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Working to extricate himself from the fallen horse, the soldier tries to defend himself when Jiron closes for the attack. His sword easily blocks one knife but the other finds an opening and sinks into his side, puncturing a lung. Moving away from the trapped, dying man, Jiron catches a flash out of the corner of his eye. Turning to look, he realizes the flash was another of James’ slugs on its way to take out a horseless rider that had survived the earlier explosions.

“Come on!” shouts James. He indicates the riders closing rapidly behind them.

Moving to his horse, Jiron leaps into the saddle and they again race for the bridge. Still several miles away, their horses are quickly becoming fatigued. The hard pace of the last two days has definitely taken its toll.

Staying low in the saddle, they keep the pace quick. The riders behind them gradually close the gap, their fresher horses able to maintain a quicker speed. When the riders have closed the distance to within fifty yards, they begin to see people moving across the horizon. It’s the road to the bridge!

“Not much further now,” Jiron shouts. In minutes they’ve reached the road and race alongside, the refugees fleeing the approach of Black Hawk line the road so thickly, James and Jiron are unable to use it. When the people who are on the edge of the road see them coming fast, they quickly get out of the way.

Behind them, the riders continue to close the gap, now only thirty yards away. Fortunately they are as hampered by the ebb and flow of the refugees as James and Jiron are so are unable to gain any faster.

Then all of a sudden the river appears ahead of them. James looks with horror at the jam packed bridge crossing over the river full of women, children and the elderly.

Jiron sees it too and yells, “You have no choice!” When he sees James hesitating, he shouts, “Do it!”

No! Focusing on the ground to either side of the bridge, he lets the magic flow…

Crumph! Crumph!

…the earth erupts in two massive explosions. The refugees scream in fear as they flee. Tweaking the dust from the eruptions, he forms it into a humanoid figure twice the size of a man and has it begin to stalk toward the bridge. That’s enough for even the bravest of those still upon the bridge. At the sight of the twelve foot tall creature walking toward them, they turn tail and race for the other side.

By the time James and Jiron reach the bridge, the area is in total chaos. The creature has reached the edge of the bridge and is beginning to walk across. James aims for the bridge and races right through the dust formed creature. As he exits through the creature and begins to cross the bridge, he cancels the spell. Hooves thundering, they race across to the other side. A gathering of people has formed a little ways from the beginning of the bridge and he has to slow in order not to run them down. With Jiron right behind, he clears the bridge and turns to the right.

Behind them, the enemy riders have already gained the bridge and are crossing fast.

Crumph! Crumph! Crumph!

Three explosions rip through the center span of the bridge. The people cry out in fear as horses, riders and stone erupt into the air. James slows as he gazes back. With a crack, the center span of the bridge collapses into the river below. On the far side of the river, the enemy riders who had yet to begin crossing over come to a quick halt. None made it to the other side.

“James!” Jiron cries out when he sees several of the riders on the other side of the river remove crossbows from behind their saddles. Turning their fatigued horses from the river, they break into a gallop and head for the open desert. The people on the road part quickly to avoid being run over. Soon, they are out of crossbow range and the river is disappearing quickly behind them.

Chapter Twenty Seven

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Since leaving Korazan behind, Illan has led the Black Hawk Raiders along the road north. With a wagon train stretching out