Chapter Sixteen
As the road continues northward, it stays among the hills for several miles before beginning to ease back into the grasslands. From up ahead, they see a group of riders coming toward them.
Miko begins to turn off the road, but James stops him. “They’ve already seen us,” he tells him. “If we run, they’ll chase us just to find out why.”
He then turns to Jiron and says, “If we just ride like we belong, maybe they’ll go right past.”
“Either way, they’re going to be here in a few minutes,” Jiron replies.
“Just continue on and stay calm,” James says.
Miko moves closer to James, with Jiron just a few feet in front of them.
As the riders near, they can tell they are part of the Empire’s cavalry. James watches them approach, his heart beating rapidly and then they ride right on past. The riders give them a once over as they go by, but fail to stop.
Once they’ve disappeared to the south, they all breathe a sigh of relief. “Why didn’t they stop us?” Miko asks. When James turns to look at him, he continues, “I mean, we don’t look like we belong here.”
“Most people see what they think they’re supposed to,” he tells him. “Since we were behaving normally and not acting odd, they assumed we belonged here.”
“When they get further south and hear about us, they’ll probably give the alarm,” says Jiron.
“Maybe,” he says. “Hopefully we’ll be further north and not have to worry about it by then.”
They continue moving north and Miko glances behind them every once in a while as he searches for the return of the riders.
A little past noon, they begin to see a town up ahead. It’s a fair sized town with a sizeable defensive wall. Many people can be seen moving along the outer perimeter of the walls, as well as guards walking along the top.
“We better steer clear of that,” Jiron says while they pause to consider their course of action.
“But which way to go?” asks James. “To the right looks to be hills but from what Jobi said, that may put us closer to the keep. Around the left side looks to be just plains with little chance to sneak by.”
“Let’s wait till dark,” suggests Miko. “Then we could pass by and not be seen.”
Nodding, James says, “That would give the horses a chance to rest as well.” Seeing how tired Miko is, adds, “We could use one too.”
They turn around and head back down the road several miles before turning off into the hills. When they’ve gone far enough into the hills that the road is no longer visible, they set up camp.
After the horses are staked out and they’ve had a bite to eat, Jiron climbs the hill overlooking the road in the distance. Lying down up there so as not to create a silhouette, he keeps watch while the others try to get some sleep. Able to do with little sleep, he doesn’t bother waking them up for a turn at watch.
From his vantage point, he can clearly see the road and it remains devoid of traffic throughout the rest of the day. By nightfall, when he determines it’s getting dark enough to conceal them, he returns to the camp and awakens the others.
They quickly mount and again move to the road as they begin to return to the town. Off in the distance the town’s lights become visible. Jiron leads them to the west, maintaining a goodly distance between them as they circumnavigate the town.
As they pass around the town, they come across a road heading out from the town to the west. Not seeing anyone coming or going, they cross it and continue moving around the town. Several farms are scattered in the area which cause them to take it slow, having to thread their way through them.
A dog barks at them as they pass close to one farmhouse. The front door opens and they can see the farmer outlined by the light inside the house as he stands in the doorway. He yells something at the dog and looks out into the night, but fails to see them passing by in the dark.
The dog continues to bark and the man yells at it again. Giving a couple more barks, the dog finally becomes silent. The farmer stares out into the night for another minute before going back inside the house.
Upon reaching the far side of town, they pick the road up again and continue following it north. With the town now behind them, they’re able to once more make good speed.
The three quarter moon gives them plenty of light to see by. As it slowly makes its arc across the sky, they move ever further toward the north. As it reaches its zenith, a band of riders can be heard approaching quickly out of the night from the east.
A shout can be heard coming from them, James looks and sees them there in the moonlight, heading straight for them. A crossbow bolt flies past as one of their pursuers takes a shot.
“Move!” James yells as he kicks his horse into a gallop. The other two follow suit as they race away from the approaching riders. Glancing back, he sees the riders turn to follow them. He can make out at least seven in the moonlight, there could be more in the darkness behind them, he’s not sure.
“We’re not going to be able to outrun them,” announces Jiron.
James glances back and sees the riders are continuing to gain slowly. “You’re right,” he agrees. He brings his horse to a stop and turns to face them. Jiron and Miko do the same just as a bola flies out of the dark and wraps around him, pinning his arms to his sides.
Losing his balance, James tumbles backward off his horse and thuds to the ground. He snaps the bola in half with a thought just as Jiron and Miko fall to the ground, bolas wrapped around them as well.
Crumph!
The ground under the approaching riders explodes upward, throwing them in every direction. James draws his knife and soon has Jiron free as the remaining riders approach.
Jumping to his feet, Jiron takes the severed pieces of the bola which had bound him and throws them at the approaching horsemen. One flies wide, but the other half connects with the lead horse in the chest causing him to stumble and throw its rider.
A stone flies and takes the remaining rider through the middle, gore exploding out his back.
Jiron engages the man who had just been thrown from his horse, his knives easily deflecting the sword of the rider. From behind he hears James yell, “Need him alive!”
Concentrating now on the sword and less on attack, he bides his time. Suddenly, he sees the maneuver he was waiting for. When the rider thrusts with his sword, he locks his knives together around the blade and with a twist of his wrists, the sword goes flying.
The rider tries to turn and flee, but Jiron tackles him and puts a knife to his throat.
James comes up to them and asks the captured rider, “Who are you?”
The rider just stares back defiantly.
“You are not of the Empire,” he says holding a bola. “This, if nothing else, would indicate that. I have not seen anything like this in the Empire before.”
Continuing on maintaining a defiant demeanor, the rider lies there uncooperatively.
“Are you from the Kirken Federation?” he asks. “That would be my guess, perhaps a raiding party?”
The man’s eyes flinch just enough for James to know he’d hit the mark. “Let him go Jiron,” he says.
Not taking his knife away, he says, “But they tried to kill us.”
Looking at the man, James asks, “If we let you go, will you return from where you came and leave us alone?”
The man stares at James a moment, considering the voracity of his words. Then, he nods his head affirmatively.
To Jiron, he says, “Let him go.”
Jiron slowly pulls the knife away from the man’s throat. When no attack is forthcoming from him, he gets slowly to his feet, never taking his eyes off the Kirken soldier.
As the man stands up, James tells him, “We are not of the Empire, we are from the north and are currently at war with the Empire ourselves.”
“Madoc?” the man asks.
“He is,” James says, indicating Jiron. Gesturing to Miko and himself, he says, “We’re from Cardri.”
