Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (35 page)

Nothing else of note happens before the sun
goes down and they’re on their way once again. Following the road
in the dark isn’t too hard, what with the stars overhead and after
an hour or so, the moon as well.

They stay to the road as they continue
moving through the hills, they need the speed it will afford even
though it may mean encountering unfriendly forces. From up ahead,
they begin to see lights from a town. “Must be Mountainside,”
suggests Jiron.

James nods in agreement as they slow down
and approach the town with caution. Before coming close to the
outlying buildings they leave the road and make their way around
the outskirts.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” whispers
Jiron after they’ve progressed a little ways around the town.

“What do you mean?” asks James as he looks
around to discover what he’s talking about.

“There’s no one on the street,” he says.
“Not even soldiers, and that seems strange.”

“It is the middle of the night,” replies
James. “Everyone’s probably in bed or about to be.”

“I don’t know,” he says. “It’s not that
late.”

Keeping their eyes open, they continue to
circle around the town, leaving plenty of room between them and the
outlying buildings. James pays a closer attention to the town and
he begins to understand what Jiron’s talking about. Nothing is
moving on the streets of the town. The lights coming from the
windows don’t even have the occasional silhouettes of those within
moving around. It’s as if the whole town is deserted.

Suddenly from ahead of them, shutters of a
dozen lanterns are removed and they’re bathed with light. “Stay
right where you are!” a voice from out of the lights commands.
“Move, and you’ll be fired upon.”

“James?” questions Jiron quietly.

“Wait!” he replies.

A man moves out from the dark, an officer of
the Empire’s army and approaches them. “You are under arrest,” he
says.

“On what charge?” asks James.

“Being enemies of the Empire,” the officer
replies.

James begins laughing. The officer looks at
him like he’s lost his mind. “What’s so funny?” he asks somewhat
annoyed.

“I don’t think so,” replies James as a
shimmering field suddenly springs up around them. To Jiron he says,
“Take him, please. Make sure you don’t kill him.”

As Jiron swings down from his horse, bolts
begin striking the barrier and bouncing harmlessly off. The officer
draws his sword as he begins backing away from Jiron until his back
encounters the barrier.

Turning around, he touches it in fear,
realizing he’s trapped inside. Spinning around, he stands ready to
defend himself.

“Drop your sword,” Jiron tells him, “and you
won’t be hurt.”

Light suddenly erupts all around them as
brightly glowing orbs appear in the sky, illuminating the entire
area. A cry erupts from the gathered soldiers surrounding them. In
the light, they can see there are only about thirty or so soldiers
surrounding them.

Trapped within the barrier, as well as the
display of magic in the sky around him, drains the officer’s will
to fight as he looks into the eyes of Jiron. Lowering his sword,
the officer remains quiet as Jiron removes it from his hand.

From the back of his horse, James says to
the officer, “Tell your men to drop their weapons or I’ll kill them
all right here, right now!”

“You’ll never get back to Cardri!” says the
officer defiantly.

“How do you know that’s where we intend to
go?” asks Jiron, somewhat taken aback at his knowledge.

The officer glances from one to the other
before replying. “A rider came through here earlier saying you two
may be coming this way,” he explains. “He stopped here only briefly
before continuing on, alerting our forces to the south of your
presence. They’ll be ready for you.”

“Damn!” exclaims Jiron. He glances back to
James who arcs an eyebrow questioningly.

Jiron shakes his head as James repeats his
demand for the officer to order his men to drop their weapons.
“I’ll not ask again,” he threatens. When the officer hesitates…

Crumph!

…the ground a little way away from the edge
of the barrier explodes upward, peppering the nearby soldiers with
dirt and rocks. There were no soldiers in the vicinity, James only
wanted to demonstrate his power in the hopes of resolving the
situation without bloodshed, if possible.

The officer looks at the hole in the ground,
thankful that none of his men had been there at the time. Defeated,
he calls out to his men.

James watches as their weapons begin falling
to the ground. “Now, have them begin moving back that way,” he
says, indicating back down the road to the north.

The officer again calls out and his men
begin walking toward the north, some moving quicker than
others.

“What are you going to do with me?” he
asks.

“Nothing,” replies James. “I’m not a killer,
despite what you may have heard. Once they’re far enough away,
we’ll leave.” He sees the surprise in the officer’s eyes at that.
Leaning forward slightly, he adds, “If you follow us, then I will
kill you.” His serious expression leaving no doubt that he will
follow through on his threat.

Jiron gets back on his horse and watches as
the soldiers continue moving away to the north. He glances to James
and can see sweat beginning to form. The exertion of continuing the
shield, the orbs in the sky and all they’ve been through the last
few days are starting to take a toll.

James sits and waits while the men move
further away from their weapons. When they’ve gone far enough to
suit him, he says to the officer, “Please don’t follow us. I would
really hate to have to kill you and your men.”

The orbs wink out, plunging the entire area
into darkness once more. On the ground around them, a few of the
lanterns that were left by the departing soldiers still give off
some light, so they’re not completely in the dark. He was about to
cancel the barrier when he suddenly feels the tingling sensation
forewarning of nearby magic. Then the feeling spikes and from the
north he sees a red glowing blob flying straight for them.

“Look out!” he cries as it hits the
barrier.

Magic is sucked out of him in staggering
quantities in order to keep the barrier stable. The red blob begins
oozing down the side when the barrier suddenly gives way. The red
blob, no longer held up by the barrier, falls directly on the
officer.

With a scream of agony, the officer is
enveloped by the blob and James looks in horror as the red
substance begins dissolving his flesh away.

“Ride!” he yells to Jiron and they turn
their horses south, riding as fast as their horses can go.

“What was that?” asks Jiron as he bends low
over the neck of his horse to gain as much speed as he can.

James is unable to answer as spots begin to
dance in front of his eyes and he fights merely to stay conscious.
That took far too much out of him.

“James!” cries Jiron next to him. “Stay with
me man!”

The coolness of the rushing air gradually
brings him away from the edge of unconsciousness. Behind him, he
knows whoever was the source of the red blob is still doing magic
for the tingling stays with him.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” he tells
Jiron when he again has control of his voice.

“Why?” he asks. “What was that?”

“I don’t know what it was,” he replies. “But
the magic felt familiar. I think it was another warrior priest,
though I’m not for sure.”

“Damn!” he exclaims.

The sound of pursuit follows them as an
unknown number of riders chase them in the dark. Suddenly, the
tingling sensations spikes again and he yells, “To the right!” They
both swerve to the right just as another of those blobs strikes the
road where they would’ve been if they had kept going straight. A
slight sizzle can be heard from where it hit the ground.

Behind them, dozens of riders can be seen in
the moonlight behind them. And they’re closing quickly. “Do
something!” yells Jiron.

James is having a hard time thinking, his
mind is already tired from when the barrier had initially been
struck. “To the left!” he cries as the tingling sensation once more
spikes. Swerving to the left, they barely get out of the way before
the blob hits the road a few feet from them.
That was too
close!

An image springs to mind of another time
when they were being pursued on horseback and he had created holes
in the ground to slow their pursuers. Concentrating hard, he begins
creating a patchwork in the ground behind them of foot deep holes
that will entrap and break the horses’ legs.

From behind them in the dark, they begin to
hear screams of horses as they encounter the holes. The tingling
which had been constant since leaving the town abruptly stops.

“I think that slowed them down,” he tells
Jiron as they continue racing through the night. “I can no longer
feel the presence of magic back there.”

“Think you killed him?” Jiron asks
hopefully.

“I would think that’s highly unlikely,” he
replies. “Most likely his concentration was broken when his horse
collapsed after stepping in one of those holes.”

“Is that what you did?” he asks.

“I hate hurting the horses, but I didn’t
know what else to do,” he replies in regret.

“You did what you had to do,” he says,
trying to assuage his guilt over what he did to the horses. They
ride on for a few minutes before he says, “This isn’t going to slow
them down very long.”

“I know. They’ll be after us as soon as they
get more horses,” he says. “Which shouldn’t take very long.”

“If we follow this road far enough I think
we’ll come to the town Bindles,” Jiron says. “You remember that
town we first came to after leaving the mountains last time?”

“I remember,” he says.

“There was a road there going west along the
southern edge of the mountains which may lead us to Cardri,”
explains Jiron.

“If we can reach Cardri,” James tells him,
“whoever is back there won’t dare to continue following us unless
they’re willing to risk war.”

“Let’s hope he takes that into
consideration.”

James continues attempting to sense the
working of magic behind them as they ride, but so far, nothing.
Sometime after leaving Mountainside behind them, they reached the
end of the fire ravaged area. The mountains on their right again
have a full forest of trees upon them, enough to shelter them from
anyone traveling along the road.

“Maybe we should get off the road now,”
suggests Jiron. “Remember that officer back there said a rider came
through and warned them about us. Anyone further ahead will be
alerted and looking for us.” Glancing to James he adds, “We don’t
want another ambush like the last one, not with that other force
hot on our heels.”

“Good idea,” agrees James.

Moving off the road, they begin making their
way up the mountain and into the shelter of the forest. After
putting a mile or so between them and the road, they decide to make
a brief camp. The horses are on the verge of exhaustion and both of
them could do with a few hours of rest before heading out
again.

Jiron takes the first watch and after
letting James rest only three hours, he wakes him for his turn.
“Don’t fall asleep!” he warns. He knows James is incredibly tired,
but he needs sleep too.

“I won’t,” James assures him. Getting to his
feet, he begins walking around the camp in order to remain awake.
After his second pass around, he glances over and sees Jiron has
fallen asleep. The night here in the forest is anything but
comforting. Every shadow, every sound, startles him in expectation
of enemy soldiers coming for them.

After what seems several hours, the sky to
the east begins to lighten and he realizes he’s wandered some
distance from their camp. Using the sound of the horses to guide
him, he makes his way back.

Snap!

Behind him he hears the sound of a twig
breaking and quickly turns to find someone standing there, arrow
knocked and aimed right at his heart.

“What do we have here?” she asks with a grim
expression.

James is slightly surprised to find the
archer is a woman, a young one at that. She couldn’t be more than
seventeen or eighteen. Dressed in greens and browns, she blends in
well with the forest, her long auburn hair tied in a ponytail. No
telling how long she had been in the vicinity before making her
presence known.

“My name is James,” he replies. “A
wanderer.”

“Spy of the Empire no doubt,” she says. “I
should just kill you right where you stand.” She pulls the
bowstring back a fraction of an inch.

“I’m not a spy!” he asserts, trying to
prevent the arrow from being released.

“No one wanders these woods in times like
these unless they’re up to no good,” she says.

“Believe me,” he says, “I am no servant of
the Empire.” He glances briefly over to where their camp lies. The
horses are visible where they’re tied but there’s no sign of Jiron.
Scanning the woods behind the woman, he sees him working his way
quietly through the trees to get around behind her.

“What business do you have here then?” she
asks.

“Merely trying to get back to my home in
Cardri,” he tells her.

“Perhaps,” she says.

Jiron is closing the distance quickly, now
no more than ten feet behind her. James sees one of his knives in
his hand as he sneaks up behind her.

“One more step,” she says loudly, cocking
her head to the side, “and I’ll kill your friend.” When Jiron comes
to a halt, she glances back to him. Nodding to James, she says, “Go
over and stand by your friend. Now!”

Jiron doesn’t resheathe his knife but does
what she says and makes his way over to stand next to James.