Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [32]
“If you’re wrong, it could be bad,” he says.
“Probably,” he agrees, “but we don’t have much choice.”
“So we’re going to pretend to be those guys there?” he asks, pointing to the two stiffs lying off in the woods.
“That’s the plan,” he replies. “Oh, we found a chest filled with gold and some gems. So things are looking better.”
“We probably should stay here until tomorrow,” James tells him, “give me a chance to heal and everyone could use the rest. Then we’ll push on down the road and see just where it leads.”
While they take their ease, Tinok comes over to him and asks, “You didn’t get all weak and tired like you did the last time you did magic. Why not?”
“Last time I had used the power within me,” he explains. “This time I had time to plan ahead for the battle, so was able to harness other sources of power.”
“Other sources?” he asks. “What do you mean?”
“I set up spells that would slowly absorb power from the trees and other living things around them, storing it up until needed. Over the course of several hours, they had absorbed all the power they required for their spells. So when they went off, no power was drained from me. That’s why a lot of the vegetation around them had begun to look wilted.”
“Impressive,” Tinok says.
“Thanks,” he replies.
The rest of the day, they just sort of relax and take it easy, recovering from the ordeal of the last two days. Near sunset, some of them walk back toward the canyon to see how the fire’s doing.
Smoke still fills the air and across the canyon the trees are all blackened where the fire had raged. Pockets of fire are still visible here and there, but for the most part, it has consumed the readily available fuel and moved on. They can see it as it continues to burn further up the mountain, the flames arcing up from the tops of the trees where it’s still burning furiously.
They make it back to the camp just as the sun dips below the horizon and the light begins to fade. The rest allow James to sleep as they take turns standing watch.
Chapter Six
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When they wake in the morning and are ready to begin hooking the horses to the wagons, they come to the realization that no one knows how. Each wagon takes two horses, which ones were easy to figure out, as they were bigger and more muscular than the others. But the problem comes when they attempt to hook the traces to the horses.
The first time they thought they had it figured, the horses had walked right out of their harness when Tinok flicked the reins to get them moving. The girls laughed so hard at the expression on his face when the horses began racing down the road and the traces fell to the ground. He was almost pulled from the wagon but had let go of the reins in time.
“Nice,” Delia says, her brown eyes dancing in amusement.
Trying to ignore the reaction of the girls, Jiron runs after the horses and quickly brings them back. Taking their time and lots of trial and error, Jiron and Tinok eventually figure it out, finally enlisting James’ aid. Once they’re sure the horses aren’t going to leave their traces behind again, they board the wagons.
On one wagon rides Delia and James, with Delia attempting to drive the wagon but is finding it much more difficult than she had thought. Tinok is driving the second wagon behind them with Cassie sitting beside him. Jiron is on a horse in the lead, the rest are strung in a line tied behind Tinok’s wagon.
Once the wagons start rolling, they begin to learn the finer points of controlling a team of horses. Delia at first has her wagon weaving from one side of the road to the other and once they abruptly stopped for no apparent reason. By the end of the day, however, both she and Tinok have begun to be able to control them with some skill.
The road they’re following is barely wide enough to accommodate the wagons. At one point, Delia was afraid one of her wheels would slide off the