Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [137]
He begins to angle slightly more to the south, hoping to throw off their pursuers. The storm continues growing in intensity and he hollers to James, “That’s enough! You’re going to get us killed if you don’t back off!”
James’ eyes fly open and he looks tiredly to Jiron as he nods understanding.
When the storm doesn’t subside, he yells to James, “Stop! You’re going to kill us!”
Yelling back, James says, “I have! The storm has taken a life of its own. I can’t control it any more!”
“Damn!” Jiron curses as they continue galloping to the south.
The winds steadily keep increasing and soon larger stones have been picked up by the winds and begin to pelt them. One stones strikes James on the thigh causing him to cry out. “Stop!” he yells to Jiron.
Coming to a stop, they both dismount. He has Jiron stay close to him as he attempts to create a barrier around them to keep the storm out. Suddenly, all is calm as the dome springs into being, the sand and wind continue pelting the outer side of the dome. The dome extends fifteen feet in diameter and ten feet high.
“How long can you hold it?” Jiron asks, retaining tight hold of the frightened horses’ reins.
Considering it, James replies, “It was the initial construction that used the most magic. It’s drawing what I call maintenance magic now, just enough to keep it stable. Probably for quite a while.”
Jiron says, “Good.”
The horses are restless, but appear they’ll be okay. Jiron looks out at the swirling mass of sand and stones in awe. “Just what did you do?” he asks as he turns back to James.
“I thought I would make a dust storm to hide us in so we could escape,” he explains. “But when I cancelled the spell, it continued. It seems I inadvertently triggered something that was on the verge of happening anyway, though maybe not to this degree.” Indicating the storm outside, he says, “It’s probably situations like these that make people hate mages, or at least distrust them.”
Jiron nods his head and is about to reply when they hear a scream and turn to look as a man, at least they think it is, hits the side of the invisible dome. Most of the skin has been flayed from his bones by the storm. A ghastly appearance, they can see its skeletal mouth opening and closing and then it’s picked up again by the wind and disappears.
They look to each other, James feeling very bad about the whole thing. “I guess we’re not going to have to worry about pursuit when this is over,” Jiron states.
Trying to fight back nausea, James replies, “You’re probably right.” He looks out to the storm again and then says, “Maybe you should try to get some sleep, I don’t know how long this will last.”
“What about you?” he asks.
“I dare not fall asleep,” he replies. “The barrier might end.”
Jiron unconsciously looks out at the storm and nods his head. “Alright,” he says as he makes to lie down. “Though how I’m going to sleep in this is beyond me,” he states.
James sits there as the storm rages outside the dome. He realizes after a while that Jiron has finally managed to fall asleep and hears soft snores coming from him. As the day progresses, the storm continues in its intensity and as night comes, the light begins to fade.
Casting his glowing orb for light, he keeps it soft so as not to awaken Jiron. The horses finally settle down as they become use to the roar outside the dome. Sitting there with nothing to do as he maintains the domes integrity, he becomes bored and tired. He’s beginning to find it hard to stay awake. The events of the last few days and the continual draw of magic to keep the barrier up are starting to take its toll on him.
Getting to his feet, he paces around to keep himself awake and begins to sing songs from home. Some he knows in their entirety and others he gets through the first couple of verses before losing it. All through the night he stays on his feet, refusing to give in to the tiredness that’s making his eyes droop and voice start to slur.
Sometime near dawn, the storm finally begins to subside and quiet down. Jiron comes awake and sees