• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Roland nods his head, “Yeah. Ezra heard them and woke me up to take care of it. Sorry you were disturbed.”

“That’s okay,” he says. “Let’s get this over with.”

Moving through the house, they make their way to the back door in the kitchen. Suddenly, James feels the familiar prickling sensation that always coincides with someone doing magic. Grabbing Roland’s arm, he quickly stops him. In a barely heard whisper, he says, “Magic is near!”

In the darkness he can hear Roland’s intake of breath before he asks, “Are you sure?”

“Very. I’m going to go check it out,” he whispers. “Wake up Illan and let him know what’s going on and that whoever it is, is probably out back. Whatever you do, don’t wake up Miko! Then take Tersa and your family into your room and lock the door. Understand?”

“Yeah,” he replies as he goes back the way they’d come.

James moves to the door and looks out the window. Several shadows can be seen moving around out there, primarily near the chicken coop. The fact that someone’s doing magic and they’re out back by the chicken coop can only mean one thing. They’re here for the Fire! For that’s where he’d hidden it, figuring the chickens would give him some alarm should someone come looking for them, which they did.

A touch on his shoulder causes him to jump. “Sorry,” he hears Illan whisper behind him. “What’s going on?”

“The Empire’s men are out there,” he tells them.

“Are they looking for the you-know-what?” he asks.

“I can’t imagine they’d be here for any other reason,” James replies. “There’s a mage with them, I can feel it.”

“That could make things interesting,” he says. Just then, Jorry, Uther and the rest show up and Illan quickly fills them in on what’s going on. When Jiron shows up, he has Uther and Jorry go around one side of the house and Yern and Fifer the other.

Before they leave, James tells them, “We can’t afford to let any leave here alive. If possible, take one alive. If not, take ‘em out. But don’t do anything until you hear the signal.”

“What’ll that be?” asks Uther.

“You’ll know it when you see it,” replies James.

“Oh yeah, right,” he says.

They keep looking out back at the shadows moving around. James knows it’s only a matter of time before they realize exactly where it is and dig it up. To Jiron he whispers, “I could use some of those crystals out in my workshop.”

“Don’t think I could get them without being seen,” he tells him. “Too many out there.”

“Hold on a second,” Illan says as he moves back into the house. Returning shortly, he hands James three crystals. “Will these do?” he asks.

“Where did you get these?” he asks as he takes them.

“I was curious about why you were interested in them,” he explains somewhat guiltily. “So while you were gone today, I grabbed a couple to take a closer look. I was going to put them back in the morning before you got up.”

“It’s okay,” James assures him. “We’ll give the others another minute to get into position and then we’ll go.”

Illan takes out his sword and stands ready.

A minute passes and James says, “Alright, let’s go.” He quickly casts the magic gathering spell, upon the crystals and slowly opens the door. The draw of the three crystals on him at once is almost overpowering, but he needs them to be charged at least a little for what he has planned.

When it’s clear between him and the coop, he throws the crystals toward those standing around the coop. A cry goes up as one of the enemy spots the three glowing crystals flying toward them. James suddenly feels a surge of the prickly sensation as the enemy mage prepares a spell.

When it’s cast, the magic of the enemy mage’s spell is immediately absorbed by the crystals, all which begin to fluctuate as they leech magic from one another as well as the mage. This time, he did not incorporate the spell to prevent them from drawing on each other. In fact, he’s counting on it.

His orb bursts to light overhead, illuminating the entire area. Along with the mage, are another dozen men in black armor who spring to attack.

Jiron and Illan move in front of James as the men rush