Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [54]
Snapping awake, Miko sits up and looks around, at first disoriented. Then he sees the stacked food on the side table and gets up as he makes his way over to them. “Is this for us?” he asks, turning slightly toward James.
“We think so,” he replies.
Taking several of the fruits and a couple roots, he brings them over to the table and commences eating. He suddenly looks around and asks, “Where is she?”
“Don’t know,” Jiron tells him. “She was gone when I woke up.”
“Too bad,” he says through a mouth full of fruit. “I kind of liked her.” Then he notices the tunic and jackets. Going over to them, he takes the tunic and slips it over his head glad to have one on again. He’s been bare-chested ever since his old one had been used for James’ leg. “A perfect fit,” he announces. Then he takes one of the jackets and puts it on as well. When he finds it’s too big, he looks through the other two until he comes across one that will fit him. He brings the others over to the table and hands them to Jiron and James.
The others try on the jackets and find them to be good fits as well. Then they begin eating the fruit and roots and when they’re done, clean up their mess leaving the place as neat as they found it. They find a backpack of sorts sitting near the fruit. Placing the fruit inside, James shoulders it as they head outside where the boat is still tied to the dock.
“Hate leaving without saying goodbye,” Miko says as he climbs into the boat.
“She understands, I’m sure,” James assures him.
“I hope so, she sure was nice,” he says.
Allowing the others to get in first, Jiron then unties the boat from the dock before jumping in. Pushing themselves away from the dock, they begin drifting out onto the lake. Jiron takes the oars and begins to row across the lake to the north. The mountains on the northern shore loom large above them.
They see where a river comes out of the mountains and flows into the lake. Deciding that following the river up into the mountains would be the best idea, Jiron aims the boat so they’ll land several feet from where it enters the lake.
Grounding the boat upon the shore, they get out and Jiron looks at the boat and asks, “How is she going to get it back?”
“I’m sure she’ll have little problem with that,” James assures him.
“Hmmmm,” mutters Jiron.
As they begin making their way along the river into the mountains, they’re immediately grateful for the warm jackets that Lyria had supplied them. The air coming down off the mountains is quite cold in the early morning hours. James wonders how she could have gotten the jackets so fast and in the right sizes. Or did she know more than she let on when they talked the night before? Regardless, they have them now.
They make decent time as they follow the river, the land adjacent to it is not very overgrown with bushes and allows them to walk with little obstructions. Two hours after they left the lake, they come to where the river cascades down a series of waterfalls where the mountain rises abruptly ahead of them.
Jiron goes first as he begins to ascend the side of the mountain, using the bushes and trees growing along its face for handholds and support.
Miko goes next with James bringing up the rear, his leg feeling much better today after the rest of the night before. The hillside is not seriously steep and they are able to make it up with minimal problems. At the top, they discover the waterfall to be the outflow of another small lake. Several tributaries bring water to it from the surrounding mountains. One small waterfall cascades down one side of the mountain, falling into the lake as well.
They skirt around the lake and jump across several small tributaries as they make their way to a larger one at the far side. It’s much smaller than the river they followed after disembarking from the boat.
With Jiron still leading the way away from the small lake, they continue to follow alongside the stream as it meanders its way further up into the mountains. They pause around noon for a quick meal, the sun now high overhead.