When he stops in front of his chief, he begins talking quickly and animatedly. James watches the reaction of those hearing him, and at first there is silence, then there is annoyance, then anger. Some begin standing up and shouting.
The chief stands up and hollers to them, bringing quiet to the feasting area. He shouts out a series of orders and warriors jump to their feet as they quickly run out of the area.
“What’s going on?” asks James.
The chief turns to him and says, “The Grey Wolf Clan has dared to pass our borders and now are moving here. At least two other clans are with them.”
James knows why they’re here, and he glances to Miko and Jiron. The looks on their faces show they understand as well.
“What are you planning to do?” Jiron asks him.
“Tell them to leave, or make them,” he says with determination.
“Will they?” asks Miko.
The chief glances at him and with an evil grin says, “I hope not. But we will not be the first to shed blood this night, if they leave. If not, WAR!”
He gestures for a young Parvati, a lad of around Miko’s age to come over, “Jobi here will take you along the road north. If war comes here, you should not be.”
Jiron holds out his hand and says, “Thank you, you and your people. True friends you all have been and glad am I to bear the name of Shynti.”
The chief takes his hand and gives him a brief nod. After giving the lad some instructions, he turns and begins calling his warriors to him as he moves to meet the Grey Wolf Clan.
The lad says, “We must hurry.” He leads them back to their hut where their horses are still tied. Mounting, they turn to follow the lad who goes over to where several other lads are mounted and waiting. A couple of the boys call out greeting to Miko, obviously they’ve met earlier. He mounts the remaining horse, and then they move to the rear of the village.
The lads take an almost hidden path through the trees as they lead them away from the village. They ride single file as they follow the path among the trees and around the sides of the mountains.
After a couple hours, the path takes them near a small lake nestled in among the trees. Winding their way around it, they come out upon the road and quicken their pace as they turn north. They don’t travel far before a band of a hundred Parvati warriors passes them as they run south. “They’re gathering the warriors in case of war,” Jobi tells them.
“Think there will be?” James asks him.
“Probably, there is little love between my people and the Grey Wolf Clan,” he tells them.
The road suddenly branches and Jobi takes the road to the west which crosses a river coming from a larger lake to their right. Shortly after they leave the lake behind them, another band of warriors, well over two hundred strong, pass them heading south.
James almost feels sorry for the Grey Wolf Clan if they should fight the Parvatis. Almost. They continue down the road, making as best time they can in the moonlight. An hour after the warriors had passed them, a smaller road branches off to the right, but Jobi continues leading them north along the main road. The other boys with them trail along behind, perhaps acting as guards.
The sky to the east is beginning to lighten with the coming of the dawn. As they continue down the road, the mountains begin to smooth off into rolling hills again. By the time the sun can be seen in the sky, they’ve completely passed out of the mountains and are among the foothills.
Jobi brings them to a stop and says, “This is where we must leave you.”
“Thank you for bringing us through your lands safely,” Jiron says.
“It was our pleasure,” he replies. “To the north is the keep which guards the borders of the Empire and the Kirken Federation. It’s to the east of the main road, so stay on it and you should be fine.”
“Kirken Federation?” asks James.
“Several kingdoms to the east have banded together to keep the Empire from conquering them,” he explains. “Alone, they could never have halted the Empire, but together, they’re very formidable. Hostilities have broken out between the Federation and the Empire recently, but if you stay to the main road, you should be able to stay clear of it.”
“Thank you again,” James tells him.
“You’re welcome,” Jobi replies.
“May your swords drink deep,” Jiron says.
“May your knives drink deep,” replies Jobi as he turns his horse as he and the other Parvatis gallop back the way they’d come.
“Think this Kirken Federation would help us out?” Jiron asks.
“The enemy of our enemy isn’t always our friend,” James replies. “We’d better stay clear of them as well.”
“Alright,” says Jiron. “Let’s move, we’re getting closer to the northern boundary of the Empire.”
“I know,” replies James. “I’m a little surprised to have made it this far.”
“Me too,” adds Miko.
They break into a gallop as they head down the road to the north.
Chapter Sixteen
As the road continues northward, it stays among the hills for several miles before beginning to ease back into the grasslands. From up ahead, they see a group of riders coming toward them.
Miko begins to turn off the road, but James stops him. “They’ve already seen us,” he tells him. “If we run, they’ll chase us just to find out why.”
He then turns to Jiron and says, “If we just ride like we belong, maybe they’ll go right past.”
“Either way, they’re going to be here in a few minutes,” Jiron replies.
“Just continue on and stay calm,” James says.
Miko moves closer to James, with Jiron just a few feet in front of them.
As the riders near, they can tell they are part of the Empire’s cavalry. James watches them approach, his heart beating rapidly and then they ride right on past. The riders give them a once over as they go by, but fail to stop.
Once they’ve disappeared to the south, they all breathe a sigh of relief. “Why didn’t they stop us?” Miko asks. When James turns to look at him, he continues, “I mean, we don’t look like we belong here.”
“Most people see what they think they’re supposed to,” he tells him. “Since we were behaving normally and not acting odd, they assumed we belonged here.”
“When they get further south and hear about us, they’ll probably give the alarm,” says Jiron.
“Maybe,” he says. “Hopefully we’ll be further north and not have to worry about it by then.”
They continue moving north and Miko glances behind them every once in a while as he searches for the return of the riders.
A little past noon, they begin to see a town up ahead. It’s a fair sized town with a sizeable defensive wall. Many people can be seen moving along the outer perimeter of the walls, as well as guards walking along the top.
“We better steer clear of that,” Jiron says while they pause to consider their course of action.
“But which way to go?” asks James. “To the right looks to be hills but from what Jobi said, that may put us closer to the keep. Around the left side looks to be just plains with little chance to sneak by.”
“Let’s wait till dark,” suggests Miko. “Then we could pass by and not be seen.”
Nodding, James says, “That would give the horses a chance to rest as well.” Seeing how tired Miko is, adds, “We could use one too.”
They turn around and head back down the road several miles before turning off into the hills. When they’ve gone far enough into the hills that the road is no longer visible, they set up camp.
After the horses are staked out and they’ve had a bite to eat, Jiron climbs the hill overlooking the road in the distance. Lying down up there so as not to create a silhouette, he keeps watch while the others try to get some sleep. Able to do with little sleep, he doesn’t bother waking them up for a turn at watch.
From his vantage point, he can clearly see the road and it remains devoid of traffic throughout the rest of the day. By nightfall, when he determines it’s getting dark enough to conceal them, he returns to the camp and awakens the others.