shoulders. “Don’t know what I would do without her.” She blushes from his words and lowers her eyes as she continues eating.
“May I have more?” Uther asks, holding his bowl out.
“Of course,” she says as she gets up to ladle more into his bowl. “Anyone else?” she asks when his bowl is full. Miko of course comes to his feet quickly and gets more. Qyrll stands and comes forward with his bowl as well.
She glances to his tattooed face coming toward her and gets a nervous look on her face.
“I would like some more too if you don’t mind,” he says to her.
Her hand has a slight tremor in it as she ladles more stew into his bowl. “Thank you,” he says when his bowl is again filled and retakes his seat. All they have to go with the stew is some slightly stale bread. But you dip it into the stew and it’s edible.
By the time the meal is over, night has settled in and the temperature continues to drop. They throw more wood on the fire to keep the chill at bay as they begin to settle down for sleep. All that is but Uther who has pulled the first watch.
James lies his blanket down next to Dave, Miko settles in on his other side. Soon they’re all fast asleep.
Suddenly awakened by a tugging sensation, James comes awake. He opens his eyes and the world swims in front of him. He looks up to see Kerrin standing above him, his hand around the chain securing the medallion around his neck. He tries to stop him but his movements are lethargic, his muscles not responding well to his commands.
“Get the rest of their money,” Kerrin says.
“Yes dear,” he hears Gayle reply.
“You did good work,” another voice says. James scans the area and finds the voice belongs to another man. He starts in shocked recognition when he realizes it’s the older gentleman from the inn back in Feld. The one who had warned them about the bandit attacks in the pass.
“Was easy enough,” replies Kerrin as he finally manages to remove the medallion from around James’ neck. Holding it up, he mumbles to himself, “Might bring a couple silvers.”
He then reaches down and removes the pouch from James’ waist which contains the crystals. At first excited when he opens it thinking he’s found a stash of gems, he’s quickly disappointed when he finds all there is are some common crystals of little value. “Don’t you know what real gems are?” he asks James. Grunting in disgust, he dumps out the crystals on the ground next to him and continues rummaging through his pouches, removing all things of value. The necklace James had found in the underground temple near the fortress of Kern goes into Kerrin’s pouch as well.
When at last he finishes with James, he moves to Dave and begins going through his things.
“Gather the horses,” the older man says. James notices the younger one from the inn is there as well and begins putting the reins on their horses and securing them in a line to the back of the wagon.
Unable to move other than small movements, he tries to look around the campsite. He finds most of the others are passed out, Jiron seems to be the only other one besides him even conscious. He fears the others may be dead, no way to be sure.
They must have drugged us! His eyes come to rest on the stewpot and the realization hits him that that must be how they did it. But Kerrin and Gayle had eaten too, maybe they had taken the antidote before they consumed it.
Gayle is remaining by the wagons while the three men continue removing everything of value from their victims. Once Kerrin is finished with Dave, he stands back up and moves to the wagon to deposit the items he’s removed. The older gentleman joins him and together they help to get the horses secured in a line behind the wagon.
When they at last have all of them tied behind the wagon, Gayle points to James and the others as she asks, “What are we to do with them?”
“Can’t leave them to come after us,” Kerrin says to her.
“You’re going to kill them?” she asks aghast.
“You don’t worry about that,” he replies.
James tries to move after hearing that but whatever drug they used on him has almost completely immobilized him. All he can manage are weak movements which don’t get him very far and exhausts him in the process.
Out of the corner of his eye his gaze settles on the crystals spilled on the ground next to him. Hope springs to him as he sees the one wrapped in cloth lying not six inches from his hand.
The last horse is secured in line and he hears the older gentlemen say, “You and your wife take the wagon and horses. We’ll meet up with you in a few minutes.” As the wagon begins to roll away, the unmistakable sound of a sword leaving its scabbard can be heard followed shortly by another.
James sees them moving toward them, intent on ending their lives. He again focuses on the crystals lying next to him and with a sheer force of will begins inching his hand toward the crystal with the embedded spells. His finger finally comes into contact with it just as they reach the unconscious men lying on the ground. He watches in horror as the older gentleman raises his sword to end the life of one of his comrades.
In a bare whisper, he says “Leech” and can feel power being absorbed from him by the crystal. Then before the sword can fall, he cries out in a gasp, “Incinerate!” More power is sucked from him as a red flare flies from the crystal toward the man.
The light from the flare causes him to pause a moment in his swing and that’s all the time it needs. Striking him, the flare erupts in a flaming ball. Screaming, the man begins running around, a veritable human torch.
Startled, the younger man cries out, “Father!” Running to his aid, he attempts to put out the fires to no avail. Finally his father slumps to the ground, and lies still as his screams of pain come to a stop.
With a cry of rage, the son stands up and with a primal scream runs toward the nearest of the drugged men, intent upon venting his anger.
“Shield radius twenty!” can barely be heard as James gasps another command to the crystal. Springing up around the men lying on the ground is an invisible barrier.
Aaaaaahhhh!
A cry of pain and agony rips through the night, drawing James’ attention. The son had been caught by the creation of the barrier and a portion of his face, chest and one leg had been severed off by it. Falling backward away from the barrier, he collapses to the ground where he writhes in agony until finally dying.
James says one last command before succumbing to unconsciousness, “Maintain.”
Chapter Twenty One
When he at last awakens again, morning has come. The rain has stopped and the sun is just beginning to break through the cloud cover. Sitting up, his head begins to spin and realizes how weak he is. That’s when he feels the drawing of power from him by the crystal while it maintains the barrier around them.
“You okay?” he hears behind him.
Glancing back he finds Jiron walking toward him. Nodding his head, he asks, “You?”
“Still a bit dizzy but otherwise fine,” he replies. He sees James glancing at the others and says, “They’re all still alive but unresponsive. I think they may have been affected more than
you and I.”
“Gayle must have put something in the stew,” he says as he comes to his feet. “Any sign of her or Kerrin?”
Shaking his head, Jiron says, “I don’t think so.” Then he motions over to one side of the camp and adds, “We have one stiff over there that’s charred beyond recognition. At the edge of the barrier next to it is what’s left of some guy your barrier cut in two. May be them.”
“Cut in two?” James asks.
“Yeah,” he says. “Come here and I’ll show you.” Reaching down a hand, he helps him to his feet. They make their way over to where the man had been sliced by the materialization of the barrier.
