When he wakes up in the morning, he sees Jiron sitting at the table holding a necklace of beads and hair. As he gets up, Jiron turns and waves him over to the table. "Here," he says as he hands him a note that was lying on the table. Taking the note, he reads what's written on it:

James,

Take this necklace, it will prove useful in the days ahead,

Lyria

He looks around and Jiron says, "She's not here. I looked for her but she's nowhere on the island. The boat's still here though."

Over on a side table is stacked a bunch of fruit and roots, "I guess we're suppose to take those with us?" he a.s.sumes. The idea of having something more than meat makes his mouth water.

"It looks that way," Jiron replies. "They weren't there last night." And then he indicates where three jackets and a tunic are lying on another small stand against the wall.

James examines the necklace for a moment, a leather string with beads and a four inch length of braided hair hanging from the middle. "Wonder what this is for?" he asks.

Shrugging, Jiron says, "A charm perhaps?"

"I don't think so," replies James. "There's no magic to it." He looks at it for a moment more before putting it into his belt pouch. Looking over to Miko who's still sleeping, he says, "Guess we better wake him and get going."

Jiron gets up and goes over, nudging him with his foot.

Snapping awake, Miko sits up and looks around, at first disoriented. Then he sees the stacked food on the side table and gets up as he makes his way over to them. "Is this for us?" he asks, turning slightly toward James.

"We think so," he replies.

Taking several of the fruits and a couple roots, he brings them over to the table and commences eating. He suddenly looks around and asks, "Where is she?"

"Don't know," Jiron tells him. "She was gone when I woke up."

"Too bad," he says through a mouth full of fruit. "I kind of liked her." Then he notices the tunic and jackets. Going over to them, he takes the tunic and slips it over his head glad to have one on again. He's been bare-chested ever since his old one had been used for James' leg. "A perfect fit," he announces. Then he takes one of the jackets and puts it on as well. When he finds it's too big, he looks through the other two until he comes across one that will fit him. He brings the others over to the table and hands them to Jiron and James.

The others try on the jackets and find them to be good fits as well. Then they begin eating the fruit and roots and when they're done, clean up their mess leaving the place as neat as they found it. They find a backpack of sorts sitting near the fruit. Placing the fruit inside, James shoulders it as they head outside where the boat is still tied to the dock.

"Hate leaving without saying goodbye," Miko says as he climbs into the boat.

"She understands, I'm sure," James a.s.sures him.

"I hope so, she sure was nice," he says.

Allowing the others to get in first, Jiron then unties the boat from the dock before jumping in. Pushing themselves away from the dock, they begin drifting out onto the lake. Jiron takes the oars and begins to row across the lake to the north. The mountains on the northern sh.o.r.e loom large above them.

They see where a river comes out of the mountains and flows into the lake. Deciding that following the river up into the mountains would be the best idea, Jiron aims the boat so they'll land several feet from where it enters the lake.

Grounding the boat upon the sh.o.r.e, they get out and Jiron looks at the boat and asks, "How is she going to get it back?"

"I'm sure she'll have little problem with that," James a.s.sures him.

"Hmmmm," mutters Jiron.

As they begin making their way along the river into the mountains, they're immediately grateful for the warm jackets that Lyria had supplied them. The air coming down off the mountains is quite cold in the early morning hours. James wonders how she could have gotten the jackets so fast and in the right sizes. Or did she know more than she let on when they talked the night before? Regardless, they have them now.

They make decent time as they follow the river, the land adjacent to it is not very overgrown with bushes and allows them to walk with little obstructions. Two hours after they left the lake, they come to where the river cascades down a series of waterfalls where the mountain rises abruptly ahead of them.

Jiron goes first as he begins to ascend the side of the mountain, using the bushes and trees growing along its face for handholds and support.

Miko goes next with James bringing up the rear, his leg feeling much better today after the rest of the night before. The hillside is not seriously steep and they are able to make it up with minimal problems. At the top, they discover the waterfall to be the outflow of another small lake. Several tributaries bring water to it from the surrounding mountains. One small waterfall cascades down one side of the mountain, falling into the lake as well.

They skirt around the lake and jump across several small tributaries as they make their way to a larger one at the far side. It's much smaller than the river they followed after disembarking from the boat.

With Jiron still leading the way away from the small lake, they continue to follow alongside the stream as it meanders its way further up into the mountains. They pause around noon for a quick meal, the sun now high overhead.

Miko has removed his jacket, the tunic giving him enough warmth in the midday sun. "Does anyone know where we're going?" he asks while eating some fruit.

"North," James tells him. "I doubt if anyone will be able to find us up here in the mountains."

"Let's hope not," Jiron says. "If we follow the mountains, and stay away from the roads, we may be able to make it a fair ways before trouble finds us again."

Finishing their meal, they resume following the stream. Miko's arms get tired from carrying the crossbow but he just grits his teeth and continues on. No matter how tired he gets from carrying it, he's not about to lose it. If trouble happens, he wants to be more help than he was last time.

The sword at his waist, though, that's another matter. It isn't long before he unhooks the belt and lets it fall to the ground. As he walks away from it, Jiron says, "You sure you want to do that?"

"I'm no good with it anyway," he explains. "If I use it in a fight, I probably would end up killing myself." He hefts the crossbow and continues, "I'll stick with this for now."

Jiron nods and turns his attention back to trying to find the best path along the stream. The trees here have grown closer together and the way through is not readily evident. Even though he's not a woodsman, he seems to be able to make due and find the way.

They continue on for the rest of the day, the stream they've been following slowly dwindling down to nothing. When the sun begins its descent toward the horizon, they make camp and spend some time acc.u.mulating enough wood to last through the night. It's going to be getting really cold when it gets dark and they need to be prepared.

James brings down a large animal, something like a deer, and they slice it up. They cook most of it in order to be able to carry some of it with them the next day. This going on roots and fruit is fine for a while, but a man needs meat to keep up his strength.

The following morning, they can see the mountains still continuing to rise to the north. Miko dreads more of the climbing and the cold but does his best to keep his mood up. He doesn't want to become a burden for the others. If the truth be known, he feels he's actually doing better than James who seems to be really struggling with it, what with his leg and all.

This day is more of the same as yesterday, trying to find a way through the mountains while still maintaining a northerly direction. Once they had to backtrack almost two hours when Jiron had steered them into a box canyon. They debated whether to attempt to scale the walls of the canyon or backtrack, but soon realized they were ill equipped for such a feat and wouldn't be unable to make it without serious injury.

Their mood was somber as they had to retrace land they'd thought was already behind them. Once out of the box canyon, they pick up what James calls a game trail and the going becomes somewhat easier for a mile or so before the trail disappears again.

That night, they're fortunate to find a cave they can use for shelter. Building a roaring fire to keep the cold at bay, they rest and relax while the carca.s.s of a small animal roasts on the fire. Miko gets credit for this one. He spotted it while out collecting firewood and brought it down with the crossbow. To everyone's surprise, as well as his own, he hit it. He was forced chase it down since it hadn't been killed outright.

He definitely felt part of the group when he brought it back to camp and got the congratulations from everyone.

Once dinner is over, they set up a schedule for watches and Miko takes the first one while the other two sleep. The night pa.s.ses quietly.

After another two days of trudging through the mountains, everyone has toughened up and the arduous trek is no longer so bad. Even Miko has stopped complaining as his muscles toughen up and James' leg is no longer hurting as badly, just the occasional throbbing.

When darkness begins to fall on the fifth day since leaving the lake area, they crest a ridge and look down on a small valley nestled between two peaks. It levels out for a while before rising on the other side.

"Good place to spend the night," James says.

Jiron nods his head and they begin making their way down to the bottom. As the light fades into twilight, they reach the floor of the little valley and are surprised when they come across a fire ring sitting in the middle of a clearing.

"Wonder who was here?" Miko asks, looking around.

"Whoever it was, they haven't been here for quite some time," James a.s.sures him. "Probably hunters use this place in the winter."

"Doesn't really matter," Jiron says. "They're not here and it's a good place for us to camp for the night." Turning to Miko he says, "Go get us some food master hunter."

Taking his crossbow, Miko replies, "Sure thing." Then he moves quietly out into the woods looking for dinner.

"Think he'll get anything?" James asks him.

Shrugging, Jiron replies, "He has the last two out of three times. He seems to be getting better with it, though."

"True," he agrees.

They get the fire going and have lots of wood stockpiled for the night when they hear Miko crashing through the forest toward them.

James smiles at Jiron and says, "He's not going to find anything if he keeps making all that noise."

Suddenly, Miko bursts out of the trees and runs into camp. "James!" he cries out.

Jiron is about to make a comment about the 'great hunter', when out of the brush behind Miko emerges a large bear-like creature. A crossbow bolt is sticking out of its hindquarters. When it sees them, it lets out with a roar and charges straight for them.

Jiron jumps to his feet, knives in hand as the bear approaches. Miko runs past them and then comes to a halt at the other side of the camp. He turns and watches James and Jiron as they confront the beast.

James lets out with a blast of energy that strikes the creature in the side. It doesn't even slow the creature, it just seems to make it madder.

Jiron steps backward, not wanting to close with it. His knives would be ineffective against such a brute.

Crumph!

The ground just in front of it erupts and throws it off its stride. A slug flies from James' hand and hits it in the side, lodging against a bone. d.a.m.n! This thing is tough! d.a.m.n! This thing is tough!

Creating his...o...b.. he tosses it in front of the beast and causes it to explode in blinding light.

The creature rears back, crying out in fear from all the unexpected attacks and then runs off into the woods. They can hear its cries as it continues to move further away.

As one, they turn to Miko who says, "I didn't even see it. I swear!" He looks back and forth between them and then continues, "I was aiming for a small rabbit. When I fired, it moved and the bolt flew past and into some bushes. I guess it was sitting on the other side of the bushes and got hit. It sat up and roared. Then it saw me there and started to chase me!"

They both continue to give him stern glares when suddenly, James starts chuckling. Then Jiron joins in until they're both laughing.

"It's not funny!" Miko yells. "I could have died!"

Which only makes them laugh all the harder. When they finally settle down, Miko is quite put out by them and sits down in a huff. "You guys don't care," he says, dejected.

Sobering up, James goes over to him and says, "Of course we care, but the whole situation was just too funny." He can't help himself as he breaks into another smile. "Don't feel bad."

"It's just that I didn't get anything for dinner," he tells him.

"That's okay, we still have plenty of meat from last night," he a.s.sures him. "And I think there are still some fruit and roots from Lyria's as well."

When he sees they're not really disappointed with him, he begins to smile a little.

They break out their rations and sit around the fire as they eat their dinner. Here in the mountains, when night falls, it falls fast. It's not long until they're in full night with only the stars and the almost full moon overhead to give light. They keep the fire going through the night in order to keep warm. Here in the mountains, it gets very cold when the sun goes down.

Chapter Ten.

Early the next morning as they are getting ready to continue on their way, James looks to the east and sees a band of hors.e.m.e.n coming through a gap in the ridge. "Jiron!" he exclaims, pointing over to them.

"Let's move!" Jiron hollers as they quickly run to the west, hoping to avoid detection. But that hope is short lived when they hear a horn, blaring. They glance back toward the hors.e.m.e.n and see them moving quickly in their direction, one of the riders is pointing to them.

Running through the trees as best they can, James tries to find a place to defend as he knows escape is no longer an option. They come to a steep side of the cliff where they can put their backs to as they face the oncoming hors.e.m.e.n.

The horn blares again and the riders come into view as they make their way through the trees before them. These hors.e.m.e.n aren't part of the Empire's forces, they wear leathers and most have short curved bows. Several of the bowmen have arrows knocked and aimed as they use their knees to steer their steeds.

"James!" Miko cries out. "What are you waiting for?"

The hors.e.m.e.n, though targeting them with bows, don't feel necessarily evil or dangerous. So he holds back and waits to see what they'll do.

At the hors.e.m.e.n's approach, Jiron draws his knives and Miko brings up his crossbow. James puts his hand on the crossbow and lowers it back down. He steps forward, holds his hand up and says, "Greetings."