Trail of the Gods_ The Morcyth Saga Book Four - Brian S. Pratt [124]
Setting him down, he hollers, “James!”
Eyes opening, he’s surprised at how bloodshot they are. “Remember back at the catacombs?” he asks. “Remember how you brought them down on top of Abula-Mazki?” Getting a nod from him, he continues, “Can you do the same thing here?”
A weak, “Maybe,” comes from him as he again closes his eyes. “Get us as far away from the edge as you can.” That last statement almost too soft to be heard over the roar of the wind.
“Go get us some horses and meet us over there,” he says to Aleya as he indicates a spot far from the edge. As she nods and moves to comply, he yells, “And hurry!”
Lifting James up, he begins carrying him far from the edge of the cliff face. Aleya soon joins them with four horses. “We’re away from the edge,” he tells James as he lays him on the ground. A brief nod is all the response he gets.
Taking two of the horses’ reins, he says to Aleya, “Hold onto them tight. No matter what happens, don’t let go!”
“Why?” she asks. “What’s going to happen?”
Before Jiron has a chance to reply, the ground begins to shake and the horses start neighing as their eyes roll with fear. “Hold them tight!” he cries. “We can’t let them go!”
Several soldiers reach the top of the stairs and are thrown to the ground as the cliff begins shaking. A loud crack can be heard as the ground begins trembling even harder. Then suddenly, three feet from where they stand with the horses, the ground splits in two. A roar the likes neither of them have ever heard before comes from all around them as the gap grows wider, slowly at first and then more rapidly.
When the gap is over three feet wide, the side of the gap away from them suddenly drops away, the ruins of the watchtower toppling over as the ground disappears from beneath it. A tremendous roar, even louder than before assaults their ears as the cliff face comes away, taking a good portion of the ridge, as well as the soldiers upon the stairs with it.
Jiron has all he can do to keep the two horses he’s holding from bolting away. Aleya loses the battle with hers and the reins are ripped out of her hands by the rearing of the terrified horses. The two horses, now free, run away from the noise. One ends up going the wrong way in its fear and plummets over the cliff side while the other races down the trail leading away from the top on the other side.
When the rumbling finally stops, Jiron moves over to the new edge of the ridge and looks down to where the stairs used to be. Below them is a massive dust cloud, obscuring everything more than several hundred feet below the top. Where the stairs had been is now just virgin, jagged rock. All those soldiers who had been upon the stairs must now be lying down at the base, buried beneath hundreds of tons of stone.
Coming away from the ledge, he sees Aleya staring at them with fear in her eyes. “What are you two?” she asks him.
“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about pursuit from there for awhile,” he tells her as he goes back over to where James is lying. He’s unconscious, but otherwise appears fine.
“You didn’t answer my question,” she says with an edge to her voice.
Glancing over to her, he finds an arrow knocked and aimed right for him. Getting up, he turns toward her and says, “As for me, I’m just a pit fighter out of the City of Light. I hooked up with James here shortly after it fell to the Empire and we’ve been together ever since.”
“What about him?” she asks, indicating the comatose James with her bow.
“You can ask him when he wakes up,” he tells her. “Which won’t be for several hours I’m figuring. Watch him for me will you?” Completely ignoring the arrow aiming at him, he turns and begins moving down the trail to find where the horses had run off.
Lowering her bow, she asks, “Where are you going?”
“To get the horses,” he replies. “If you would have held onto them tighter, I wouldn’t have to. Be back in a bit.”
She lowers her bow completely as she