Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [67]
Jiron pauses momentarily, waiting for the dust to clear. When it does, he sees the pass is now completely blocked by a pile of rubble, several hundred feet high. Even though he’s seen the effect James’ magic can have, it still amazes him. He turns back to the north and quickly makes it to the other side.
They catch up with Miko who’s waiting for them at the other end of the pass. They continue down the trail as it leaves the pass and begin to descend down the other side of the mountains.
“Think that’ll stop them?” Miko asks Jiron.
“If it doesn’t, then that warrior priest is more powerful than anything I can imagine,” he replies.
“Good,” says Miko.
They slow their pace a little to save the horses and travel for several more hours before finding a spot to make camp. Miko and Jiron take turns at watch, seeing as how James is already asleep.
Worried about pursuit, they keep the horses saddled and the one who’s on watch keeps extra alert during their vigil.
Chapter Twelve
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James awakens with the rising of the sun, tired and head aching slightly. He sits up and finds Jiron by the fire cooking a small animal that he killed earlier that morning.
“Good morning,” he says when he notices James sitting up.
“Good morning to you too,” he replies. He glances over to where Miko is still sleeping on the ground. “Did he take the first watch?”
“Yeah,” Jiron affirms.
“Do you think we have time to cook breakfast?” James asks him. “I mean with all those riders after us?”
He shrugs before saying, “Hope so. I don’t know if you remember, but you pretty well blocked the pass. Any pursuit will have to travel another way.”
“But they will come,” James tells him.
“I know, but we need to keep our strength up,” counters Jiron. He pokes the roasting carcass with his knife and says, “Wake up sleepy head, I think breakfast is ready.”
James gets up and goes over to Miko and nudges him with his foot.
“What?” Miko exclaims, coming awake abruptly. He looks quickly around and sees James standing above him.
“Breakfast is almost ready,” he says.
“Oh,” he grunts as he looks over to where Jiron is taking the meat from the fire. Getting up, he crosses over to the trees and does his morning business and then returns to take a seat by the fire.
Jiron hands him his portion and then gives James his. They sit there for a while in silence as they eat. James takes a look at the mountains surrounding them. Glancing to the south, he can’t really see where he caused the sides of the pass to cave-in as trees and mountain block his view.
“How far did we come last night?” he asks.
“Not sure, we traveled for several hours before stopping,” Jiron replies.
“We better push long and hard today,” continues James. “Abula-Mazki won’t be giving up so easily.”
“I hope he was caught in the landslide,” Miko adds.
“So do I,” agrees James, “but we can’t go on that assumption. We must act as if he’s still after us.”
“Where to now?” Jiron asks.
“Continue heading north,” James replies. “It’s all we can do.”
Once they finished their breakfast, they mount and continue down the side of the mountain. The trail they are following is fairly clear, having been traveled by riders on their way to the Gathering for a very long time.
It takes most of the day to reach the plains below the mountains. They turn more to the west as they continue along the foothills, traveling until the sun begins to fall. A hollow between two hills gives them a good place to remain hidden while they camp through the night.
While Jiron gets the fire going, James goes out and gets a couple rabbits for dinner. Once they’re on the fire roasting, they sit back and relax.
James wishes he had something to use to see if they are being pursued, but there are no pools of water to be found. He needs something that has a smooth, reflective surface in