Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [199]
Then suddenly, he recognizes the truth. The Fire! It’s no longer hidden and is in the hands of this infidel. Once he realizes that, he understands that he cannot win this battle. But there is one more act he must perform for his god before the end comes.
He disengages from the battle and sees Miko’s sword slow down as he moves backward. Readying himself, he watches as Miko approaches, sword ready to resume the battle.
From the sidelines, James watches as Abula-Mazki takes a few quick steps backward and comes to a stop. The prickling suddenly begins to intensify and he knows the warrior priest is about to cast a spell of mammoth proportions. He readies the magic to counter whatever he may try to do.
Suddenly, a psychic cry of tremendous power rips through his head like a knife. The Fire walks with the Star!
Everyone around him suddenly cries out from the pain of it as they each grip their head in an attempt to ease the pain.
Through eyes blinded with tears of pain, James looks to the combatants and watches as Miko strikes out at Abula-Mazki who, caught up in the spell, fails to defend himself. His sword strikes him through the chest and the psychic cry is abruptly silenced.
Miko pulls out the sword and hacks his sword arm off before following through with a slice that severs his head from his neck.
When the psychic cry stops, so does the pain it caused. James looks up in time to see Abula-Mazki’s head strike the ground. He hears a cheer from Hinney and Keril as they begin running over to congratulate Miko. “Stop!” he orders commandingly.
They both stop and turn to look at him. “Don’t go near him yet,” he tells them. Moving past them, he brings himself near to where Miko is standing motionless. He walks around until he’s standing face to face with him.
“Miko?” he asks as he gazes into his eyes. He can see more changes the Fire had wrought. All signs of Miko’s childhood are gone. What stands before him is a man in his early twenties at least. “Miko?” he asks again, in a soothing voice. “It’s James.”
James can see the fires burning in his eyes, and for the first time, he’s worried his friend may not come out of it. “Miko, come back to me,” he says as he reaches his hand out.
Then his eyes take notice of him there and his sword moves to a guard position. James backs up a step and holds his hands up, showing he’s not armed. The fires burn as the eyes come to rest upon him.
Pointing to a sack lying in the pile that had been removed from Miko, James yells to Jiron, “Toss me the sack!”
Not sure at first what he is talking about, Jiron looks down and then understanding comes. Picking it up, he throws it to James who catches it.
“Would you like some tarts?” James asks as he pulls one from the sack, holding it up for Miko to see.
Miko’s expression changes subtly and the fires begin to diminish. “Tarts?” he says in a far away voice.
“Yeah,” James says, lowering his arm. “Here, have one.” He watches some sort of internal struggle taking place within Miko. Suddenly, the fires in his eyes go out and he knows that it’s his friend who’s now looking out at him.
“Oh, James,” he says and takes a step forward before collapsing to the ground.
He moves quickly to catch him before he hits the ground. Laying him down, he waves the others to come join him.
Upon reaching them, Illan says, “James, we got problems.”
Looking up at him from where he kneels next to Miko, James asks, “What?”
Pointing to the pass, he says, “Look.”
Turning his attention to the pass, James sees the clan chiefs have returned and mounted their horses. One of the riders with them brings a horn to his lips and two loud notes sound. Answering horns come from all sides as the riders who had waited patiently at a distance during the fight now begin moving toward them in a decidedly hostile manner. Hundreds of riders are quickly closing the gap, swords are being