The Unsuspecting Mage - Brian S. Pratt [155]
“I would love to see what is inside,” admits James, and then lets out a big sigh. “But we better make the best time we can, while we can. No telling how long we will have before we run the danger of encountering the Empire’s armies once we get through the mountains.”
“Good idea,” agrees Miko, slightly more enthusiastic than the occasion called for, “we better hurry along.” With that he kicks the flanks of his horse and quickly continues down the road, putting distance between himself and the old keep.
Grinning at his friend, James quickly hurries to catch him and then together they continue down the road. The plateau area with the abandoned keep is quickly left behind.
The rest of the afternoon passes fairly quickly with more waterfalls, though none as spectacular as the three tiered one earlier. About mid afternoon, the sun falls behind the high mountain peaks to the west and the air begins turning chilly. It’s not too terribly uncomfortable at first but over the next hour, the temperature drops rapidly. Soon they pull on the jackets bought earlier in Trademeet.
“I see what you mean,” Miko tells James as he puts his jacket on.
“About what?” he replies.
“About how cool it gets up here after the sun goes down,” he explains.
“My grandfather taught me to always be prepared,” says James. “He used to say ‘It’s better to bring a jacket you’ll never need than to need the one left at home’.”
“Wise man your grandfather,” comments Miko, now warm and comfortable.
“Yeah, he was. But you know, when they are giving you these little gems of wisdom, you seldom see the value of it at the time and often see it as being a big nuisance.” James sits in thought for a while before breaking out in laughter.
Miko looks at him and asks, “What’s so funny?”
“I was just remembering when I came to realize the value of that particular gem,” he says as he begins to explain, but then pauses for a moment.
“And what happened?” Miko prompts him.
Smiling at the memory, James says, “Well, it was summertime and we planned a trip out to the coast, San Francisco was the name of the city. Now, my grandfather was telling me that I should bring my jacket, that I may need it. But it was really hot where we were and I couldn’t see the need of it. We arrived at the city and decided to go see Alcatraz, that’s an old prison situated on an island in the middle of the bay. I got on the ferry that was going to take us over there, and froze.”
Smiling, Miko is enjoying hearing about James’ little goof up.
“I told my grandfather that I was cold,” he explains. “But he just smiled and called it a lesson learned. We stayed there on that island for what seemed like a long time and I froze the entire time. I was miserable, my nose was running and I was shaking. When we finally returned to the mainland, I made a beeline toward this guy who was selling hot clam chowder and grabbed me some.”
“I’ll never forget that experience and I will never be caught again without a coat, not if I can help it.” Finished with the story, James rides along in silence for a while, silently reminiscing about home.
Shortly, he begins noticing the smell of wood smoke. He looks around for a plume of smoke that could indicate a forest fire, but doesn’t see anything. The smell steadily increases as they continue, when he suddenly realizes that they must be approaching the top of the summit and what he has been smelling is the smoke from many campfires.
Cresting the top of the Pass, they come to the way stop and are surprised at how many people are camped there. A contingent of soldiers is also there, seeming to be keeping order.
As they approach, one of the soldiers breaks off from his fellows and approaches, holding up his hand to have them stop. “Sorry, but the way stop is bursting to capacity with more coming in all the time,” he explains. “You two will need to camp a little further back down the road.”
“Why?” James asks. “What’s going on?”
“Refugees from the fall of Saragon,” the soldier explains, indicating the people at