Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [155]
He’s able to scroll the image for some distance in any direction. The further he scrolls the image away from their position, the greater the amount of magic needed to maintain the spell. He’s also always able to come back and center the view on them with just a thought. “Yeah,” he tells him, “I think I can manage that.”
“Good,” says Jiron. “Anyone in the vicinity?”
James scrolls the image and then shakes his head, saying, “No, there doesn’t appear to be anyone ahead. Off to the north is a sizeable force but they’re not coming our way.”
“How far are we away from the coast?” he asks.
James tries scrolling the image, but fails to pick up the coast before the power drain becomes too severe. “I don’t know,” he replies. “I’m not able to see that far.”
“Oh well, at least we know we’re okay for awhile,” he says, relieved. “Just check it often so we’ll know when to detour.”
“Alright,” agrees James. He checks the area one last time and when he finds no one ahead, replaces the mirror back into his shaving kit.
They ride for several hours, James checking periodically for hostiles with his mirror. The second time he checked, he found a dozen riders coming their way and they had to swing to the south to avoid detection. Continuing to detour around pockets of hostiles, they wind their way closer to the coast.
When night begins to fall, they stop for a short meal. All they have with them is what the riders had with them when Jiron appropriated their horses, which isn’t much. “Think we should continue through the night?” Jiron asks him.
“I think the horses will be okay,” he replies. “Besides, we’re less likely to be discovered in the dark of night.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he tells him as he finishes his meal and mounts. James mounts as well and they continue their way toward the ocean.
Once night has fallen, the mirror becomes useless as everything is black. Now they have to depend on their senses to detect anyone approaching. A half moon rises later in the evening, giving them some light to see by. Sometime around midnight, they cross the main road going north and south. A short time after that, they begin to see the moon being reflected off of a body of water in the distance. The smell of salt in the air tells them they’ve reached the ocean’s shore.
When they reach the shore, they pause a moment as Jiron asks, “Now where?”
Taking out his cloth, James again casts his directional spell and the cloth stiffens up and points out along the coast, almost due south. “Further south, it looks like,” he tells Jiron as he puts away his cloth.
“Guess we follow the shoreline,” he says to James.
Nodding in the dark, James replies, “That would seem to be the plan.”
They follow the shoreline for another hour or two before running across what looks to be an old abandoned shack set up along the beach. It looks the worse for wear but it could hide them while they get a little sleep, they’re both becoming quite tired. Jiron dismounts and goes up to the shack to look inside. He signals James to come on over when he finds it empty.
There’s barely enough room inside for them and the horses, but leaving them outside would tell anyone passing by that someone’s here. Bringing them in with them, they close the door and alternate between sleeping and keeping watch through the rest of the night.
The morning sun coming through the cracks of the shack awakens James. He sits up abruptly when he fails to see Jiron. His horse is here, but he’s not.
Going to the door, he looks out and sees him outside walking along the shore, head down looking at the sand. Coming out, he asks, “What are you doing?”
Jiron holds up a conch shell and says, “I found this over by the water, incredible isn’t it?”
Smiling, James replies, “Yeah, that’s something alright.”
With a last look around the sandy beach, Jiron joins James as he walks back to the shack. Once back inside, he puts the conch shell into one of his bags. “Going to give it to Tersa when we make it