Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [179]
“Before I do,” James says, “I don’t want us to do anything until Jiron comes back. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Illan says, the others nodding their heads.
“Okay,” he says as he pulls the mirror out of the pouch at his hip. He takes a seat in one of the chairs and places the mirror on the table as everyone gathers around to look.
“Find that councilman first!” insists Uther.
James concentrates until the mirror begins to coalesce into an image of Councilman Rillian sitting at a table with six other important looking men. “Must be the Council,” he guesses.
The image begins to change as he starts concentrating on Korgan. When the image clarifies, they see him riding a horse through the grasslands. “He could be anywhere by this time!” he hears one of them exclaim. He lets the image go and the mirror reverts back to normal.
“It doesn’t look as if there’s anything that can be done now,” James states. He leans back in the chair and contemplates the remnants of Miller’s band. “What do you all plan to do now?”
They look at each other and Uther says, “We haven’t really thought about it.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Illan adds. “Miller was our leader, our heart and soul.”
“What are you going to do?” Jorry asks him.
“When Jiron returns, we’ll probably start heading back to Cardri as fast as possible,” he tells them.
“Why?” asks Uther. “I mean, Madoc could use you and what you can do.”
“I know,” he says, “but they’ll have to get along without me. There are other things that I must do.”
“Like what?” asks Yern.
He looks from one face to another and says, “I’m not entirely sure. I’m still trying to figure that out, but I’m sure it’s not to embroil myself in this war. I feel that to be true.”
“Will it be to the detriment of the Empire?” asks Uther.
“I don’t know,” replies James. “But since I’ve started on this path, I’ve done nothing but hurt them, though.”
“Yeah, that’s the truth,” Jorry says and then breaks out into a laugh that’s shared by all.
“We’ve been talking while you were at the castle,” Illan says. “If you wouldn’t mind, we’d kind of like to stay with you for a while. Miller’s gone so all we’d be doing is joining the regular army and none of us are cut out for that. Of course I can’t speak for the ones on the wall waiting for Jiron, but I’m sure they’d go along with it.”
James considers it a fraction of a second before saying, “I’d be more than happy to have you come along.”
“Great!” says Illan and the others offer other exclamations of jubilation as well.
“But, if you’re to follow me, that means what I say goes,” he tells them. “Will there be a problem with that?”
They all shake their head no. “In that case, I want you to forget about Councilman Rillian.” He sees their faces scowl and their expressions turn dark. “There may be a time of retribution, but that time is not now,” he tells them firmly. Looking from one to the other, he asks, “Okay?”
He gets their grudging agreement and then says, “We’ll need horses. Can someone go back and retrieve yours from that burned down inn?”
Uther gives him a grin and says, “Already done. They’re out in the stable behind the inn. We have Miller’s and Shyn’s as well, so we just need two more so everyone will have one.”
“The horses I came here on are who knows where,” James says. “Somehow, we’ll need to procure two more.”
“Not a problem,” Jorry says. “When the time comes to leave, I’m sure we can get them.”
Yawning, James gets up and says, “I need to get some sleep before we go. If they return with Jiron, get me up. And put someone in the hall to watch out for whatever Councilman Rillian may have planned.”
“Right,” says Jorry. “We’ll take care of that.”
“Good,” he says as he heads for the door. Once through the door and he’s on his way back to his room, he can hear them as they discuss what he just said. He’s glad they are coming with him, especially since Jiron’s shoulder is hurt so badly. It’s going to take him a while to fully heal and recover.
Before he opens the door, he can hear Miko’s snores coming from the other side. Smiling, he opens the door and enters. Closing