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No. What he wants to destroy is their library. Of all the things he’s come to understand about making magic do what you want, is that knowledge of what you are trying to accomplish is the most important thing. He believes that taking out their library and the books contained within will greatly reduce their ability to train more mages effectively. The idea of destroying aged tomes of knowledge really bothers him however. But leaving knowledge in the hands of those who will use it to the detriment of others bothers him more.

Finished with his mirror, he returns it to his pack. “The area ahead of us looks clear,” he tells the other two. “By tonight, we’ll be at a crossroads where we will turn more to the west. Then another day and a half will see us to our destination.”

“After that we head home?” Jared asks.

James nods. “That’s right,” he replies. “After that we rejoin the others and get out of the Empire as fast as we can.”

“Good,” says Jiron. He’s been thinking about Aleya and has been missing her. The memory of her in his arms makes him want to see her again.

All that day they keep a steady pace with short stops to keep up the horses’ strength. It was during one such rest in the latter part of the day when James again pulls out his mirror to check for hostiles in the area. Not finding any, he scrolls down the road to the town ahead that lies at the crossroads. From the looks of it, it isn’t more than an hour or so away.

As he brings the image closer to the city, the image starts turning hazy. Using more magic, he tries to overcome the distortion. Suddenly, the glass of the mirror begins to warp and the metal frame which he is grasping grows red hot.

“Damn!” he cries as he quickly throws the mirror away.

“What happened?” Jiron asks. Stopping there in the road, he turns back to find out what’s going on.

“I don’t know,” replies James.

They look to where the mirror lies in the dirt on the side of the road. Smoke tendrils begin rising from it as the mirror and metal frame both begin to turn fluid. As the metal starts to drip, a fiery glow appears within the melted glass.

Jared gasps as a form wreathed in flames seems to rise from the glass.

“Fly!” yells James as he turns his horse and flees down the road.

The other two turn and race after him as the figure behind them continues to grow.

“What is that thing?” yells Jared.

“I don’t know,” replies James. Bending low against the neck of his horse, he works to make it go even faster.

A deafening roar sounds behind them as the fiery creature leaves the ground and begins to soar toward them. Even from this distance they can feel the heat radiating from it.

James lashes out with magic but the spell of force which should have knocked it backward barely phases it. “Make for the city!” he yells to the others as he reaches into the pouch hanging at his hip and pulls out one of the power crystals.

Slowing the forward momentum of his horse slightly, he turns in the saddle and holds the crystal toward the now rather close creature of flame. “Hold!” he yells and a shimmering barrier appears around the creature.

The creature slows when it becomes trapped within the barrier and begins settling to the ground. Within the barrier it’s exerting massive pressure and the power of the crystal is draining rapidly.

Tossing the crystal to the ground, James kicks his horse and races after the other two who are now a hundred yards ahead of him.

Crack!

With the shattering of the crystal, the barrier vanishes and the creature once again resumes the chase.

A crackling noise sounds behind James and he glances back to see a spear of flame flying toward him with incredible speed. Responding with magic, he manages to deflect it at the last minute, causing it to veer to the left where it strikes the ground several yards away.

Other travelers on the road see the fiery creature chasing after James and scream as they run for their lives. Wagons are abandoned as people flee into the desert for their