Suddenly, a light encircles them and golden bands arc toward the sky where they meet above the center of the camp.
His men cry out and try to leave but soon realize they are trapped in a cage they can’t escape. That’s when Ragni realizes the mage is facing them. He’s shocked to see all their arrows in the ground, each one having missed their mark.
The mage says, “To follow is to die. Turn around and go home!”
Then the mage, his companions and the horses all begin to change. Their features turn into demonic visages and their hands become claws with long, sharp nails. They begin howling and growling as they advance upon them.
His men cry out with fear, pressing themselves as far away from the demonic creatures as they can. Two of them, warriors tested through many battles, faint dead away as the creatures come closer. Then suddenly, the creatures swell to twice their original size as they let out a roar of ear shattering intensity.
Then with a blinding flash of light, the creatures, the camp, and the cage disappear.
From a nearby hill, Jiron gives a quiet chuckle as he sees what’s going on over there. “Man you’re good,” he tells James.
James doesn’t respond, just continues watching, hoping it’ll be enough to dissuade them from continuing.
When the light flashes and all becomes still, he holds his breath, hoping it worked. Then suddenly the men down there erupt in a flurry of motion as they wake up the ones who fainted and run back to their horses. They mount quickly and he sighs with relief when they turn and race south just as fast as their horses will go. For these men, the chase is over.
Once the riders have moved through the hills and are once again out of sight, James stands up and makes his way with the others back down to where their horses are picketed.
“That should discourage any pursuit from them for awhile I would think,” announces James.
Laughing, Miko says, “I would think so. I thought they were going to soil themselves when we turned into demons.”
“How did you manage that, anyway?” Jiron asks.
“Can’t really explain,” replies James. “Has to do with light and perception.”
“It was effective anyway,” he says.
“Doubt if it would fool any serious mage,” he tells him. “Abula-Mazki wouldn’t have been fooled, I’m sure.”
Once they’re mounted, they head north again. Even though the pursuit from the south is stalled, if not stopped completely, there’s still the rider who’d raced north. James wonders what he is up to as they head once more to the north.
Chapter Thirteen
Continuing north until it’s almost dark, they then move toward the river so James can look around to see if there are any forces closing in.
He digs his pool again and once the water has filled it and becomes placid, begins to scan the countryside for hostiles. To the south, it’s clear. He smiles to himself when he realizes his attempts to thwart pursuit had met with success. To the east all he can find are more plains.
Looking westward past the river, he finds the road going north and south. He scans the road in both directions and is satisfied when he doesn’t see anyone upon it. There is a small town sitting on a crossroads further north, but nothing which concerns him is going on there. The road goes through the town as it continues its way north while another one begins, heading due west out of town.
The town there does have a garrison but doesn’t look to be very large and it shows no signs of preparing to leave. He moves the image northward and finds the river continues on through more plains until entering another set of hills.
Getting up, he says, “Looks like there is no one near, so it should be safe to have a fire tonight.”
“Good,” Miko exclaims. “I hate being in the dark out here.” He scans the area and tries to find sufficient fuel for the fire, but there’s not much available. When he has gathered all he can find, he looks at the small pile and says, “I doubt if this is going to last the night.”
“Probably not,” agrees Jiron. “But it should last through dinner.” He looks over and sees James returning to camp with three small rabbits. He takes them from him and proceeds to get them ready for the fire.
James sits and rests, a little tired from the magic expended earlier in the day. He seems to be able to do more with less effect as he goes along. Must be like weightlifting, the more you do, the more you can do.
Miko gets the fire going and in no time the rabbits are cooking.
The evening passes uneventfully after dinner as they take their turn at watch.
Before setting out in the morning, James goes back over to the small pool and again scans the area for hostiles. “Jiron!” he hollers.
When Jiron comes over, with Miko right behind, he shows them the large force of riders on the plains.
“Where are they?” Miko asks.
“Best I can figure, about an hour to the southeast,” he says. “And Abula-Mazki is with them. It looks like two or three times the number that we surprised back in the hills.”
“Is that all?” Jiron asks.
As he continues to scan, they see another force approaching from the northwest, having already entered the west side of the hills the river flows through to the north. “Looks like they have us boxed in,” says James.
“If we can make it north along the river quickly,” Jiron suggests, “we may be able to move past them before they connect with the riders.”
“Then we better hurry,” James says, getting up. They mount and quickly break into a gallop heading north. He wishes he still had his mirror so he can scan while riding, but that’s long gone at the bottom of the ocean.
Moving fast, they are soon approaching the hills to the north. Hoping to have beaten the soldiers coming from the west, they continue to follow the river as it moves among the hills.
Suddenly from the west, they see a scout crest a hill. They watch as he raises a horn to his lips and blasts a series of notes.
“That’s done it,” James says, just before a rock leaves his hand and sails toward the scout on the hill. They watch the rock fly through the air and then strike him, knocking him off his horse to the ground.
“They’ll be on us for sure, now,” Jiron says as he once more spurs his horse onward, the others following suit. They continue to follow the river as it meanders its way through the hills.
As they ride, the ground begins to change from hilly grasslands to more of a desert, like what they experienced when they were searching for Miko. Another horn rings out, James glances behind and spies another scout. Several more riders suddenly appear alongside him.
“We’ve got company!” he hollers.
Spurring their horses on to even greater speed, they fly alongside the river. The hills on either side of the river begin to rise and James realizes they’re entering a canyon of some kind. Not as big as the Grand Canyon back home, but large. As the sides of the canyon continue to rise, he’s quick to realize that if they sent forces to the other side, they may very well be trapped.
The ground becomes rockier and less stable the further into the canyon they move, forcing them to slow their speed. Behind them, the foot soldiers have entered the canyon as well and are following about a mile away.
Progressing still further into the canyon, they come across a series of wooden stakes with wooden crossbeams. Skulls and bones hang from them as well as pieces of leather, which James thinks might be skin.
“What is that?” Jiron asks.
“I’m not sure,” James replies. “It can’t be good though.”
As they pass the structure, James begins to see others scattered about the floor of the canyon as well. Some not very large, though a couple are even bigger and more complex than the first one they encountered.