Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (43 page)

A moment’s hesitation is all they need
before feeling the breeze once again coming from straight ahead of
them. Not worrying about the corridor to their right, they continue
on down the corridor ahead of them.

From where Jiron leads, he suddenly says, “I
think there’s light coming from up ahead.” Glancing back at James
he adds, “Douse the orb.”

“Right,” agrees James as the orb disappears,
plunging them into darkness. It takes their eyes a few moments to
adjust before they can make out the faint light from up ahead that
caught Jiron’s eye.

As they move closer, their excitement mounts
as they realize it is in fact sunlight coming in from the outside.
The corridor is blocked by a cave-in except for a small opening
near the top.

Jiron climbs the rubble pile and looks
through the opening. Turning back, he whispers excitedly, “I see
trees out there!”

“Can you make the hole bigger?” asks Aleya,
anxious to get out of the underground temple.

“I think so,” he replies. Soon rubble begins
to cascade down from the top as he begins widening the opening.

“Jiron,” James suddenly says, interrupting
his excavation.

Glancing back at him, Jiron pauses in his
labor and asks, “What?”

“Maybe we should rest here until night and
continue this once the sun goes down,” he suggests. “Then we could
get out without anyone noticing.”

Aleya gets a panicked look in her eyes at
the prospect of spending any more time in this old temple which is
now more of a tomb.

James lays his hand on her shoulder as he
says soothingly, “We’ll be okay. We’re right next to the opening.”
He can tell she has a strong desire to simply get out of here, but
her expression begins to soften as she realizes the logic of his
suggestion.

Nodding, she says, “I guess we could all do
with a rest before trying to reach Kern.”

“That’s the spirit,” he says, giving her a
big smile.

As Jiron comes down from the top of the
pile, he says, “If it hadn’t been for all we’ve already come
through, I wouldn’t want to stay down here either.”

“You’ve seen worse?” she asks.

“Oh yeah,” he says, coming close and sitting
down next to her. “I’ll tell you about it sometime when your
imagination won’t run away with you.”

“That bad, huh?” she asks, unconsciously
scooting slightly closer to Jiron.

“Oh man, yes,” he says with a laugh. “You
get into interesting situations if you stay long enough with
James.”

They sit down along the sides of the
corridor and break out what little rations they have left. Most of
what they had from last night is still on their horses. James sits
along the wall on one side of the corridor while Jiron and Aleya
sit on the other.

“I’ll take first watch,” offers Jiron after
everyone’s done eating. “You two try to get some sleep.”

“Very well,” agrees Aleya. Resting her head
against the wall, she closes her eyes and tries to relax.

James stretches out against the wall, lying
on his side and trying his best to use his arm as a pillow.

Jiron sits there next to Aleya and listens
to her breathe as she slowly slips away to sleep. He’s never felt
this way about anyone before. Oh sure, he’s had his share of girls,
but none had ever touched him as this one has.

Once Aleya at last succumbs to sleep, she
begins tipping to the side until her head at last rests on Jiron’s
shoulder. He moves slowly and works her head down until it’s
resting on his lap. Using his fingers, he gently moves the hair off
of her face and watches her as she sleeps.

Jiron’s tired. He’d let the others sleep
while he kept watch the entire time. It isn’t that he didn’t want
to rest and allow James a turn at watch. It was just that every
time he tried to get up, Aleya had stirred so he settled back down
so as not to disturb her.

When at last the light had faded from the
opening at the top of the rubble blocking the corridor, he waits
another hour until night has completely set in before waking the
others. He almost doesn’t want to, Aleya using his lap for a pillow
gives him a warm fuzzy inside.

Shaking her shoulder gently, he says, “Time
to go.” When she fails to wake up, he shakes it a little more
vigorously and repeats himself a little louder. “Let’s wake
up!”

Coming awake, she sits up and at first
begins to panic in the dark until James’ orb appears to dispel the
dark. “You stay awake the whole time?” James asks him.

Nodding, he replies, “Yeah. You two seemed
to need the sleep more than I.”

Aleya produces three strips of jerky and
hands each of them one. “This is the last I have,” she tells
them.

“Thanks,” they say in unison as they rip a
piece off and begin to chew the hard, stale meat.

Leaving his orb with the others, James
climbs to the opening at the top and gazes out. He can’t really
make out anything outside in the dark of night. Some light filters
down through the trees from the stars overhead, but it doesn’t do
more than make indistinct shadows.

“I don’t think anyone’s out there,” he says.
Finding a hand sized flat rock, he begins scraping away the debris,
enlarging the hole.

“Just be careful,” Jiron tells him. “Don’t
make too much noise, or someone may hear you.”

“I will,” he replies as he continues
clearing away the dirt and rock. When he at last has a hole large
enough for him to squeeze through, he sets his rock down and turns
back to the others. “I’m going to cancel the orb so it won’t
attract anyone’s attention,” he explains. After seeing Aleya’s nod,
he plunges them back into darkness.

“Follow me,” he says as he begins moving
through the opening.

Once he’s through, Aleya moves to follow
next. She removes her bow and quiver from behind her back and holds
them in front of her. At the opening, she whispers to James, “Here,
take these.” When he’s taken them from her, she squirms through to
the other side. Standing up, she reclaims her bow and arrows,
slinging them once more behind her back.

Jiron worms his way through the opening next
and soon they’re all standing together on the other side. In the
faint light from above, they can make out walls that had at one
time been a room, possibly underground before erosion or other
forces had opened it up.

The entire area is overgrown with trees and
vegetation. Someone just happening upon the area would’ve thought
it was just another part of the ruins dotting the mountainside.

“Now where?” James whispers to the
others.

“I don’t think it would be a good idea to
try to work our way through to Kern from here,” Aleya says quietly.
“Most likely, if they’re still searching for us, it’ll be between
here and there.”

“She’s right,” agrees Jiron. “We should try
to skirt around the forces and cross into Cardri west of Kern. Go
around the Empire’s forces rather than through them.”

“I like that idea,” replies James. “Lead
on.”

Keeping the downward slope of the mountain
to their right, they move carefully southward, hoping to avoid the
forces in the area. Where Jiron moves quietly through the woods,
Aleya is positively silent. James makes more noise than the other
two combined, much to his embarrassment.

They work their way further through the
woods and eventually come upon the road leading down from the
summit. Jiron pauses a moment as he asks, “Should we follow the
road or keep to the woods?”

“If we follow the road, won’t we run the
risk of coming across the Empire’s men?” asks Aleya.

“Probably,” states James. “Let’s stay to the
woods on the other side of the road and follow it down until we run
into someone.”

“Alright,” says Jiron. He then moves across
the road and enters the trees lining the other side. The others
follow right behind him.

The woods begin to thin out the further west
they go. As they pace the road, they begin working their way down
out of the mountain as well.

Jiron suddenly stops and holds up his hand,
indicating the others to stop as well. In the faint light, they see
him gesturing ahead of them and when James looks, can see the light
from a campfire flickering through the trees.

A camp with an unknown number of enemy
soldiers lies a hundred feet ahead of them. Taking it slow and
quiet, Jiron heads off to the left and leads them around the camp,
making sure to keep adequate distance between them so they won’t be
discovered.

At one point, they come to a halt when
raised voices can be heard coming from the camp. They hold still as
they listen to two men begin shouting at each other. Then the sound
of fighting can be heard as other voices start calling out, as if
encouraging the fighters onto greater bouts of skill.

“Let’s move!” whispers James and they resume
skirting around the camp. The brawl which had erupted for some
unknown reason allows them to move faster than before. Any noise
they’re likely to make now will be drowned out by the ruckus going
on back there.

Once they reached the far side of the camp,
they continue moving alongside the road and soon the sound behind
them diminishes altogether. Moving far more slowly and cautiously
now that every sound seems to resonate throughout the forest, they
soon begin to see the lights from the main force encamped within
the hills at the base of the mountain below them.

Judging by the number of campfires dotting
the hills, the army there must be over a thousand strong. The camp
itself seems to stretch almost a mile along the base of the
mountain, and extends almost half a mile across.

James has them pause a moment and gather
close around him. “Think we can make it around this?” he asks,
indicating the large force ahead of them.

“Don’t really have much of a choice,”
replies Jiron. “If we stay up here as we move around them, it may
be possible.” To Aleya, he asks, “How much further is Kern?”

“I’m not really sure,” she explains. “I
haven’t actually been here before. But I’d say maybe another five
miles to the west.” Which is on the other side of the army encamped
before them.

“Alright,” James says, coming to a decision.
“We’ll work our way around as best we can. We need to make it
around them before daylight. If we don’t, we’re going to be sitting
awfully exposed up here.” The trees have been thinning out
continuously as they’ve worked their way down the side of the
mountain and would give them limited cover in the daylight.

“Then let’s move quickly,” states Jiron. He
then begins moving through the trees as they start making their way
around the enemy army below them.

The army looks as if it’s been there a
while, the smell from the latrines would tell them that if nothing
else. Soldiers move from place to place, many are seated around the
fires, either having a meal or talking with their fellows.

Jiron stops suddenly and motions for James
to come closer.

“What?” asks James when he comes near.

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 title 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.