Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (21 page)

“He’ll be coming back!” Jiron whispers to
James.

“Not necessarily,” he says. “Remember, there
were two of them.”

“Right,” he remembers.

They reach a tent adjacent to the one
they’re after and pause as they see Abula-Mazki returning to the
tent. The expression on his face is one of obvious anger.

From the other side of the camp, the other
bubble begins emitting invisible bursts of magic, which do nothing
other than create a magical signature. James can feel the prickling
as each of the bursts happen. Looking at Abula-Mazki, it’s apparent
that he feels them too.

The warrior priest calls out commands as he
and the warriors near him run over toward where the bursts are
originating.

Once they are past, Jiron crosses to the
back of the tent and with a quick swipe from his knife, opens a
long slit in it.

He quickly steps through the opening and
dives to the side when he detects a movement out of the corner of
his eye. The sword of the guard which had been stationed inside the
tent passes just inches from where Jiron had entered the tent.
Rolling quick, Jiron comes to his feet with both knives at the
ready.

The guard calls out to those outside but the
noise out there drowns out his words. Jiron moves to engage him and
attempts to draw him away from the opening in the side of the tent
so James can enter.

James pokes his head through and sees them
battling a dozen feet away. Passing through, he moves away from
where Jiron and the guard are battling, staying near the side of
the tent. Tied to the central pole of the tent, Miko sits with his
hands secured behind him. Coming over, he takes his knife out and
cuts his bonds.

“Thank god you’re here!” Miko says as he
gets up off the floor.

“Never mind that now,” James tells him.
“We’ve got to get out of here.” He looks over to where Jiron and
the guard are still fighting. Neither one seems able to get the
advantage over the other.

Jiron is able to deflect the blows of the
guard but so far has been unable to successfully counter attack.
James sees his difficulty and picks up a stool and tosses it over
behind the guard, causing him to trip.

Off balance, the guard falls to the ground
and Jiron is able to sink a knife several inches into the man’s
thigh. Leaving the knife there, Jiron falls upon the man as they
wrestle for the sword.

The man punches out and connects with
Jiron’s jaw, snapping his head back. Jiron uses his knee and
catches the man in the groin causing him to gasp in pain.

Seeing them on the floor, Miko comes over
and kicks the guard in the side of the head which leaves him dazed.
Jiron then has little trouble in taking the sword away and with his
remaining knife, slices him across the throat.

He retrieves his other knife from the man’s
thigh and wipes them both off on the dead man’s tunic. Seeing James
has already freed Miko, he moves to the opening in the side of the
tent just as the night lights up with a loud explosion which can be
heard as the remaining bubble detonates.

“That’s it,” James tells them. “They’ll be
back soon.” He tosses a tunic he’d found in the tent over to Miko
so he’d blend in better.

“Then let’s not wait around for them to
return,” Jiron says as he opens the slit and makes his way out of
the tent.

He waits a moment, scanning the area as the
others exit, and then they run in the opposite way from where they
heard that last explosion. Running as fast as they can, they race
past tent after tent until they reach the edge of the Grey Wolf
Clan’s camp. Warriors are running around like ants whose anthill
has just had a stick poked in it. James grins at the analogy.
I
suppose it has!

Finding that they are now on the outskirts
of the entire Gathering, they see a wide open area between the edge
of the tents and where the trees begin. Running fast, they cover
the distance to the trees before anyone takes notice of them. Jiron
again takes the lead as they make their way through to the northern
ridge.

The camp behind them is total chaos,
warriors swarm the area and several horns can be heard. Other areas
of the Gathering are in an uproar as well as after the two large
explosions in the Grey Wolf Clan’s area.

“They’re not going to let us just walk out
of here,” Jiron says. “We have violated the Pact and I’m sure the
protection of the Windriders will be withdrawn shortly if it hasn’t
already.”

“Then let’s hurry and reach the northern
passage out of here before they begin a serious search for us,”
James suggests.

Angling as directly to the northern pass as
they can, they break into a run toward the northern ridge.
Suddenly, out of the trees ahead of them, appears a group of
horses.

Jiron’s knives jump to his hands and James
readies a spell before they realize that it’s Therin with several
other Windriders. Therin has a big smile on his face as he
approaches them. “I can see now why they want you so bad,” he
says.

He signals a rider who brings out three
horses. “Take these horses and fly swift,” he says.

As James mounts, he says, “Aren’t you
running the risk of violating the Pact?”

“Probably,” he says, “but that’s my concern.
And don’t worry about the horses leading the trail back to us. We
stole these from the Grey Wolf Clan.” At that, a couple of the
other riders break out laughing.

When they’re mounted, James says, “Thanks
again.”

“You are welcome,” he replies. “Though you
may not want to come this way ever again.”

“I understand,” James says as he turns his
horse toward the north.

“Good luck,” Therin says. “And ride
fast!”

They kick their horses and ride for the
northern passage through the mountains. Jiron again takes the lead
as they quickly leave Therin and the other riders behind.

“Think he’ll get into trouble?” Miko asks
him.

“I hope not,” James replies. “But like he
said, I don’t think we should ever come this way again.”

As they progress toward the pass, they see a
large group of riders now following behind them. James can feel the
prickling of magic, telling him Abula-Mazki is among them. “It
didn’t take them long to determine where we were going,” James
observes.

“He probably did the same trick to find you
that you used to find Miko,” Jiron explains.

“You’re probably right,” agrees James.

“We’ll never lose them as long as he’s
behind us,” Jiron says.

“I know,” replies James. “I’m working on
that.”

The terrain suddenly rises steeply as they
near the upper reaches of the pass. Suddenly, they find themselves
between two tall ridges as they enter the pass. The pass is wide
enough to accommodate several horses side by side and they continue
racing through to the other side. The full moon above gives them
ample light to see by.

Halfway through, James brings his horse to a
sudden halt and quickly dismounts. Jiron soon realizes he’s not
with him and glances back. When he sees him there in the pass, he
stops and turns his horse around. Moving back, he asks, “What’s
wrong?”

James glances up to him and replies, “Just
trying to slow the pursuit.”

Jiron watches the pass behind them as James
does his thing. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees glowing
circular spots flash briefly upon the sides of the pass. They
extended at least thirty feet up and after the last one flashes, he
sees James slump to the ground again.

He quickly dismounts and helps James get up
on his horse, tying him in place. “Haven’t much time,” he hears
James say once he has him secured to the saddle.

Nodding, he gets mounted himself and they
begin racing toward the far end of the pass. Jiron looks back, and
can see riders in the moonlight as they begin entering the pass.
Abula-Mazki is in the lead and riding hard to catch them.

Crumph!

When the riders are less than twenty yards
from where James had worked the magic, the sides of the pass
explode outwards, causing the ridges on both sides to sag into the
pass. Gigantic sections of the ridge fall and crush the leading
edge of the pursuing riders, Abula-Mazki among them. Cries from
horses and men can be heard out of the mammoth dust cloud rolling
through the pass.

Jiron pauses momentarily, waiting for the
dust to clear. When it does, he sees the pass is now completely
blocked by a pile of rubble, several hundred feet high. Even though
he’s seen the effect James’ magic can have, it still amazes him. He
turns back to the north and quickly makes it to the other side.

They catch up with Miko who’s waiting for
them at the other end of the pass. They continue down the trail as
it leaves the pass and begin to descend down the other side of the
mountains.

“Think that’ll stop them?” Miko asks
Jiron.

“If it doesn’t, then that warrior priest is
more powerful than anything I can imagine,” he replies.

“Good,” says Miko.

They slow their pace a little to save the
horses and travel for several more hours before finding a spot to
make camp. Miko and Jiron take turns at watch, seeing as how James
is already asleep.

Worried about pursuit, they keep the horses
saddled and the one who’s on watch keeps extra alert during their
vigil.

James awakens with the rising of the sun,
tired and head aching slightly. He sits up and finds Jiron by the
fire cooking a small animal that he killed earlier that
morning.

“Good morning,” he says when he notices
James sitting up.

“Good morning to you too,” he replies. He
glances over to where Miko is still sleeping on the ground. “Did he
take the first watch?”

“Yeah,” Jiron affirms.

“Do you think we have time to cook
breakfast?” James asks him. “I mean with all those riders after
us?”

He shrugs before saying, “Hope so. I don’t
know if you remember, but you pretty well blocked the pass. Any
pursuit will have to travel another way.”

“But they will come,” James tells him.

“I know, but we need to keep our strength
up,” counters Jiron. He pokes the roasting carcass with his knife
and says, “Wake up sleepy head, I think breakfast is ready.”

James gets up and goes over to Miko and
nudges him with his foot.

“What?” Miko exclaims, coming awake
abruptly. He looks quickly around and sees James standing above
him.

“Breakfast is almost ready,” he says.

“Oh,” he grunts as he looks over to where
Jiron is taking the meat from the fire. Getting up, he crosses over
to the trees and does his morning business and then returns to take
a seat by the fire.

Jiron hands him his portion and then gives
James his. They sit there for a while in silence as they eat. James
takes a look at the mountains surrounding them. Glancing to the
south, he can’t really see where he caused the sides of the pass to
cave-in as trees and mountain block his view.

“How far did we come last night?” he
asks.

“Not sure, we traveled for several hours
before stopping,” Jiron replies.

“We better push long and hard today,”
continues James. “Abula-Mazki won’t be giving up so easily.”

“I hope he was caught in the landslide,”
Miko adds.

“So do I,” agrees James, “but we can’t go on
that assumption. We must act as if he’s still after us.”

“Where to now?” Jiron asks.

“Continue heading north,” James replies.
“It’s all we can do.”

Once they finished their breakfast, they
mount and continue down the side of the mountain. The trail they
are following is fairly clear, having been traveled by riders on
their way to the Gathering for a very long time.

It takes most of the day to reach the plains
below the mountains. They turn more to the west as they continue
along the foothills, traveling until the sun begins to fall. A
hollow between two hills gives them a good place to remain hidden
while they camp through the night.

While Jiron gets the fire going, James goes
out and gets a couple rabbits for dinner. Once they’re on the fire
roasting, they sit back and relax.

James wishes he had something to use to see
if they are being pursued, but there are no pools of water to be
found. He needs something that has a smooth, reflective surface in
order to do it.

“Think we’re staying ahead of him?” asks
Miko.

“Maybe,” replies Jiron. “It’s really hard to
say. It all depends on how far he had to ride to find another way
from the gathering. And if he’s willing to kill his horse in order
to catch us.”

“Do you think the Grey Wolf Clan will aid
him?” Miko asks.

“Probably,” answers James. “We messed up
their camp pretty good, and probably insulted them in some way when
we snatched you out from the middle of their camp.”

“Other clans may help as well,” Jiron
guesses. “We did violate the peace, though I doubt if the
Windriders will be among those coming after us.”

“Maybe,” agrees James. “If we can make it
out of their lands, then maybe the clans won’t continue the
pursuit.”

“Let’s hope so,” Miko sighs. “Is that why
we’re moving more to the west? So hopefully we will be out of their
lands?”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” Jiron
says. “I just figured the hills would give us more cover than the
open plains. But that’s a thought.”

“The forces of the Empire in this area would
hardly be on the lookout for us,” reasons James. “If anything,
they’d still be looking for us further south. We should have a day
or two before Abula-Mazki has the chance to alert anyone.”

“If our luck holds, we may be able to keep
ahead of the word of our whereabouts all the way to the border,”
Jiron says optimistically.

“That would be nice,” James agrees, though
doesn’t really feel that is a possibility.