• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

“I’m not really sure,” she explains. “I haven’t actually been here before. But I’d say maybe another five miles to the west.” Which is on the other side of the army encamped before them.

“Alright,” James says, coming to a decision. “We’ll work our way around as best we can. We need to make it around them before daylight. If we don’t, we’re going to be sitting awfully exposed up here.” The trees have been thinning out continuously as they’ve worked their way down the side of the mountain and would give them limited cover in the daylight.

“Then let’s move quickly,” states Jiron. He then begins moving through the trees as they start making their way around the enemy army below them.

The army looks as if it’s been there a while, the smell from the latrines would tell them that if nothing else. Soldiers move from place to place, many are seated around the fires, either having a meal or talking with their fellows.

Jiron stops suddenly and motions for James to come closer.

“What?” asks James when he comes near.

Pointing to a section of the enemy camp far to the right, he says, “Parvatis.”

Sure enough, when he looks, James sees the unmistakable tattoos of the Parvatis. “Think the Shynti should pay them a visit?” he asks. Shynti being the title accorded Jiron after defeating one of them in a blood duel. That designation has saved them on more than one occasion.

Shaking his head, he replies, “I don’t think that would be wise. For one thing, I’d have to make it through the bulk of their army just to reach them and I don’t think I’ll be able to manage that.”

Aleya just looks from one to the other, not understanding what they’re talking about.

“You’re probably right,” agrees James.

Jiron turns to resume their trek around the camp when out of the trees ahead of them, a soldier comes into view. The man gasps when he sees them and before anyone has a chance to do anything, an arrow flies past Jiron’s ear and hits the man in the chest, just below the neck.

The force of the arrow knocks him backward off his feet and into the tree behind him. His lifeless eyes stare at them as he slowly sags to the ground.

Jiron turns to Aleya where she’s standing with bow still in hand and says, “Quick shooting.”

She gives him a grin and replies, “Thanks.” Moving forward, she reclaims her arrow from the dead man. After wiping the gore off on the man’s shirt, she gives it a quick inspection then replaces it back in her quiver. When she notices the look on James’ face, she says, “I don’t have many left, may need it before too much longer.”

“Right,” he says.

“We better quicken our pace,” states Jiron. “Where there’s one, there’s likely to be more.” He then turns, and moving at a quicker pace than before, hurries through the trees.

As he follows Jiron, James worries about the dead man back there. If his fellows should discover him, the hunt will be on. Fortunately, dawn is still many hours away so maybe they’ll make it before anyone discovers him.

After making their way through the trees for another hour, they finally come to the base of the mountains. In the faint light coming from above, they see before them through the trees the unmistakable sight of a road running east and west. “I think this is the road leading to Bindles,” Jiron says.

“Yeah, I remember,” replies James. The last time they came through this area, they were posing as merchants on their way to rescue Jiron’s sister and Miko.

The road directly ahead of them is dark and looks deserted. Further to the west, it runs directly into the enemy camp and is well lit at a checkpoint guarded by a squad of men. Across the road from them to the south are more hills which gradually rise to become mountains.

As Jiron begins moving out of the trees and onto the road, Aleya grabs him by the arm and whispers, “Wait!” Pointing across the road, she directs their sight to a large boulder lying beside the road twenty feet away.

“What?” he whispers back after looking for a moment. “I don’t see anything.”

“Thought I saw something,” she tells them.

“Maybe you…” begins James when a shadow moves