the river they pull off the road and appear to be settling in for the night.
“Don’t you think it’s too early for travelers to stop for the night?” asks Devin.
Glancing at him, Jiron nods and says, “Yes, unless you’ve reached your destination.” He looks at the group settling into the clearing, his unease growing. Once Jiron has determined that they definitely plan to camp there, he sends Devin back to The Ranch with word. Leaving his horse a good ways away, he moves closer and finds a concealed spot from which to keep an eye on them.
The clearing they’re in is one in which Delia has used on occasion with her caravan whenever she stopped for a visit. Lately though, she’s just gone to The Ranch itself with her wagons.
Tents begin to spring up and two campfires are made, one near the wagons and the tents the civilians are using. The other is further away where most of the mercenaries congregate.
After watching the clearing from the cover of the trees for several minutes, he sees Ceryn, the forest warden in these parts, walk out of the trees on the other side of the camp. Jiron immediately gets ready for trouble but none is forthcoming. The civilians hail him as he enters their camp and waves for him to come over and sit by their fire. Strange.
Ceryn shakes his head, and says something to them, but Jiron’s just too far away from them to be able to hear what’s being said. The woman suddenly stands up and gives Ceryn a hug and a peck on the cheek. A few more words are exchanged before Ceryn begins leaving the camp as he makes for the road.
Jiron quietly makes his way through the trees as he moves to intercept Ceryn. Before he even reaches the edge of the treeline, Ceryn says, “You can come out now, Jiron.”
Surprised that he even knew he was there, Jiron comes the rest of the way out of the trees and joins him on the road.
“So, what brings you out spying?” Ceryn asks as he gestures behind them to the camp. He resumes walking down the road away from the clearing with Jiron right beside him.
“We were told they meant to come and kill James,” he explains.
Stopping dead in his tracks, Ceryn turns his full attention on him and asks, “Who told you that?” The expression on his face is one of slightly controlled anger.
“Miko,” he replies.
“Miko?” Ceryn asks. “James’ friend?”
“That’s’ the one.”
“Now why would he think that?” he asks.
Jiron then relates all Miko had told him of the conversations that he’d overheard back in Osgrin. When he’s done, Ceryn begins breaking out in laughter as he again continues down the road.
“What’s so funny?” Jiron asks as he moves to stay with him.
“That war party you think is encamped back in that clearing is in fact a betrothal one,” he says, smiling.
“What?” Jiron asks, now quite confused.
“They’re escorting the young lady to Wurt where she’ll be married to the son of an old friend.” He holds up his hand to stop any more questions as he continues. “She’s sort of my niece in a way, though not blood related or anything like that,” he explains. “This union has been arranged for many years.”
“But they’re from the Empire!” he states.
“True, but that doesn’t make them evil,” he says. “They’re just people.”
Jiron walks for a minute in silence as he assimilates all this information. Then he starts to laugh, “Wait until I tell them about this.”
“I’d love to go with you to see their reaction,” Ceryn tells him, “but I’m already overdue at the mayor’s home. I just had to swing by here to say hello and give her my best wishes.”
Still chuckling, Jiron says, “Thanks for telling me about them.” With a wave, he leaves Ceryn on the road as he makes his way through the forest back to where his horse is waiting. Wait until James and Illan hear about this. They’ll probably skin Miko alive! Then he starts laughing all over again.
Upon reaching his horse, he mounts up and heads back to The Ranch. He comes out of the forest and makes his way onto the road, then heads back to Trendle. Once over the bridge, he takes a short cut around the town along a little known way through the forest, finally coming out near James’ workshop.
The place seems surprisingly quiet, he looks around and doesn’t see anyone. Not wanting to take the time to unsaddle his horse, he ties it near the back door to the kitchen and goes in.
“Wait until you guys hear…” he stops what he was saying when he sees Ezra and Roland sitting at the table with little Arkie playing with the teddy bear on the floor beside them. “Where is everyone?” he asks.
“Went to find you,” Roland says.
Tersa comes in from the other room when she hears his voice. “Thank goodness you’re okay!” she cries as she runs over and gives him a hug.
He disengages from her and asks, “What’s going on?”
“When Devin came back and told everyone where the men from the Empire had camped,” Roland explains, “Illan took everyone and headed over to deal with it. He felt it prudent not to wait for the attack, but to fight while we have the advantage of surprise.”
Suddenly overcome with dread, he asks, “They’re going to attack them?” When he sees everyone’s nod, he swears and then runs out the door to his horse.
“What’s wrong?” Tersa cries out as she follows him out.
“They’re not here to attack!” he exclaims. “They’re on their way to a wedding. The woman is the bride.”
“Oh, no!” she cries out.
Jiron vaults onto his horse and races down the lane to the road. This way is much faster at a gallop than the short cut would’ve been. At the end of the lane, the ever present guard isn’t there either. Illan must’ve taken everyone with him. Don’t attack! he cries out silently. Then, from over where the clearing lies, he can see bright bursts of light exploding in the air.
James! No!
As they ride through town, James asks Illan for the third time, “Are you sure we need to attack them?” It took some convincing from Illan for him to even agree to this venture.
“If they are here to kill you, then attacking with the element of surprise is our best bet,” he explains. In fact, he’s explained this more than once since leaving The Ranch for the clearing. Everyone knows of James’ reluctance to kill, but there are times when it’s necessary.
They ride through the center of town, the locals stop what they’re doing when they see who it is. Some of them call out to their new recruits who just sit taller in the saddle, basking in the notoriety of just being in the same company as ‘the mage’.
James hates the stares, but knows there’s not a whole lot he can do about it. When word gets out about this escapade, there’ll probably be even more in the way of gawkers coming by The Ranch.
Once past the town, they increase their speed and ride quickly until they’re about a half mile away from the clearing where Devin told them the party was encamped. Illan has them stop and walk their horses a ways into the trees before tying their reins to the branches.
“This way no one will come along and ‘borrow’ our horses while we’re dealing with the assassins,” Illan explains.
They move back to the edge of the trees by the road and follow it toward the clearing. When they begin to see their campfires ahead of them, Illan has them move into the trees. Taking it slowly and quietly, they make their way through the trees toward the clearing. As the clearing begins to be visible through the trees, he has everyone stay where they are while he and James approach closer. Getting within several yards of where the trees end at the clearing, they stop and crouch down as they watch those within the clearing.
The mercenaries are congregating around the far campfire while the two men and the lady stay by the one near the wagons. They can hear them talking in the speech of the Empire, but neither James nor Illan understand it.
“They don’t look like they’re preparing an assault,” James whispers.
“No, they don’t,” Illan says.
One of the men begins preparing their dinner as he brings out a large cook pot and fills it with water from a barrel in the back of one of their wagons. Setting it on the fire, he returns to the wagon where he obtained the water and removes a large, bulging sack. Removing his knife, he opens the sack and pulls out a large tuber and
