“Before I do,” James says, “I don’t want us to do anything until Jiron comes back. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Illan says, the others nodding their heads.
“Okay,” he says as he pulls the mirror out of the pouch at his hip. He takes a seat in one of the chairs and places the mirror on the table as everyone gathers around to look.
“Find that councilman first!” insists Uther.
James concentrates until the mirror begins to coalesce into an image of Councilman Rillian sitting at a table with six other important looking men. “Must be the Council,” he guesses.
The image begins to change as he starts concentrating on Korgan. When the image clarifies, they see him riding a horse through the grasslands. “He could be anywhere by this time!” he hears one of them exclaim. He lets the image go and the mirror reverts back to normal.
“It doesn’t look as if there’s anything that can be done now,” James states. He leans back in the chair and contemplates the remnants of Miller’s band. “What do you all plan to do now?”
They look at each other and Uther says, “We haven’t really thought about it.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Illan adds. “Miller was our leader, our heart and soul.”
“What are you going to do?” Jorry asks him.
“When Jiron returns, we’ll probably start heading back to Cardri as fast as possible,” he tells them.
“Why?” asks Uther. “I mean, Madoc could use you and what you can do.”
“I know,” he says, “but they’ll have to get along without me. There are other things that I must do.”
“Like what?” asks Yern.
He looks from one face to another and says, “I’m not entirely sure. I’m still trying to figure that out, but I’m sure it’s not to embroil myself in this war. I feel that to be true.”
“Will it be to the detriment of the Empire?” asks Uther.
“I don’t know,” replies James. “But since I’ve started on this path, I’ve done nothing but hurt them, though.”
“Yeah, that’s the truth,” Jorry says and then breaks out into a laugh that’s shared by all.
“We’ve been talking while you were at the castle,” Illan says. “If you wouldn’t mind, we’d kind of like to stay with you for a while. Miller’s gone so all we’d be doing is joining the regular army and none of us are cut out for that. Of course I can’t speak for the ones on the wall waiting for Jiron, but I’m sure they’d go along with it.”
James considers it a fraction of a second before saying, “I’d be more than happy to have you come along.”
“Great!” says Illan and the others offer other exclamations of jubilation as well.
“But, if you’re to follow me, that means what I say goes,” he tells them. “Will there be a problem with that?”
They all shake their head no. “In that case, I want you to forget about Councilman Rillian.” He sees their faces scowl and their expressions turn dark. “There may be a time of retribution, but that time is not now,” he tells them firmly. Looking from one to the other, he asks, “Okay?”
He gets their grudging agreement and then says, “We’ll need horses. Can someone go back and retrieve yours from that burned down inn?”
Uther gives him a grin and says, “Already done. They’re out in the stable behind the inn. We have Miller’s and Shyn’s as well, so we just need two more so everyone will have one.”
“The horses I came here on are who knows where,” James says. “Somehow, we’ll need to procure two more.”
“Not a problem,” Jorry says. “When the time comes to leave, I’m sure we can get them.”
Yawning, James gets up and says, “I need to get some sleep before we go. If they return with Jiron, get me up. And put someone in the hall to watch out for whatever Councilman Rillian may have planned.”
“Right,” says Jorry. “We’ll take care of that.”
“Good,” he says as he heads for the door. Once through the door and he’s on his way back to his room, he can hear them as they discuss what he just said. He’s glad they are coming with him, especially since Jiron’s shoulder is hurt so badly. It’s going to take him a while to fully heal and recover.
Before he opens the door, he can hear Miko’s snores coming from the other side. Smiling, he opens the door and enters. Closing the door behind him, he goes over to his bed, kicks off his boots and lies down. When his head hits the pillow, he realizes just how tired he is. It isn’t long before he’s asleep.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Startled awake by someone at the door, James sits up in bed. The room is dark, night has already fallen. Glancing over to the other bed, he notices that Miko is no longer there.
Getting to his feet, he goes over to the door and finds Fifer there when he opens it. Suddenly excited, James asks, “Jiron’s back?”
“In a way,” he replies moving into the room. He goes over to the candle on the table and quickly lights it.
“In a way?” asks James, perplexed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Sitting in a chair at the table, Fifer explains. “A group of Parvatis had escorted him back to the gates,” he begins, then starts to chuckle. “Apparently there was some disagreement about them doing that among the rest of their army. I thought they were going to begin fighting each other right then and there.”
“But the Parvatis are a sizeable part of their army so got their way in this. I’m sure there’ll be a reckoning at some time in the future about it. Anyway, as they were approaching, those of us on the wall began thinking they might be starting an attack. But then we realized the force approaching us was small and we could see Jiron among the ones in front.”
“Henri, who had been stationed on the wall just for this, hollers to open the gates and let Jiron in. Everyone was ready for a surprise attack or something like that, but Jiron walked toward the gate by himself and the Parvatis just turned around and walked back to their camp.”
“Where’s Jiron now?” asks James.
“Henri took him up to the castle to talk with Lord Pytherian about the enemy’s camp,” he replies. “Said he’d be back in a little bit.” Pulling out a letter with a seal at the bottom, he hands it to James and says, “This came from Lord Pytherian while you were sleeping, we didn’t want to wake you.”
Taking the letter, James says, “Thank you.”
“Uh, one more thing,” he says, looking a little embarrassed.
“What?” asks James as he puts the letter in his pouch.
“It’s Miko,” he begins.
“What? Is he gone?” James suddenly asks, worriedly.
“No, nothing like that,” he assures him. “It’s just that he makes us kind of, well, nervous.”
“In what way?” inquires James.
“It’s just that he is changing awfully fast, growing up quicker than normal,” he explains. “It’s kind of weird.”
“I know,” replies James, “it worries me too. But I assure you that he’s harmless. I know what’s going on but there’s nothing that can be done right now.”
“He fights way better than he aught to,” he says.
Nodding, James says, “I know, that’s a part of it as well. Just assure everyone that Miko is harmless, just as long as we keep him away from any fighting. Okay?”
“Yeah, sure,” he agrees, not sounding entirely reassured.
“By the way, where is he?” James asks.
Gesturing to the wall behind him, he says, “He’s in there with the others.”
Getting up, James says, “Well, we may as well all wait for Jiron’s return together.” Yern stands watch out in the hallway and nods to him as he leaves his room.
Fifer gets up as well and follows James out into the hallway and over to the other room. From outside the door, James can hear Miko’s voice. Opening the door, he finds Miko standing with his back to him as he’s talking to the others.
“…the torso came toward us and Jiron kept slicing it with his knives but nothing he did slowed it down. Then James holds up that medallion of his and a bright light shone from it. The light somehow caused the torso to die, how I haven’t a clue. Then…”
