Pointing to a section of the enemy camp far to the right, he says, "Parvatis."

Sure enough, when he looks, James sees the unmistakable tattoos of the Parvatis. "Think the Shynti should pay them a visit?" he asks. Shynti being the t.i.tle accorded Jiron after defeating one of them in a blood duel. That designation has saved them on more than one occasion.

Shaking his head, he replies, "I don't think that would be wise. For one thing, I'd have to make it through the bulk of their army just to reach them and I don't think I'll be able to manage that."

Aleya just looks from one to the other, not understanding what they're talking about.

"You're probably right," agrees James.

Jiron turns to resume their trek around the camp when out of the trees ahead of them, a soldier comes into view. The man gasps when he sees them and before anyone has a chance to do anything, an arrow flies past Jiron's ear and hits the man in the chest, just below the neck.

The force of the arrow knocks him backward off his feet and into the tree behind him. His lifeless eyes stare at them as he slowly sags to the ground.

Jiron turns to Aleya where she's standing with bow still in hand and says, "Quick shooting."

She gives him a grin and replies, "Thanks." Moving forward, she reclaims her arrow from the dead man. After wiping the gore off on the man's shirt, she gives it a quick inspection then replaces it back in her quiver. When she notices the look on James' face, she says, "I don't have many left, may need it before too much longer."

"Right," he says.

"We better quicken our pace," states Jiron. "Where there's one, there's likely to be more." He then turns, and moving at a quicker pace than before, hurries through the trees.

As he follows Jiron, James worries about the dead man back there. If his fellows should discover him, the hunt will be on. Fortunately, dawn is still many hours away so maybe they'll make it before anyone discovers him.

After making their way through the trees for another hour, they finally come to the base of the mountains. In the faint light coming from above, they see before them through the trees the unmistakable sight of a road running east and west. "I think this is the road leading to Bindles," Jiron says.

"Yeah, I remember," replies James. The last time they came through this area, they were posing as merchants on their way to rescue Jiron's sister and Miko.

The road directly ahead of them is dark and looks deserted. Further to the west, it runs directly into the enemy camp and is well lit at a checkpoint guarded by a squad of men. Across the road from them to the south are more hills which gradually rise to become mountains.

As Jiron begins moving out of the trees and onto the road, Aleya grabs him by the arm and whispers, "Wait!" Pointing across the road, she directs their sight to a large boulder lying beside the road twenty feet away.

"What?" he whispers back after looking for a moment. "I don't see anything."

"Thought I saw something," she tells them.

"Maybe you..." begins James when a shadow moves next to the boulder. "A sentry!" he says quietly.

"Why would they have one this far from the checkpoint?" she asks.

"They know we're out here," Jiron begins to explain to her, "and that if we come this way we're most likely to give the lit checkpoint over there a wide berth. Which is exactly what we're doing."

"So," adds James, "thinking to go around it, we run into a soldier hiding in the dark."

"Exactly," confirms Jiron. "Fairly sneaky and almost worked if he would've kept still."

"What're we to do now?" Aleya asks.

"Just how good are you with that?" he asks her as he indicates her bow.

"You mean, can I hit him from here?" she asks. When he nods, she says, "I think so. Be harder in the dark since I can't see him clearly, but yes, I believe I could."

"Good," he replies. "If we take him out, we may be able to get by without undue attention."

"What if there're more out there?" James asks. "We could be alerting them to our presence."

"A chance we'll have to take," a.s.serts Jiron.

Aleya takes out one of her few remaining arrows and aims toward the boulder where the sentry is positioned. Drawing her bow back, she readies herself and holds until the shadow moves again. When she finally sees the shadow once more move, she lets the arrow go.

It flies through the air in the dark and they hear a gasp as the shadow stumbles away from the boulder and collapses on the road. Jiron rushes out from the trees toward the body of the sentry. Taking the dead man by the arms, he quickly drags the body behind the boulder and out of sight of anyone pa.s.sing this way.

No other shadows move in their vicinity, the dead man must've been the only one posted. James is the last one to cross the road and joins the others behind the boulder. "There doesn't appear to be anyone else around," he says as he joins them.

Aleya has her knife out and is currently working the arrow out from between the man's ribs where it had wedged itself upon impact. James is glad it's too dark to see clearly what she's doing.

"We're going to have to take it slow from here on out," Jiron tells them. "We've had two run-ins so far and most likely there'll be others."

After removing the arrow, she cleans it off on the dead man's clothes before returning it to her quiver. Getting up she nods her head and says, "I agree, this area is crawling with sentries."

Moving out, Jiron continues leading them south as they attempt to avoid the army camped less than a mile away. After moving deeper into the hills, he turns them more westward as he runs parallel to the encampment. They cover ground slowly as they keep vigilant for any sentries which may be in the area.

Keeping between the hills and rises, they work their way westward with only an occasional stop to climb to the top of one of the hills to determine if they've pa.s.sed the outlying fringe of the army. Seeing they're still south of the force, they return to the bottom and continue on.

It was during one such scouting excursion when they see a force of men moving in their direction from the west. Only a couple hundred feet away, they don't have time to get down off the hill before being seen. The force is keeping to the lower areas between the hills which gives Jiron an idea.

"Lie down flat upon the top of the hill," he whispers urgently to them. "In the dark, it's unlikely they'll see us up here."

Doing as he suggests, they lie down and remain absolutely still as the force approaches. The sound of their marching feet can be heard as they draw nearer. James hopes this works.

Quiet conversation can be heard coming from the approaching men. From the tone of their voices, it doesn't seem like they are searching for them, rather just pa.s.sing through. As the men reach the base of the hill upon which they're laying, James holds his breath, afraid that even the little sound that breathing makes will be heard by the men pa.s.sing just below them.

The tops of their helmets can be seen as they file pa.s.s, not more than ten feet away from where he lies. If the sun had been up, there would have been no way for them to be able to pull this off. But between the darkness and the fact that the soldiers don't expect them to be there, it works.

It isn't long before the column of men completely pa.s.ses by. Soon, the sound of their footsteps begins to fade as they move further away until finally dying out altogether.

Sitting up, Jiron whispers, "That was close."

"Yeah," agrees James. "I thought for sure we'd be spotted."

Off in the distance, the fringe of the enemy camp can be seen a little to their right. They've almost made it completely past. Far in the distance, the lights from Kern can be seen. "Not too much further," announces Aleya.

"The thing I'm worried about, should we make it there," says James "is the reception we'll have from Cardri's forces."

"What do you mean?" Aleya asks.

Turning to her, he explains, "They don't know who we are. For all they know, we're spies or soldiers of the Empire. I don't know if we'll find sanctuary there."

"So you think we should try to avoid them too?" asks Jiron.

"It wouldn't hurt if we could," he replies. "But I doubt if we'll be that fortunate."

Jiron nods his head as he starts descending the hill. Heading further to the west, they travel another hour as they put even more distance between themselves and the enemy camp. Once they've reached a point where the enemy encampment is far to the east, they turn north and begin their push to the Cardri lines.

By this time, the eastern sky has begun to lighten with the coming of the dawn. The hills they've been traveling through all evening are beginning to smooth out to gra.s.slands the further north they travel.

"We need to hurry!" James says as the sky continues to lighten.

Jiron nods as he breaks into a quick run. The others follow him and James is soon huffing and puffing in his attempt to keep up.

It isn't long before they leave the foothills behind altogether. Running along the gra.s.slands, James continues scanning the horizon all around for any movement which might indicate forces on the move. So far they've been lucky and haven't yet been spotted.

When the sun finally crests the horizon to the east, hors.e.m.e.n are seen riding across the horizon ahead of them. "Are they Cardri's?" asks James when Jiron brings them to a halt.

"Can't tell from this distance," Jiron replies.

They crouch down in the gra.s.s, hoping against hope for the riders to pa.s.s by without seeing them. When suddenly from behind them, a horn blares forth. James turns and looks behind them to see a dozen riders heading in their direction. The blast from the horn has caused the riders between them and Cardri to swing in their direction. Breaking into a fast gallop, the thirty or so hors.e.m.e.n begin heading their way.

"James!" Jiron cries out as he sees them turning to intercept them.

"I know!" he exclaims.

Aleya has her bow out and aimed at the hors.e.m.e.n coming up behind them as they're the closer force. Standing steady in the face of their charge, she lets fly an arrow which strikes the lead rider, knocking him off his horse. In one fluid motion she takes another arrow out of her quiver, sets it to the bowstring, draws back and releases. Another horseman is knocked off his horse by the impact of her second arrow.

Crumph!

The ground under the onrushing riders explodes upward throwing men and horses into the air. Three riders who were at the rear of the charge race through the flying debris.

Aleya, unfazed by James' display of magic, again sets arrow to string, draws back and lets fly. The arrow flies and strikes the last of the three riders square in the chest, causing him to fall off backward from his horse. His foot gets tangled in the stirrup as his horse careens off, dragging him along the ground.

Jiron moves forward, his two knives at the ready as the remaining two riders approach.

Her last arrow to string, she aims for the lead horse, rather than the rider. Letting the arrow go, it flies within inches of Jiron on its way and strikes the horse on the left in the forward right flank. The injury causes the horse to stumble to the right and into the other. Both horses fall to the ground, their riders jumping clear.

Seeing his chance, Jiron moves forward quickly and engages the first man before he has a chance to recover. A quick series of blows at the unbalanced soldier soon has him falling to the ground, his life's blood draining rapidly from the mortal wound in his side.

His partner, having regained his balance, draws his sword and advances upon Jiron.

Horns sound from all over as more forces rush to join in the fray. Foot soldiers begin swarming toward them from the direction of the encampment.

Crumph! Crumph! Crumph!

The northern force begins to be decimated as they start to feel the brunt of James' magic. As the rear riders make it through the falling debris from the explosions, they start to fall as James begins knocking them off their horses with stones.

As he continues taking out the force coming toward them from the north, Jiron faces off with the remaining soldier from the southern force. Deflecting the man's sword with skill honed through years of fighting in the fight pits back in the City of Light with one knife, he follows through with his other and leaves a red trail along the man's forearm as he opens up a six inch long cut.

Jiron sees Aleya moving behind the man he's fighting, going to the men she felled with her arrows. Whenever she gets one removed from a dead man, she immediately turns and fires it at the oncoming hors.e.m.e.n to the north.

"Get the horses!" he cries at her as he agilely moves to avoid a thrust by the soldier.

She glances to him and he jumps back to disengage from the soldier as he points to where several horses who weren't either killed or wounded have congregated. Nodding her head, she leaves her arrows in the dead men as she rushes over to the horses.

Reengaging the man, he feints to the head and when the soldier raises his sword to guard against the attack, he lashes out with his foot, taking him in the knee. A snap can be heard as the knee breaks and the man cries out in pain. Falling to the ground, he's easy prey to Jiron's knives and soon lies dead.

A quick glance shows the advancing footmen from the camp are still a ways away. He turns toward the advancing northern force and sees James has already reduced their number significantly.

Crumph!

Another explosion sends more riders and horses into the air, leaving only four from the original force of thirty left moving in their direction.

James is visibly tiring. The hard run earlier, plus the magic is taking its toll. He arcs his arm back and sends another stone flying as it takes out the lead rider, leaving three on the way.

As he gets ready to throw another stone, an arrow whizzes past and strikes the lead horse square in the chest. The horse stumbles and falls, tripping the horse next to it. Its rider is thrown and hits the ground hard, breaking his neck.

The remaining rider rides straight toward them, James and Jiron dive out of the way. The rider's sword comes within bare inches of James' head as he pa.s.ses. Turning, the rider comes again at James, intent on trampling him with his horse's hooves.

Just before he reaches James, Jiron leaps toward the rider and pulls him from his horse. A quick thrust with a knife leaves the rider dead. Getting up, he looks around just as another stone from James takes out the remaining advancing soldier.

"Get on!" Aleya says from where she sits atop one of the horses she'd appropriated. With two others in tow, she rides over to them and they quickly mount.

The tingling sensation of a mage doing magic suddenly washes over him. Looking to the approaching force from the camp, he can see a rider in a hooded robe, galloping fast as he begins pulling ahead of the footmen. "Jiron!" he exclaims as he points over to the approaching mage.

Jiron turns just in time to see a glowing ball of fire materialize above the mage and soar with lightning speed toward them.

James summons the magic and creates a barrier in the fireball's path. A great roaring explosion erupts when the fireball connects with the barrier, spraying flame and fire in all directions.

Spurring their horses into a gallop, James and the others make a dash for the Cardri side. Glancing back to the mage, they see him still riding hard in an attempt to stop them before they reach the safety of Cardri.

Another spike in the tingling sensation and James quickly looks back to the mage. Nothing is coming from that direction.

Suddenly a wide swath of the gra.s.s ahead of them bursts into flame, a veritable wall of fire. "He's going to burn us alive!" screams Aleya as she brings her horse to a sudden halt. The horse rears up in fear at the sight of the wall of flame before it, somehow she remains in the saddle.

The wind begins to pick up, fanning the flames toward them. James calls forth the magic to combat the flames when the tingling sensation once more spikes as another fireball arcs toward them. Changing tactics, he again creates another barrier which causes the fireball to once more explode in mid-air.

"James!" he hears Jiron call to him. Glancing back, he sees that Jiron and Aleya have already moved further west. Sitting there on his horse, Jiron motions for him to follow. Turning his horse, James kicks it into a gallop just as the tingling sensation once more spikes. Groaning, he glances behind him and through the waves of heat the flaming gra.s.s is emitting, he sees yet another fireball arcing toward them.

Sending forth the magic, he again detonates the fireball before it has a chance to close the distance.

"You okay?" shouts Jiron as he and Aleya kick their horses into a gallop.

Shaking his head, James replies, "Not really." Racing along the fringe of the fire, he begins to feel a gradual increase in the tingling. Suddenly, the speed of the wind increases rapidly as it begins whipping the fire into a roaring inferno directly at them.

A flaming stalk of gra.s.s which had been picked up by the wind strikes Aleya on the shoulder, sparks fly as she cries out from the burns. Flailing her arms wildly, she gets the burning brand off her but not before it ignites her long hair.

Jiron spies her predicament and brings his horse close where he uses his hand to put out the flames which had begun consuming her hair. When the fire is out only a small portion of her hair had been singed by the fire.

"Thanks," she says.

"Welcome!" he shouts back to her over the roaring of the fire pursuing them. Glancing back behind them to where James is following, he sees him beginning to secure himself in the saddle with a rope which had been coiled on the saddle.