Before the man even begins to fall to the ground, another stone flies and takes out the other sentry.
A cry comes up from the camp as they see the men fall. They’re looking to the north, thinking the attack originated in that direction. They begin to fan out away from the camp, swords drawn and at the ready.
Jiron and Fifer begin moving toward the camp as another stones flies and takes out the soldier closest to them. When he cries out and falls, the others turn to glance at their dead comrade and somehow fail to notice Jiron and Fifer moving toward them in the darkness.
Moving as silently as possible, they creep up behind two soldiers who have lagged behind their comrades. Moving quickly, they take the two soldiers out as another stone flies from the darkness behind them, killing another soldier.
The remaining four turn around and see Jiron and Fifer standing there, bathed in the light from the campfire, their dead comrades on the ground behind them. One soldier lets loose with a battle cry and then they all rush forward.
Jiron and Fifer move together, side to side to support each other as the soldiers attack. Fifer’s shield blocks a blow from one sword as his sword deflects the sword from the other.
After deflecting a thrust from one of his opponents, Jiron kicks out and connects with the man’s knee. An audible crack is heard as the man cries out and falls to the ground, his knee cap shattered.
Another slug flies out of the woods and takes one of Fifer’s opponents through the head, blasting off everything above the jawbone. The grisly sight stumbles backward and falls into one of the fires as its clothes and hair begin to burn, filling the area with a nauseating odor.
With only one opponent left, Jiron easily deflects the man’s sword as he thrusts with his other knife catching him across his exposed throat. The soldier stumbles backward as blood fountains from his severed jugular.
Fifer blocks and holds his opponent’s sword with his as he strikes out with his shield, knocking the man backward. Stumbling, he falls over his partner who’s cooking over the fire, and hits the ground.
Following after him, Fifer strikes down while the man is unable to defend himself and plunges his sword through his chest, piercing his heart.
Looking around, Jiron only sees the dead and the dying. Mercifully, he goes around and puts those who haven’t died yet out of their misery.
James and Miko come out of the forest leading their horse. “Everyone grab a horse and let’s get out of here,” James says as he pulls the man off the fire and begins kicking dirt on him to put it out.
Miko goes over to where the soldiers had their supplies and takes several pouches with food. He ties them on the horse he’s leading and then mounts up while he waits for the others.
James feels bad about the attack, but realizes there was little choice in the matter. He goes over to where the soldiers have their horses picketed and saddles one quickly. Jiron and Fifer do the same.
When the horses are ready, James and Jiron put the fires out to hide the evidence of their attack until morning. Mounting, they turn their horses again to the north as they move through the trees.
They don’t travel long before the trees open up onto plains again. They turn and follow the tree line as it moves to the northwest. As the moon clears the horizon, mountains can be seen ahead of them to the northwest.
“Are those the mountains you were talking about earlier?” James asks Fifer.
“Yeah,” he replies. “On the other side is where the Empire’s army was when we last went by.”
“How are you doing?” James asks Jiron.
“Tired, but alright,” he replies.
“Let’s go another couple hours,” James announces, “and when the sky begins to lighten, find a spot to hide throughout the day and rest. Tomorrow night, we can make the attempt to pass through their lines.”
“I’m for that,” Jiron says tiredly from where he’s riding next to him. The rigors of the last few days, not to mention lack of sleep, are definitely taking their toll on him.
They continue to follow the trees and soon the terrain turns into hills as they get closer to the mountains. When the sky begins to lighten, they search for somewhere to hide and rest until night.
Moving further into the trees, they come to a spot with a hill between them and the plains with the mountains behind them. Securing their horses, they set about making camp. Miko breaks out the food he’d acquired earlier and they have a meal of cold, stale rations along with the meat they still have from before.
The others allow Jiron to sleep the entire time as they take turns at watch. James again takes the first one with Miko following him in the dreaded mid watch.
During Fifer’s watch, he hears a commotion from the plains to the east and climbs to the top of the hill. Dozens of riders are riding to the north, fast. Must’ve found the slain soldiers back at their camp.
He continues watching them until they disappear in the distance. For the remainder of his watch, he remains sitting upon the hill overlooking the plains but sees no other riders passing during the afternoon.
When the light begins to fade, he comes back to the camp and proceeds to wake everyone up. Another quick meal and then they saddle up and mount. By this time, the sun has gone down and they’re able to leave the shelter of the trees without fear of being spotted.
Chapter Twenty Three
Back to the edge of the tree line, they move out into the grasslands in order to make better time. They continue to follow along the tree line as it moves north through the hills. The mountains grow large ahead of them and after an hour of riding, they reach their base. Skirting around the tall mountains, they stay in the foothills as they continue north. The hours pass as they follow the mountains on their left. Moving along the foothills is fairly easy, the waning moon giving them ample light to see.
An hour or two before the approach of dawn, they round a hill and come upon a camp of enemy soldiers. In their haste, they fail to take notice of the enemy camp before one of their sentries sees their approach and calls out to them. When they fail to answer, the soldier fires a crossbow bolt and begins shouting, alerting those within the camp to their presence.
The bolt flies past Jiron just as he brings his horse to a quick stop. Turning their horses around quickly, they flee to the south just as a horn begins to sound from the camp behind them. Far to the south, an answering call can be heard.
“Damn!” curses Jiron as he turns them eastward, riding fast away from the two forces. Horns blare behind them as they call to each other and in the moonlight, enemy riders can be seen racing out of the camp in pursuit. One of the riders sounds a horn when he catches sight of them fleeing across the grasslands, letting the entire countryside aware of their whereabouts.
It isn’t long before horns can be heard coming from ahead of them to the east as well. Having little choice, they turn to the north to avoid those ahead of them and ride hard as they try to outdistance their pursuers.
“James, can you do something?” Jiron hollers to him as he races close by.
“I can’t see them,” he replies. “I can’t be sure of being effective until I know just how many are back there and exactly where they are.”
“How far away is dawn?” Fifer asks.
“An hour,” guesses Jiron. “Maybe more.”
Another round from the horns behind them sound in the night. “We’ve got to silence those horns!” Fifer yells. “If we don’t, the armies ahead of us will know we’re coming and there goes our chance of sneaking through their lines.”
“How many do you think are behind us?” asks James.
“There were about twenty at the camp we almost ran into,” Jiron says. “Add to that the other two groups, maybe a hundred. More?”