Jiron takes the first watch with James following after for the mid watch. When he awakens James for his turn at watch, he again asks about the red flashes and the caravans.
Bringing him away from where Jared is blissfully snoring, he puts some distance between them before stopping. He casts a quick glance over to their sleeping comrade and then in a whisper says, “Back when I first began planning for this campaign, I wanted to really hurt the Empire’s infrastructure. At first, I thought about taking all those from The Ranch and destroying factories, bridges, etc. But then I realized that wouldn’t be feasible. There was no way the Empire would sit still and allow us to do that.”
“I figured what we would be able to accomplish would be limited in nature and not do the sort of damage that I wanted. Then I started thinking about Delia and her caravan, about how they go all over. That’s when I got the idea to plant seeds of destruction in the wagons of various caravans.”
“What is that suppose to accomplish?” he asks. “Destroying more caravans isn’t going to hurt them all that much.”
“Not just the caravans, no,” agrees James. “But what if those seeds of destruction would wait until they encountered certain things?”
“Like what?” Jiron questions.
“I have it so that what I planted in the wagons will continue to draw minute quantities of power from their environment and store it,” he explains. “Now don’t worry, the draw is so small that I seriously doubt if any passing mage would detect it. The seed will continue to grow in power until it encounters one of three things, then explode.”
“The first thing is a bridge,” he says, “When it detects that it’s over flowing water it blows, hopefully taking out the bridge. And, when a bridge is destroyed, that avenue over the river will be gone. All caravans will have to find an alternate way across.”
“And each time they do…” Jiron prompts.
“Ker-Pow!” James says dramatically. Then he glances over to the sleeping form of Jared and relaxes when another snore comes to them through the night. “Eventually, most of the ways goods are transported within the Empire will be severely handicapped.”
“The second trigger will be coming into close proximity of iron, such as swords. I’m not talking about a couple hanging at the hips of guards, no. I’m talking about a company of men in armor.”
“The third trigger is if the wagon comes in close proximity to live magic, or a mage who is currently working magic.”
“That could take them by surprise,” comments Jiron approvingly.
“I hope so,” he says. “Another by product of all this is the confusion that it will bring. Bursts of power going off at different points within the Empire, none knowing just what is going on.”
“Be hard to pin down exactly where you are,” grins Jiron.
James grows somber as he nods. “True. The only problem I have is with the innocents that will be killed by the wagons.”
“But many more will die if the Empire isn’t stopped, or at least slowed down,” counters Jiron. “Don’t be sorrowful about what you have to do in war. Your intent is not malign in nature.”
“True,” replies James. “You better get some sleep. Morning isn’t too far off.”
“Alright,” he says and then they return to the campsite where Jiron climbs into his bedroll.
James paces throughout his watch. The vision of the innocents he will kill running through his mind.
The morning dawns bright, forecasting another scorcher. They make an early start to take advantage of the coolness while they can. Far on the horizon ahead of them, mountains rise out of the desert.
“That’s where we’ll find Ki,” states James. Looking up from a small map Lord Pytherian supplied him, he glances to Jiron. “Should be there by nightfall if we keep a steady pace.”
James has felt probing attacks ever since leaving the inn as someone tries to break through and find him. It doesn’t feel as if whoever is doing the probing is all that serious in finding him though. More like just checking on the off chance that the shielding cover is no longer there. The fact that they haven’t tried to punch through since the first time has him a little worried.
They continue to make good time as they ride along the road. Traffic here is steady but not heavy. Whenever they encounter a caravan, James continues to plant the seeds beneath the wagon beds. By the time the sun begins its descent to the horizon, he’s managed to plant more than two dozen in different caravans.
Late in the afternoon, another caravan approaches them and they move to the side of the road to let them pass. Just as he had with others, he plants a seed in the second wagon. The wagon rolls on for half a minute before he feels a minute tingling sensation. A cry comes from behind and he turns to find the wagon’s bottom has broken out and iron ingots are spilling through the bottom.
Jiron glances at him and he jerks his head indicating they should get out of there fast. Moving quickly, they leave the merchants to the mystery as to what happened to their wagon.
Once they’ve moved far enough along, Jiron rides close and whispers so Jared will not overhear him. “What happened?”
“It was the iron in the ingots the wagon was carrying,” he explains.
“But I thought you said it would explode,” says Jiron.
“It did,” James replies. “The spell didn’t have time to gather much power. When it gathered enough to begin seeking evidence that would trigger it, it encountered the iron. So it blew. But since it didn’t have time to accumulate very much power, all it managed to do was break the boards lining the bottom of the wagon.”
“Not very effective,” observes Jiron.
“I couldn’t make it gather power any quicker or those it was gathering from would sense something not right,” he explains. “Not to mention that any mage in the area would be sure to detect what was going on as well.”
“I see,” Jiron tells him. “Just be more selective about which caravans you do.”
“Right,” agrees James with a grin.
Directly ahead to the southeast, the mountain range that has been steadily growing all day is now rising high in the sky. Somewhere at its base lies Ki. Another hour finds them at a crossroads where their road ends at another moving north and south along the base of the mountains. Checking his map, James indicates they should take the branch to the south.
Turning onto it, they continue until the road ends at another going east and west. Here they turn to the east and it isn’t long before the road winds its way to the small town of Ki.
“Let’s get a room and then do a little reconnoitering,” suggest Jiron.
“I’m for that,” agrees Jared.
Ki, as it turns out, isn’t really much of anything. On one side of town lies a complex with many smelters belching black smoke into the air. The rest is just a smattering of homes and a lone two story building sitting at the edge of town with a sign outside depicting an iron ingot.
“Is this the inn?” James asks indicating the two story structure.
No other building in town even looks close to being an inn. They have Jared go inside to see about a room while the other two wait outside. He isn’t inside long before he returns with a smile on his lips. “Got the biggest room they have,” he brags. “It’s actually two rooms joined together and there are four beds.”
“Excellent,” praises James.
They make their way around back to the stables and soon have their horses settled in. A stableboy is there and produces a bucket of grain and another full of water for each. James flips him a copper as they turn to head for the inn. Their room lies on the second floor at the end of the hall.
Just as Jared said, the room is actually two. The first room off the hall contains two small beds, a table and two chairs, as well as a dresser. To one side is another door leading into a much larger room.
With two large beds, a larger table, wardrobe and dresser, it’s about half again the size of the first room. The feature of the second room that perks James up is the bathtub setting near one wall.
“Alright!” he exclaims when he sees it. Suddenly his whole body begins to feel dirty and the itchiness of his scalp magnifies tenfold. “Jiron you stay in here with me,” he announces. “Jared, you get the outer room all to yourself.”
“Fine by me,” he says, pleased.
“Go down and see about arranging for dinner to be brought up and a bath afterwards,” he tells Jared as he
