Trail of the Gods_ The Morcyth Saga Book Four - Brian S. Pratt [114]
Snap!
Behind him he hears the sound of a twig breaking and quickly turns to find someone standing there, arrow knocked and aimed right at his heart.
Chapter Twenty
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“What do we have here?” she asks with a grim expression.
James is slightly surprised to find the archer is a woman, a young one at that. She couldn’t be more than seventeen or eighteen. Dressed in greens and browns, she blends in well with the forest, her long auburn hair tied in a ponytail. No telling how long she had been in the vicinity before making her presence known.
“My name is James,” he replies. “A wanderer.”
“Spy of the Empire no doubt,” she says. “I should just kill you right where you stand.” She pulls the bowstring back a fraction of an inch.
“I’m not a spy!” he asserts, trying to prevent the arrow from being released.
“No one wanders these woods in times like these unless they’re up to no good,” she says.
“Believe me,” he says, “I am no servant of the Empire.” He glances briefly over to where their camp lies. The horses are visible where they’re tied but there’s no sign of Jiron. Scanning the woods behind the woman, he sees him working his way quietly through the trees to get around behind her.
“What business do you have here then?” she asks.
“Merely trying to get back to my home in Cardri,” he tells her.
“Perhaps,” she says.
Jiron is closing the distance quickly, now no more than ten feet behind her. James sees one of his knives in his hand as he sneaks up behind her.
“One more step,” she says loudly, cocking her head to the side, “and I’ll kill your friend.” When Jiron comes to a halt, she glances back to him. Nodding to James, she says, “Go over and stand by your friend. Now!”
Jiron doesn’t resheathe his knife but does what she says and makes his way over to stand next to James.
“So, two wanderers,” she states.
“We are no friends of the Empire, you can rest assured lady,” Jiron says to her. “In fact, we’re trying to escape from them.” He gives her a serious look and then continues, “We all need to be getting out of here. A large force has been tailing us since yesterday and could be in the area at any time.”
“I saw the force you mentioned earlier,” she tells them. “It went past earlier as it made its way south.”
As James stands there with the arrow pointing menacingly at him, he begins to once more feel the tingling of magic being worked in the area. “Jiron,” he says nervously. “I feel it again.”
“Where?” he asks looking around, the danger from the woman now ignored.
“I’m not sure, but it’s getting stronger,” he replies. “They may be heading back.”
Jiron moves to return to the horses when the woman says, “Stay right there! I don’t know what kind of trick you’re playing here, but it’s not going to work.”
“This isn’t a trick,” insists James, fear growing in his voice. “A mage of some power is out there, and he is drawing near.”
“You expect me to believe that?” she asks. “I don’t think so.”
Further down the mountain, the sound of a large number of individuals can be heard as they forge their way through the brush. She glances down and her eyes widen when she makes out the unmistakable sight of Empire soldiers heading their way.
Seeing them too, James says, “Now do you believe us?”
Nodding her head, she relaxes her bow and quickly replaces her arrow in the quiver behind her shoulder. As James and Jiron begin running toward the horses, she says, “Leave them!” When they both look at her, she continues, “They’ll just slow you down in the forest. Follow me.” She then slings her bow behind her shoulder as she turns and begins running through the trees.
Jiron looks to him and James only shrugs. Breaking into a run, they follow her as she races through the undergrowth. “Where are we going?” asks James when they finally catch up to her.
“I know a trail that will take us through the mountains,” she tells them. “It comes out near the fortress of