Shades of the Past_ Book Six of the Morcyth Saga - Brian S. Pratt [41]
The moonlight overhead gives her barely enough light to see the far bank as she takes position. Winding the sling over her head for a second, she let’s the object go and it’s soon lost in the darkness. Holding her breath, as does everyone else there for if it goes into the water their plans are ruined, she silently prays there isn’t a splash.
A second and then two passes without the telltale splash indicating the object went into the water. “Good job,” Shorty says from his position further back.
Everyone visibly relaxes, the success of what they do here at the river is paramount if they are to accomplish their mission. She reaches in and takes out another crystal which had been in with the object she just sent to the other side.
‘You only have a count of one hundred before they lose power,’ James told her when he gave her the pouch. ‘Fifty for the way across and fifty for the way back.’
With James’ words on her mind, she takes the crystal to the river’s edge. She sets it down three feet from the water and then returns to the others. Mounting her horse, she says quietly to the others gathered there, “We must cross swiftly if we are to be able to return this way.”
“We understand,” Ceadric says. The other’s nods are barely perceptible in the moonlight.
“Very well,” she says and then edges her horse toward the water. When she gets there, she recalls the words James told her would activate the spell embedded within the two crystals. The object she had sent to the other side was a clay encased crystal, so encased to have enough weight to make the journey to the other side. Without the clay, the crystal would have been too light to make it.
“Golden Gate,” she whispers. The crystal on the ground before them flares briefly, an answering one can be seen on the opposite side of the river. Then, a shimmering ‘bridge’ forms between the two sides, ten feet wide and reminiscent of the shields she has seen James use to protect himself from arrows.
“Let’s hurry,” she says as she kicks her horse into motion. She begins silently counting, one…two…three…as her horse steps upon the shimmering surface. Worried that her horse’s hoof might sink through, she braces herself. But her horse steps upon the bridge and quickly passes across to the other side.
Thirteen…fourteen…fifteen…she sits there as the others hurry across, two at a time. As the last one reaches the far shore, she reaches forty-five and says the word to cancel the spell to save its power for their return crossing, “Earthquake.” When James had told her the words of command she commented about how they didn’t relate to a bridge at all. He had chuckled and said they referred to a city back home, San Francisco. That a famous bridge there was called the Golden Gate and the place was prone to earthquakes which destroy bridges.
With the utterance of ‘Earthquake’, the shimmering bridge disappears and the crystals grow dark. Getting down from her horse, she removes another crystal from one of the pouches and places it in roughly the spot where the bridge crystal lies on this side of the river. This crystal will light the way when the word ‘Beacon’ is uttered in its vicinity. Without it, they would be hard pressed to find the exact spot where the bridge lies in the dark.
Mounting back onto her horse, she turns to Ceadric and says, “Now for the catapults.”
He gives her a nod and they quietly make their way to the lights of the enemy camp in the distance. The rear of the encampment is a couple miles away and they ride quickly toward it in silence.
As they near, they’re able to see the makeup of the enemy’s forces as well as the layout of the camp. Behind the palisade is a large open area, currently crammed with soldiers, most likely congregating there because of James. Delia worries for him but sees that his plan is working.
The massive light explosion in the sky earlier has drawn most of the forces away from