The Unsuspecting Mage - Brian S. Pratt [119]
About the time the sun is high overhead, the road makes its way past a small grove of trees several hundred feet off the road. Within the grove they spot a pool of water. They decide to allow the animals time to graze while they partake of the noon meal. Also, the leafy boughs of the trees afford them some shade from the sun and the water is still cool and appears clean.
James dismounts first and lets his horse free to graze by the pond. He watches as Miko slowly dismounts, amused by the stiffness that is already showing in his movements.
Seeing James grinning he asks, “What’s so funny?” as he stiffly walks over to where James is removing the bag containing their lunch from the pack mule.
“Are you sore?” he asks with mock concern. He hands Miko his share of the sack before taking his own.
“You know I am,” he says accusingly as he takes his food. “And it’s not funny.” He sits down and begins to eat.
“I know,” James agrees sympathetically. “I went through the same thing when I first started to ride. In fact, I still get sore, just not as bad.”
“Glad to know it gets better,” Miko says.
“Oh it’ll get worse before it gets better,” James informs him. “It’s just something that will take time for your muscles to grow accustomed to.”
While they eat, they watch as a caravan travels west on its way toward Cardri. James counts twenty seven wagons and an accompaniment of twenty horsemen. They seem to be far enough away from Cardri that the only traffic on the road are the caravans and the occasional rider. All the foot traffic has long since disappeared.
Relaxing against the trunk of a tree, James revels in the peace and tranquility of the area. A gentle breeze, just strong enough to cool yet doesn’t stir up the dust, gently flows through the trees. A full hour they spend in the cool shade until he can no longer put off returning to the road. Repacking the food, he returns it to the pack mule.
He then remounts and watches with some sympathy as Miko slowly and stiffly climbs back into the saddle, remembering his own sore posterior when he had first learned to ride. They make their way back over to the road and turn their horses east toward Willimet.
An hour later the road has become all but devoid of fellow travelers. During one such lonely stretch, Miko notices a solitary rider pacing them several hundred yards off the road to the north. “James,” he says as he brings his horse alongside James’, “there’s someone to the north, pacing us.”
“I know,” he replies. “He’s been there for the last ten minutes.”
“What are we going to do?” asks Miko nervously as he once again glances toward the rider.
“Not much we can do. Fortunately we are in open territory so if any more show up we will have warning. Besides, we don’t even know if he has any interest in us at all. It could be just a coincidence that he is pacing us.”
“You don’t really believe that do you?” asks Miko.
“No,” replies James, “but it is a possibility. Until we know for sure, we will continue toward Willimet and deal with it should something happen.”
Another ten minutes go by when Miko notices another rider has joined with the one to the north. “James, there’s another one now.”
Looking north, he nods. “Yeah, looks like it.”
“You seem pretty calm,” Miko observes.
Turning to look at Miko, James says, “Will the situation improve if I get nervous and all freaked out?”
“No,” replies Miko.
“Okay then,” James says. “I may appear calm but I am quite concerned about what may be developing.”
“Like what?” asks Miko.
“Like an ambush,” he says. “This could be another attempt by Lord Colerain to capture or kill us. But who knows, it may simply be bandits or highwaymen seeing two lone riders and thinking to score some quick booty.”
Nervous, Miko begins scanning the horizon in all direction. “James! Behind us!” Miko exclaims excitedly when he glances to the road behind them.