that’s something he could never do, so he leaves the coins. Slipping back out the door, he quickly leaves town and heads back to where he left his horse.
As he approaches the area where he’s sure he left his horse, he begins to see a light coming from up ahead. Wary of danger, he draws one of his knives and slips closer. Passing between the hills, he sees four teens near his horse. They’re bending over where the contents of one of his bags have been emptied upon the ground.
Setting down the sack of food, he approaches them, knife still in his hand. As he enters the light, he says, “Get away from my horse and my things.”
All four of the teens stand up and look in his direction. One of them says, “Back off, this is our stuff now.” Drawing his knife, the teen threatens him with it as he says, “Go away if you don’t want to get hurt.” The others stand behind him and draw their knives as well.
Drawing his other knife, he advances upon them saying, “But I do want to get hurt.”
The first teen gets an uncertain look in his eye, as if he can’t believe Jiron isn’t going away.
When Jiron gets to within five feet of the teens he stops and says, “Just put back everything you took and I won’t have to kill any of you.” Whether it’s the look in his eye, or the sure way he’s holding himself, the teens all back up a step.
They begin to empty their pockets and coins, as well as a few other things join the rest of the items lying on the ground. He gestures to the pile on the ground with his knife and says, “Now, please put everything back into the bag.” He stands there with knives still drawn as one of the other teens complies.
Then he says, “Now everyone back up and away from the horse.” He advances on them as they back up until he’s next to the bag. Without taking his eyes off the teens, he reaches down and picks it up. After replacing the bag back on the horse behind the saddle, he takes the horse’s reins and backs toward where he left the food sack. Reaching down, he picks it up, and then secures it to the horse as well.
He sheathes his knives before mounting. Turning his horse, he gives the boys one last look before heading out into the night. As he leaves, he goes in the opposite direction of where James lies in case the boys decide to tell anyone about meeting him. He doubts they will, though, it would make them look cowardly.
He travels through the hills for a few hundred feet before turning back to the north and to James. Finding the cave in the dark proves difficult but he at last comes across it and is relieved to find James still sleeping and undisturbed.
Securing his horse with the other, he sits back down at the entrance and keeps watch while James sleeps.
When the sun hits James’ face, he wakes up and feels much improved over the day before. Lying next to him is a few strips of dried meat and vegetables. “Found some?” he asks Jiron.
“A little bit,” he replies from where he’s sitting at the cave entrance.
Tearing off a strip of meat with his teeth, he chews it for a bit then takes a bite of one of the veggies.
“Able to ride today?” Jiron asks.
“Yes,” he replies through a mouthful of food, “I think so. My head is not hurting as bad as it was yesterday and I don’t feel nearly as wobbly.”
“Good,” he says, “we need to get moving before we’re discovered here.”
“Let me see if I can find out where he is first,” James says as he gets up and goes over to his horse to retrieve the mirror from his shaving kit. Stuffing the rest of the dried meat in his mouth, he pulls the mirror out and takes it over to the cave entrance where he sits next to Jiron. Cupping the mirror between his hands, he concentrates. The image begins to waver and suddenly they see Miko sitting with other people, someplace dark. He expands the picture and after watching it for a few minutes, states, “I think he’s on a boat.”
“You sure?” Jiron asks.
“Pretty sure,” he replies. “He’s somewhere dark and if you watch, it seems like the view is slowly rocking back and forth. It reminds me of being on a ship at sea.”
“He could be going anywhere then,” Jiron says.
“Yeah, I know,” agrees James. “It’ll be harder to follow him if we’re going to need a boat.”
“Let’s worry about one thing at a time,” he tells him. “Where is he?”
James thinks for a moment and then removes a short piece of cloth from his bags. He takes it outside and walks down near the water. Jiron gets up and follows him down to where the waves are crashing upon the beach.
Standing still at the water’s edge, he holds the cloth by one end and extends his arm outward as he concentrates on Miko, willing the cloth to point the way. If it worked with a piece of wood, it should also work with the cloth. The cloth in his hand begins to move, not with the breeze coming in off the water, but on its own. Maintaining his concentration, he opens his eyes to see the cloth pointing south along the beach. He turns to Jiron as he terminates the spell and says, “He’s to the south and I get the feeling quite a ways away.”
“Then we better get going,” he says.
James nods his head as they return to the cave to get their horses and leave. Once inside, Jiron asks him to use the mirror to see if the others made it safely on board the ship.
So James takes out his mirror again and concentrates on Delia and her surroundings. The image in the mirror begins to swirl until Delia appears along with several of the others, including Jiron’s sister, Tersa. Widening the view, they’re relieved to see them on board a boat that’s at sea. From the expressions on everyone’s face, it would seem they are not in distress.
“Looks like they made it,” James tells him.
Sighing with relief, Jiron says, “I’m glad that Tersa is safe, that’s been worrying me ever since we left.”
“Me too,” adds James. Putting his mirror back in his shaving kit, he places the kit in the saddlebag before mounting his horse.
Jiron quickly gets into the saddle as well and then leads them out of the cave. Turning away from the water, they head through the hills, continuing to angle away from the water.
“Why don’t we follow the shoreline?” asks James.
“There’s a village up ahead along the coast I visited last night,” he replies. “They may be looking for someone who took some food. I did leave money, two silvers, but they still may be looking.”
James nods his head, leaving it to Jiron’s judgment.
As they continue to angle away from the shoreline, they come across the main road running north and south. A quick look reveals no one currently traveling upon the road so they quickly cross and enter the cover of the foothills on the other side. Staying within the hills, they’re able to run parallel with the road as they continue their way to the south.
They don’t ride very long before they begin to hear the sound of marching feet coming from up ahead of them. Leaving the horses between two hills, they climb to the crest of the next hill and peer over the top.
From their vantage point, they’re able to see the road and the army of marching men upon it coming their way. Easily a thousand strong, the army marches north and at their head are two brown robes upon horses, as well as two others who look to be civilians. A wagon train, most likely carrying supplies, stretches behind them for as far as the road is visible. Flanking them out in the hills are several riders, most likely scouts.
“Uh, oh,” Jiron says as he indicates the riders in the hills on both sides of the road. “Scouts! We’ve got to get out of here, fast!”
Glancing back to the brown robes, James says, “Yeah.”
Rushing down the hill, they get to their horses and mount quickly. Turning their horses due east, they gallop away, hoping the scouts won’t catch sight of them. “Do you think they’re looking for us?” Jiron asks.
“It’s likely,” he replies. “We did sort of upset them back in Al-Kur.”
With a short laugh, Jiron adds, “I guess you could say that.”
Suddenly a horn sounds behind them and they turn to see a scout upon a horse at the top of a hill. Kicking
