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“How?” he asks as he strikes the wood again, this time splitting the piece in two with one blow.

“If you can spare him Roland, I need him to ride into town,” James says.

“Sure,” Roland replies as he comes over to take the log splitter from Miko. “Thanks for the help,” he says to Miko.

“No problem,” he says as he follows James over to the stables.

“This won’t take too long,” he assures him. “What I want you to do is ride into town or maybe even past it.” Holding up the receiver crystal he says, “I’m going to try to have this crystal light up from a distance. As you ride, hold this in your hand. When you see light coming from within it, turn around and come on back.”

Seeing the doubt in his eyes as he glances to the crystal, he adds, “It won’t hurt you. You won’t even feel anything.”

“What do you want to do this for?” he asks as he hesitantly takes the crystal.

James almost laughs at the way he’s holding it. You’d think he had a deadly snake or something in his hand. “Just an experiment is all,” he explains. As much as he likes and trusts Miko, there’re just some things he doesn’t need to know about.

“Alright,” he says. “When do you want me to leave?”

“Right now if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Sure, just let me get washed and I’ll saddle my horse,” he tells him.

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” he says. “I plan on letting you ride for an hour or so before the crystal begins to glow. I want to see how well it does over a distance.” He watches a moment while Miko walks over to the washbasin out by the kitchen to clean up before heading back to the workshop. Now for the defense of the Fire.

He mulls it over back at his workbench for several minutes before he hears Miko’s horse racing down the lane. Glancing out the window, he sees him turning out of the lane and heading into town. Turning back to his work, he continues contemplating the best types of defensive spells he could put in the crystal.

The spells can’t be such that they may pose a risk to the box or the Fire. They need to be more selective, but powerful enough to thwart any attempt to steal it. Of course the spells should be tailored to the environment where the Fire will be as well. Somehow incorporating the strengths of the area where it will lie to aid in its defense.

Throughout the rest of the day, he comes up with ideas and then scraps them. Nothing seems to work the way he plans. He takes a short break for dinner but then is right back to work afterward. When the light outside begins to fade, Ezra comes out and places a couple candles in his workshop to give him light to work by. So engrossed is he in what he’s doing that he barely even realizes she’s placed the candles until long after she’s left.

Finally, exhausted and mentally fatigued, he looks at the defensive crystal sitting before him. All the spells he thinks he needs are infused within. All it’ll take now is to power the crystal and then finally activate the dormant spells within once the Fire is properly hidden.

Getting up from his workbench, he stretches and begins to head to his room where he intends to crash hard. Almost to the door to the kitchen, he abruptly stops as a thought suddenly occurs to him. Miko! I forgot all about him!

It must be well over five hours since he sent him off to check on the receiver crystal. Rushing back to his workshop, he finds the crystal and activates it. He feels a short tingle as it sends its signal to the receiver crystal.

Feelings of guilt fill him as he leaves the workshop and heads to his room. Poor Miko, wonder how far he’d gotten.

The town of Osgrin had long since disappeared behind him when the crystal finally begins emitting the light James had told him about. Finally! Bringing his horse to a stop, he pauses as he looks at the crystal in his hand. A soft reddish glow is coming from deep within it. Wonder how he does that?

Putting the glowing crystal in his pack, he turns his horse around and heads back to Osgrin. An hour, indeed. Been more like five!