Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (42 page)

Moving further into the trees, they come to
a spot with a hill between them and the plains with the mountains
behind them. Securing their horses, they set about making camp.
Miko breaks out the food he’d acquired earlier and they have a meal
of cold, stale rations along with the meat they still have from
before.

The others allow Jiron to sleep the entire
time as they take turns at watch. James again takes the first one
with Miko following him in the dreaded mid watch.

During Fifer’s watch, he hears a commotion
from the plains to the east and climbs to the top of the hill.
Dozens of riders are riding to the north, fast.
Must’ve found
the slain soldiers back at their camp.

He continues watching them until they
disappear in the distance. For the remainder of his watch, he
remains sitting upon the hill overlooking the plains but sees no
other riders passing during the afternoon.

When the light begins to fade, he comes back
to the camp and proceeds to wake everyone up. Another quick meal
and then they saddle up and mount. By this time, the sun has gone
down and they’re able to leave the shelter of the trees without
fear of being spotted.

Back to the edge of the tree line, they move
out into the grasslands in order to make better time. They continue
to follow along the tree line as it moves north through the hills.
The mountains grow large ahead of them and after an hour of riding,
they reach their base. Skirting around the tall mountains, they
stay in the foothills as they continue north.The hours pass as they
follow the mountains on their left. Moving along the foothills is
fairly easy, the waning moon giving them ample light to see.

An hour or two before the approach of dawn,
they round a hill and come upon a camp of enemy soldiers. In their
haste, they fail to take notice of the enemy camp before one of
their sentries sees their approach and calls out to them. When they
fail to answer, the soldier fires a crossbow bolt and begins
shouting, alerting those within the camp to their presence.

The bolt flies past Jiron just as he brings
his horse to a quick stop. Turning their horses around quickly,
they flee to the south just as a horn begins to sound from the camp
behind them. Far to the south, an answering call can be heard.

“Damn!” curses Jiron as he turns them
eastward, riding fast away from the two forces. Horns blare behind
them as they call to each other and in the moonlight, enemy riders
can be seen racing out of the camp in pursuit. One of the riders
sounds a horn when he catches sight of them fleeing across the
grasslands, letting the entire countryside aware of their
whereabouts.

It isn’t long before horns can be heard
coming from ahead of them to the east as well. Having little
choice, they turn to the north to avoid those ahead of them and
ride hard as they try to outdistance their pursuers.

“James, can you do something?” Jiron hollers
to him as he races close by.

“I can’t see them,” he replies. “I can’t be
sure of being effective until I know just how many are back there
and exactly where they are.”

“How far away is dawn?” Fifer asks.

“An hour,” guesses Jiron. “Maybe more.”

Another round from the horns behind them
sound in the night. “We’ve got to silence those horns!” Fifer
yells. “If we don’t, the armies ahead of us will know we’re coming
and there goes our chance of sneaking through their lines.”

“How many do you think are behind us?” asks
James.

“There were about twenty at the camp we
almost ran into,” Jiron says. “Add to that the other two groups,
maybe a hundred. More?”

“I can’t take out that many!” James
exclaims. “Not in the dark anyway, I can’t be sure to even get
them.”

As they continue to fly across the plains,
he begins to get an idea. Hating to do it to the poor horses, but
he’s got no choice. Concentrating hard, he begins creating a
patchwork of holes behind them in the ground. Each is seven inches
in diameter and a foot deep. Any horse putting its leg in it will
have it broken, especially at the speed they’re going.

He creates his orb so the riders behind them
will know in which direction to follow them. “What’re you doing?”
cries Jiron. “We’re trying to lose them not attract them!”

“I want them to follow right behind us,” he
says, voice strained from the effort to talk, and create the holes
behind them at the same time. It’s taking far more out of him to
create the patchwork of holes than he’d expected and it isn’t long
before he begins developing the beginnings of a whopper of a
headache.

Suddenly, a horse can be heard crying out in
pain behind them as it sets its hoof in one of the holes. Then,
several more cry out as they, too, get their legs broken.

“What’s happening?” asks Fifer as they slow
a fraction.

“Sounds like their horses are in distress,”
Jiron says as he glances behind them. More and more horses begin
crying out as they step into the holes.

After several minutes of creating the holes,
James stops and they ride on at a reduced pace for a few minutes.
The horns behind them have quieted and the sound of pursuit has
fallen off as well. “I think that slowed them down a little,” he
says. From the sound of his voice, the others can tell that bit of
magic had taken its toll.

“Sounds like it,” Miko says.

They ride on for another half an hour before
the sky to the east begins to lighten up. Glancing behind them as
the light increases, James is relieved not to see any sign of their
pursuers.

The mountains begin to fall off behind them
as the range moves more to the west. To the north, a large body of
foot soldiers appears far in the distance ahead of them, moving to
the northeast. They stop abruptly and turn around, moving southwest
to avoid them. Soon the army is out of sight behind them.

Far off to the west, they begin to see smoke
rising from a large structure sitting along the base of the
mountains. “That army must have just come from there,” supposes
Jiron.

“Think they left anyone there?” asks
James.

“Why?” asks Fifer.

“If they didn’t, it might be a good place to
hide until night,” he explains. “Why would they go back if everyone
there is dead?”

“Good point,” says Fifer.

“But they might also be using it for a
forward staging area,” Jiron says. Pointing in that direction, he
says, “Look, you can see people moving around the structure.”

Straining to see, James nods as he makes out
several people moving there. He says, “You are right. Better not
chance it.”

Several miles to their north is another line
of trees. Indicating them, Jiron says, “Maybe we could make it
there before anyone sees us.”

“Maybe,” replies James as he sits there and
thinks a moment.

“We gotta go somewhere,” Miko says in
exasperation. “We’re kind of exposed sitting here.”

“To the trees then,” decides James and
everyone nods agreement.

They turn their horses north and break into
a gallop. To the east, they can see the tail end of the marching
column of soldiers in the distance, but hold to their course.

It’s a very tense time as they make for the
trees, James expects to hear horns from all direction when they’re
discovered. But as luck would have it, they make it to the trees
without being spotted. Or if they did, whoever saw them took them
for their own. After all, they are behind the enemies’ lines.

They move deep within the forest and
continue with their northward trek. The sun continues to climb in
the sky as they forge through the forest, not making near the speed
they had on the plains, but are definitely less likely to be
discovered.

Deeper into the forest, they come across a
small river as it flows southward. Tired and exhausted, they stop
at a clearing near it and take a rest break. Breaking out their
food, they have a quick meal before continuing on.

“How much further do you think before we
reach their lines?” James asks Fifer.

“We’re already past where they were when we
went south after Lord Pytherian,” he replies. “No telling how far
they’ve pushed north since then. Lythylla is only a day or so to
the north, I would think that’s where we’ll find the bulk of their
armies.”

“That one we saw moving around the forest,”
Jiron says, “do you think they could have been on their way
there?”

“Likely,” says Fifer. “But who knows for
sure?”

Once they’re done eating and the horses have
had a rest, they remount and begin moving north through the forest
again. They decide not to follow the river northwest, instead they
head due north, hoping to avoid anyone that might be using it.

The day progresses as they continue through
the woods, sometime after noon they hear a rustling ahead of them.
Suddenly, four men with longbows step out of the trees, arrows
knocked and ready. Several others step out with them, one comes
forward and says, “Stop and identify yourselves.”

“You Madoc’s men?” James asks.

Nodding, the man waits for their reply.

Fifer steps forward and says, “I’m Fifer,
belong to Miller’s band.” Indicating the others, he says, “These
here are friends.”

The man eyes him suspiciously and says,
“Don’t know any Miller’s band and you’re not familiar. What
business have you here?”

He glances to James and Jiron before
replying. “We helped rescue Lord Pytherian from the Empire, got
separated from him, and now are trying to get back to friendly
territory.”

The man signals the archers who lower their
bows. “Heard he disappeared,” the man says.

Nodding, Fifer continues, “He was taken in a
raid, I believe there was treachery involved. We separated several
nights ago. He went north while we diverted a force bent on
capturing him to allow him time to get through to our side. Last we
saw of him, he was heading in this direction.”

“You’ll have to come with us back to our
camp,” the man tells them. “Our captain is going to want to hear
what you have to say.”

Fifer glances to James and Jiron who both
nod their heads. He turns back to the man and says, “Lead on.”

The man turns to one of his men and whispers
something to him. His man then turns and begins to run northward,
disappearing into the trees.

“My names Erwin,” he tells them. “Don’t be
alarmed, he just went ahead to let them know you’re coming.”

James steps up, and offers his hand. When
Erwin takes it, he says, “I’m James, and this here is Jiron and
Miko.” Each nods their head to Erwin when they’re introduced.

Erwin begins to lead them through the
forest, his men flanking them as well as bringing up the rear. “The
camp’s not too far away, about a mile or so,” he tells them. They
walk the rest of the way in silence. Soon, they begin to see a camp
opening up in the trees ahead of them. From the looks of it,
several hundred men call this camp home.

As they approach, they see a man in woodsman
attire standing at the edge of the camp waiting for them. He’s
flanked by several men, bodyguards by the looks of them.

“That’s Captain Alerin, he’s in charge of
these woods,” explains Erwin.

“Captain,” he says when they come near to
where he’s waiting, “these men here are James, Fifer, Jiron and
Miko. They claim to have helped Lord Pytherian escape from the
Empire.”

The captain’s eyebrows rise slightly when he
hears that. “Great news indeed, but where is Lord Pytherian?”

James steps forward and replies, “We were
separated from him several days ago. We drew off a group of
soldiers in order for him to escape. Last we knew, he was heading
in this direction.”

“He hasn’t passed through these woods, or I
would’ve known it,” states Captain Alerin gravely. “Hopefully, he
went around them and found a safe route that way.” He gestures for
them to follow as he moves over to a large tent. Coming to it, one
of his men moves and opens the tent flap for him.

After the captain has passed within the
tent, the man holds the flap open as the others file inside behind
him. Within the tent are several tables with maps covering them, as
well as several braziers burning throughout to give light.

The captain moves over to one table with a
large map lying open upon it and gestures for them to join him. He
indicates a section of the map and says, “This is the forest we’re
in right now. Where was the last place you saw him?”

James comes over and begins inspecting the
map. He sees near the bottom of the map the area where the mines
lie. “Here,” he says as he points to a spot a little west of the
mines. Then he brings his finger over to the town just west of the
spot, “This is where they took him.”

“And you rescued him from there?” he asks
incredulously. “Just the four of you?”

“Actually,” Fifer says, “I wasn’t with them
at the time of the rescue. I was waiting outside the east gate with
Miller and the rest.”

He glances at James, Jiron and Miko a moment
then shakes his head. “That hardly seems likely.”

“Likely or not,” Fifer replies, “they did
enter the city and they brought him out.”

“Do you have a mirror?” asks James suddenly.
“Or perhaps a bowl of water?”

“Why?” he asks.

“I’ll be able to ascertain his whereabouts
if you do?” replies James.

Fifer sees his confused look and explains,
“He’s a mage.”

Eyes widening, Captain Alerin says, “Truly?”
When Fifer nods affirmative, he says, “Never met one before.”

“Do you have a mirror?” James asks
again.

Captain Alerin reaches over to another table
and lifts up some paper revealing a four inch square mirror.
Picking it up, he hands it over to James, “Will this do?”

“It’ll do just fine,” he replies as he takes
it.