Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [134]
Setting down the sack of food, he approaches them, knife still in his hand. As he enters the light, he says, “Get away from my horse and my things.”
All four of the teens stand up and look in his direction. One of them says, “Back off, this is our stuff now.” Drawing his knife, the teen threatens him with it as he says, “Go away if you don’t want to get hurt.” The others stand behind him and draw their knives as well.
Drawing his other knife, he advances upon them saying, “But I do want to get hurt.”
The first teen gets an uncertain look in his eye, as if he can’t believe Jiron isn’t going away.
When Jiron gets to within five feet of the teens he stops and says, “Just put back everything you took and I won’t have to kill any of you.” Whether it’s the look in his eye, or the sure way he’s holding himself, the teens all back up a step.
They begin to empty their pockets and coins, as well as a few other things join the rest of the items lying on the ground. He gestures to the pile on the ground with his knife and says, “Now, please put everything back into the bag.” He stands there with knives still drawn as one of the other teens complies.
Then he says, “Now everyone back up and away from the horse.” He advances on them as they back up until he’s next to the bag. Without taking his eyes off the teens, he reaches down and picks it up. After replacing the bag back on the horse behind the saddle, he takes the horse’s reins and backs toward where he left the food sack. Reaching down, he picks it up, and then secures it to the horse as well.
He sheathes his knives before mounting. Turning his horse, he gives the boys one last look before heading out into the night. As he leaves, he goes in the opposite direction of where James lies in case the boys decide to tell anyone about meeting him. He doubts they will, though, it would make them look cowardly.
He travels through the hills for a few hundred feet before turning back to the north and to James. Finding the cave in the dark proves difficult but he at last comes across it and is relieved to find James still sleeping and undisturbed.
Securing his horse with the other, he sits back down at the entrance and keeps watch while James sleeps.
When the sun hits James’ face, he wakes up and feels much improved over the day before. Lying next to him is a few strips of dried meat and vegetables. “Found some?” he asks Jiron.
“A little bit,” he replies from where he’s sitting at the cave entrance.
Tearing off a strip of meat with his teeth, he chews it for a bit then takes a bite of one of the veggies.
“Able to ride today?” Jiron asks.
“Yes,” he replies through a mouthful of food, “I think so. My head is not hurting as bad as it was yesterday and I don’t feel nearly as wobbly.”
“Good,” he says, “we need to get moving before we’re discovered here.”
“Let me see if I can find out where he is first,” James says as he gets up and goes over to his horse to retrieve the mirror from his shaving kit. Stuffing the rest of the dried meat in his mouth, he pulls the mirror out and takes it over to the cave entrance where he sits next to Jiron. Cupping the mirror between his hands, he concentrates. The image begins to waver and suddenly they see Miko sitting with other people, someplace dark. He expands the picture and after watching it for a few minutes, states, “I think he’s on a boat.”
“You sure?” Jiron asks.
“Pretty sure,” he replies. “He’s somewhere dark and if you watch, it seems like the view is slowly rocking back and forth. It reminds me of being on a ship at sea.”
“He could be going anywhere then,” Jiron says.
“Yeah, I know,” agrees James. “It’ll be harder to follow him if we’re going to need a boat.”
“Let’s worry about one thing at a time,” he tells him. “Where is he?”
James thinks for a moment and then removes a short piece of cloth from his bags. He takes it outside and walks down near the water. Jiron gets up and follows him down to where the waves