Crumph!

...the ground a little way away from the edge of the barrier explodes upward, peppering the nearby soldiers with dirt and rocks. There were no soldiers in the vicinity, James only wanted to demonstrate his power in the hopes of resolving the situation without bloodshed, if possible.

The officer looks at the hole in the ground, thankful that none of his men had been there at the time. Defeated, he calls out to his men.

James watches as their weapons begin falling to the ground. "Now, have them begin moving back that way," he says, indicating back down the road to the north.

The officer again calls out and his men begin walking toward the north, some moving quicker than others.

"What are you going to do with me?" he asks.

"Nothing," replies James. "I'm not a killer, despite what you may have heard. Once they're far enough away, we'll leave." He sees the surprise in the officer's eyes at that. Leaning forward slightly, he adds, "If you follow us, then I will kill you." His serious expression leaving no doubt that he will follow through on his threat.

Jiron gets back on his horse and watches as the soldiers continue moving away to the north. He glances to James and can see sweat beginning to form. The exertion of continuing the shield, the orbs in the sky and all they've been through the last few days are starting to take a toll.

James sits and waits while the men move further away from their weapons. When they've gone far enough to suit him, he says to the officer, "Please don't follow us. I would really hate to have to kill you and your men."

The orbs wink out, plunging the entire area into darkness once more. On the ground around them, a few of the lanterns that were left by the departing soldiers still give off some light, so they're not completely in the dark. He was about to cancel the barrier when he suddenly feels the tingling sensation forewarning of nearby magic. Then the feeling spikes and from the north he sees a red glowing blob flying straight for them.

"Look out!" he cries as it hits the barrier.

Magic is sucked out of him in staggering quant.i.ties in order to keep the barrier stable. The red blob begins oozing down the side when the barrier suddenly gives way. The red blob, no longer held up by the barrier, falls directly on the officer.

With a scream of agony, the officer is enveloped by the blob and James looks in horror as the red substance begins dissolving his flesh away.

"Ride!" he yells to Jiron and they turn their horses south, riding as fast as their horses can go.

"What was that?" asks Jiron as he bends low over the neck of his horse to gain as much speed as he can.

James is unable to answer as spots begin to dance in front of his eyes and he fights merely to stay conscious. That took far too much out of him.

"James!" cries Jiron next to him. "Stay with me man!"

The coolness of the rushing air gradually brings him away from the edge of unconsciousness. Behind him, he knows whoever was the source of the red blob is still doing magic for the tingling stays with him.

"We've got to get out of here!" he tells Jiron when he again has control of his voice.

"Why?" he asks. "What was that?"

"I don't know what it was," he replies. "But the magic felt familiar. I think it was another warrior priest, though I'm not for sure."

"d.a.m.n!" he exclaims.

The sound of pursuit follows them as an unknown number of riders chase them in the dark. Suddenly, the tingling sensations spikes again and he yells, "To the right!" They both swerve to the right just as another of those blobs strikes the road where they would've been if they had kept going straight. A slight sizzle can be heard from where it hit the ground.

Behind them, dozens of riders can be seen in the moonlight behind them. And they're closing quickly. "Do something!" yells Jiron.

James is having a hard time thinking, his mind is already tired from when the barrier had initially been struck. "To the left!" he cries as the tingling sensation once more spikes. Swerving to the left, they barely get out of the way before the blob hits the road a few feet from them. That was too close! That was too close!

An image springs to mind of another time when they were being pursued on horseback and he had created holes in the ground to slow their pursuers. Concentrating hard, he begins creating a patchwork in the ground behind them of foot deep holes that will entrap and break the horses' legs.

From behind them in the dark, they begin to hear screams of horses as they encounter the holes. The tingling which had been constant since leaving the town abruptly stops.

"I think that slowed them down," he tells Jiron as they continue racing through the night. "I can no longer feel the presence of magic back there."

"Think you killed him?" Jiron asks hopefully.

"I would think that's highly unlikely," he replies. "Most likely his concentration was broken when his horse collapsed after stepping in one of those holes."

"Is that what you did?" he asks.

"I hate hurting the horses, but I didn't know what else to do," he replies in regret.

"You did what you had to do," he says, trying to a.s.suage his guilt over what he did to the horses. They ride on for a few minutes before he says, "This isn't going to slow them down very long."

"I know. They'll be after us as soon as they get more horses," he says. "Which shouldn't take very long."

"If we follow this road far enough I think we'll come to the town Bindles," Jiron says. "You remember that town we first came to after leaving the mountains last time?"

"I remember," he says.

"There was a road there going west along the southern edge of the mountains which may lead us to Cardri," explains Jiron.

"If we can reach Cardri," James tells him, "whoever is back there won't dare to continue following us unless they're willing to risk war."

"Let's hope he takes that into consideration."

James continues attempting to sense the working of magic behind them as they ride, but so far, nothing. Sometime after leaving Mountainside behind them, they reached the end of the fire ravaged area. The mountains on their right again have a full forest of trees upon them, enough to shelter them from anyone traveling along the road.

"Maybe we should get off the road now," suggests Jiron. "Remember that officer back there said a rider came through and warned them about us. Anyone further ahead will be alerted and looking for us." Glancing to James he adds, "We don't want another ambush like the last one, not with that other force hot on our heels."

"Good idea," agrees James.

Moving off the road, they begin making their way up the mountain and into the shelter of the forest. After putting a mile or so between them and the road, they decide to make a brief camp. The horses are on the verge of exhaustion and both of them could do with a few hours of rest before heading out again.

Jiron takes the first watch and after letting James rest only three hours, he wakes him for his turn. "Don't fall asleep!" he warns. He knows James is incredibly tired, but he needs sleep too.

"I won't," James a.s.sures him. Getting to his feet, he begins walking around the camp in order to remain awake. After his second pa.s.s around, he glances over and sees Jiron has fallen asleep. The night here in the forest is anything but comforting. Every shadow, every sound, startles him in expectation of enemy soldiers coming for them.

After what seems several hours, the sky to the east begins to lighten and he realizes he's wandered some distance from their camp. Using the sound of the horses to guide him, he makes his way back.

Snap!

Behind him he hears the sound of a twig breaking and quickly turns to find someone standing there, arrow knocked and aimed right at his heart.

Chapter Twenty.

"What do we have here?" she asks with a grim expression.

James is slightly surprised to find the archer is a woman, a young one at that. She couldn't be more than seventeen or eighteen. Dressed in greens and browns, she blends in well with the forest, her long auburn hair tied in a ponytail. No telling how long she had been in the vicinity before making her presence known.

"My name is James," he replies. "A wanderer."

"Spy of the Empire no doubt," she says. "I should just kill you right where you stand." She pulls the bowstring back a fraction of an inch.

"I'm not a spy!" he a.s.serts, trying to prevent the arrow from being released.

"No one wanders these woods in times like these unless they're up to no good," she says.

"Believe me," he says, "I am no servant of the Empire." He glances briefly over to where their camp lies. The horses are visible where they're tied but there's no sign of Jiron. Scanning the woods behind the woman, he sees him working his way quietly through the trees to get around behind her.

"What business do you have here then?" she asks.

"Merely trying to get back to my home in Cardri," he tells her.

"Perhaps," she says.

Jiron is closing the distance quickly, now no more than ten feet behind her. James sees one of his knives in his hand as he sneaks up behind her.

"One more step," she says loudly, c.o.c.king her head to the side, "and I'll kill your friend." When Jiron comes to a halt, she glances back to him. Nodding to James, she says, "Go over and stand by your friend. Now!"

Jiron doesn't resheathe his knife but does what she says and makes his way over to stand next to James.

"So, two wanderers," she states.

"We are no friends of the Empire, you can rest a.s.sured lady," Jiron says to her. "In fact, we're trying to escape from them." He gives her a serious look and then continues, "We all need to be getting out of here. A large force has been tailing us since yesterday and could be in the area at any time."

"I saw the force you mentioned earlier," she tells them. "It went past earlier as it made its way south."

As James stands there with the arrow pointing menacingly at him, he begins to once more feel the tingling of magic being worked in the area. "Jiron," he says nervously. "I feel it again."

"Where?" he asks looking around, the danger from the woman now ignored.

"I'm not sure, but it's getting stronger," he replies. "They may be heading back."

Jiron moves to return to the horses when the woman says, "Stay right there! I don't know what kind of trick you're playing here, but it's not going to work."

"This isn't a trick," insists James, fear growing in his voice. "A mage of some power is out there, and he is drawing near."

"You expect me to believe that?" she asks. "I don't think so."

Further down the mountain, the sound of a large number of individuals can be heard as they forge their way through the brush. She glances down and her eyes widen when she makes out the unmistakable sight of Empire soldiers heading their way.

Seeing them too, James says, "Now do you believe us?"

Nodding her head, she relaxes her bow and quickly replaces her arrow in the quiver behind her shoulder. As James and Jiron begin running toward the horses, she says, "Leave them!" When they both look at her, she continues, "They'll just slow you down in the forest. Follow me." She then slings her bow behind her shoulder as she turns and begins running through the trees.

Jiron looks to him and James only shrugs. Breaking into a run, they follow her as she races through the undergrowth. "Where are we going?" asks James when they finally catch up to her.

"I know a trail that will take us through the mountains," she tells them. "It comes out near the fortress of Kern on the Cardri-Empire border."

"How long will it take?" Jiron asks.

"About three days perhaps longer," she replies. "Longer still if we can't shake the pursuit."

The sound of their pursuers gradually diminishes as she takes them further up into the higher elevations. They all remain quiet as they work to navigate the sometimes steep and narrow way. Boulders and fallen trees have to be circ.u.mvented and at times scaled in order to continue.

They come to a cliff face with a small trickle of water running down its side. Turning to them, she says, "We have to climb up to the top of this." Indicating a section of the wall, she adds, "Start here, it affords the best hand and footholds than anywhere else."

She reaches out and takes hold of a crack and begins the ascent. When she's gone about ten feet, Jiron looks to James and asks, "You want to go next?"

"You better, I might end up falling and I wouldn't want to knock you down in the process."

"It's only about thirty feet," states Jiron. "You can make it."

Looking dubious at the prospect, he steps to the wall and begins following her with Jiron's help. Once James has gone far enough to allow him room, Jiron steps to the wall and begins his ascent.

When James is halfway up, he hears her voice from where she's standing at the top of the cliff, "Hurry up."

"Do you see anyone coming?" Jiron shouts up to her.

She looks out for a moment then replies, "No. All I can see is the tops of the trees. They could be just right below and I wouldn't know it."

"Great!" he hears Jiron grunt below him.

As he reaches the top he sees her hand reaching down to help him up the rest of the way. Taking it, he's soon up over the edge and lying on the top. Arms and legs shaking from the ordeal, he just lies there a few moments until he sees Jiron's head crest over the top.

She reaches down to help him as well, but he just shakes his head as he makes the rest of the way on his own.

"We can have a short break here," she tells them as Jiron gains the top.

James sits up and reaches into his belt pouch where he pulls out the pitiful remnants of what use to be rations, oh so long ago. Grimacing, he takes a bite out of the stale fare and looks up to see her grinning at him. "What's so funny?" he asks.

"Just your expression when you bit into that," she explains with a slight laugh. She pulls out some jerked beef and hands him several strips. "Here, you can have some of mine." When she sees Jiron's hungry looks, she gives him some as well.