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“Just tired,” he replies. “I’m out of crystals.”

“That’s not good,” comments Jiron. “Still going to hit that other place before we go?”

James sits there and thinks a moment before replying. “It’s on the way out of the Empire,” he tells him. “Let’s see how I feel when we get there. If I’m up to it we’ll take it out.”

“Fair enough,” he says. It takes but another minute to saddle the remaining horse then he comes to help James into the saddle. He finds a stash of water bottles which he fills and attaches to their saddles. Then once they are mounted, they leave the stables.

Smoke rises in the air from the fires. Riding quickly through the streets, they make it to the western gate and with luck find it open with no guards. They are all busy fighting the fires.

Once through the gates, Jiron takes them off the road and cuts across the desert.

Chapter Twenty One

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“Milord!” Aezyl cries as he throws open the door to his chambers and rushes in.

Snapping awake, Kerith-Ayxt’s anger flares at the gross breach of decorum, not to mention the fact that he’s completely exhausted from the ordeal of summoning Aekion. With a harsh reprimand on his lips he turns eyes red and full of anger on his aide.

Before he has a chance to speak, Aezyl suddenly realizes what he just did and comes to a stop. “Forgive me my lord,” he cries as he drops to his knees. “But the mage has been found!”

“What?” exclaims the High Lord Magus as he sits upright in bed. “Where?”

“Just to the southeast of us milord,” replies Aezyl. “In the city of Taerin-Alith.”

“Taerin-Alith?” he asks.

“Yes, milord,” his aide replies. “And he has vanquished Aekion!”

“Impossible!” he cries out. “You must be mistaken.”

“No, milord,” he insists. “Inyi had the duty to search for the mage and all of a sudden the mage’s protection was gone.”

Getting out of bed, all thoughts of reprimanding his aide gone, he says “Tell me everything.”

Aezyl then proceeds to tell him of discovering the mage in a destroyed building, the subsequent destruction of Aekion, and how the citizens of Taerin-Alith seemed to simply let him go. “Of course the city was awash in flame, most likely due to the battle between the mage and Aekion,” he suggests for the reason they let him go.

“Where is he now?” the High Lord Magus asks.

“In the desert,” he replies. “I think he may be coming this way.”

“Here?” he asks.

“Maybe not here,” his aide replies. “But the direction he’s going will definitely have him pass nearby.”

Pacing and thinking furiously, Kerith-Ayxt begins to formulate a plan. Turning to his aide he says, “He can’t have much left in him after overcoming Aekion. Which of our masters has recovered most from the summoning?”

“Inyi has milord,” he replies. “He has since been keeping an eye on the rogue mage,” he replies.

“Have him take a score of the more powerful from the lower Circles and destroy the mage,” he explains. “Tell him the mage is weakened and to move fast before he can recover.”

“Yes, milord,” says Aezyl as he comes to his feet. Giving his lord a bow, he quickly leaves to carry out his lord’s command.

Defeated Aekion! Unbelievable! Kerith-Ayxt paces his chambers as he tries to come to grips with the impossible.

Shortly after leaving the town behind, James realizes his protection against magical detection is no longer in operation. Bracing for opposition, he reinstates his protective shield and waits while they ride. Immediately, he feels them try to break through but the attempt is half-hearted at best, not nearly what he experienced the time before. When it finally stops, he wonders why they didn’t try more. Whatever the reason he’s happy about it, confused, but happy.

Riding through the desert under the hot sun, they stay just out of visual range of the road to the south. He knows the magical school isn’t more than a day down the road. It’s entirely likely that they will send someone to investigate what happened back at the town.

With the light beginning to fade and James being exhausted from the battle, they move even further into