Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [93]
“Those wagons are coming from a mine,” whispers Miko.
“How can you tell?” Jiron asks him.
“I know, trust me,” he replies. “There must be a mining complex somewhere to the north.”
“I’m not destroying this one,” James announces a little too loud. One of the cavalrymen turns to look out into the forest in their direction as he pauses a moment.
Holding very still and quiet, they look through the trees at the rider as he continues to search. Another of the cavalrymen comes over to him and they begin having a quiet conversation. The other man looks out in their direction as well, but after a couple more moments, he says something to the other and they both resume their place along the wagons.
Once the wagons have passed their hiding places and have moved further down the road, Jiron walks to the road and looks south after the departing wagons. When he sees the wagons are out of sight, he waves the others back onto the road.
“Sorry,” apologizes James for his lapse in judgment back there when he spoke too loudly.
“Don’t worry about it, nothing happened,” assures Jiron.
They turn and continue back toward the north. “Wonder what they were carrying that requires an escort?” Miko asks.
“Could just be so the Kirken’s won’t attack it,” suggests James.
“You’re probably right,” agrees Jiron.
“We’ll need to keep on our guard from here on out,” says James. “If this is an ore shipment route, they’ll probably have patrols or guards all along this stretch of the road.”
Jiron glances back to him and nods before turning back. They quicken their pace, anxious to get out of the confining forest.
Two hours later, they’re all getting fatigued, and the horses are starting to show signs of wear. They decide it’s time to stop and move into the forest, far enough from the road so anyone passing by will be unable to see them through the trees. Tying the horses to neighboring trees, they take a moment to clear a camp before settling down.
James takes the first watch, with Jiron taking the last. Miko hates the middle watch, he never seems to get adequate sleep when he does. During James’ watch, he hears horses moving fast from the north and disappearing to the south. He tells Miko about the riders when it’s his turn at watch.
Jiron wakes everyone up when the light in the forest begins to fade. They have a quick meal of stale rations before mounting up and moving back to the road.
After several miles, James begins to realize the trees here don’t seem nearly as thick as the ones the night before, light from the moon is able to filter down through them more effectively. The road is barely discernable in the faint light, but enough can be seen so James doesn’t have to create his orb.
They travel down the road for several more hours before the trees begin to thin out even more. The ground begins to rise and fall as they enter what seems to be rolling hills. “If there are mountains ahead, that would explain where those wagons had come from,” James says.
“We’ll see,” replies Jiron. Leading them on, he keeps a brisk, distance eating pace.
The road begins to wind through a series of increasingly tall hills and after it goes around a large one, the lights from a small village appear in the distance ahead. The road proceeds directly down the center of the village. There are not many buildings, kind of reminding James of a ghost town he once visited with his family.
“Do we go around?” Miko asks.
“The hills are getting pretty steep,” Jiron says.
“We may have no choice but to go through,” James tells him. “We can’t afford to stumble around in rugged hills at night.”
“There doesn’t seem to be any guards or soldiers around,” Jiron announces.
James gives the village a long look and nods his head, “You’re right, I don’t see any either.” He glances from one to the other before continuing, “Let’s chance it. Move in and pass through as quickly as possible.”
Moving quickly, not so fast as to draw undue notice,