“A stairway?” Jiron asks.
“A series of steps that wind their way up to the top,” she explains. “From there you can see the Fortress of Kern nestled in the hills below, which sits at Cardri’s southern border. An old road leads down from the top of the ridge and comes out somewhere near Kern. Never actually had the occasion to cross the ridge before. From there you two can go on your way.”
“What about you?” Jiron asks.
“I’ll go back to where you found me,” she replies. “Not much else for me now.” Having finished dressing the animals, she impales them upon sticks and hands them to Jiron and James. “You boys can do the cooking, if you don’t mind.”
“No, we don’t mind,” Jiron says as he takes the sticks from her and hands one to James.
James takes the stick and tries to hide the amused grin that’s threatening to spread across his face. Jiron seemed just a little too eager to do as she requested, not to mention the speed with which he’d gotten up from where he’d been sitting once he knew she needed something. Even if that something was taking the animals from her for roasting.
As the flames begin licking the carcasses and the fat drips with a sizzle to their ravenous heat, she eyes them speculatively. “Just what does the Empire want with you guys anyway?” she asks.
“What do you mean?” James asks her with a sidelong glance to Jiron.
“That was no mere patrol that chased us up into the mountains,” she explains. “They had already gone past, but then returned and entered the trees just where you happened to be. How do you explain that?”
“Just a lucky guess?” stammers James.
The look she gives him says she doesn’t believe it was ‘a lucky guess’. “They knew right where you were,” she continues.
“They did, didn’t they?” says James suddenly thinking. If the warrior priest is using the same technique with a mirror or other magical device to keep track of us, we’re in serious trouble. He glances to Jiron and can tell he’s having the same thought.
“Now, come on,” she demands. “What’s going on?”
James pauses as he considers what, if anything, she deserves to know. “It’s true, the Empire wants us in a bad way. We’ve recently spent some time deep within its borders and caused some trouble.”
Jiron chuckles and adds, “You got that right.”
“You see, a friend of ours had been captured during the fall of the City of Light and we went to retrieve him,” James explains. “Ended up killing a few soldiers and destroyed some buildings. Now we have a mage or something behind us who’s trying to prevent us from reaching Cardri.”
“I see,” she says.
They watch her for awhile to see what, if any, her reaction may be to what he had just said. After sitting quietly in contemplation for several minutes, she glances to Jiron and says, “You better turn that, it’s starting to blacken.”
Realizing he’s been staring at her and not paying any attention to the animal he’s roasting, he pulls it off the fire and examines it. The charred sections aren’t too extensive so he just turns the stick and begins roasting the other side. He catches her looking at him and he blushes slightly.
Seeing his friend blush surprises James. He’s never seen him flustered or embarrassed in the presence of a woman before, always has been cool and collected.
Later that evening when they begin settling down for sleep, James offers to take first watch. He notices that she keeps a knife in her hand as she lies down to sleep. Most likely in case either one of them try to force their attentions on her during the night.
James can’t help but thinking about the army behind them. He doesn’t believe they gave up on them, but there has been no sign of them since they initially fled into the forest. He would have thought they would have caught up to them by now. Not even the faintest trace of the tingle which indicates magic in the area has come to him.
He walks around the camp to keep awake, occasionally throwing another log on the fire to keep the cold of night at bay as best he can. During his second trip around the camp, he sees Jiron get up from where he’d been lying and come over to him.
Jiron indicates for them to move away from camp with a nod of his head and they move out away from the camp so they won’t wake Aleya. When the darkness of night envelopes them, Jiron stops and asks, “Do you think that warrior priest behind us is still there?”
“I don’t know,” replies James. “I haven’t felt anything since we fled into the mountains. Usually I can always feel something whenever one of them is around, at least I did when around Abula-Mazki. Why?”
“It just doesn’t feel right,” he says. “All the other times they’ve pressed with great vigilance, but not this time.”
“I know, it’s got me worried too,” admits James. “But whatever the reason, I’m just thankful they’re not trying to kill us right now.”
“True,” he agrees. “Can you find out where they are with that mirror thing you do?”
“Not now,” he explains. “I wouldn’t dare. If by chance they had lost us in the forest, then all I would be doing is sending a beacon telling them exactly where we are. Besides, in the trees it’s hard to locate anything the way I do it.”
“Alright,” he says, somewhat disappointed.
“Go back to sleep,” James tells him. “I’ll be getting you up soon enough.”
Jiron nods as he returns to his blanket on the ground.
The following morning she again sets a quick pace. “I’d like to reach the beginning of the stairs before nightfall,” she explains.
“Why?” James asks her.
“There’s a good spot there to make camp and that will ensure we’ll be well rested when we begin the climb tomorrow,” she tells him. “It’s a long ways up.”
Jiron grins when James gives out with a groan, pats him on the back and then hurries after Aleya as she disappears between the trees.
James follows his friend and they quickly catch up with her. The downward slope leading to the floor of the valley is gradual and he finds it quite easy to navigate. At one point during the morning, they begin coming across blocks of stone that look to have at one time been part of a structure.
“There are ruins throughout this valley,” she remarks after passing several clusters of them. “Sometime way in the past there used to be a city here.”
“Wonder what happened to it?” James asks.
“Who knows?” she replies.
The path they’ve been following slowly begins to resemble a road of sorts, though it’s completely overgrown with vegetation. If it wasn’t for the fact it runs straight and is relatively level, he wouldn’t even have know it existed.
As they continue progressing further into the valley, the ruins become more pronounced. Aside from the moss covered stones they at first had encountered, they now begin to come across pieces of statues and other sculptures whose features have been worn away by time.
One large statue of what might once have been a man had long ago fallen across the road. They have to scramble over it in order to continue.
“This road we’re on leads directly to the beginning of the stairs,” she tells them.
At one point they must’ve reached what used to be the city center of that long ago town. From out of the vegetation on the side of the road, broken walls can be seen. None are very high but the number of them suggests this had been a populated place at one time. In what could’ve been the courtyard of a building of importance, they find what has to be the remains of a once exquisitely crafted fountain. It doesn’t look so much as worn with time as being smashed to bits with hammers or something similar. James wonders what could’ve happened here. Within what would’ve been several city blocks of the courtyard, other evidence corroborates the theory that this area was destroyed intentionally rather than by time.
About midday, she calls for a lunch break near a fallen column.
Glad for the rest, James settles down on the column while they have a quick bite. The rest break is all too
