Shades of the Past: The Morcyth Saga Book Six (41 page)

“Is there a town where we could acquire fresh
horses?” Jiron asks. “We could outdistance them over time if we
could.”

“Let me check,” he says as he returns to the
image upon the water. Northward lies nothing but desert. To the
west along the road a little north of the caravan sits a small
town. There’s an inn as well as several other businesses situated
along the road.

“I think I found one,” he says and then
relates what he saw.

“That will work,” states Jiron. “How
far?”

Checking the image again, he says, “Half an
hour give or take ten minutes.” Carefully removing the pouch, he
pours as much of the water as he can back in the water bottle. Once
the pouch and water bottle are again secured behind his saddle, he
mounts.

Indicating in which direction the town lies,
James nods for Jiron to again take the lead. Flying across the
desert they make good time, all the while the five riders remain
behind them. Less than a half hour later, the town appears ahead of
them.

Slowing his horse, Jiron indicates their
pursuers then says, “Deal with them and I’ll get us some
horses.”

“Very well,” replies James. To Jared he says,
“You stick with me.”

As Jiron gallops toward the town in search of
fresh horses, James and Jared turn to face the oncoming horsemen.
When the riders see them halting, they slow their pace.

“Come on!” yells James as he kicks his horse
into a gallop. Jared follows close behind.

Upon seeing them charging, the riders turn to
flee. James summons the magic and the ground near the fleeing
riders erupts in explosions. One explosion erupts under a horse and
throws the rider to the ground. The remaining four riders stop and
return to their fallen comrade.

Removing a slug from his belt, James launches
it at the nearest rider and feels the tingle of magic as it’s
deflected to the side. The tingling sensation increases as the
riders begin summoning magic.

James throws up a barrier around himself and
Jared as a ball of fire appears and arcs toward them. “Hold still!”
orders James when he sees Jared try to turn to flee.

Not heeding his command, Jared kicks his
horse into a gallop and smashes into the shield. His horse rears
backward and crashes into James’, throwing both riders to the
ground.

The barrier winks out as James hits the
ground. Rolling onto his back, he sees the fireball about to strike
and another barrier springs into being, cocooning him a second
before it strikes.

A scream of pain is ripped from Jared’s
throat as the fireball slams into him. James is surrounded by fire
as it envelopes his cocoon, rapidly raising the temperature
within.

Lashing out with magic of his own, James
blasts the fire off the barrier and gets back to his feet. Next to
him lies the twitching burnt body of Jared. The flame of the
fireball continues to burn him, his cries of pain echo across the
desert. His eyes flash open and look pleadingly to James.

Swallowing hard, James acquiesces to his
request and removes a slug from his belt. With the force of magic
behind it, he throws it and ends Jared’s torment. Turning back to
the mages, he finds three are still on horseback while the other is
on the ground seeing to the fallen rider.

Another fireball is arcing toward him and he
envelopes it with a barrier, dragging it to the ground. Unleashing
magic of his own, the ground begins to shake. The rider’s horses
begin to neigh and rear from fright. Two riders are bucked off
while the third hangs on for dear life as his horse takes flight
across the desert.

Suddenly, the ground beneath the remaining
four mages opens up. Two immediately fall in, the others grab onto
the edge and hang on. The shaking of the ground continues causing
one of the remaining two to lose his grip on the edge and
falls.

Magic springs to life from the four as they
work to counter what he’s doing. But whatever they are trying is
insufficient to stop him. With a clap, the two sides of the pit
slam shut upon the lads inside. The one hanging onto the lip of the
opening is caught as the shutting of the hole crushes his lower
half. After a moment’s agony, he grows still.

Stopping the flow of magic, the ground begins
to settle down. The rider whose horse bolted on him pauses several
hundred yards away for only a moment then turns and races away in
the desert.

Beginning to feel drained from the magical
endeavors, James returns to where Jared and the horses lie dead
upon the ground. Everything they had on the horses is now a charred
mess. He feels bad for Jared, emotions almost getting the better of
him. Putting the carnage behind him, he runs toward the town.

Before he even gets halfway there, Jiron
races from between two buildings on the outskirts, the reins of two
other horses held in his hands. Galloping fast, he sees James and
angles toward him.

James starts to wave to him when he sees a
dozen other riders emerge from between the same two buildings as
had Jiron. Their angered cries reach him as they chase after
Jiron.

James sighs and readies himself as Jiron and
his pursuers approach.

Crumph! Crumph! Crumph!

Three explosions throw dirt and sand before
the charging riders causing them to come to a brief halt.

Jiron reaches James as the dirt begins
falling back to the ground. Grabbing the saddle of one, James
quickly mounts.

He glances back to the scene of battle. “And
where’s Jared?” he asks.

“Dead,” replies James.

Jiron’s pursuers have halted behind the
blasted earth. James creates his orb and launches it toward
them.

Seeing the glowing orb flying toward them
after having the earth erupt and almost kill them is more than they
can stand. Three horses aren’t worth tangling with a mage of such
power. Turning back to town, they flee for their lives.

Once they are on their way back to town,
James cancels the orb. Turning their horses westward, they quickly
get to a gallop and race past the town. James fills Jiron in on
what happened and how Jared came to die.

“Damn!” curses James.

“What?” asks Jiron as he walks over to where
James is kneeling over a small pool of water. While Jiron was
watering the horses from the spring, James had dug a hole and
filled it with water to use to scan for hostiles. Looking over his
shoulder, he sees over fifty horsemen riding through the desert.
“So?”

“Take a closer look,” James says as he moves
aside to allow Jiron to take his place.

The riders whom he had first thought were
soldiers turn out to be mages. He glances to James and asks, “How
far away?”

“Can’t be more than an hour,” he figures. He
lets the water’s surface return to normal as he says, “I don’t
think I can handle that many. I took a closer look and several have
gray hair.”

“Meaning we are about to be hit by mages with
experience?” he asks.

Nodding, he adds “And with power I would
imagine.”

“What should we do?” Jiron asks.

“I don’t know,” he replies. “To the north I
saw some old ruins but nothing there that could even begin to
protect us against them I’m afraid.”

Walking over to where the horses are drinking
from the spring, they quickly get back in the saddle. Jiron gets a
thoughtful look and asks, “Could you raise another sandstorm?
Turned out to be quite effective the last time. We could ride north
and take shelter in those ruins you saw.”

“Maybe,” he says. “It might work if the storm
could be raging when they get to it. Else they may be able to stop
it before it even gets started.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” he asks.
Kicking his horse in the flanks he bolts away from the spring with
James right on his tail.

They keep a hard pace, trading off on the
spare horse to maintain the horses’ strength for as long as
possible. Little over an hour later, the first sign of the ruins
comes into view, a single broken wall jutting straight out of the
sand.

“We’re getting close,” comments Jiron as they
pass by the broken wall. Up ahead are still more jagged walls
jutting out of the sand. Most rise vertically while others leave
the ground at an angle.

“Strange,” breathes James as he glances at
the walls around them. As they progress further into the ruins of
what is beginning to appear to have once been a city, the number of
walls steadily grows. Again, some of the walls are vertical while
others are slanted in one direction or another.

As they pass through, they hunt for a
structure that will afford them some protection against the storm
James intends to summon. Several minutes after passing the first
broken wall, a series of more sizeable structures appears ahead of
them.

“Find us a place in which to shelter,” James
tells him indicating the structures ahead. Dismounting, he hands
his reins to Jiron and adds, “I need to begin this storm before
they come any closer.”

“Right,” he says. Taking the reins, he leaves
James to summon the storm and makes his way further into the ruins.
He passes sections of walls that once had been buildings. Some are
practically whole with but a single wall missing or a portion of
the roof. The wind begins to pick up and he glances back at James
who’s lost in concentration.
Take your time,
he thinks as he
hurries to find shelter.

Working his way through the ruins, he comes
across a stone dome rising several feet from the ground. At first
thinking it was resting on the ground, he’s soon to realize that
most of the dome is still beneath the ground with only the
uppermost section visible. That gives him a better appreciation of
the scale of the buildings that used to be here. He had thought the
broken walls they’ve come across were from the first floor of the
buildings. But taking into account the dome, these walls must be
what remains of the upper stories. No telling just how far down the
buildings actually extend.

Finally, he comes across a building with most
of the walls and good portion of the ceiling still intact. Taking
the horses through the hole in the wall, he walks them over to the
far side. Leaving them behind, he returns to tell James what he’s
found.

On his way back to James, the wind begins to
pick up. Sand starts flying through the air as the wind whips it up
off the ground. Pulling his shirt over his head to protect his
face, he hurries through the ruins.

He finds James exactly where he left him.
Eyes squinting tight to ward off the flying dust, he has a hand
over his nose and mouth in an attempt to keep the sand out.

“They’re fighting me!” he shouts to be heard
over the wind as Jiron comes to a stop before him.

“Can you hold it?” he asks.

“I doubt it,” replies James. “There are too
many working against me.”

“I found some shelter,” he tells him. “I left
the horses there.”

Nodding, James turns to look at him. “We
better get them. This storm isn’t going to last much longer.”

Taking him by the hand, Jiron says, “This
way.” As he leads him through the raging storm, the winds that had
begun to whip the sand violently begin to gradually subside.

Several mages lie unconscious on the floor
around the Table of Sight. The master in charge has been fighting
James’ control of the winds until the High Lord Magus arrives.
Still an hour behind him, they had begun to be affected by the
winds.

The master retains visual lock on their
quarry and watches as the other man leads him through the ruins of
Baerustin. When they enter the building wherein their horses were
left, he sees his chance to hold them until his lord arrives.

Just then, a First Circle mage comes hurrying
through the door. “The caravan is here,” he announces.

“Finally,” exclaims the master. “I need them
now! Hurry and bring the slaves to me.”

“Yes, sir,” the First says then backs out of
the room. He runs down the corridor until he reaches the courtyard
outside.

On the far side of the courtyard the porters
of the caravan have already begun unloading the various goods
purchased by the school. The First comes up to the caravan master
and says, “You’re late!”

“My apologies good master,” the caravan
master says humbly.

The First notices the pallor of his face.
“You don’t look too good,” he states.

“Been feeling down last couple of days,” he
explains. “I think the cook used bad meat or something and made us
all sick.”

“Where is the cook?” he asks.

“Killed him for poisoning us,” the caravan
master replies. “Tossed his body somewhere back along the
road.”

“I need the slaves now,” says the First.

“Let us untie them for you,” the caravan
master says as he begins to signal to his men.

Shaking his head, the First says, “Never mind
that.” Not willing to wait the minutes his men would take, the
First uses one of the first spells he ever learned. Summoning the
magic, he casts a spell of breaking to free the slaves all at once.
The casting of the spell triggers the seeds of destruction which
James had planted in the wagon beds a week before.

Ka-Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three massive explosions of immense
proportions detonate all at once. The force of it literally takes
out a third of the school and collapses the room containing the
Table of Sight. Taken unawares, his concentration firmly on what he
was about to do to hold James, the master at the Table doesn’t
react in time and is crushed by the falling stone of the ceiling.
The same stone which takes his life smashes through the Table,
destroying it.

Stone and rock launched into the air by the
blast begins to fall on the rest of the school. Massive chunks of
stone rip through roofs and cause even further damage as buildings
which were already weakened by the blast are struck by the falling
stone and give way.