Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [127]
Holding the torch out in front of him, James moves further back into the mine. They don’t get far before the mine branches to the left or right. He steps down each branch and pauses a moment to watch the flame of the torch. When he’s down the left branch the flame flickers the most.
“It’s down this way,” he tells them. Walking quickly, he moves further into the left tunnel.
Jiron looks back to the entrance and sees the soldiers are tentatively moving closer. There appear to be more out there, most likely both of the forces have met up. That means somewhere out there is a mage as well.
He hurries to follow James as he attempts to locate an air vent. “I think they’re starting to move toward the entrance,” he tells James when he catches up with him.
“If they don’t move fast, we should be able to get out of here,” he says, glancing back.
Jiron thinks this whole thing is doubtful, but trusts in James. In the short time they’ve been together, he’s managed to do some pretty impressive things.
The mine begins to get narrower and they find tools and other implements scattered about. In one spot, they come across a half filled ore wagon sitting to one side. They look at the ore within but are unable to determine just what the miners had been mining.
“It’s not iron ore,” Miko says when he gets close enough to the wagon to see its contents.
“Are you sure?” Fifer asks.
Grimly, he replies, “Very.”
They move on, the torch still indicating a breeze moving toward the back of the mine. Suddenly, a crossbow bolt strikes the wall right next to James. He whirls around, points the torch behind them and lets the magic flow.
A cone of fire shoots from the end of the torch like a flame thrower, Jiron has to dive out of the way as the flame sizzles past. It expands as it goes until it’s wide enough to touch the sides of the mine. Screams can be heard from the soldiers who’re caught in the fire as their hair and clothes burst into flame. As quickly as the cone of fire started, it stops.
Back down the tunnel, they can see several men running away, their clothes and hair aflame. As an added concern, some of the support beams used to keep the ceiling from caving in have caught fire as well.
Turning back, James says, “We better hurry.”
Fifer gazes at James, awe in his eyes as well as a little bit of fear. “How did you do that?” he asks.
“Oxygen will burn, but it needs to be in a purer form than what we breathe,” he explains. “I just changed it.”
“Oh,” he says, not really understanding, “right.”
James grins at him and continues down the tunnel. He glances back occasionally and finds that the soldiers have made no attempts to put out the fires consuming the old timbers shoring up the mine.
Another branching and he determines the breeze is continuing down the right, they turn to follow it. Shortly after taking it, the unmistakable sounds of men chipping stone away from the walls can be heard from up ahead.
A torch begins to be seen and soon three men are visible in the light as they use pickaxes to remove the stone from the wall. When they approach the miners, the men take notice of them and at first take them for their fellows, but soon realize their mistake.
“We don’t want to hurt you,” James says to them, holding up his hands. “Do you understand?”
They begin talking in the Empire’s tongue, not responding to what he just said.
“I guess they don’t,” says Jiron. He draws his knives and advances upon them, Fifer joins him with his longsword. Miko moves to join them but James stops him by grabbing him by the arm. When he looks at him, James just shakes his head, no.
As Jiron and Fifer approach the miners with their weapons held in a threatening manner, they make sure to leave open an avenue of retreat for them.
The miners stare in fright at them as they approach. When they realize there’s a way to flee, they don’t even hesitate as they throw down their picks and race past them to the front of the mine.
After they’ve disappeared down the mine,