The Unsuspecting Mage (52 page)

“Miko,” James says over his shoulder while indicating the horses of the fallen riders, “grab the horses, we’ll need them. Also search the dead riders for valuables or any papers.” Not looking to see whether or not Miko is doing what was asked of him, his attention remains focused on the four riders racing toward him, swords raised.

James concentrates and then lets the magic flow.

Crumph!

The ground under two of the charging riders erupts, throwing debris, horses and riders into the air.

James turns to the remaining two riders who are almost upon him and throws another stone, catching one in the chest, creating a hole as it passes through. James jumps to one side, rolling on the ground when the remaining rider strikes down at him with his sword. He feels its passing as it comes within inches.

The rider turns and tries to trample him with his horse’s hooves as he lies there on the ground.

James rolls out of the way quickly and then tries to stand up when one of the horse’s hooves clips him in the side of the head, knocking him down, causing the world to spin wildly.

He rolls on his back and sees a blurry horseman with sword raised, ready to finish him off. Sure that his time has come, James is surprised when two other blurry shapes jump up and grab the rider, pulling him off the horse.

As his vision begins to clear and becomes steady, he sees many people around him, all trying to express their gratitude. That’s when he realizes they were the people fleeing the oncoming slavers. Miko is standing there with two horses, smiling broadly.

The two riders who had been knocked off their horses by the erupting ground have been torn to pieces by the refugees. Several people are walking toward him from the dead bodies, each wielding a bloody knife or stick.

“We need to free the people in the slave lines behind the wagons,” he says as he tries to get up.

“Already being taken care of,” a man says as he points to four horses racing toward the wagon. Riding each is a man who earlier had been fleeing for his life. Now with a sword in their hands and vengeance in their hearts they ride to free their neighbors and friends. Others are following on foot to give what aid they can.

James regains his feet and looks around at all the faces. Some smiling but many have seen too many horrors to ever smile again. “Where are you from?” he asks.

“Pleasant Meadows,” answers one woman. “It’s further downstream where the road crosses the river. The Empire was seen last night heading in our direction and the whole town fled in every direction.” She looks at James and says, “I guess we were fortunate to flee this way.”

Many people around her nod their head in agreement.

James looks off toward the wagons and sees that two of them have already been liberated, the people in the slave lines being untied and led this way. The four riders are closing fast with the remaining wagon, engaging the two men on foot as they try to make a stand. One of the riders is struck and James sees him fall from his horse while the remaining riders strike and kill the last of the enemy.

“You better make as best time you can before the Empire sends scouts out this way and discovers what has happened,” James says. “If you follow the river toward the mountains, you’ll find an encampment of soldiers at the beginning of the Pass, they look to be friendly. You definitely don’t want to be here when the Empire shows up.”

James motions to Miko and he brings over the horses, giving him one. James swings up on the horse and looks over the people that surround him. Miko mounts as well.

“You mustn’t go there!” one man insists. “The Empire will surely not stop until they take the City. It is the key to the entire southern region of Madoc.”

“He’s right,” another interjects, “their forces are swarming this area, looking for people fleeing. You’ll never make it.”

“I appreciate your concern, but we must.” Turning to Miko he says, “Let’s go,” as he heads his horse toward the northeast. The people surrounding him make way and soon they are galloping across the hills with cries of gratitude following them.

When they’ve traveled a ways and are out of sight of the people they just aided, James stops his horse and turns to confront Miko. With anger in his voice he says, “You never,
NEVER!
tell anyone our business unless I tell you it’s okay to do so. Do you understand?”

Withering under James’ stern glare, Miko says defensively, “But who are they going to tell?”

“How about the Empire for one! If those poor souls back there get recaptured, the Empire is going to want to know what happened to their men.” Pointing back the way they had come he continues, “One of them is bound to tell them who it was and where we are going. What someone doesn’t know can’t be tortured out of them!”

“I don’t think they know our names,” Miko says in his defense.

“True, but they know what we look like and they know where we are going.” Shaking his head, he continues, “Miko, you need to learn when to talk and when not to. Our lives could very well depend on it.” Pausing for a moment, he looks in Miko’s eyes to see if he’s gotten his point across, “Okay?”

Feeling like he’s let his friend down, Miko hangs his head and says, “I’m sorry James. I’ll try to do better.”

“Don’t say try,” James replies kindly, “try means you expect to fail.” He puts his hand on Miko’s shoulder, gives him a smile and then turns his horse and kicks it into a gallop.

Miko silently vows silently to himself not to let James down again as he races after his friend.

Figuring the Empire’s forces are to the east and south of them, James bears even further to the north. The terrain slowly turns from hills to a rolling plain, tall grass waving in the summer breeze.

They make good time for several hours, when Miko suddenly yells “James, look!” as he points to the south.

James looks and they can barely make out column after column of soldiers marching toward the northeast. The dust they’re kicking up must be visible for miles away.

“They must be heading for the City of Light,” observes Miko. “Think it’s the same ones we saw earlier?”

“Doubt it,” states James. “We better hustle if we’re going to be able to reach the City of Light and still have time to get out before they arrive.”

James angles them now almost due north and they ride quickly until the soldiers are no longer visible on the horizon. They then go no more than a couple more miles when out of the north appear a score of horsemen heading south, right for them.

James immediately veers to the east and brings his horse to a gallop, trying to put distance between them, hoping to remain unobserved.

Looking over his shoulder at the riders, he sees them turning to give chase. From behind he hears Miko cry out, his horse has put a foot in a gopher hole and snapped its leg. Crashing to the ground, Miko is thrown off the horse and sails through the air before landing hard upon the ground.

James quickly turns and races back to where Miko is getting to his feet. Reaching down a hand, he swings the boy on the horse behind him. Looking northward again he sees the horsemen approaching fast. He kicks his horse in the side and they race toward the east, the riders continuing to follow.

“James!” Miko hollers. “They’re gaining.”

“I know,” he replies. “We’re not going to outrun them, not riding double.” Regardless, James continues to ride hard, prolonging the inevitable.

James slows his horse to a canter then turns to face the oncoming riders, finally bringing them to a stop. They both dismount to wait for the riders to approach.

Upon seeing them dismounted and waiting for their arrival, the riders slow their advance to a trot. When they reach James and Miko, they encircle them while two men with crossbows take aim and wait. One of the riders, an officer by the embroidery on his uniform, comes forward and asks, “Who are you and what business do you have in Madoc?”

“Then am I safe in assuming that you are not of the Empire?” James asks hopefully.

“That is correct,” the officer replies. “Now answer the question!”

“My name is James and this is my traveling companion Miko. We are on our way to the City of Light with a package to be delivered to the Great Library.”

The officer takes it, examining the package as well as the seal and then hands it back. “Okay, so you have a package bearing the seal of the Royal Custodian, but there is no proof that you are the couriers.”

“Well, no, that’s true,” James admits. “But I assure you that we are.”

Miko nods agreement.

“I don’t have the time or the manpower to deal with you right now,” says the officer, “so I will take you at your word. A spy from the Empire would have a more plausible reason for being here than that. Now,” he continues, looking intently at James, “on your way from the Pass, did you see anything of the Empire’s forces?”

Nodding, James tells him of seeing the columns of men they saw before leaving the river.

“Damn,” the officer exclaims, “we were hoping they hadn’t moved that far yet. What else?”

His men crowd around to hear what James has to say. “We ran into people fleeing the fall of a town called Pleasant Meadows,” he tells them, though leaving out the part he played in their escape. At the mention of Pleasant Meadows, several of the officer’s men curse and James can see anger and sadness appear on many faces.

“And then not too long ago we saw another army heading northeast,” he adds.

“Dire news indeed,” he says. “You may go on your way, though be careful. If Pleasant Meadows is taken then they are most likely continuing up the road to the City.” Pointing east the officer says, “They will be using the road due east of here, so if I were you I would make almost due north and hope to swing around them.”

“Thank you sir,” James says, and then looks over to Miko’s horse that’s lying on the ground, in great pain. “What about our horse?” he asks the officer.

The officer looks over at the horse and then gives a signal that’s followed by two crossbow bolts striking the horse, one in the head and the other in the chest, bringing an end to its pain. “Hate seeing a horse suffer so,” he says. Then to James he continues, “Can’t spare one for you, sorry. You’ll just have to make due with what you have.”

He signals his men and then mounts up. “Good luck,” he says to them before he and his men ride off toward the south at a gallop.

“Grab our stuff;” James tells Miko. “We’ll have to ride double, at least until we can acquire another horse.”

Miko collects the few bags he had on his horse and takes them over to James’ where he secures them behind the saddle. James mounts, then reaches down a hand and Miko swings up behind him. “Still better than walking, eh?” he says as they begin heading northward.

“A little bit,” Miko replies. “How far do you think the City is from here?”

“I’ve no clue,” says James. “Maybe a couple days, more if we have to detour around any of the Empire’s forces.”

They make good time, even riding double. The ground continues leveling off until it’s fairly flat, with tall grass swaying in the summer breeze. They continue their course for another two hours when they see an unusually large congregation of birds off to the east. Curious, James angles eastward to take a closer look.

There they find around fifty of the Empire’s forces, dead and bloating in the sun. The birds squawk and take to the air as they come near. The smell of rotting corpses is nauseating so they keep their distance.

“Looks like the Empire took a beating here,” says James.

“Good!” Miko exclaims. “Serves them right.”

They circle the field of battle for a ways but fail to find anyone other than the Empire’s men. “Either Madoc was really fortunate or they took their dead with them,” James reasons.

“Yeah,” Miko agrees, “the losers tend to stay where they fall unless their rotting corpses will bother someone.”

Not seeing anything of interest, James once more turns and makes speed northward.

During the ride, Miko eventually nods off, head lying against James’ back. He begins to dream of his life before James when he lived on the street and had no one to trust. In some ways he’s glad to be gone from there, but in others he misses his old life. No one was ever trying to kill him, at least not seriously.

Deep in a dream about he and a friend filching fruit from a merchant’s stand, he’s suddenly startled out of his reverie by the sudden motion of James jerking his arm forward. “What’s going on?” he asks sleepily.