Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [170]
Crying out in pain, the man brings his sword around for another attack which Jiron deflects with one knife while following through with the other, opening a four inch long cut along the man’s left forearm.
The wound causes him to falter in his next swing, leaving him open to a thrust through the breastbone. Puncturing his heart, Jiron’s knife becomes wedged between two ribs and is ripped out of his hands as the man falls to the ground. Bending down to retrieve his knife, Jiron has to place his foot on the man’s lifeless body in order to pry the knife from where it’s trapped.
Wiping the blood from his knives on the man’s shirt he quickly gets his bearings and then continues to lead them through the forest toward the boat. The forest begins to fill with smoke as more and more of the trees catch fire, the roaring of the inferno behind them continues to grow with every passing second.
At last they come to the cove where they left Kristo and Jiron comes to a stop, cursing.
“What’s wrong?” James asks as he comes to stand next to him. He looks out over the inlet and understands.
The boat is gone.
“I knew we should’ve killed him!” Jiron exclaims. “Now he’s going to raise the alarm that the ones they were looking for on the mainland are now here.” Behind them, another blast erupts into the night, throwing fire and lava in all directions. He looks to James and continues as he gestures behind them, “As if they wouldn’t be able to figure it out with that going on.”
“How are we to get off the island now?” Miko asks.
“There’s still the dock over by the smelters,” James replies. “It’s further south a ways, but it’s our only hope.” The weight of impending doom seems to be dropping down upon him, “I don’t think we have all that much time.”
As they get moving though the forest, Essin asks, “Time for what?”
James glances back toward where the fire and lava shoots to the sky, “Before the entire island goes.”
“Goes?” Miko asks.
“Kaboom!” he shouts loudly, raising his arms into the air, “taking everything and everyone with it. Apparently, this area use to be volcanically active long ago, and I seem to have begun a series of events which are going to bring this area back alive again.”
With renewed determination, everyone picks up speed as they crash through the underbrush, heading to the southern docks. James takes a turn at carrying the comatose Nate, giving Essen’s arms a break.
When they come to the smelter area, there’s a flurry of activity going on as the people there load what looks like long bars of iron onto wagons. Some wagons have already been loaded and are on their way to the southern docks.
“There must be a ship there,” figures Jiron, “and they’re trying to save as much of the iron as they can.”
“Then we’ll just have to convince them to take us along,” James says as they remain in the forest and skirt around the buildings.
“Do you think they will?” asks Essin.
James just looks at him and shakes his head. “It’ll end up being us or them,” he says.
“Oh, right,” he says.
Once around the camp and come to the road, they no longer try to avoid being seen as they race onto the road and make a break for it to the south. A cry goes up behind them from the drivers of the wagons currently on the road but they are slow and there are no guards with them. Not paying them any heed, they continue racing toward the docks and their only chance to make it alive off the island.
“How far is it?” Jiron asks.
“Not sure,” James replies as he begins to get a stitch in his side, “maybe another mile or two.” Then turning to Essin he says, “Here,” as he hands the unconscious Nate back to Essin. “I may need my strength when we get to the docks.”
Once Nate is back upon Essin’s shoulder, James is better able to continue running. The ground begins to once more tremble as shockwaves ripple outward from the mine. “It’s not going to be much longer!” he yells.
Suddenly, the road opens up