Jiron hands him his portion and then gives James his. They sit there for a while in silence as they eat. James takes a look at the mountains surrounding them. Glancing to the south, he can’t really see where he caused the sides of the pass to cave-in as trees and mountain block his view.
“How far did we come last night?” he asks.
“Not sure, we traveled for several hours before stopping,” Jiron replies.
“We better push long and hard today,” continues James. “Abula-Mazki won’t be giving up so easily.”
“I hope he was caught in the landslide,” Miko adds.
“So do I,” agrees James, “but we can’t go on that assumption. We must act as if he’s still after us.”
“Where to now?” Jiron asks.
“Continue heading north,” James replies. “It’s all we can do.”
Once they finished their breakfast, they mount and continue down the side of the mountain. The trail they are following is fairly clear, having been traveled by riders on their way to the Gathering for a very long time.
It takes most of the day to reach the plains below the mountains. They turn more to the west as they continue along the foothills, traveling until the sun begins to fall. A hollow between two hills gives them a good place to remain hidden while they camp through the night.
While Jiron gets the fire going, James goes out and gets a couple rabbits for dinner. Once they’re on the fire roasting, they sit back and relax.
James wishes he had something to use to see if they are being pursued, but there are no pools of water to be found. He needs something that has a smooth, reflective surface in order to do it.
“Think we’re staying ahead of him?” asks Miko.
“Maybe,” replies Jiron. “It’s really hard to say. It all depends on how far he had to ride to find another way from the gathering. And if he’s willing to kill his horse in order to catch us.”
“Do you think the Grey Wolf Clan will aid him?” Miko asks.
“Probably,” answers James. “We messed up their camp pretty good, and probably insulted them in some way when we snatched you out from the middle of their camp.”
“Other clans may help as well,” Jiron guesses. “We did violate the peace, though I doubt if the Windriders will be among those coming after us.”
“Maybe,” agrees James. “If we can make it out of their lands, then maybe the clans won’t continue the pursuit.”
“Let’s hope so,” Miko sighs. “Is that why we’re moving more to the west? So hopefully we will be out of their lands?”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” Jiron says. “I just figured the hills would give us more cover than the open plains. But that’s a thought.”
“The forces of the Empire in this area would hardly be on the lookout for us,” reasons James. “If anything, they’d still be looking for us further south. We should have a day or two before Abula-Mazki has the chance to alert anyone.”
“If our luck holds, we may be able to keep ahead of the word of our whereabouts all the way to the border,” Jiron says optimistically.
“That would be nice,” James agrees, though doesn’t really feel that is a possibility.
James takes the first watch once they’ve eaten and are ready to bed down for the night.
In the morning, Jiron pulls out rations he found on the horses Therin had given them. After a quick bite to eat, they’re in the saddle and making their way through the hills. They continue to maintain a route to the west, with a slight northerly heading. The hills afford them some protection from being spotted but at the sacrifice of speed.
Some time after noon, they curve around a hill and suddenly before them is a road going north to south. They pause a moment before moving behind a hill bordering the road. Jiron dismounts and while the others wait with the horses, looks for any traffic moving upon the road.
He’s up there several minutes before coming back down. When he returns, he says, “There’s no one on the road and I could see it winding its way through the hills for miles in either direction.”
“Think we should chance it?” James asks him.
“We’d make better time, but you never know who’ll be using it,” he replies.
“Moving through the hills is slowing us down,” James tells him. “I think we need to chance it. If we keep a constant watch for anyone approaching, we might be okay.”
“Alright,” Jiron says as he remounts. Turning his horse toward the road, he continues, “Then let’s do it.” He leads them back to the road where they break into a gallop as they race to the north.
After only going several miles, the hills begin to smooth out until they’re once more in grassland. There’s a river to the west and as they go further north, it slowly draws closer.
Several more miles finds them where the road crosses the river. Ahead of them, a mile or so past the bridge, sits a large keep not far off the road.
They come to a stop in the road before crossing the bridge as they consider their options.
“Think there’s anyone still in there?” Miko asks, referring to the keep.
“From here it’s hard to tell,” Jiron replies. “I would think so though.”
James glances to the east where the hills begin again, about a mile away. “We should return to the hills, they’ll give us more of a chance to get by here without being seen,” he suggests.
“I agree,” says Jiron as he turns his horse and leads them at a gallop toward the cover of the hills.
As they reach the hills, James glances over to the distant keep and sees a force of cavalry coming out through the main gate. They’re heading down the road to the south.
“Jiron, we may have company!” he hollers to him.
Jiron looks over and sees them leaving the keep. Pushing their horses harder, they make their way into the hills. After they’ve put a large hill between them and the riders, they come to a stop and then dismount before climbing to the top of the hill. Peering over the crest of the hill, they see the riders continuing down the road to the south and not turning to follow them.
“I guess that answers whether anyone is in the keep or not,” James announces.
“Yeah,” agrees Miko. “It’s a good thing we got off the road when we did.”
“I’m just happy they didn’t see us,” says Jiron.
“Me too,” James says.
They climb back down to where their horses are awaiting them. Once they’re mounted again, they make their way through the hills toward the northeast.
An hour of riding brings them to where the hills end. To the north is nothing but open plains. To their left is the river where it turns to the north. They can still see the keep far to the west and are relieved when they fail to see anyone around.
“We’ll be pretty conspicuous out there,” Jiron says, indicating the open plains.
“Don’t have much choice unless we want to just sit here forever,” reasons James.
“Maybe we should stick close to the river?” Miko suggests.
Shaking his head, James replies, “Might not be a good idea. If there’ll be anyone around, most likely they’ll be by the river.”
“Oh,” he says.
“Let’s stick to the plains, but keep the river in view,” suggest Jiron.
“Alright,” agrees James. “As good a plan as any.”
Miko gives him an annoyed look.
“What?” James asks him.
“You never take my suggestions but are always taking his,” he accuses.
“Take it easy,” James tells him. “I don’t always take his suggestions. We, meaning all three of us, try to come up with the best course of action. Whichever one sounds the best, we do. Don’t take things so personally.”
Miko doesn’t look very satisfied with his response.
“Shall we?” Jiron asks, looking from one to the other.
“Let’s,” replies James. Miko gives a nod as well.
Jiron moves out, the others follow as he angles east, away from the river. They proceed until it’s just in view behind them before turning more directly to the north. As they travel, they keep a constant watch for anyone out upon the plains, but it looks as if they’re the only ones about.