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Out of the corner of his eye his gaze settles on the crystals spilled on the ground next to him. Hope springs to him as he sees the one wrapped in cloth lying not six inches from his hand.

The last horse is secured in line and he hears the older gentlemen say, “You and your wife take the wagon and horses. We’ll meet up with you in a few minutes.” As the wagon begins to roll away, the unmistakable sound of a sword leaving its scabbard can be heard followed shortly by another.

James sees them moving toward them, intent on ending their lives. He again focuses on the crystals lying next to him and with a sheer force of will begins inching his hand toward the crystal with the embedded spells. His finger finally comes into contact with it just as they reach the unconscious men lying on the ground. He watches in horror as the older gentleman raises his sword to end the life of one of his comrades.

In a bare whisper, he says “Leech” and can feel power being absorbed from him by the crystal. Then before the sword can fall, he cries out in a gasp, “Incinerate!” More power is sucked from him as a red flare flies from the crystal toward the man.

The light from the flare causes him to pause a moment in his swing and that’s all the time it needs. Striking him, the flare erupts in a flaming ball. Screaming, the man begins running around, a veritable human torch.

Startled, the younger man cries out, “Father!” Running to his aid, he attempts to put out the fires to no avail. Finally his father slumps to the ground, and lies still as his screams of pain come to a stop.

With a cry of rage, the son stands up and with a primal scream runs toward the nearest of the drugged men, intent upon venting his anger.

“Shield radius twenty!” can barely be heard as James gasps another command to the crystal. Springing up around the men lying on the ground is an invisible barrier.

Aaaaaahhhh!

A cry of pain and agony rips through the night, drawing James’ attention. The son had been caught by the creation of the barrier and a portion of his face, chest and one leg had been severed off by it. Falling backward away from the barrier, he collapses to the ground where he writhes in agony until finally dying.

James says one last command before succumbing to unconsciousness, “Maintain.”

Chapter Twenty One

_________________________

When he at last awakens again, morning has come. The rain has stopped and the sun is just beginning to break through the cloud cover. Sitting up, his head begins to spin and realizes how weak he is. That’s when he feels the drawing of power from him by the crystal while it maintains the barrier around them.

“You okay?” he hears behind him.

Glancing back he finds Jiron walking toward him. Nodding his head, he asks, “You?”

“Still a bit dizzy but otherwise fine,” he replies. He sees James glancing at the others and says, “They’re all still alive but unresponsive. I think they may have been affected more than you and I.”

“Gayle must have put something in the stew,” he says as he comes to his feet. “Any sign of her or Kerrin?”

Shaking his head, Jiron says, “I don’t think so.” Then he motions over to one side of the camp and adds, “We have one stiff over there that’s charred beyond recognition. At the edge of the barrier next to it is what’s left of some guy your barrier cut in two. May be them.”

“Cut in two?” James asks.

“Yeah,” he says. “Come here and I’ll show you.” Reaching down a hand, he helps him to his feet. They make their way over to where the man had been sliced by the materialization of the barrier.

Turning away from the grisly sight, he says, “It’s one of the men from the inn.”

Instant recognition comes to Jiron who points over to the burnt corpse and before he can say anything, James adds, “That’s the other one.”

“Then they were in it together from the start?” he asks.

“It looks that way,” he says and then begins making his way to the others where they lay on the ground, making sure they’re alright. He finds them all