The Unsuspecting Mage - Brian S. Pratt [121]
When the winds finally recede completely, James’ knees buckle and he collapses to the ground. Miko rushes over, relieved to find that he is only unconscious, not dead. Unable to rouse him, he gently lays James out comfortably and gets a blanket to use as a pillow for his head. Once he has taken care of James, he goes over and removes the hoods from the horses and pack mule, letting them loose to graze.
Sitting down next to James, he waits for him to regain consciousness, all the while keeping an eye on the horizon for any sign of other unwelcome visitors.
It isn’t until just before sunset that James begins to stir. Cracking an eye open, he discovers Miko has already started a fire and made camp with the horses picketed nearby. A groan escapes him drawing the attention of Miko who comes to his side bearing a water bottle. With Miko’s help, James sits up slightly to take the bottle and drinks deeply before handing the bottle back to him.
“Thanks,” he says shakily, lying back down.
“You’re welcome,” Miko replies. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Maybe,” he replies. “I feel totally exhausted and have a splitting headache.”
“Your storm seems to have taken out all the riders who were chasing us.”
“Good,” he replies. Groaning, he raises his hand to his head as he tries to soothe the pounding behind his forehead.
“Just what did you do?” Miko asks. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“It’s called a tornado,” he explains. “They are quite common where I come from.”
“How did you do it?” Miko wonders.
“It’s rather hard to explain,” James tells him. “Luckily I remembered a show I saw about tornadoes.”
“Show?” he asks. “What’s that?”
Wondering how to explain television, he just says, “It’s something from where I come from where you can learn things.”
“Oh, okay,” Miko says, not really understanding.
“Have you searched them yet?” asked James.
“Who?” asks Miko. “The dead riders?” He looks out at the scene surrounding the hill with undisguised revulsion at the thought of going near the dead men.
“Maybe there will be a letter or something on them that may tell us who sent them and why,” explains James, the final words all but unintelligible.
“No, I haven’t,” Miko answers before realizing that he’s already fallen asleep. Knowing how important this is to James, he gets up and goes through the grisly task of searching all the dead bodies, both men and horses for anything that may tell them what they need to know. He returns a half hour later with an armload of saddlebags, pouches and one of the crossbows along with a brace of bolts. He sets the saddlebags and pouches on the ground near James which causes him to awaken once more.
Now rested enough that he won’t immediately succumb to sleep, he props himself up on one elbow and gives the pile of saddlebags and pouches a once over. Then he notices the crossbow in Miko’s hand and asks, “What are you going to do with that?”
“I don’t know,” Miko replies, “but it may come in handy.”
“Maybe it will,” agrees James. “Just don’t shoot your eye out,” he adds, then begins to giggle.
Miko doesn’t understand why James should find him shooting his eye out to be so incredibly funny.
Calming down, James sits up further and returns his attention to the bags and pouches on the ground before him. The pounding in his head has diminished to a tolerable level.
While James begins going through them, Miko takes out some of the food that Miss Gilena had given them before they left. When both have food and drink, he sits down next to James and begins to eat while he watches as James inspects the pouches.
As James goes through pouch after pouch, he begins dividing their contents into three piles. One contains coins, gems and jewelry, another useless junk, and still another is a pile