Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [45]
Finally though, he does manage to fall asleep.
Chapter Eight
_________________________
“James! Wake up!”
Startled out of sleep, he awakens to see Jiron running toward the camp. “What?” he asks as he sits up, suddenly alarmed. Night had fallen and the woods are dark, the dim glow of the dying fire is all that keeps it at bay.
Miko wakes up and still half asleep says, “Is it my turn?”
Jiron runs to the remnants of the fire and begins kicking dirt on it, putting it completely out.
“What’s going on?” James asks as he gets to his feet.
Miko comes fully awake when he sees Jiron putting the fire out. Realizing that something’s not right, he quickly gets to his feet.
In the last light of the fire before it’s covered by Jiron, they see him pointing to the north as he says, “There’s a road not fifty feet further ahead.”
As the last dying ember is covered and they’re thrown into darkness, James can hear voices coming their way from the direction of the road. He begins to see torches moving their way in amongst the trees as well.
Leading them away from the camp, Jiron whispers, “Soldiers, lots of ‘em.”
As they hurry through the brush away from the river, James asks in a hushed whisper, “Were they looking for us?”
“I don’t think so,” he replies as he continues leading them further away from the river. “I had been scouting ahead of us for when we leave tomorrow and had found the road. They were simply marching this way, coming over the bridge that spans the river we had been following. Then as I was heading back, I heard one of them say something and a smaller group broke off from the main force. They began making their way to our camp. I think they must’ve seen the fire and were going to investigate.”
They hear Miko mumble in the dark, “I knew the forest was a bad place to be.”
Suddenly, they hear a horn sounding from back at their campsite. “Damn!” curses James, “they’re going to be combing the woods for us for sure.”
Jiron slows them down in the hopes they’ll make less noise as he continues to lead them further away from the soldiers.
Suddenly, the woods open up and the moon above shows they’ve come out on the road. Five feet in front of them, a horn sounds, ripping through the stillness of the night as a soldier spots them coming out of the forest.
They stand there frozen for just a moment as two torches burst into life along the road, one across from them and another further to the west. Two dozen soldiers stand on the road between them and the forest to the north, their attention now turned directly to them. The soldiers draw their swords as one of them steps forward and says something in a commanding tone to them in their language.
“James,” Miko begins to say when the group of soldiers between them and the other side of the road are suddenly thrust aside like rag dolls by a blast of magic from James, clearing a path through.
“Move!” he yells as he propels Miko toward the forest on the north side of the road, through the gap in the line of enemy soldiers he’d just created.
The soldiers not thrown aside immediately give chase, following them into the forest. A horn sounds behind them as their pursuers alert the rest of the force as to their whereabouts.
The sound of pursuit is very close behind them. James concentrates as he runs and…
Crumph!
…the ground under the pursuing soldiers erupts, tossing them like rag dolls. When they slam back to the ground all but a few lie still. The explosion slows the pursuit and allows them time to move further into the trees.
“Come on!” Jiron hisses to Miko who’s falling behind. The trees and bushes continue getting in his way as he tries to keep up. The faint light from the stars above gives insufficient light to navigate the forest quickly.
From out of the forest ahead of them, three soldiers appear, one of them raising a horn to his lips. Jiron draws his knives and rushes to intercept. He moves to take