James also notices that a couple of the caravan guards have gone over to a wagon and are beginning to get out crossbows. “Jiron!” James cries out. “Time to leave!”
Jiron looks over and sees the guards preparing their crossbows and leaps into the saddle, James mounts quickly as well. As the guards are winding their crossbows, they turn their horses and head out of the oasis as fast as their horses will carry them. They turn to follow the road westward.
“Wonder what that was all about?” Jiron asks once they’ve put some distance between themselves and the oasis.
“Rumors must be circulating about us by now, I would imagine,” James replies. “Two men, of obvious northern stock ride in out of the desert,” he continues. “I’d be cautious too, maybe even be looking for a reward for taking us down.”
Jiron laughs.
“What’s so funny?” he asks.
“After all we’ve been through,” he says, grinning, “escaping first Azzac and then Al-Kur. The thought of us being brought down by a bunch of caravan guards, it just seems funny.”
“I suppose,” replies James, not seeing the humor in it. He pulls out the mirror and checks for hostiles in the area, “Jiron, we got two approaching groups. A squad on foot to the northeast who’re moving due south and a dozen riders on the road ahead of us, coming our way.”
“To the south?” he asks.
James quickly checks and replies, “Doesn’t look like anyone’s in that direction.”
Without hesitation, Jiron turns toward the south with James following suit. Kicking their horses into a gallop, they race off the road, hoping to remain unnoticed by the approaching horsemen.
James is sure they’ll be seen, the amount of dust they’re kicking up must be visible by the riders. Checking the mirror, he sees them continuing down the road toward the oasis, and the caravan there. They don’t seem to see or care about the dust their horses are throwing into the air.
“They’ll find out about us when they reach the oasis!” he hollers to Jiron.
“Then let’s put as much distance between us as we can before they return.” Jiron replies. They continue to gallop for a ways before bringing their speed down to a trot, saving their horses’ strength for later.
Checking his mirror once more, James sees the riders have already reached the oasis and are there watering their horses, the people from the caravan are gathered around the riders, talking with them. As they ride, he continues watching the horsemen and then with dread, watches as they leave the oasis and begin moving to follow them, fast.
“They’ve left the oasis,” he announces. When Jiron looks to him, he says, “And they’re galloping our way.”
“How far behind us are they?” he asks.
“It’s hard to tell with this,” he says, holding up the mirror. “But I wouldn’t think much more than an hour.”
“Great,” Jiron says.
They make quick time, alternating between galloping and trotting to keep the horses strength up as best they can. Jiron looks over to James who is checking the mirror again and asks, “Well?”
“They’re still behind us, though they’re not gaining very fast,” he replies. “To the south is another road, or rather a continuation of the coast road we followed previously. There doesn’t appear to be any soldiers on it, just regular travelers.”
“Wait!” he cries out.
“What?” asks Jiron.
“Oh man,” he says. “A large force containing men and cavalry is coming from the south along the road, there must be over a thousand of them.” He scans the mirror some more and says, “To the southeast is another band of horse coming in this direction too.”
“You mean they’ve got us encircled?” Jiron asks.
“Yeah,” he replies. “It looks like the only way to go is toward the coast but that’s a dead end.”
“Unless we find ourselves a boat!” states Jiron. “Is there a town to the west?”
“Let me check,” he says as he scrolls the view further west. Excitedly, he exclaims, “Yes, there is and it looks like it’s a port city.”
“Any ships at the docks?” Jiron asks, hopefully.
“Four,” he replies.
Turning his horse westward, Jiron says, “Then let’s go get ourselves a boat.”
“But,” James says, “it’s going to be broad daylight. How are we going to sneak aboard and take a boat?”
Giving James a slightly evil grin, Jiron replies, “Who said we were going to sneak!”
Chapter Twenty Seven
Riding hard, they come to the road and move to follow it as it continues along the coast westward to the port city. Fellow travelers they pass along the road just stare at them as they fly by. Some holler words at them as they rush past but are soon left far behind.
Knowing they’ve not much time, James and Jiron race down the road weaving around those upon it, until the town begins to appear on the horizon ahead of them. The town appears rather large with no wall surrounding it, for which James is extremely grateful.
They slow down as they reach the outskirts of town so as not to attract undue attention. Heading straight down the main thoroughfare toward the docks, James fears that at anytime someone is going to challenge them.
But, acting like you belong is often the surest way of remaining unnoticed. Riding with a purpose, they make their way through the crowded streets and no one even gives them a second look. When they draw near to the docks, they stop in front of an inn and dismount, tying their horses to the post out front.
They quickly remove what they’re going to need from their horses before continuing on foot. Before they reach the docks, Jiron motions for James to follow him into a side alley. Once within the alley he asks, “Can you see if any of our pursuers are getting close to the city?”
Taking out his mirror, James looks and after locating the armies approaching, shakes his head, saying, “It looks like they’re all at least several miles away. We should have an hour, maybe more, before they arrive.”
“Alright then,” says Jiron, “let’s go find us a boat.”
They leave the alley and continue on their way toward the docks. When they get there, they see a dozen or more soldiers stationed in and around the dock area.
“Think they’re there for us?” Jiron asks.
“Probably,” replies James. “Looks like they’re covering all their bases.”
“Bases?” Jiron asks, confused at the term.
“Sorry,” says James. “I just mean they’re watching every avenue that we may take to get away.”
“Oh.”
They pause near the entrance to the docks as they look at the ships tied there. One is a massive, deep sea cargo ship and the others are smaller, but all are clearly too big for their needs. Shaking his head, Jiron says, “I don’t think these are going to help us any.”
“I don’t think so either,” agrees James. Then he grabs Jiron’s arm and directs his attention further down, away from the docks where a small, private ship is just pulling up to a small dock. “That will do fine, don’t you think?” he asks.
“Perfect!”
They leave the dock area and head over toward the estate where the ship just docked. The estate has a protective wall around it and the gate is closed with a guard posted on the outside. They walk around the estate, doing their best not to attract attention as they look to see if there’s another way in. The wall is high, too high to jump and grab the top. The only way in is through the gate.
