explain where those wagons had come from,” James says.
“We’ll see,” replies Jiron. Leading them on, he keeps a brisk, distance eating pace.
The road begins to wind through a series of increasingly tall hills and after it goes around a large one, the lights from a small village appear in the distance ahead. The road proceeds directly down the center of the village. There are not many buildings, kind of reminding James of a ghost town he once visited with his family.
“Do we go around?” Miko asks.
“The hills are getting pretty steep,” Jiron says.
“We may have no choice but to go through,” James tells him. “We can’t afford to stumble around in rugged hills at night.”
“There doesn’t seem to be any guards or soldiers around,” Jiron announces.
James gives the village a long look and nods his head, “You’re right, I don’t see any either.” He glances from one to the other before continuing, “Let’s chance it. Move in and pass through as quickly as possible.”
Moving quickly, not so fast as to draw undue notice, they move toward the town. As soon as they pass the first building, someone sitting on its steps calls a greeting to them.
Unable to speak the language, Jiron just waves as he continues on through. As they pass by the one who greeted them, the man calls to them again but they pointedly ignore him. Then from behind they hear the man obviously swear at them, Miko turns around and sees him waving his fist. The man soon stops and to Miko’s relief, settles back down on the steps.
Others call out to them as they pass through the town as well, and they hear curses follow them when they fail to respond to them.
At the outskirts on the other side of town, they breathe a sigh of relief as they pass the last building. They glance back to the town and see several people there staring after them but are making no move to follow.
“Guess we got off lucky there,” Jiron says once they’ve put the village behind them.
“Looks that way,” agrees James.
“I’ll be glad to be back where I can understand what someone’s trying to tell me,” Miko pipes up. “It’s unnerving when you don’t know what they’re saying.”
“I know what you mean,” agrees James.
The road continues to wind through steep hills, with little in the way of hiding spots should the need arise. They continue along the road for several more hours, the hills continuing to be steep and inaccessible.
The light from another town begins to be visible from up ahead. This one is sizably larger than the one they recently passed through. There are many buildings and when they pause a moment to survey the area, they see guards walking the streets.
“We could pass by over there,” Jiron suggests, pointing to an area west of town.
James looks where he’s pointing and sees just a few buildings. The whole area is fairly dark, just some light escaping through several of the windows. Nodding, he says, “Looks like our best bet, let’s go.”
With Jiron in the lead, they stay as close to the sides of the hill as they can. They’re forced to pass close by one of the buildings and as they move past, the door suddenly opens and a man steps out.
The light from within the house illuminates them as they sit there on their horses, frozen in the man’s back yard. They stare at each other a moment when suddenly the man calls out and two dogs begin barking.
James sees two dogs run around the house and head straight for them as the man goes back in the house, shutting the door. He takes a stone from his pocket and throws it at one of the dogs, taking it through the head.
Jiron jumps down from his horse as his knives flash in the moonlight. The dog jumps for him and he twists as his knives strike the dog as it flies past. It falls to the ground and begins whimpering as blood flows from the wound in its side. The dog tries to get up but is unable and soon lies still as its life leaves it.
From the other side of the house, they hear the man running into town, raising the alarm. “That tears it!” exclaims Jiron as he gets back on his horse.
No longer trying to remain quiet, they race toward the north side of town and the road. Lights begin springing up as people fill the street to see what’s going on.
From up ahead of them, they see a dozen soldiers moving to block their escape. Kicking their horses to greater speed, they race to beat them to where the road moves back into the hills.
“They’re going to make it first!” cries out Jiron.
Crumph!
The ground under the running soldiers erupts, tossing them every which way. The few that remain, turn around and run back toward town.
Suddenly, James feels the prickling sensation of someone doing magic. “They’ve got a mage here!” he hollers at the others.
A wall of flame springs into being ten feet in front of them, the heat searing their skin. The horses cry out and come to a quick stop. James hears Miko yell, “James!” Turning to look, he sees Miko’s panicked horse running directly toward town, nothing he does seems to be able to alter its course.
“Miko!” he cries out as he turns to follow. The heat behind him increases and he realizes the wall of flame is moving quickly toward him. He concentrates and the wall begins to decrease in size as it slows in its approach.
Seeing James occupied with the wall of flame, Jiron says to him, “I’ll get Miko!” Without waiting to see if he’s been heard, he turns his horse and races into town.
James finally gets the wall of flame to vanish and he looks around, trying to find the mage. He locates the brown robe off to his right. Taking a stone from his pocket, he launches it at the mage and watches as the stone hits him, blasting out the back.
When the mage falls to the ground, he turns his horse toward town and moves to follow Jiron.
Jiron, upon reaching the edge of the town, is thrown from his horse when a crossbow bolt strikes it, knocking it out from under him. Jumping clear, he rolls and comes to a crouching position as he surveys the area.
Another crossbow bolt strikes the ground near his foot, he looks back along its trajectory and sees the crossbowman pulling the wire back. Without hesitation, Jiron sprints toward the crossbowman to engage him before he can get it ready again.
The crossbowman sees him approaching and throws the crossbow at him as he draws his sword. He thrusts at Jiron who deflects the sword with one knife and then follows through with the other, sinking the blade three inches into the man’s side.
The man falls to the ground and begins coughing up blood as his lungs fill from where Jiron’s knife had punctured them.
With him out of the way, he looks around and tries to see Miko, but can’t see him anywhere. The town is in total chaos, people running everywhere. “Miko!” he hollers, but no reply comes. “Damn!” he curses as he sets off into town on foot to locate him.
James reaches the outskirts just as the prickling sensation starts again. Looking around, he sees another brown robe just as the air between them begins to shimmer and a wave of force knocks him backward off his horse and into the side of the building.
Smashing into it with great force, James has the breath knocked out of him. As he tries to get his breath back, he takes another stone out of his pouch and throws it at the brown robe. Again, the stone smashes through him and the mage falls to ground.
Looking around, he doesn’t see anyone nearby. His horse had been spooked and is now running away out of town. Moving cautiously, he stays against the building and moves further into town. When he sees Jiron’s horse dying in the middle of the street, he momentarily fears for his friend. But when he doesn’t find his body anywhere, figures he’s already moved further into town. The streets are beginning to clear of pedestrians as they begin to realize fighting is going on.
James once more feels the prickling of magic being used. Just how many mages are in this stupid town? Unconsciously, he glances back to where the last mage had fallen, and stops in shock. The mage’s body is no longer there. He’d seen it fall after the stone had blasted a hole right through its chest, so just where is it?
Down the street in front of him, a brown robe stands as bolts of energy are fired toward him. He deflects them by creating a shield and throws one of his last stones toward the mage. The stone blasts through his chest and the mage falls to the ground.
