Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [123]
He sees Miko standing there among the dead and begins walking over to him. “Miko!” he calls out. When there’s no response, he calls his name again. Glancing to the others, he says, “Gather some horses.” Then he returns his attention to Miko.
Miko’s head turns in his direction and he begins walking toward him. James can see the sword still gripped in his hand.
“Miko! It’s James,” he says in a calm and soothing voice.
Miko pauses a moment then continues toward him, his sword at a slightly less threatening angle. “You okay?” asks James.
“I think so,” he replies, his voice sounding tired and slightly distant.
“Good, we need to get going, okay?” he asks him.
Nodding, Miko approaches him and then stops as he wipes his sword off on one of the dead riders before replacing it in his scabbard.
Jiron and Fifer come over to them, each leading two horses. Once they’re all mounted, Jiron asks, “Which way?”
“Where did Lord Pytherian go?” asks James.
“He went more to the north, why?” replies Fifer.
“Then let’s move eastward and try to draw off those behind us and give him time to get through the lines,” he says.
“You sure?” Jiron asks.
“Yeah,” replies James.
They turn and begin moving toward the east, the sky there behind the mountains beginning to show the first signs of the approach of dawn.
Chapter Twenty One
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As they push on eastward, they keep to a steady, mile eating pace that won’t overly tire the horses. When the sky becomes brighter, they see ahead of them where the terrain is once again turning into hills before finally becoming the mountains rising in the distance. It isn’t long before they leave the grasslands behind and enter the hills.
Behind them, there is still no sign of the approaching force, but they know they’re there. They come across a small spring in the lee of a hill and decide to pause for a short break to eat and give the horses a chance to regain their strength.
Jiron climbs to the top of the hill and looks to the west. “See anything?” Fifer shouts up at him from where he’s filling his water bottle at the spring.
Shaking his head, Jiron hollers back, “It doesn’t look like they’re following us.” After a few more minutes of scanning for the enemy, he returns back down the hill to the others.
James is lying stretched out on the ground, trying to rest for the few minutes they’ll be staying here. Jiron comes over and sits next to him. Gesturing over to Miko, he says quietly so only he can hear him, “Is it my imagination, or is he getting taller?”
Sitting up abruptly, James looks over to where Miko is sitting quietly next to Fifer. Nodding, he replies, “Maybe, I hope not though.”
“Why?” Jiron asks.
Lowering his voice so as to practically be unheard, he says, “If he is, it’s the Fire doing it to him and that can’t be good. The sooner we can get it away from him, the better.”
“Why don’t you take it?” asks Jiron.
“I don’t dare,” he replies. “It might be safe enough hanging in a pouch, but I might inadvertently reach in and touch it. From what the ghost of the priest of Morcyth said, that would be bad.”
“What if one of us takes it?” he suggests.
“No,” he replies. “I think it best if only one of us is affected by it.”
“So what are we to do?” he says as he glances to Miko.
“Nothing right now,” answers James. “Just hope nothing too bad comes of it. As soon as we’re back in Cardri, I’ll find somewhere to hide it.”
Changing the subject, Jiron asks, “Can you do your scanning thing to see where those forces that were following us went to?”
Sighing, he says, “Alright, but after that I’m going to need to avoid magic for a while. I’m starting to feel the effects.”
“Headache again?” guesses Jiron.
Nodding, James replies, “Yeah. It’s not too bad right now, but if I should need to call on the magic in an emergency, it could get much worse.” Getting up, he moves over to the spring and kneels down in front of it.
“What’s going on?” asks Fifer.
“He’s going to try to find the force that was behind us,” explains