Jiron and Fifer come over to them, each leading two horses. Once they’re all mounted, Jiron asks, “Which way?”
“Where did Lord Pytherian go?” asks James.
“He went more to the north, why?” replies Fifer.
“Then let’s move eastward and try to draw off those behind us and give him time to get through the lines,” he says.
“You sure?” Jiron asks.
“Yeah,” replies James.
They turn and begin moving toward the east, the sky there behind the mountains beginning to show the first signs of the approach of dawn.
Chapter Twenty One
As they push on eastward, they keep to a steady, mile eating pace that won’t overly tire the horses. When the sky becomes brighter, they see ahead of them where the terrain is once again turning into hills before finally becoming the mountains rising in the distance. It isn’t long before they leave the grasslands behind and enter the hills.
Behind them, there is still no sign of the approaching force, but they know they’re there. They come across a small spring in the lee of a hill and decide to pause for a short break to eat and give the horses a chance to regain their strength.
Jiron climbs to the top of the hill and looks to the west. “See anything?” Fifer shouts up at him from where he’s filling his water bottle at the spring.
Shaking his head, Jiron hollers back, “It doesn’t look like they’re following us.” After a few more minutes of scanning for the enemy, he returns back down the hill to the others.
James is lying stretched out on the ground, trying to rest for the few minutes they’ll be staying here. Jiron comes over and sits next to him. Gesturing over to Miko, he says quietly so only he can hear him, “Is it my imagination, or is he getting taller?”
Sitting up abruptly, James looks over to where Miko is sitting quietly next to Fifer. Nodding, he replies, “Maybe, I hope not though.”
“Why?” Jiron asks.
Lowering his voice so as to practically be unheard, he says, “If he is, it’s the Fire doing it to him and that can’t be good. The sooner we can get it away from him, the better.”
“Why don’t you take it?” asks Jiron.
“I don’t dare,” he replies. “It might be safe enough hanging in a pouch, but I might inadvertently reach in and touch it. From what the ghost of the priest of Morcyth said, that would be bad.”
“What if one of us takes it?” he suggests.
“No,” he replies. “I think it best if only one of us is affected by it.”
“So what are we to do?” he says as he glances to Miko.
“Nothing right now,” answers James. “Just hope nothing too bad comes of it. As soon as we’re back in Cardri, I’ll find somewhere to hide it.”
Changing the subject, Jiron asks, “Can you do your scanning thing to see where those forces that were following us went to?”
Sighing, he says, “Alright, but after that I’m going to need to avoid magic for a while. I’m starting to feel the effects.”
“Headache again?” guesses Jiron.
Nodding, James replies, “Yeah. It’s not too bad right now, but if I should need to call on the magic in an emergency, it could get much worse.” Getting up, he moves over to the spring and kneels down in front of it.
“What’s going on?” asks Fifer.
“He’s going to try to find the force that was behind us,” explains Jiron.
Interested, Fifer comes over and watches as the surface of the pool begins to shimmer and suddenly focuses on an aerial view of them.
James scrolls the image westward and it isn’t long before they see the large force of foot soldiers moving to the northeast. The image suddenly moves further to the northeast and they see Lord Pytherian where he’s stopped at the edge of a forest taking a short break. If the army continues on its present course, they’ll run right into him.
The image disappears as James stands up and says, “It looks like they’re moving straight for Lord Pytherian.” He glances to the others gathered around him and continues, “We’ll need to convince that army to come this way.”
“How?” Jiron asks.
“We’ll attack,” he states.
“You’ve got to be kidding, right?” Fifer says in disbelief. “The four of us, against that?”
“I’m not saying that we’ll wade in with guns ablazing, no,” he tells him. “But, we could convince them to alter their course enough to bypass Lord Pytherian. Or at least slow their progress down.”
“How?” Jiron asks, intrigued at the prospect.
“Come close enough so they’ll send someone to investigate us,” he explains. “Then take them out. I’ll use magic so if there’s any mages within the group, they’ll know I’m here. That should give them reason enough to come after us.”
“You going to be up to that?” Jiron asks him.
Shrugging, he replies, “It’s an hour or so before we get to them, I should be okay for a little magic by then. Besides, if we don’t turn them this way, Lord Pytherian may not be able to get safely through the lines. He’ll be rushed to make it through with this force nipping on his heals and that could prove disastrous for him.”
“Then let’s get moving,” Jiron says as he walks over toward where the horses are picketed. Mounting, he waits while the others get up on their horses and then leads them along a route which should intersect with the route the army is taking.
Once they’ve left the hills behind, it isn’t long before they see the dust on the horizon the army kicks up as it marches. “Let’s maintain this distance,” James says after they’ve moved a little closer to them. “We’ll just move along parallel with them until they take notice.”
Keeping the Empire’s forces in sight, they maintain a leisurely pace. Their force is primarily foot with some cavalry mixed in. It takes a full ten minutes before the army finally realizes they’re there. Suddenly, they hear a horn blast and six horsemen break off from the main group as they gallop toward them.
“Seems we finally got their attention,” Jiron states.
“Took them long enough,” replies Fifer. “I thought we’d have to holler over to them to let them know we were even here.” Jiron gives out with a bark of laughter at that.
“Look,” Miko says, “the foot soldiers are beginning to move in this direction.”
“This might just work,” says James. He waits for a minute or two to allow the riders to come closer before he releases the magic.
Crumph!
The ground beneath the riders explodes upward, creating a large dust cloud. When the dust cloud dissipates, they find all six riders lying broken and still amidst their dead steeds.
More horns sound from within the host and suddenly the bulk of the riders break into a gallop northward as the foot turn and begin moving directly toward them.
“Where are they going?” asks Miko as the riders move out of sight to the north.
“Most likely trying to cut us off so the foot will have a chance to catch up with us,” replies James.
“But aren’t they worried about you doing more spells against them?” he asks.
He begins to feel the prickling sensation of magic and says, “They have a mage with them, and if he’s been following all that I’ve done, he should realize I haven’t much left in me.”
“Oh,” grunts Miko.
“Shouldn’t we be moving now?” asks Fifer as the foot soldiers begin closing the distance rapidly.
“Absolutely,” says Jiron as he turns back to the east. They all break into a quick gallop, making sure not to outrun the foot soldiers as they race for the mountains.
When they’re finally back among the hills, they make sure to pass over a hill from time to time to allow the pursuing army to keep track of their position. They continue this strategy for another hour, managing to keep the army behind them at a constant, yet safe, distance.
Suddenly from the north, horns begin sounding. From behind them, horns can be heard answering them. Topping a hill, they look to the north. James hears Fifer gasp beside him when he sees a force of riders approaching, with some foot soldiers mixed in. A force over twice the size they’d seen break off from the pursuing army earlier. “I guess we know where those riders had been going,” James says.