The Unsuspecting Mage - Brian S. Pratt [123]
“Stop!” the guard ordered but the boys were gone. Then he turned his attention to Miko. “It’s the axe man for you boy,” the guard said.
Miko knew what ‘axe man’ the guard meant. Anyone caught in the act of stealing would lose a hand, even if it was a loaf of bread. For not yet being of age to shave, he would most likely lose his left as a lesson while leaving him his right in order that he may still be a productive member of society after having seen the error of his ways. Unable to face such a future, he bolted.
The guard’s foot lashed out and tripped him before he could take two steps. “Oh no you don’t,” said the guard as Miko’s head slammed into the alley’s wall. Landing in a pile of refuse, he squirmed away but the guard placed his foot against his back, pinioning him to the ground.
“No use struggling,” the guard said, laughing. “You ain’t getting away.”
Noooooooooo!
Coming awake in a cold sweat, heart beating fast, Miko sits up and is about to bolt when realization of where he was sank in. It had only been a dream. The familiar sight of their horses and mule, as well as James lying still asleep nearby gave validity to that assumption.
Glancing over to the sleeping form of James, he worked to calm himself as he thought, And you think coming with you is dangerous! What he has gone through so far in his travels with James was nowhere near as bad as his previous life had been. At least with James, he is treated as an equal of sorts.
The caw of a bird draws his attention upward where several are fighting over something small. No sooner does one steal the prize from another, than that bird loses it in turn. Rubbing the sweat from his forehead the dream had produced, he freaks out when he removes his hand and finds it smeared with blood.
“James!” he shouts. “I’m bleeding!”
Startled out of a deep sleep, James raises his head and looks over to Miko. All vestiges of sleep vanish where he finds a scene that sends chills down his spine. Forehead darkened with blood and a hand to match, Miko sits not far away with wide and frantic eyes, staring at his blood smeared hand. Alarmed, James hurries over.
As he kneels down to better inspect Miko’s forehead, he says, “Now just calm down, it doesn’t look like it is still bleeding.” He puts his hand on the ground for balance and squishes something soft and a little bit nasty beneath his palm. Quickly lifting his hand, he discovers a small, bloody mass mixed in with the dirt.
“Miko, look!” he says as he picks up a stick.
As he bends over to look at it more closely, James uses the stick to first poke at it then turn it over. Miko watches, and when the object turns and is revealed to be a human eye, loses it. Bending over, he loses what little his stomach holds upon on the ground. Disgusted, James flips the eye out of camp.
A dark form swoops out of the sky, and in a deft aerial maneuver, snatches the eye before it hits the ground. James throws the stick at the bird who adroitly avoids the missile. As it flies away, two other black birds give chase.
“It hit me in the head!” Miko says when he’s finally able to stop vomiting.
“Relax,” James says as he heads over to the nearest horse. “You’ll live.” After removing the water bottle from behind the saddle, he rinses the blood off his hand then hands it to Miko. While Miko cleans himself, James gazes around the immediate vicinity. Groups of the black birds are massed upon the dead men and horses, feasting. His gorge rising, he quickly gets ready to travel so they can leave this place behind.
Miko helps him while both do their best to ignore what is going on around them. When they are finally ready to ride, Miko is the first in the saddle and races past the clumps of feasting birds with eyes closed, not stopping until they are no more than black specks on the horizon.
“Are you going to be okay?” asks James once he’s caught up with him.
“I’m better now that we left that