Nodding, James says, "That would give the horses a chance to rest as well." Seeing how tired Miko is, adds, "We could use one too."

They turn around and head back down the road several miles before turning off into the hills. When they've gone far enough into the hills that the road is no longer visible, they set up camp.

After the horses are staked out and they've had a bite to eat, Jiron climbs the hill overlooking the road in the distance. Lying down up there so as not to create a silhouette, he keeps watch while the others try to get some sleep. Able to do with little sleep, he doesn't bother waking them up for a turn at watch.

From his vantage point, he can clearly see the road and it remains devoid of traffic throughout the rest of the day. By nightfall, when he determines it's getting dark enough to conceal them, he returns to the camp and awakens the others.

They quickly mount and again move to the road as they begin to return to the town. Off in the distance the town's lights become visible. Jiron leads them to the west, maintaining a goodly distance between them as they circ.u.mnavigate the town.

As they pa.s.s around the town, they come across a road heading out from the town to the west. Not seeing anyone coming or going, they cross it and continue moving around the town. Several farms are scattered in the area which cause them to take it slow, having to thread their way through them.

A dog barks at them as they pa.s.s close to one farmhouse. The front door opens and they can see the farmer outlined by the light inside the house as he stands in the doorway. He yells something at the dog and looks out into the night, but fails to see them pa.s.sing by in the dark.

The dog continues to bark and the man yells at it again. Giving a couple more barks, the dog finally becomes silent. The farmer stares out into the night for another minute before going back inside the house.

Upon reaching the far side of town, they pick the road up again and continue following it north. With the town now behind them, they're able to once more make good speed.

The three quarter moon gives them plenty of light to see by. As it slowly makes its arc across the sky, they move ever further toward the north. As it reaches its zenith, a band of riders can be heard approaching quickly out of the night from the east.

A shout can be heard coming from them, James looks and sees them there in the moonlight, heading straight for them. A crossbow bolt flies past as one of their pursuers takes a shot.

"Move!" James yells as he kicks his horse into a gallop. The other two follow suit as they race away from the approaching riders. Glancing back, he sees the riders turn to follow them. He can make out at least seven in the moonlight, there could be more in the darkness behind them, he's not sure.

"We're not going to be able to outrun them," announces Jiron.

James glances back and sees the riders are continuing to gain slowly. "You're right," he agrees. He brings his horse to a stop and turns to face them. Jiron and Miko do the same just as a bola flies out of the dark and wraps around him, pinning his arms to his sides.

Losing his balance, James tumbles backward off his horse and thuds to the ground. He snaps the bola in half with a thought just as Jiron and Miko fall to the ground, bolas wrapped around them as well.

Crumph!

The ground under the approaching riders explodes upward, throwing them in every direction. James draws his knife and soon has Jiron free as the remaining riders approach.

Jumping to his feet, Jiron takes the severed pieces of the bola which had bound him and throws them at the approaching hors.e.m.e.n. One flies wide, but the other half connects with the lead horse in the chest causing him to stumble and throw its rider.

A stone flies and takes the remaining rider through the middle, gore exploding out his back.

Jiron engages the man who had just been thrown from his horse, his knives easily deflecting the sword of the rider. From behind he hears James yell, "Need him alive!"

Concentrating now on the sword and less on attack, he bides his time. Suddenly, he sees the maneuver he was waiting for. When the rider thrusts with his sword, he locks his knives together around the blade and with a twist of his wrists, the sword goes flying.

The rider tries to turn and flee, but Jiron tackles him and puts a knife to his throat.

James comes up to them and asks the captured rider, "Who are you?"

The rider just stares back defiantly.

"You are not of the Empire," he says holding a bola. "This, if nothing else, would indicate that. I have not seen anything like this in the Empire before."

Continuing on maintaining a defiant demeanor, the rider lies there uncooperatively.

"Are you from the Kirken Federation?" he asks. "That would be my guess, perhaps a raiding party?"

The man's eyes flinch just enough for James to know he'd hit the mark. "Let him go Jiron," he says.

Not taking his knife away, he says, "But they tried to kill us."

Looking at the man, James asks, "If we let you go, will you return from where you came and leave us alone?"

The man stares at James a moment, considering the voracity of his words. Then, he nods his head affirmatively.

To Jiron, he says, "Let him go."

Jiron slowly pulls the knife away from the man's throat. When no attack is forthcoming from him, he gets slowly to his feet, never taking his eyes off the Kirken soldier.

As the man stands up, James tells him, "We are not of the Empire, we are from the north and are currently at war with the Empire ourselves."

"Madoc?" the man asks.

"He is," James says, indicating Jiron. Gesturing to Miko and himself, he says, "We're from Cardri."

The Kirken says, "We thought you to be the Empire's men." He looks around at his men lying dead around him before returning his attention to James, "A costly mistake."

"We would not want to count the Kirken's as enemies," James says.

The man nods, "You are not, and I'm sorry we attacked you." He goes over to a horse and grabs the dangling reins. "I must return and tell of what happened here. You're welcome to come with me."

Shaking his head, James says, "No, we cannot take the time, I'm afraid."

"As you wish," he says. He rounds up the other horses and then places the dead upon their backs, securing them into place. Then he ties the horses in line before mounting the lead horse. Then with a wave, he's off.

They watch him as he disappears into the night with the bodies of his dead comrades. "It's a shame they had to die," James says.

"Fortunes of war, I'm afraid," Jiron adds.

"Why didn't we go with him?" Miko asks. "It seemed like a good idea."

"We don't want to get caught up in someone else's war," he says. "We've got our own problems and duties."

"What duties?" he asks.

"Have you forgotten so soon?" he asks, pointing to his pouch.

"Oh, right," he says then drops to a whisper, "the Fire."

"Exactly," replies James. "We can't risk anyone getting their hands on it or even knowing about it."

Getting back on their horses, they begin moving once more toward the north. They travel for several minutes when Jiron asks, "Just what did they hit us with anyway?"

"It's called a bola," he explains. "It's a length of rope with weights at both ends. They twirl it and then let it fly at their target. If they do it right, then the target gets wrapped up and entangled."

"Those things seemed pretty effective," he says.

Nodding, James continues, "I've known them to be spiked and even have metal wires running the length of the rope to prevent it from being cut."

"Nasty," he hears Miko say.

"It can be," admits James.

They ride on in silence as they eat up the miles. In a short while, they come to where a new road forms going west, into the heart of the Empire. Staying with the northerly route, they soon leave it behind.

After midnight, they stop for a quick meal of old rations, plus some from the Parvati's. "You know," James begins, "this riding at night is a whole lot better than riding in the day."

"Yeah," pipes up Miko. "No one can see us pa.s.sing by."

"Exactly," replies James. "Maybe we can keep this up till we reach Madoc."

"Maybe," Jiron agrees. "As long as we're able to find a place to hole up during the day."

From up ahead, lights of a town begin to be visible. This town is a lot smaller than the one they'd skirted around earlier in the evening. Jiron leads them westward around it, making their way again through the farms and homes along the outskirts.

Once they made it to the north side of town, Jiron again leads them along the road to the north. The trees become denser as they move further away from the town. After only a mile or so, the trees become so thick, their upper branches virtually block out the light of the moon.

The road is quite dark now so James casts his light spell, just enough to be able to discern their way and stay upon the road. The night becomes stiller as they continue along the road through the forest. Off in the distance, they can hear the sound of wolves and other nocturnal creatures.

A shiver goes up James' back as he remembers his first night in this world when poor Seth had been torn to pieces. If I would have known then what I do now, he would still be alive. If I would have known then what I do now, he would still be alive.

Several hours later, they come to a small river flowing to the south, a bridge had been built over it. The hollow sound of the horses' hooves walking across reminds James of Ichabod in Sleepy Hollow. He almost expects to hear the maniacal laugh of the headless horseman as he comes charging out of the woods.

They continue through the forest for several more hours before the sky begins to lighten. Once it becomes bright enough, James cancels his light spell. The forest is a little less foreboding in the light than it had been in the dark.

"Should we find a spot to hole up for the day?" asks Miko.

"Naw," replies James. "We'd loose too much time, daylight's longer in the summer than the winter. Let's ride another hour or two before we stop."

Obviously tired and wanting nothing more than to get off the horse and sleep, Miko nods his head. James looks over to his friend, understanding his need, but they must continue to make time while they can.

He feels like they must be nearing the border, couple more days or so and they should be there. That's when the fun is really going to start as they try to break through the lines. Hopefully, Madoc's soldiers won't mistake them for the Empire and attack. That's been James' biggest worry for the last day or so. Ever since the Kirken's mistook them for the Empire and attacked, he's been worried about other non-hostiles doing the same.

From up ahead, they begin to hear the sound of wagons coming their way. Jiron leads them off into the woods to hide as they approach. A small caravan of ten wagons and an accompaniment of twenty of the Empire's cavalry slowly make their way by.

"Those wagons are coming from a mine," whispers Miko.

"How can you tell?" Jiron asks him.

"I know, trust me," he replies. "There must be a mining complex somewhere to the north."

"I'm not destroying this one," James announces a little too loud. One of the cavalrymen turns to look out into the forest in their direction as he pauses a moment.

Holding very still and quiet, they look through the trees at the rider as he continues to search. Another of the cavalrymen comes over to him and they begin having a quiet conversation. The other man looks out in their direction as well, but after a couple more moments, he says something to the other and they both resume their place along the wagons.

Once the wagons have pa.s.sed their hiding places and have moved further down the road, Jiron walks to the road and looks south after the departing wagons. When he sees the wagons are out of sight, he waves the others back onto the road.

"Sorry," apologizes James for his lapse in judgment back there when he spoke too loudly.

"Don't worry about it, nothing happened," a.s.sures Jiron.

They turn and continue back toward the north. "Wonder what they were carrying that requires an escort?" Miko asks.

"Could just be so the Kirken's won't attack it," suggests James.

"You're probably right," agrees Jiron.

"We'll need to keep on our guard from here on out," says James. "If this is an ore shipment route, they'll probably have patrols or guards all along this stretch of the road."

Jiron glances back to him and nods before turning back. They quicken their pace, anxious to get out of the confining forest.

Two hours later, they're all getting fatigued, and the horses are starting to show signs of wear. They decide it's time to stop and move into the forest, far enough from the road so anyone pa.s.sing by will be unable to see them through the trees. Tying the horses to neighboring trees, they take a moment to clear a camp before settling down.

James takes the first watch, with Jiron taking the last. Miko hates the middle watch, he never seems to get adequate sleep when he does. During James' watch, he hears horses moving fast from the north and disappearing to the south. He tells Miko about the riders when it's his turn at watch.

Jiron wakes everyone up when the light in the forest begins to fade. They have a quick meal of stale rations before mounting up and moving back to the road.

After several miles, James begins to realize the trees here don't seem nearly as thick as the ones the night before, light from the moon is able to filter down through them more effectively. The road is barely discernable in the faint light, but enough can be seen so James doesn't have to create his...o...b..

They travel down the road for several more hours before the trees begin to thin out even more. The ground begins to rise and fall as they enter what seems to be rolling hills. "If there are mountains ahead, that would explain where those wagons had come from," James says.

"We'll see," replies Jiron. Leading them on, he keeps a brisk, distance eating pace.

The road begins to wind through a series of increasingly tall hills and after it goes around a large one, the lights from a small village appear in the distance ahead. The road proceeds directly down the center of the village. There are not many buildings, kind of reminding James of a ghost town he once visited with his family.

"Do we go around?" Miko asks.

"The hills are getting pretty steep," Jiron says.

"We may have no choice but to go through," James tells him. "We can't afford to stumble around in rugged hills at night."

"There doesn't seem to be any guards or soldiers around," Jiron announces.

James gives the village a long look and nods his head, "You're right, I don't see any either." He glances from one to the other before continuing, "Let's chance it. Move in and pa.s.s through as quickly as possible."

Moving quickly, not so fast as to draw undue notice, they move toward the town. As soon as they pa.s.s the first building, someone sitting on its steps calls a greeting to them.

Unable to speak the language, Jiron just waves as he continues on through. As they pa.s.s by the one who greeted them, the man calls to them again but they pointedly ignore him. Then from behind they hear the man obviously swear at them, Miko turns around and sees him waving his fist. The man soon stops and to Miko's relief, settles back down on the steps.

Others call out to them as they pa.s.s through the town as well, and they hear curses follow them when they fail to respond to them.

At the outskirts on the other side of town, they breathe a sigh of relief as they pa.s.s the last building. They glance back to the town and see several people there staring after them but are making no move to follow.