Miko’s miner and the action of the horses have them all spooked, including James. He wouldn’t let the others know but he’s actually quite worried about the whole thing. Back in his world, these things wouldn’t bother him nearly as much. But here where gods are active and magic works, who knows what could happen.
Throughout the rest of the afternoon, several of them think they may have seen the miner out of the corner of their eyes, moving across a window of a nearby building. But each time after they called for James, a closer look revealed nothing.
When the sun at last hits the top of the western peaks, they call it a day and return to the same place they made camp the night before. While the rest get the camp set up and a fire going, James takes Dave and sees if he can’t bag something for dinner. Their store of rations is dwindling and he doesn’t want to run out before doing something about it.
Shortly after the camp disappears behind them in the trees, movement from up ahead catches his eye. Moving forward, they make their way through the trees until they see a deer-like animal standing still ahead of them. Its head swivels from side to side as if it’s trying to find something.
“He may have caught our scent,” Dave suggests in a barely heard whisper.
“I think you may be right,” replies James just as quietly. Removing a stone from his pocket he slowly gets into position and then cocks his arm back. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he aims for the deer and releases the magic as he throws the stone.
The deer must have noticed his movement, for at the last second it jumps away. Its hindquarters are thrust to the side when the stone catches it off center, ripping a chunk out.
Dave jumps up and races after the deer, knife in hand. It isn’t dead, only injured. James rushes after.
The deer, though faltering in its stride due to its injury, still manages to lead them on a merry chase before finally collapsing from loss of blood and exhaustion. Dave comes up on it first having moved ahead of James during the chase. The deer raises its head off the ground as he approaches, it tries to get to its feet to run away but is too week and stumbles back to the ground.
Reaching its side, Dave strikes out with his knife across its throat and ends its misery. The strike sends a splatter of blood droplets across his face. When James reaches him, he looks a gruesome sight with his face covered in blood as well as part of his clothing.
Dave turns at his approach and says, “Let’s get this back to camp.”
“Right,” agrees James. “Then maybe you need to wash up a little.”
Looking down at himself a moment, he then glances to his friend with a grin and asks, “I am a mess aren’t I?”
“Oh yeah,” affirms James. He takes the hindquarters and Dave takes the fore, together they raise the animal off the ground and that’s when James comes to the realization that he doesn’t know which way camp is. In all the excitement of chasing the deer, he got turned around. “Do you know which way is the camp?” he asks.
Dave glances around a moment and then says, “Uh, no.”
Trees in every direction as well as rolling hills, every direction looks the same. The light is fading fast and if they don’t find their way back soon they may not get back until morning.
“Which way?” asks Dave.
“Let’s set this down and I’ll figure it out,” he says. Setting the deer down, he picks up a small stick from the ground and rests it on his palm. Concentrating on Miko, he releases the magic and the stick swivels upon his palm until coming to rest pointing off to his right.
Nodding in that direction, he says, “They’re that way.” Releasing the magic, he drops the stick back to the ground and then bends over to pick up the deer. Grunting from its weight, he and Dave begin hauling it back to camp.
They slowly work their way through the trees as the light continues to fade, winding their way between two hills. It isn’t far before the smell of smoke from the campfire reaches them and they breathe a sigh of relief. Following the direction from which the smoke is originating, they continue around the hill until the light from the campfire comes into view.
He’s about ready to call a greeting when he stops in his tracks. Grabbing Dave, he pulls him down against the side of the hill. “That’s not our camp,” he whispers to his friend.
“Are you sure?” Dave asks.
“Yes. There are more people there than there should be,” he explains.
Letting the deer lie on the ground, they make their way to the top of the hill to overlook the camp. Upon reaching the crest, they gaze down and find over a dozen men sitting around a campfire. They’re too far away to hear what the men are saying but who they are is apparent. The armor some of them are wearing reveals them to be from the Empire.
He glances to Dave and can see that he’s reached the same conclusion. They stay there a few minutes and watch the activities of those in the camp below them. There are fourteen men at arms and two dressed in civilian attire. The men keep their armor on and the horses remain saddled.
The area in which the camp lies is a depression between two hills which would hide them from anyone passing through. Unless of course they stumbled upon them as James and Dave did.
Having seen enough, he indicates with a nod for them to return back down the hill. He and Dave slowly and quietly make their way to the bottom.
“What are they doing here?” Dave whispers.
“Only one thing would draw them this far from the Empire,” James replies.
“You?” he asks.
“Can’t think of anything else,” he states.
“But how would they know you’re here?”
“I don’t know,” he replies. “Magic probably.” This is getting irritating! Going to have to figure a way for them to stop tracking me. “We better hurry back and tell the others.”
Leaving the deer where it lies, they move away from the hill and then circumvent the camp with the Empire’s soldiers before continuing to follow the general direction the stick had indicated. About the time the light has completely faded, they see their campfire ahead of them through the trees.
When they emerge from the trees, Jiron is the first to notice them and comes to his feet in alarm. “What happened?” he asks.
James at first isn’t sure what elicited that reaction until he glances to Dave and sees that the deer’s blood still covers him. “He’s fine, just splatter from an animal,” he explains. “But we’ve got real problems.” He then tells them of the men camped less than a mile away.
“How in the world could they have tracked us here?” asks Fifer.
“Magic is the only explanation I can come up with,” he says. “What I don’t understand is, if they know we’re here, why haven’t they attacked yet?”
“They looked like they were settling in for a wait,” adds Dave as he begins cleaning the blood off. He glances at James then continues, “They kept their armor on and their horses remained saddled as well.”
Jiron gets a thoughtful look and then shakes his head. “It doesn’t make any sense,” he says. “They’ve never hesitated before.”
“They could be waiting on something,” suggests Qyrll. “Or somebody.”
“It’s possible,” James says.
“What if they were part of the force you encountered by Illion,” offers Fifer. “They may have reinforcements on the way.”
Remembering the creatures he fought, he doesn’t like the sound of more possibly being on the way. “It didn’t look like they were going to do anything tonight,” he tells them. “Let’s get some rest and post a sentry, not only to keep watch here but to keep an eye on the woods between here and there.”
“Good idea,” Jiron says. “If they move, we need warning.”
“Why don’t we just leave?” Dave asks. Every eye turns to him. “Hostile forces camped less than a mile away and you all want to just hang out until they attack. I don’t get you at all.” He glares back at them in turn.