Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (44 page)

“What?” he whispers back after looking for a
moment. “I don’t see anything.”

“Thought I saw something,” she tells
them.

“Maybe you…” begins James when a shadow
moves next to the boulder. “A sentry!” he says quietly.

“Why would they have one this far from the
checkpoint?” she asks.

“They know we’re out here,” Jiron begins to
explain to her, “and that if we come this way we’re most likely to
give the lit checkpoint over there a wide berth. Which is exactly
what we’re doing.”

“So,” adds James, “thinking to go around it,
we run into a soldier hiding in the dark.”

“Exactly,” confirms Jiron. “Fairly sneaky
and almost worked if he would’ve kept still.”

“What’re we to do now?” Aleya asks.

“Just how good are you with that?” he asks
her as he indicates her bow.

“You mean, can I hit him from here?” she
asks. When he nods, she says, “I think so. Be harder in the dark
since I can’t see him clearly, but yes, I believe I could.”

“Good,” he replies. “If we take him out, we
may be able to get by without undue attention.”

“What if there’re more out there?” James
asks. “We could be alerting them to our presence.”

“A chance we’ll have to take,” asserts
Jiron.

Aleya takes out one of her few remaining
arrows and aims toward the boulder where the sentry is positioned.
Drawing her bow back, she readies herself and holds until the
shadow moves again. When she finally sees the shadow once more
move, she lets the arrow go.

It flies through the air in the dark and
they hear a gasp as the shadow stumbles away from the boulder and
collapses on the road. Jiron rushes out from the trees toward the
body of the sentry. Taking the dead man by the arms, he quickly
drags the body behind the boulder and out of sight of anyone
passing this way.

No other shadows move in their vicinity, the
dead man must’ve been the only one posted. James is the last one to
cross the road and joins the others behind the boulder. “There
doesn’t appear to be anyone else around,” he says as he joins
them.

Aleya has her knife out and is currently
working the arrow out from between the man’s ribs where it had
wedged itself upon impact. James is glad it’s too dark to see
clearly what she’s doing.

“We’re going to have to take it slow from
here on out,” Jiron tells them. “We’ve had two run-ins so far and
most likely there’ll be others.”

After removing the arrow, she cleans it off
on the dead man’s clothes before returning it to her quiver.
Getting up she nods her head and says, “I agree, this area is
crawling with sentries.”

Moving out, Jiron continues leading them
south as they attempt to avoid the army camped less than a mile
away. After moving deeper into the hills, he turns them more
westward as he runs parallel to the encampment. They cover ground
slowly as they keep vigilant for any sentries which may be in the
area.

Keeping between the hills and rises, they
work their way westward with only an occasional stop to climb to
the top of one of the hills to determine if they’ve passed the
outlying fringe of the army. Seeing they’re still south of the
force, they return to the bottom and continue on.

It was during one such scouting excursion
when they see a force of men moving in their direction from the
west. Only a couple hundred feet away, they don’t have time to get
down off the hill before being seen. The force is keeping to the
lower areas between the hills which gives Jiron an idea.

“Lie down flat upon the top of the hill,” he
whispers urgently to them. “In the dark, it’s unlikely they’ll see
us up here.”

Doing as he suggests, they lie down and
remain absolutely still as the force approaches. The sound of their
marching feet can be heard as they draw nearer. James hopes this
works.

Quiet conversation can be heard coming from
the approaching men. From the tone of their voices, it doesn’t seem
like they are searching for them, rather just passing through. As
the men reach the base of the hill upon which they’re laying, James
holds his breath, afraid that even the little sound that breathing
makes will be heard by the men passing just below them.

The tops of their helmets can be seen as
they file pass, not more than ten feet away from where he lies. If
the sun had been up, there would have been no way for them to be
able to pull this off. But between the darkness and the fact that
the soldiers don’t expect them to be there, it works.

It isn’t long before the column of men
completely passes by. Soon, the sound of their footsteps begins to
fade as they move further away until finally dying out
altogether.

Sitting up, Jiron whispers, “That was
close.”

“Yeah,” agrees James. “I thought for sure
we’d be spotted.”

Off in the distance, the fringe of the enemy
camp can be seen a little to their right. They’ve almost made it
completely past. Far in the distance, the lights from Kern can be
seen. “Not too much further,” announces Aleya.

“The thing I’m worried about, should we make
it there,” says James “is the reception we’ll have from Cardri’s
forces.”

“What do you mean?” Aleya asks.

Turning to her, he explains, “They don’t
know who we are. For all they know, we’re spies or soldiers of the
Empire. I don’t know if we’ll find sanctuary there.”

“So you think we should try to avoid them
too?” asks Jiron.

“It wouldn’t hurt if we could,” he replies.
“But I doubt if we’ll be that fortunate.”

Jiron nods his head as he starts descending
the hill. Heading further to the west, they travel another hour as
they put even more distance between themselves and the enemy camp.
Once they’ve reached a point where the enemy encampment is far to
the east, they turn north and begin their push to the Cardri
lines.

By this time, the eastern sky has begun to
lighten with the coming of the dawn. The hills they’ve been
traveling through all evening are beginning to smooth out to
grasslands the further north they travel.

“We need to hurry!” James says as the sky
continues to lighten.

Jiron nods as he breaks into a quick run.
The others follow him and James is soon huffing and puffing in his
attempt to keep up.

It isn’t long before they leave the
foothills behind altogether. Running along the grasslands, James
continues scanning the horizon all around for any movement which
might indicate forces on the move. So far they’ve been lucky and
haven’t yet been spotted.

When the sun finally crests the horizon to
the east, horsemen are seen riding across the horizon ahead of
them. “Are they Cardri’s?” asks James when Jiron brings them to a
halt.

“Can’t tell from this distance,” Jiron
replies.

They crouch down in the grass, hoping
against hope for the riders to pass by without seeing them. When
suddenly from behind them, a horn blares forth. James turns and
looks behind them to see a dozen riders heading in their direction.
The blast from the horn has caused the riders between them and
Cardri to swing in their direction. Breaking into a fast gallop,
the thirty or so horsemen begin heading their way.

“James!” Jiron cries out as he sees them
turning to intercept them.

“I know!” he exclaims.

Aleya has her bow out and aimed at the
horsemen coming up behind them as they’re the closer force.
Standing steady in the face of their charge, she lets fly an arrow
which strikes the lead rider, knocking him off his horse. In one
fluid motion she takes another arrow out of her quiver, sets it to
the bowstring, draws back and releases. Another horseman is knocked
off his horse by the impact of her second arrow.

Crumph!

The ground under the onrushing riders
explodes upward throwing men and horses into the air. Three riders
who were at the rear of the charge race through the flying
debris.

Aleya, unfazed by James’ display of magic,
again sets arrow to string, draws back and lets fly. The arrow
flies and strikes the last of the three riders square in the chest,
causing him to fall off backward from his horse. His foot gets
tangled in the stirrup as his horse careens off, dragging him along
the ground.

Jiron moves forward, his two knives at the
ready as the remaining two riders approach.

Her last arrow to string, she aims for the
lead horse, rather than the rider. Letting the arrow go, it flies
within inches of Jiron on its way and strikes the horse on the left
in the forward right flank. The injury causes the horse to stumble
to the right and into the other. Both horses fall to the ground,
their riders jumping clear.

Seeing his chance, Jiron moves forward
quickly and engages the first man before he has a chance to
recover. A quick series of blows at the unbalanced soldier soon has
him falling to the ground, his life’s blood draining rapidly from
the mortal wound in his side.

His partner, having regained his balance,
draws his sword and advances upon Jiron.

Horns sound from all over as more forces
rush to join in the fray. Foot soldiers begin swarming toward them
from the direction of the encampment.

Crumph! Crumph! Crumph!

The northern force begins to be decimated as
they start to feel the brunt of James’ magic. As the rear riders
make it through the falling debris from the explosions, they start
to fall as James begins knocking them off their horses with
stones.

As he continues taking out the force coming
toward them from the north, Jiron faces off with the remaining
soldier from the southern force. Deflecting the man’s sword with
skill honed through years of fighting in the fight pits back in the
City of Light with one knife, he follows through with his other and
leaves a red trail along the man’s forearm as he opens up a six
inch long cut.

Jiron sees Aleya moving behind the man he’s
fighting, going to the men she felled with her arrows. Whenever she
gets one removed from a dead man, she immediately turns and fires
it at the oncoming horsemen to the north.

“Get the horses!” he cries at her as he
agilely moves to avoid a thrust by the soldier.

She glances to him and he jumps back to
disengage from the soldier as he points to where several horses who
weren’t either killed or wounded have congregated. Nodding her
head, she leaves her arrows in the dead men as she rushes over to
the horses.

Reengaging the man, he feints to the head
and when the soldier raises his sword to guard against the attack,
he lashes out with his foot, taking him in the knee. A snap can be
heard as the knee breaks and the man cries out in pain. Falling to
the ground, he’s easy prey to Jiron’s knives and soon lies
dead.

A quick glance shows the advancing footmen
from the camp are still a ways away. He turns toward the advancing
northern force and sees James has already reduced their number
significantly.

Crumph!

Another explosion sends more riders and
horses into the air, leaving only four from the original force of
thirty left moving in their direction.

James is visibly tiring. The hard run
earlier, plus the magic is taking its toll. He arcs his arm back
and sends another stone flying as it takes out the lead rider,
leaving three on the way.

As he gets ready to throw another stone, an
arrow whizzes past and strikes the lead horse square in the chest.
The horse stumbles and falls, tripping the horse next to it. Its
rider is thrown and hits the ground hard, breaking his neck.

The remaining rider rides straight toward
them, James and Jiron dive out of the way. The rider’s sword comes
within bare inches of James’ head as he passes. Turning, the rider
comes again at James, intent on trampling him with his horse’s
hooves.

Just before he reaches James, Jiron leaps
toward the rider and pulls him from his horse. A quick thrust with
a knife leaves the rider dead. Getting up, he looks around just as
another stone from James takes out the remaining advancing
soldier.

“Get on!” Aleya says from where she sits
atop one of the horses she’d appropriated. With two others in tow,
she rides over to them and they quickly mount.

The tingling sensation of a mage doing magic
suddenly washes over him. Looking to the approaching force from the
camp, he can see a rider in a hooded robe, galloping fast as he
begins pulling ahead of the footmen. “Jiron!” he exclaims as he
points over to the approaching mage.

Jiron turns just in time to see a glowing
ball of fire materialize above the mage and soar with lightning
speed toward them.

James summons the magic and creates a
barrier in the fireball’s path. A great roaring explosion erupts
when the fireball connects with the barrier, spraying flame and
fire in all directions.

Spurring their horses into a gallop, James
and the others make a dash for the Cardri side. Glancing back to
the mage, they see him still riding hard in an attempt to stop them
before they reach the safety of Cardri.

Another spike in the tingling sensation and
James quickly looks back to the mage. Nothing is coming from that
direction.

Suddenly a wide swath of the grass ahead of
them bursts into flame, a veritable wall of fire. “He’s going to
burn us alive!” screams Aleya as she brings her horse to a sudden
halt. The horse rears up in fear at the sight of the wall of flame
before it, somehow she remains in the saddle.

The wind begins to pick up, fanning the
flames toward them. James calls forth the magic to combat the
flames when the tingling sensation once more spikes as another
fireball arcs toward them. Changing tactics, he again creates
another barrier which causes the fireball to once more explode in
mid-air.

“James!” he hears Jiron call to him.
Glancing back, he sees that Jiron and Aleya have already moved
further west. Sitting there on his horse, Jiron motions for him to
follow. Turning his horse, James kicks it into a gallop just as the
tingling sensation once more spikes. Groaning, he glances behind
him and through the waves of heat the flaming grass is emitting, he
sees yet another fireball arcing toward them.