side.
“Attack!” he yells as he rolls with James quickly. When he comes to a stop, James is behind him and the Star of Morcyth is in his hand. “Up! We’re under attack!” Holding the Star high, he gets to his feet as the Light seems to enfold the shadow.
James looks around him and sees a shadow being held at bay by the light coming from the Star. Suddenly, green light flares from the side as Brother Willim and the Hand summon their power. “James!” Brother Willim shouts, “Behind you!”
Turning, he finds another shadow almost upon him. Holding up the medallion before him, he bathes the shadow in its glow. Not nearly as effective as the Star, it slows the creature but doesn’t halt its progress. He sees one of Ceadric’s Raiders charge it with a sword. “Stop!” he calls to the man but the man pays him no heed. Striking out with his sword, the man attacks the shadow. When the sword comes into contact with it, the man spasms violently before falling to the ground where he lies still.
“Together!” Brother Willim orders the rest of the Hand as a greenish glow surrounds the shadow before him. Stopping in its tracks, the shadow begins to shrink in on itself as the glow surrounding it becomes more pronounced.
Lights spring up around the camp as men quickly light lanterns and torches. “Ceadric!” shouts Illan as he quickly gets over his shock.
“Sir!” replies Ceadric.
“Send out men and see if an attack is imminent,” he orders.
“Yes, sir!” he replies. Grabbing several men standing nearby, he begins organizing scouting parties.
The shadow before Miko also begins to shrink as the light from the Star intensifies. A ring of onlookers surrounds them as Miko and the Hand battle the shadows, both are now half their original size. For a moment the shrinking halts then all of a sudden, they wink out. As they disappear, so too does the light from the Star and the medallion. The greenish glow surrounding the Hand remains as they keep vigilant.
A blazing orb springs into life above them bathing the entire area with light. A quick look reveals no other shadows in the area. The light also reveals two lines of dead bodies, each line the path taken by one of the shadows. In their passing, they killed all they touched.
“You okay?” Illan asks as he comes to James’ side.
“I think so,” he says. “If it weren’t for Miko’s quick thinking, they may have had me.”
Illan casts a quick glance to Miko and says, “Good job.”
“Thank you,” he replies as he begins moving toward the body of the Raider who fell when he attacked the shadow. The light from the Star flares briefly but winks out a moment later. Getting up, Miko looks to them and shakes his head, then begins moving to the nearest of the unmoving men on the ground on the off chance he can still be of help.
“This wasn’t an attack on us,” Jiron says.
“No,” agrees Illan, “it wasn’t.”
The two lines of dead bodies lie in an almost straight line from the edge of the encampment. It’s quite obvious that they knew who they were after and where he was.
“From this point on,” Illan says, “you have a guard near you while you sleep.”
“My brethren and I will be honored to have that duty,” Brother Willim says.
Illan gives him a nod just as Ceadric returns.
“No one else is out there,” he reports.
“Keep the men out,” he tells him. “I want a revolving pattern around the camp in case more are on the way.”
“What should the men do if they encounter one?” Ceadric asks.
They look to James who says, “Call for help and stay away. They are helpless where these shadows are concerned.”
Nodding, Ceadric turns to begin carrying out his orders.
To the rest of the camp Illan hollers out, “Get back to sleep. It’s over.” When the men begin returning to their bedrolls he glances to the orb shining overhead and says to James, “Don’t need that anymore.”
Canceling the spell, the orb winks out. Light from dozens of lanterns continue to illuminate the area. “Weren’t those things the same as we saw in Willimet?” Jiron asks.
“Exactly the same,” he replies.
“They could have wiped out everyone before they were noticed,” Delia says from where she joins the group.
Nodding, James replies, “Definitely a good portion if that had been their goal. But they were after me.” And that’s what worries him. He feels a hand on his shoulder and turns to find Brother Willim there.
“Don’t worry,” Brother Willim says. “Now that we know what we’re up against, they’ll not so easily get that close to you again.”
“That’s right,” another of the Hand offers.
“Thank you,” he says.
“We still have several hours until dawn,” Illan states. “I suggest we all try to get what sleep we can.” He’s talking to everyone but his gaze is on James.
“Wylick!” Illan hollers.
“Yes, sir,” comes the reply as the tall captain approaches.
“Get a party of men and bury the dead,” he says.
“Yes, sir,” the captain replies as he begins organizing the burial detail.
Nodding, James returns to his blankets, though after such a close call he doubts if he’ll be able to sleep. Captain Wylick and his men get busy carry the dead out of camp and gather them in one area. Then they begin digging a large grave for all of them.
Brother Willim and another of the Hand remain up and as the lights from the lanterns and torches wink out, a soft green glow can be seen emanating from them as they patrol the camp. The glow gives comfort, allowing the mind to rest and sleep to come.
Chapter Sixteen
In the early light of dawn, they make ready to get underway for their assault on Korazan. James takes out his mirror and checks on the force trailing them. Still over half a day behind, they shouldn’t pose a threat. Then over to the west he brings Korazan into view. The gates of the city remain shut, a line of civilians stands outside waiting to enter.
Scrolling to the south, the road there leading to Korazan has minimal traffic, none of which is military in nature. To the north he finds two riders, each trailing a mount as they ride hell bent for Korazan.
“Illan!” James exclaims.
Coming to his side, Illan looks at the image in the mirror of the two riders. “They’re going to alert Korazan of our approach. How close are they?” Widening the image, James is able to determine they are less than a half hour away from the city. “No way to catch them before they get there.”
“At least they’ll have little warning,” offers James.
Illan nods. “There is that,” he says. The two men sent into Korazan the day before have yet to report back which worries him. “Ceadric, get the men moving.”
“Yes, sir,” he replies. “Mount up!” he hollers and the men start climbing into the saddle. When everyone is mounted and ready, he turns back to Illan and says, “Ready.”
“Move ‘em out,” Illan says as he nudges the sides of his horse to get going. James does the same and as soon as they have taken their place at the fore, Ceadric calls for the rest to follow.
They steadily pick up the pace until the entire company is galloping toward Korazan in the hopes of arriving shortly after the ones riding to warn them. A half hour into the ride, they meet up with the two men who had gone to gather information the day before. Illan calls a brief halt while they report.
“All they have is a skeletal garrison,” one man reports. “Word is the rest left several days ago and headed
